If you are familiar with the literature of the South, you'll notice that the author always devotes a long paragraph or even a page to the art of dining. The writer rhapsodizes at great length, describing the various platters heaped with steaming meats and vegetables, the family gorging itself on a plenitude of delicious dishes. A whole culture takes shape around the dinner table and in the kitchen, where the cook and her helpers pull recipes from generations past.

To walk into Lady and Sons is to find yourself in a dining room from another era. The walls are a pale-peach color, covered in delicate ivy murals, and the wooden floors creak comfortably as you are shown to your table, which is also made of aged wood and which greets you like an old friend. The white mantel, over which hangs a clock of the sort your grandparents may have had in their dining rooms, adds to the feeling of home.

Then comes the food. As you ponder the menu, a server circulates with a large plate heaped with enormous cheese biscuits, which are at once thick and fluffy. And if you are offered a hoecake, by all means take one. It's like a small pancake, but made of corn meal and flour, and the Lady thoughtfully provides a small pitcher of syrup for sweetening. Have one, or two -- you won't be able to help yourself. When you order an appetizer, we recommend either the creamy crab stew or the fried green tomatoes, which come with a honey-mustard dipping sauce.

At Lady and Sons, you may take your dinner in one of two ways. You may order an entrée. The grouper is particularly delicious, tender and covered in a sweet glaze, served with summer squash, carrots and asparagus, as well as with seasoned rice leavened with bits of tomato. Other favorites include Lowcountry Crab Cakes prepared with Savannah Blue Crab, BBQ Shrimp and Grits or Black Pepper Shrimp. All these are prepared with recipes from the Lady herself.

Your other alternative is the buffet, and what a buffet it is! You have an amazing array of choices, beginning with the fried chicken, which has a soft batter that covers the tender meat within. There is also corned beef and cabbage, the strips of beef melting almost before they are introduced to your mouth. And you have a selection of sweet creamed corn, lima beans, smashed potatoes with thick bits of skin mixed in, rich macaroni and cheese with just the right amount of crust, rice, collard greens and black-eyed peas, as well as a rich garden salad with a variety of dressings

For dessert you can try the banana pudding, covered in a generous helping of homemade whipped cream, or a rich, chocolate-chip gooey bar (after which you'll have to be rolled out the door), or a dish of the Lady's hand-churned ice cream, made fresh every day. We suggest that you take a prolonged moment between the main course and the dessert. Let your meal settle a bit.

The Lady, known to her friends as Paula Dean, prepares the same dishes that she enjoyed growing up. For the last eight years she and her sons, Bobby and Jamie, have served Savannah a variety of lunch and dinner specials and buffets. Tlhey have cultivated a devoted following. Within the last year the Lady has published a cookbook, The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook, which is available across the country, and she's gained national recognition on television's "Good Morning, America" for her brand of delicious, traditional Southern cooking. The Lady invites you to come join her at her table for a taste of the old South.

Lady and Sons is located at 311 W. Congress St. Lunch hours are Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m.;, and Sun. (buffet only), 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Dinner hours are Mon.-Wed., 5-9 p.m., and Thurs.-Sat., 5-10 p.m. The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook is available in stores across the Historic District or can be purchased by calling 800-793-BOOK.