You might one day catch me playing Scrabble, Battleship or even Monopoly at The Chromatic Dragon, but I’m not familiar at all with most of the board games at the new restaurant and bar at 514 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
I don’t know anything about Catan or Cards Against Humanity — the self-described “party game for horrible people.”
And I definitely don’t know anything about the video games that can be played on large screens throughout The Chromatic Dragon.
But I do know when new businesses make a splash, and The Chromatic Dragon, which has been opened as part of the larger Guild Hall complex, has definitely made a splash.
Local gamers are truly excited about the new gathering spot.
I stopped by on a quiet weekday evening for a sandwich and found The Chromatic Dragon doing fairly brisk business. My $12 cheesesteak was just fine and was accompanied by some excellent, thick-cut fries.
The menu has a nice variety of sandwiches, starters, burgers and heavier entrees, but The Chromatic Dragon’s draw obviously extends far beyond the menu.
Many of you are already familiar with the space that The Chromatic Dragon occupies. It was the former home of Blowin’ Smoke, which moved a number of years ago to the corner of Habersham and 33rd streets.
Other restaurants to occupy 514 MLK include Bub-Ba-Q, Brick House and 514 West.
Despite being located in a gorgeous old building and sporting an awesome patio, the space has proven tough for restaurants. It’s simply too far off the beaten track of tourists, and that portion of MLK feels cut off from much of the rest of downtown because of awkward traffic patterns.
But The Chromatic Dragon has already established itself as a destination, and the new restaurant opens with the Savannah economy firing on all jets — well, most jets.
The Chromatic Dragon should have its liquor license by the time you read this column. The restaurant has also done something that previous occupants should have tried — they’ve knocked out a wall to add a small but comfortable bar to the main dining room.
The Chromatic Dragon is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. There’s off-street parking in the lot just to the north.
Traffic calming needed on Whitaker
After my early evening meal at The Chromatic Dragon last Wednesday, I walked home to Thomas Square. I had ridden my bike to the restaurant, but the weather was too perfect not to savor.
Some of the blocks between Montgomery Street and Forsyth Park are overwhelmingly beautiful, especially when lit by the setting sun, and there is little traffic on most streets at that hour on a weeknight.
And then you get to Whitaker Street.
There really wasn’t that much traffic on Whitaker either, but the lack of cars meant that drivers were going even faster than normal. Having spent a bizarrely large amount of my adult life observing traffic, I’d estimate that at least half the cars were going more than 40 mph.
I’ve had a number of readers complain just recently about the high speeds and dangerous pedestrian crossings on Whitaker, but I have little to offer at this point. We all seem to know the dangers are there, so when will we do something about them?
There is a regular refrain that we need to enforce the existing speed limit. Or that we need to lower the speed limit.
But those restrictions will not address the core problem. Whitaker is a wider-than-necessary, two-lane, one-way street, with no stops from Gaston Street to Henry Street. You can enforce the posted speeds all you want, but cars are still going to fly on a street designed like that.
There’s a fairly simple principle that I’ve discussed here and that is widely accepted in planning circles. Design the street for the speed that you want. As currently designed, Whitaker Street invites speeds of well over 40 mph, so don’t be surprised when people drive that fast.
And don’t be surprised one day if there’s a horrible accident involving pedestrians walking across or along Whitaker.
For decades, there has been a bias toward the automobile in city planning. In recent years, that bias has lost its firm grip, but it’s still present in the designs of many urban streets.
Undoing some of the damage will take time and money, but there are some straightforward and inexpensive ways to address problematic streets. It’s disappointing that we in Savannah are dragging our feet on such issues.
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.