Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room began in 1943, when Sema Wilkes took over a boardinghouse in Savannah's Historic District and started serving homestyle Southern food family style in the downstairs dining room. She built relationships with local farmers who supplied sweet potatoes and peas, and that same communal setup has carried on since: a line gathers each morning, and once the doors open, guests are seated at large shared tables-for-ten alongside strangers and regulars.
The tabletops fill with fried chicken, cornbread dressing, sweet potato souffle, black-eyed peas, okra gumbo, corn muffins, and biscuits, with the rest of the menu rotating daily so regulars see something different each visit. Reviewers also mention beef stew, rutabaga, collard greens, mac and cheese, pulled pork, and banana pudding turning up over time.
The James Beard Foundation named Mrs. Wilkes an America's Classics winner in 2000.
The tabletops fill with fried chicken, cornbread dressing, sweet potato souffle, black-eyed peas, okra gumbo, corn muffins, and biscuits, with the rest of the menu rotating daily so regulars see something different each visit. Reviewers also mention beef stew, rutabaga, collard greens, mac and cheese, pulled pork, and banana pudding turning up over time.
The James Beard Foundation named Mrs. Wilkes an America's Classics winner in 2000.