Off the Beaten Path: Byrd Cookie Company's B. Tillman Restaurant and Bar

If you want a chic, sophisticated lunch, you usually don't venture too far from downtown, right? Who knew that there was a sleek restaurant and bar and tucked away on Waters Avenue and housed inside a cookie factory, to boot!

Turning right onto Waters Avenue from Stephenson Avenue, you might have noticed the massive grey-roofed industrial building peeking out from behind the Exchange restaurant. That's Byrd Cookie Company. A Savannah institution that's been baking up world-famous scotch oatmeal and key lime cooler cookies since 1942.  Inside that building, there's more than a cookie and gift shop. It's also home to B. Tillman Restaurant and Bar.

The most immediately striking thing about B. Tillman's is the decor. Cool white leather booths. A color palette of monochromatic grays and unfinished wood. It's all very Restoration Hardware. Not to mention, there's a big glass window where you can peek into the cookie factory. So I guess there's a splash of Krispy Creme playfulness there, too.

The menu matches the decor. Sophisticated, or what I like to call "Chef-y" type items dot the menu. Sandwiches are slathered with "aioli" and there's hummus made with cannelloni beans instead of chick peas. Something called a "pizzette" and a grilled romaine salad. But all that's balanced with a distinct nod to Byrd's southern heritage.  Pimento cheese served with toasted crostini and deviled eggs with chives.

With that in mind, I decided to have the best of both worlds.

For my appetizer I ordered the pimento cheese plate. It's a spicy, surprisingly un-mayonnaised twist on a southern staple. It's thick, flavorful, and much more dry than your typical store bought, church-potluck variety. It's perfect for loading onto the sturdy toasted crostini slices.

For my lunch, I ordered the grilled Caesar salad. A head of romaine, lightly seared and crisp on the outside, drizzled with creamy dressing and sprinkled with bacon and Parmesan cheese. The addition of the bacon with the seared romaine really gave the salad delicious smoky flavor.  If you've never had grilled salad before, B. Tillman's might be the place to try for it the first time.

Now you didn't think I'd dine at a place owned by a cookie company without eating some cookies, did you?

When I paid my check, the server brought my two powder sugar drenched key lime cooler cookies and instructed me to head to the gift shop.

 In the gift shop, you can show your lunch or dinner receipt for a discount and you can visit the cookie bar where you can, I kid you not, sample every single flavor of Byrd's delightful cookies for free. FOR FREE.

This cookie lover was in heaven.

So if you're looking for something different, a little bit sophisticated, a little bit southern, and very sweet, head to Byrd Cookie Company's B. Tillman Restaurant and Bar.

B. Tillman Restaurant & Bar6700 Waters Avenue(912)721-1564

Dreaming in Cookies: Modern General’s Dreamy Iced Coffee and Cookie Bar

The entrance of Modern General beckons pedestrians inside from Broughton Street with a chalkboard reading, "Treat Yourself to a Dreamy Coffee.” Once inside, Modern General invites patrons to write down their dreams on orange slips of paper and drop them inside the “dream box” on a table near the door. Modern General, or Modern General: Sylvester & Co, as the shop’s sign reads, is more than a coffee bar.They also sell a multitude of sleek “modern” gifts and housewares.

 I picked up a “USB Mixtape”  (a flash drive cleverly disguised as an audio cassette tape. The nineties child in me swooned, and I had to buy it).  

But the main event at Modern General is their coffee and cookie bar located in the back of the shop. Today I’m talking about their cookies, specifically. ( I didn't order coffee, as I’d just come from The Coffee Fox when I visited). They sell for $2.75 each, but let me assure you, they’re worth their weight in gold. The “dreamy” cookies are unlike any you can buy in Savannah.  

Double Dare Ya Cookie

First up, I tried the Double Dare Ya Cookie. This cookie was chock full of huge chunks of toffee, white chocolate, milk chocolate,  and dark chocolate.  The chunks were about the size of broken candy bar pieces, making it truly a chocolate chunk cookie. 

What is most remarkable about these cookies, and all the cookies at the cookie bar is how thick they are.  With a moist, just-chewy-enough-without-being-doughy  consistency, you’ll be scratching your head.  How is it possible to bake a cookie that thick without burning the outside? Magic?

Peanut Butter Chocolate

At the barista’s recommendation, I decided to try the peanut butter cookie on my second round (don’t judge). This cookie, equally as thick at the Double Dare Ya, differs from most traditional peanut butter cookies. 

The cookie is more of a traditional brown sugar chocolate chip cookie base with big blobs of peanut butter folded in.  This cookie definitely breaks the mold, if just by sheer magnitude and decadence.  I enjoyed every peanut buttery bite. Pure bliss.

As I left, happily buzzed on chocolate and peanut butter, I stopped to look inside the Dream Box. I contemplated the folded strips of orange paper where others had scrawled their dreams with black ink. 

What interesting dreams had I had lately? I didn’t know.  But I knew I’d be dreaming in cookies that night.

Sylvester & Co.

205 W Broughton Street
Savannah, GA 31401
Phone: 912-236-1150

Open 7 Days a Week  10am-6pm