Steffens Restaurant Kingsland Georgia

 Steffens Restaurant Kingsland Georgia

 

In my morning quest for a satisfying breakfast that I can’t make myself, I followed the well-marked GPS trail to a tiny town in South Georgia.

 

How many times have I asked myself, what in hades did we do before GPS????  Now I remember.  Maps.  I also remember getting lost and cursing states that didn’t put up enough blanity-blank road signs.  And why did the powers that be label the road County Road 56, when on the map it was State Road 428?  

 

Now, in the age of technology, all I need to hear is a sweet voice of my choosing say, “Turn right here. Continue on this road for 4.6 miles.”  Bless you, sweetheart and bless your mother for giving birth!

 

But, on to breakfast.  Steffens Restaurant is near Kingsland, not IN Kingsland.  I think.  In this neck of the woods, it’s hard to tell.  Nothing else was nearby.  

 

I park in the well used parking lot, shrug my shoulders, put on my mask, and walk into the 1950s.  Steffens has colorful tabletops, a real lunch counter, and heavy porcelain coffee mugs that remind me Steffens has been here since 1948. Above the coffee machines behind the lunch counter, sit a line of toy cars that run the length.

 

A chalked sign above one of the booths says the ladies of the kitchen have 70 years of experience between the two of them, and they insist on locally grown ingredients.

 

You know the place is good when you have to wait for a booth.  But, we were also invited by a sweet young lady to sit at a table. As much as I yearned to be back in my teenage years and sit at a booth and although we were not short on time, we took her up on the offer.

 

Not surprisingly, there was country fried steak on the menu. After all this was the deep south. Instead I chose another cluster of southern favorites, country eggs benedict.  I knew you’d ask!  Eggs with country ham on English muffins (which the English call crumpets), some cheese, all slathered with sausage gravy, and topped with fried green tomatoes, accompanied by a bowl of buttered grits.

My traveling companion chose the more delicate selection of eggs over medium and cheese grits. Oh, la-ti-da.

 

Everything was delicious, as you would expect in a rural restaurant that has not only survived, but prospered for over 70 years.  

 

The grits were served hot and creamy and my companion’s cheese grits has a cheesy taste, without being over powering. And my country style eggs benedict were such a wonderful blend of flavors, from the saltiness of the country ham to the richness of the sausage gravy, to the crisp and tender taste of the fried green tomatoes.

 

The servings were plentiful as they should be in a southern style eatery and the service was so graciously polite.  This is a place I will return to and next time I’m going to bring some Yankee friends whom I want to introduce to some fine southern cuisine! 

 

Oh hell yes, ya’ll!