Savannah, GAItalian

Connect Savannah's Tim Rutherford returned to this West Congress Street dining room and wrote that the kitchen is filled with talent, naming Chef Gerald, who had been there for decades, and corporate chef Danny Kim, a frequent visitor he called near legendary. The room sits at the City Market end of downtown. Come for the Italian side of a menu the paper has followed for years, and ask what the kitchen is running beyond the printed card.

Connect Savannah's Maria Whiteway walked into the Kimpton Brice, a renovated former Coca-Cola bottling plant, and found this restaurant sharing walls with the hotel while running independently of it. She describes an Italian villa farmhouse feel against the hotel's modern Southern charm, and credits executive chef Dusty Grove with reimagining Italian food while keeping it recognisable. Sit in the dining room rather than the lobby, and order from the pasta side of the card.

Connect Savannah's Tim Rutherford put this Habersham Village room in a line of Savannah restaurant traditions and wrote that he knows families with a standing weekly lunch or dinner there, calling it a stalwart that anchored the district long before the newcomers arrived. Traci Dasher-Sullivan's earlier profile traced owner Joyce Shanks's cooking back to her grandmother and dated the opening to 1993. Order a red sauce plate, and go with a group.

Connect Savannah's Chantel Britton writes that this Plant Riverside pizzeria is a relative newcomer that has quickly become the place in town for authentic Neapolitan pizza, with pies artfully made from fine ingredients and cooked to order. The room sits inside the West River Street development. Order a Neapolitan pie, and treat it as the pizza end of the city's Italian cooking rather than a full trattoria menu.

Connect Savannah's Jessica Leigh Lebos found this State Street bistro next to Bradley's Lock & Key in the fall it opened and called it a well-executed take on a classic concept, cozy and full of red-checkered charm, from the spicy puttanesca to the Pavarotti coming out of the speakers. Candles, Chianti bottles and murals of Pulcinella fill out the room. Order the puttanesca, and book ahead because the dining room is small.