Sunday Sunday

I stopped by Sunday Sunday in downtown Savannah on an early Saturday afternoon. The place was bright and bustling with the brunch crowd. I sat at the bar, where the bartender greeted me with a big, warm smile. A Bloody Mary was just the thing for an early Saturday afternoon, even at $13.

The menu described the shrimp and grits as “bacon crumbles, cajun creamy, beurre blanc.” The dish came out quickly, and my first thought when it was placed in front of me was: Did I order off the tasting menu?

This thing was tiny. It looked like an appetizer. It may be the smallest portion of grits I’ve ever received in a restaurant. There was a proportional amount of sauce and six plump, medium-size shrimp. But that is about where my complaints end.

I went for the grits first. They were properly cooked and well seasoned. The sautéed shrimp were lightly seasoned, firm, plump, and cooked appropriately. The sauce was very tasty without being heavy, excessively rich, too salty, or cloyingly seasoned. Super-crispy bacon bits and a scattering of microgreens finished the plate in the right way. Together, those components made an exceptional shrimp and grits. The proportions worked, and it felt like a representative version of the dish.

But I still couldn’t get past how small it was. I finished the dish before I finished my Bloody Mary, which is unusual. I was left wondering what I was going to have for lunch. I still had room for shrimp and grits.

I often say value is the sixth taste, and this one left me scratching my head. At $22, I expected something closer to an entrée. What arrived felt like a beautifully executed sample of one. It was too damn good to tease me with a sample portion. Where was the rest of it?