Treylor Park, the new restaurant and bar at 115 East Bay St., has only been open a couple of weeks, but I’ve managed to make two trips already.
The comfortable main room is right off Bay Street, but on both visits we decided to sit at the bar in the courtyard, a really pleasant spot along the lane.
As we perused the menu on our first trip, the bartender said, “Everything’s literal.”
So, yes, if you order the Popcorn Shrimp ($12), you get shrimp served over popcorn. It’s delicious. I also recommend the fried banana pepper ring appetizer ($8).
The entrees are similarly clever, unexpected and flavorful. The Chicken & Pancake Tacos ($10) are served with a honey chili sauce. The Chicken Biscuit ($8) is served with a delicious sausage gravy and a wonderfully dense buttermilk biscuit.
And how about those prices? With most items in the $10 range, Treylor Park’s menu seems certain to attract regulars.
The bar menu includes a variety of tempting cocktails priced at $10, but there are lots of cheaper options, including $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon drafts
Treylor Park is close to several hotels and heavy tourist areas, but on both my trips the comfortable new spot was buzzing with local folks. That bodes well.
View photos from the grand opening on Spotted®.
Do Savannahians want a new Westside stadium?
Last Thursday, Savannah City Council considered the possibility of building a baseball stadium near the proposed site of the new arena, which will be funded by the current round of the special purpose local option sales tax.
In 2013, there was a contentious civic debate about whether we actually needed a new arena and about where one should be built, but city officials eventually embraced the longstanding plan to build a new arena on land that had been acquired for the project just west of downtown.
The stadium debate has played out quite differently. Hardball Capital, owner of the Sand Gnats, has made it clear that Grayson Stadium does not meet the 21st century needs of baseball or of business. A consultant’s study focused on the idea of a new stadium at the Savannah River Landing site at the east end of River Street, but the study left so many unanswered questions and employed such dubious methodology that it didn’t end up being worth much.
City Manager Stephanie Cutter and her team are now proposing that the stadium project be considered as part of the proposed “Canal District” that includes the new arena site.
The Westside Canal District concept got its first major public airing last year, but it turns out that Thomas Perdue, who was city architect from 2001 to 2007, oversaw a conceptual design of the district about a decade ago.
A multi-use baseball stadium was included in a conceptual drawing that you can still find on the website for Perdue’s current business, Design Affiliation Architecture in Jacksonville. The baseball stadium was considered for a site off West Gwinnett Street immediately west of Chatham Steel.
The city’s plan to build a new arena in the vicinity was widely known a decade ago, but I don’t recall any public discussion about building a baseball stadium there.
If city officials have been considering building a new baseball stadium on the Westside for so long, a couple of questions immediately present themselves. Did the possibility of a new Westside stadium pre-empt more aggressive spending on renovations to Grayson Stadium?
If city officials were already considering the Canal District for a new stadium, why wasn’t that site scrutinized in the recent study that focused only on Savannah River Landing?
I was and still am a supporter of the longstanding plan to build a new arena just west of downtown, but a stadium is a different creature.
The recent study recommending a new stadium on the riverfront might have had all sorts of problems, but the report did make valid points about the virtues of visibility. That Westside site would not be highly visible.
It also seems clear the owners of a minor league baseball team would want to operate a stadium that can attract a wide range of private events. It seems unlikely that a new facility on West Gwinnett Street could attract as many private renters as a stadium on the river — or in Daffin Park.
Still, the Westside site seems worth consideration, assuming that Savannahians want to make a long-term financial commitment to having a minor league baseball team.
City Talk appears every Tuesday and Sunday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.