Haberdish was a southern kitchen with a craft cocktail bar.   The name was a combination of haberdashery with dish meant to bring  the “mill town’s history to life through food.”  The owners, Jeff Tonidandel and wife Jamie Brown own several other restaurants in town.  It was a large place with an equally spacious covered patio on the side.  Brick walls, an open ceiling with ductwork, music in the background, and lots of hanging plants surrounded a long wall of bench seating, and dozens of tables and seats at the long bar counter.  The table tops were made with wood from the rafters of their building with bar taps being made from reused spindles from a mill.  We were there for lunch and it was fairly bright but windows were on the street wall and also to the patio.  The food was heavy, but that’s southern, and lacked nuance of flavor.   That being said it was reasonably good if it’s the type of food you’re looking for.   I’ve been to places that serve southern, heavy food that makes you want to come back again like Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room in Savannah and not sure this place falls in that category.

Set-Up

Food

The Fried Chicken Sandwich was made with brined boneless chicken thighs.  The sandwich held red cabbage slaw, bread and butter pickles, and dressed with honey butter and mayo on a potato roll.  There was a thick very crispy coating on the chicken and the meat stayed fairly moist.  The ‘dressings’ were tasty but really sticky if you tried to hold the sandwich in your hands.  On the other side though, it was very hard to cut if you tried to use a knife and fork.  The pickles were wonderful.  The server thoughtfully brought a wet towel to clean up afterward.

It came with a side of potato wedges but you could substitute other sides for a fee, which we did.  We chose the Mac and Cheese which was a creamy three-cheese mornay sauce, baked cheese top and we added the spicy, crispy chicken skins.  Now you really have heavy.  The corkscrew pastas were well coated with cheese and cream and some hot sauce was already on the top.  However they didn’t have the creaminess I like in mac n’ cheese – it was almost dry.  There was a bottle of habanero sauce on the table if you wanted more spice and that wasn’t a bad idea as the sauce they added had more of a tabasco or vinegar flavor.  The chicken skins were breaded balls of fried skin which helped them keep their crunch but lost some of that chicken flavor.  It was easily enough for 2 and maybe three.