Location: Sea Island, GA
Last Visited: July, 2008
Mobil Rating: 5/5
Michelin Rating: N/A
My Rating: 9/10
Website: visit site
Our 2008 summer vacation destination was the beautiful and luxurious Sea Island Resort in Georgia. One major reason we were attracted to the resort was its 5-star restaurant, the Georgian Room. The restaurant, located in the newly renovated, elegant Cloister hotel, is very impressive. The dining room is magnificent, featuring European-style furniture, gilded chandeliers, a carved stone fireplace, hand-painted china, and a golden harp that provides a delightful music background. The service is impeccable, perfectly representing the renowned Southern hospitality. Most importantly, the restaurant features cuisine by Scott Crawford, a young talented chef who joined the Georgian Room after helping to elevate another restaurant, the Dining Room at the Woodlands, to 5-stars as well. Scott Crawford’s creations combine his classical culinary technique with local and seasonal ingredients, and regional specialties, to produce a wonderfully creative and unique menu to capture the essence of the South.
We started our Chef’s summer tasting with an amuse bouche of melon and goat cheese salad with vanilla essence and mint juice that was delightful and sweet, and prepared our palates for a culinary exploration of the unusually sweet and very Georgian-style menu. Our first course was a shrimp bisque poured over light bacon custard and topped with heirloom tomatoes. The soup was bursting with a wonderful combination of savory, sweet, and smoky flavors. Next, we enjoyed a local flounder, perfectly flaky, served on a bed of a white corn puree and topped with potato foam and black truffle essence. The flavors were light, playful, and perfectly suited to the summer Georgian mood intended.
Our third course was most outstanding for its originality and taste, as a most unusual preparation of Foie Gras. This seared foie gras dish was served over pecan pain perdu, a special southern-style French toast, dipped in pecans. Topped with a sweet peach marmalade and accompanied by a balsamic vinegar sauce, this was an outstanding dish, reflecting extraordinary creativity.
Next, the main dish featured two different cuts of Kobe Beef, in a strip steak and a short-braised rib meat, both perfectly cooked and served with a sherry barbecue jus. A delicious grits soufflé was a wonderful accompaniment to the Kobe beef, again an homage to local flavors.
We were pleasantly surprised to find three local Georgian cheeses and local honey on the excellent cheese cart, balanced by others from Australia and France to prepare our palates for the final course.
Dessert was a deconstructed Banana Split Terrine, with a delicate terrine of chocolate fudge, banana marshmallows, vanilla ice cream, and peanuts. Every dish was delicious, and the together it melded into a symphony of flavors celebrating the chef and his artistic vision of summer in Georgia.
After dessert, we were invited to see the kitchen and to meet the Chef. It was a great pleasure to talk to Scott Crawford and get his culinary perspective. This made our experience extra-special.
Overall, we enjoyed a spectacular meal, perfectly capturing the "sweet summer taste of Georgia"!
