Something interesting is happening in this far residential corner of the Starland/Thomas Square Streetcar District – a movement that was initiated by Green Truck Pub when it opened 14 years ago on Habersham Street across from Al Salaam Deli. The walkable, bikeable and drivable city blocks bounded on the east and west by Habersham and Abercorn streets along 41st and Maupas encompass a mini-design district with Picker Joe’s Antique Mall and Vintage Market, LaSource furnishing and finishes, Towne Salon, Garden State Tile, Leah Bailey Interiors, The Cottage Shop, Kathi Rich Clothing and John Davis Florist. Greenville, South Carolina-based home and garden shop, the Nested Fig, will join the area soon in the space recently occupied by Emily McCarthy, who outgrew her starter home and ow nis leading the renaissance of East Victory Drive.
Smack in the middle of all this style are a handful of neighborhood-focused food and beverage options situated around a vacant dirt-and-gravel lot. Each sports an inimitable vibe – from authentic Texas-style roadhouse at Over Yonder to hip watering hole Lone Wolf Lounge – but share an easy-going ethos and commitment to quality ingredients that caters to residents rather than hordes of come-heres.
The latest entry, Sixby, opened in July – first with breakfast and lunch service between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. In August, Sixby added snacks, beer and wine from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and beginning the first weekend in October, they expand service to seven days a week with Friday night oysters and wine pairings, and all-day brunch menus Saturday and Sunday.
A match made in foodie heaven
The tang of fresh sourdough baguettes and rustic country loaves grabs you first, like those cartoon scent trails that waft through open windows and carry Bugs Bunny toward the pie in the window. They lead you into the courtyard of a low-slung brick building that looks every bit like the former insurance office that it was—until you open the door and find a bright postage stamp-sized kitchen filled with the rich aroma of coffee, bone broth and yeast. It is a heady mix that is slightly disorienting at first until the menu, which changes daily (except for the few breakfast standards) based on what is in season as well as what inspires proprietors Natasha Gaskill and Matthew Palmerlee, captures your attention.
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The two met about four years ago after Palmerlee moved to Savannah from Atlanta. Their mutual friend, Chris Wilkins of the late-great Root Baking Co. in Atlanta, introduced them. Wilkins and Palmerlee had both worked with Hugh Acheson, and Gaskill met Wilkins when he headed the bread program at The Florence, Acheson’s Southern Italian venture into the Savannah market that closed in 2017.
About the time Gaskill was leaving her position as The Grey’s pastry chef, celebrated Savannah mixologist (and astute matchmaker) Jane Fishel (Savoy Society, Colleagues & Lovers) mentioned to Gaskill that Palmerlee, who had been heading up Loki Food Bus at Starland Yard, was trying to start up Hotel Lugash, a swank bar food concept with a sly reference to the fictional country in the Pink Panther films. Fishel’s sister Clara had been showing him some properties.
Gaskill had been playing with the idea for years of opening a mid-priced breakfast-lunch bakery anchored in superior breads and fresh ingredients. She had her eye on an asymmetrical midcentury purple house at 6 Bee Road on Savannah’s east side that she later learned had been the home of the area’s medicine woman. She felt such a connection to the place and journaled her aspirations until 6 Bee became Sixby in her personal vernacular for this imagined space.
“Initially the idea was that we’d find a space that could operate Hotel Lugash, which is a night concept, and then Sixby would be the daytime component, so the building would be used all day long,” said Gaskill over coffee one a recent morning. “Then, we could basically split costs. It’d be more advantageous for both of use to be in one building instead of a bakery sitting empty at night and a bar sitting empty during the day.”
And then, like everything else during the pandemic, prices went “cuckoo,” spiraling ever upward. “We got priced out of every possible scenario for an actual building to own,” lamented Gaskill.
But that time of looking and waiting gave the pair as chance to test concepts and recipes through sweet and savory pop-up ice cream socials, a booth at the Forsyth Farmers’ Market, and a snack pop-up at Lone Wolf Lounge that led to them learning about the availability of the adjacent insurance building that had been unoccupied since 1986.
What has Savannah long needed? Original and healthy offerings
Since opening three months ago, Sixby has been steadily busy – not at all a surprise because Savannah has long needed an affordable walk-up with tasty offerings – a grab-and-go or sit-and-linger-in-the-shade spot with hearty nibbles for breakfast, lunch or dinner that does not smack of recycled New Southern cuisine concepts. On the contrary, Sixby is original and … healthy with copious vegetable-forward offerings.
Protein bites are made with a rotating assemblage of nut butters and fruits. The turmeric tonic enlivens the morning with a robust, gingery zing – a wake-up call if there ever was one. Salad for breakfast with a steamy cup of phở-style chicken bone broth? Sign me up, along with the overnight oats.
For lunch, the seasonal pear salad light, bright and crisp – a nod to a fall season that never really happens in Savannah. The sandwiches are hearty and flavorful on sourdough, milk and challah breads made on site. Sweets are airy and memorable, like the almond snack cake that pays homage to Gaskill’s mother, who died earlier this summer. Palmerlee’s beet-and-tahini dip, marinated olives, deviled ham and squash soup snacks, when paired and shared with Mallory Sims’s wine selections, makes a delightful alfresco dinner.
“We wanted food that you’re going to want to eat while you’re sitting outside under these trees and having a glass of wine,” said Palmerlee. “Simple and quick pickups, you know, like a chicken liver mousse and terrines and potted ham, and always try to have some sort of vegetable thing that is easy and good to execute.”
Gaskill has been surprised by the breadth of patrons, from college students to seniors. “They’re all about healthy options.”
And the bakers are constantly humming with orders for Parker House rolls and other breads for Husk, Late Air, Provisions, Repeal, Sobremesa, Good Fortune Market and other restaurant partners.
Palmerlee hopes to bring in a midweek farmers’ market for the neighborhood in the future. On the back courtyard that connects Over Yonder, Lone Wolf and Sixby, music and other entertainment are in the planning stages – all with the goal of creating community.
Amy Paige Condon is the content coach and an editor at the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at [email protected].
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