In record restaurant time, Flora and Fauna’s Supper Club established itself as something special in Savannah’s dining landscape, offering a “relaxed yet refined menu” in the French prix-fixe convention.

This coming Tuesday, FARM Hospitality Group’s (FHG) Starland darling will continue its monthly guest-chef event dinners with Kyle Jacovino, chef-owner of Pizzeria Vittoria, joining Brandon Carter and Opie Crooks in the kitchen.

Before you swipe away from this story to make a reservation, the 65 seats for this F+F Collab Series supper sold out in under 24 hours.

“We posted it on Instagram, and it took off,” said Carter, FARM’s executive chef and founder, adding with a smile, “It’s Kyle. Everybody loves Kyle.”

With Flora and Fauna closed full-stop on Tuesdays, Carter and Crooks, FHG’s culinary director, figured that they could “fill that dead space with some energy,” per the former, with these regularly scheduled pop-in pop-ups.

“We’re doing one a month for now, and we’ll see what happens,” Carter said.

“This one is, kind of, to promote and to kick off Kyle’s new concept on the end of the block here,” continued Carter, referring to Lucia, slated to open in the former Starland Dairy come spring.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think it’s a complete representation of Lucia,” Jacovino said of what he will serve at F+F. “It’s more a bunch of us having some fun cooking and me knocking some rust off so I don’t feel like a joker when I open Lucia.”

SUPER TUESDAYS

Flora and Fauna’s first guest-chef pop-up dinner was held on October 15 and featured Juan Stevenson and his Juju’s Street Eats concept.

“The first one was wildly successful and also sold out,” said Carter of the inaugural event, which was a little different because Carter and Crooks are helping “guide [Stevenson] on his journey” to establish his brand.

“Inherently, it was a collaboration,” said Carter.

FARM Hospitality Group has more than lived up to its own middle name in its dedication to the pop-up movement. Crooks estimated that Common Thread has hosted twenty-odd event dinners, for the most part one-offs with out-of-town chefs, though one was Jacovino.

At Strange Bird, Chris ‘Chino’ Hathcock and Stevenson have both helmed guest gigs.

“It’s fun,” Crooks said.

“I think it’s definitely collaborative fun. We try to be selective with who we’re choosing,” said Carter, alluding to food friends within the FARM family and other chefs who are already a presence in their world.

Or simply in the neighborhood.

Starting Tuesday, the Collab Series will be complete close-quarters cooperation: Jacovino and perhaps a “key player” culinary cohort will cook alongside F+F folks to prepare a three-course carte.

“We do like this format,” added Carter of the $55 prix fixe menus that offer a few add-ons, just like the established Supper Club.

“We’re hoping that the price point is such that you can come twice a month,” Crooks said, and the FHG pair want to keep these special events special to ensure a full and lively dining room each time.

“The price point’s approachable, and there’s value. That’s the big thing,” echoed Carter.

Two Collab Series Tuesdays are already on December’s docket, the first starring Daniel Aranza and Felipe Vera of FHG’s Strange Bird, bringing Guapo Cartel down Bull Street on December 3.

“That’s a coined phrase in the kitchen of Strange Bird,” Carter said with a grin. “That one will be cool because it’s not going to be what they normally do.”

A week ago, FHG chefs did culinary battle in Telfair Museums’ first Palette to Palate competition in which 300 guests tasted and voted Strange Bird’s duck with a white mole the winner.

In a bit of Smallvannah kitchen kismet: Vera was part of the crew who came to Savannah from Hugh Acheson’s 5&10 (Athens) to open up The Florence alongside Jacovino back in 2014.

On December 17, the Jacaranda and Red Palm Collab Series supper will feature Caribbean and West African fare from Todd Harris and FHG chef Modou Jaideh, who hails from Gambia.

“Moudo had a pop-up brand that he was doing in Denver called Jacaranda, which showcases food from home, and Todd’s doing the Red Palm,” Carter said. “We thought it’d be nice to pair them together since they’re cooking food that has similar roots.”

Considering how fast the first two Collab Series dinners sold out, get online quickly when these next ones go live.

A BIG NIGHT

With a chuckle, Jacovino supposed that his last night of cheffing a plated service was at Common Thread back in 2021, a Creature Comforts Beer Dinner.

“I almost forgot how to cook, you know?” he joked.

All of the 60-plus guests who will be eating his creations on Tuesday can rest assured that they are in for treat after treat.

The first course will “fill the table with snacks,” said Carter. “Choose your own adventure. That will be the antipasto,” a medley of “little one-biters” made by both Jacovino and Carter & Crooks’s crew.

The second courses will be pasta, and Jacovino has planned to prepare balanzoni, a “larger-sized tortelloni that’s usually done with a spinach dough,” stuffed with a sweet potato filling and mascarpone and served with country ham and a crème fraîche-based sauce.

“It’ll be my first time putting another pasta plate out in Savannah in quite some time, for sure,” said the chef.

Also on the menu will be a rabbit cacciatore, what Jacovino called “a little peasant food,” braised with tomatoes and served over polenta, and three add-ons, two from Jacovino to “showcase him,” said Carter.

Vittoria cannolis will make a dolce appearance alongside whatever F+F bakes up.

“More or less having some fun and cooking with Brandon and Opie was the point,” Jacovino said of the one-night-only opportunity.

“Flora + Fauna and Vittoria are neighbors, and Lucia is going to be right next door,” he continued. “It’s just the synergy of being neighbors and cooking together. That’s the most fun part.”

LUCIA IN STARLAND ON THE HORIZON

“Lucia is looking like we should be opening by spring,” Jacovino shared, eying either a March or April start date for what he is calling a pasta bar.

Borrowing from the omakase atmosphere, he wants to create a “fun, interactive experience” in which diners covet one of the twelve seats at the bar but can always choose a table in the larger but cozy dining room.

“Right when you walk in, you’re going to be greeted by the chefs,” said Jacovino, and on dim-sum-esque menus, diners will check off their choices.

“Opie and I are going to have a standing reservation,” Carter hinted with another smile.

“I’ve always been a fanboy of Kyle, and I respect how difficult it is to pioneer something,” added the FARM founder.

“Quite honestly, I credit Kyle,” he continued. “He was part of the catalyst for this new food movement in Savannah. When The Florence opened, it was immediately the best pizza in town and pasta, and I think that we are still looking for that pasta.”

A few dozen folks will find and feast on that pasta on Tuesday night.

Flora + Fauna’s Collaboration Dinner featuring Chef Kyle Jacovino (Tuesday, November 12) is already sold-out, but visit resy.com/cities/savannah-ga/venues/flora-and-fauna/events to book a table for the next event.

This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.