Look to your left for a distinctive wooden sign with an arched top, square side cutouts, and elegant red lettering marking 107 The Wilkes House. Take a glance at your phone to see the lovely 1870 townhouse exterior where this culinary treasure is hidden.
Welcome to Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room. Savannah is a city that fiercely guards its past, often fighting a tug of war between dramatic histories and the deep desire to preserve its soul. Here, legacy is not carved into stone. It is served on a platter.
In 1943, Sema Wilkes started helping in the kitchen of a boardinghouse where her husband was staying. A boardinghouse was simply a private home providing lodgers with a room and daily meals. Growing up on a farm, Sema had cooked since she was seven. She soon took over with a simple dream of offering homestyle Southern cooking, building incredible bonds with local farmers who dug sweet potatoes for her harvests.
By 1965, the food was so wildly popular that Sema closed the lodging business to focus entirely on feeding the public. She actually refused to put a sign out front until 1987, relying entirely on word of mouth.
What makes this place magical is how fiercely her family protects her vision. Today, managed by her granddaughter and great grandson, the restaurant still uses Sema's time tested recipes. They kept her old school rules, too. Guests are escorted in shifts of ten to sit at large communal tables. There are no reservations, it is cash only, and there is no menu. You just sit down and pass steaming bowls of fried chicken to perfect strangers. When you finish, you are expected to carry your own dirty plates to the kitchen.
This deliberate choice to foster connection means everyone is treated equally. When President Obama visited in 2010, right after learning he had borderline high cholesterol, he looked at his massive plate of comfort food and joked to the press pool, the traveling group of journalists, not to tell Michelle. Hollywood stars like the cast of Magic Mike XXL have dined here, yet they wait in the same long line as local workers.
Of course, Savannah always adds a twist of scandal to its traditions. Jim Williams, the wealthy antiques dealer famous from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, actually had Mrs. Wilkes cater to his jail cell while awaiting his murder trial, throwing a lavish luncheon of roast lamb and cornbread behind bars.
If you want to experience this unpretentious slice of history, they offer a moderately priced lunch on weekdays from eleven to two. Now, as we step away from this deeply preserved culinary past, we move right into the modern, sometimes turbulent creative engine of the city, at the Savannah College of Art and Design, which is just steps away.
