Food Tour of Augusta, GA with a trip to Columbia, SC

Dave and I just spent six days in Georgia visiting my best friend of fourteen years. We went down to attend her wedding, but made sure to leave ourselves extra time to see the cities we were visiting and to spend time with my friend, her daughter and her husband.

While we were there we spent time in three cities: Augusta (where my best friend is stationed in the Navy, also home to the Masters Tournament), Columbia (the capital of South Carolina) and Savannah (the oldest city in Georgia).

This blog will be about the first two cities, there were so many great places in Savannah I decided to split this into two posts. 

There are many different kinds of vegetarians. Pescatarians are vegetarians who eat seafood. I am an Ovo-lacto vegetarian which means that I will eat eggs and dairy products, but not seafood. The South can be a difficult place to eat if you do not eat seafood, but I think that I was able to hit some highlights in all three locations.

The Boll Weevil was our first stop in Augusta. I had been here previously and knew that everything would be really great. It is near the Riverwalk which is very nice.

The first place that Dave and I went for dinner was the Boll Weevil Cafe and Sweetery in Augusta, GA.

This is the tomato apple soup. It is divine. The tomatoes are tangy and the pieces of apple bring a subtle sweetness. 

Fried Green Tomatoes with creamy horseradish and balsamic vinegar reduction.

A quintessential part of Southern Cooking. The green tomatoes are tangy, the sauce added heat and the balsamic finished it off with a nice vinegar taste. Some of my favorite fried green tomatoes are from the Boll Weevil.

The Black Bean Quesadilla: Black beans, onion, peppers and cheese.
These were good, served in a sun-dried tomato quesadilla.

Lastly dessert. This Turtle Crunch cheesecake had traditional cheesecake, a rich fudge layer, pecans and a healthy topping of whipped cream and caramel.
This is why we split meals at restaurants.

For dinner the next night we headed downtown again to go the The Bee's Knees, a tapas bar. Tapas are small tasting portions, perfect for sharing so Dave and I split three meals. They also serve full sized meals.

For dinner the next night we went to the Bee's Knees in downtown Augusta, GA.

This is an orange cream martini with vanilla vodka, triple sec, cream and orange juice.
I am a martini connoisseur. It was a little strong (of course!) but tasty.

This was my favorite.
Fresh tortilla chips, smoked gouda, black beans, tomatoes, scallions, jalapeno, sriracha sour cream and cilantro (which we removed, I hate cilantro).
This had the perfect amount of heat and saltiness. 

Veggie Tempura.
Tempura fried sweet potato, onion, red pepper and zucchini with a sweet soy sauce.
I liked the zucchini and red pepper the best. Dave enjoyed the sweet potato. 

Tortilla Espanola. Potato and onion Spanish omelet with tomato, sour cream and scallions.
This was pretty heavy, it was tasty, but all of the protein from the eggs was filling.

For lunch on the third day we headed downtown again to Farm Haus. This is a burger joint where you order at the counter and they bring the food out to you.

This is just a plain vanilla milkshake, but they offered a variety of alcoholic milkshakes!

This is the build-your-own burger with an "organic sea island red pea veggie pattie" on an organic wheat roll, roasted garlic aioli, butter lettuce, dill pickle, tomato, grilled onion and aged Cheddar. 

Even when you're on vacation, sometimes you need to take a break. On the third night of our stay we made Tortellini Bake.

We spent a night at home and made some Tortellini Bake with Garlic Naan bread from Trader Joe's.
Tortellini Bake is my most popular blog post, find the recipe here.

We took a day trip to South Carolina on our last day in Augusta. It was about an hour and a half to two hours away (depending on traffic). We stopped at the State Museum and had lunch at the Motor Supply Co. Bistro.

Motor Supply Co. Bistro in Columbia, SC.
The menu changes daily!

Truffle and Cauliflower Puree. A tasty soup, this was a good portion size.
Dave thought this one was just okay.

Mixed vegetable stir-fry in a finger-sweet soy sauce.
The sauce on this was very good, it was much sweeter than typical soy sauce.

Fried Green Tomatoes with Melon Relish served over Curly Greens tossed in EVOO with a Berry-Thyme Reduction.

This salad was one of the best things we ate in the South.
I really want to recreate this one for the blog.
The melon relish was perfection, the berry-thyme reduction was tart and the fried green tomatoes tangy.

Peanut Butter Bar with Caramel Sauce.
Peanut Butter and Chocolate are some of my favorites. 

The last evening of our stay in Augusta my best friend and I left the boys at home and went to a new place in downtown Augusta for a mini-bachelorette party. This place was owned by the same people who own Farm Haus. They don't take reservations so we were waiting for a while before we got seated. Craft & Vine allows you to order drinks while you wait in their plush seating area.

Sadly, when I went back and looked at their online menu the drinks were different than what we had ordered! I'll do my best to let you know what we ordered.

This drink was made with rum and strawberry puree. 

This was their sangria of the night.

This one had Green Chartruese in it. I do not recommend ever ordering something if you don't know what it is, the liquor was a mix of 130 different herbs. It was one of the worst drinks I've ever had. 

For dinner I had imported olives with citrus and olive oil.

Wood Fired Salted Pretzel Bites with Smoked Beer Cheese.
These were awesome. A perfect tasting portion and the beer cheese was great.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Dave's favorite restaurant that we went to was Motor Supply Co. Bistro in Columbia. We had really great service and he was the one who ordered the Fried Green Tomato Salad. My favorite was The Bees Knees there were so many different options and the Smoked Gouda Nachos were one of the best things that we ate. The portions were perfect and you could try as many things as you wanted due to the tapas.

Dave and I absolutely feel in love with the city. We also tried a lot of great places. Check back tomorrow for the Food Tour of Savannah, GA.