This Savannah eatery has been named the bucket-list restaurant in Georgia

Ryan Smith of Staplehouse in Atlanta, nominated for Best Chef Southeast Mashama Bailey of The Grey in Savannah, nominated for Best Chef Southeast Kimball House, nominated for Outstanding Bar Program Ticonderoga Club, nominated for Outstanding Bar Program Hugh Acheson, nominated for Outstanding Restauranteur The Giving Kitchen, won Humanitarian of the Year

There’s no shortage of Georgia restaurants where residents and visitors alike can dine at, but this eatery has been deemed the bucket-list spot you can’t afford to miss.

Lovefood.com compiled a list of the restaurants around the United States that cannot be missed and in Georgia, that honor goes to Savannah's The Grey.

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The food website, which is based in London, said that The Grey’s head chef Mashama Bailey’s cooking “explores the legacy of black culture and history in America through her love for Southern cooking.”

Both New York natives, Johno Morisano and Bailey partnered together to open The Grey in historic downtown Savannah. The restaurant, which specializes in modern Southern food, is operated out of a 1938 Greyhound bus terminal on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.  The art deco spot was “painstakingly restored to its original luster,” according to the restaurant's about page.

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Taking into account the era in which the bus terminal was built, Lovefood.com wrote that “walking into The Grey, the irony isn't lost on anyone” adding that “decades earlier Bronx-born head chef Mashama Bailey and her white business partner wouldn't have even been allowed in the same area of this very building.”

Despite being born in New York, Bailey has roots down south. The chef and partner’s maternal family members have ties to Waynseboro and it’s there that Bailey spent many summers at her grandmother’s house. She also attended elementary school in Savannah at Charles Ellis.

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Popular dishes served at The Grey include yard bird, which one Yelp reviewer has described as "so tender" and smoked collards that another person said "we devoured."

The Grey
Diner Bar open Tuesday-Thursday 4 p.m. -11 p.m.; Friday-Saturday noon-midnight; Sunday noon -10 p.m. 
Dining room open Tuesday -Thursday 5:30 p.m.- 10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 5:30 p.m. -11 p.m.; Sunday 5:30 p.m. -10 p.m.
109 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Savannah
(912) 662-5999
thegreyrestaurant.com