Southern 'tails in Santa Monica

When dignitaries visit, they smooth out their reception by offering gifts representative of their culture -- Hawaiians arrive bearing macadamia nuts and Kona coffee, while the English arrive bearing Liam and Noel Gallagher. For the gifts of the South, try... South, opening tonight.

Started by a pair of ex-Georgians and one Tulane grad, South's a semi-rustic bar-staurant decked out with B&W shots of Elvis, the Kentucky Derby, Bourbon Street, and other bastions of whacked out stupification. The pan-Southern menu encompasses the Southwest (chicken-fried steak, sour-cream drenched nachos), Southeast (North Carolina-style pork bbq), Deep South (honey-pepper fried chicken), and Cajun Country -- Canal Street jambalaya, bbq oysters/shrimp, and "cheesy sausage bread", served annually at Jazz Fest, and nightly in your cheesy sausage dreams. Drinks-wise, there are drunk-on-the-porch classics like Mint Juleps and Lynchburg Lemonades, plus Texas' Shiner Bock and Louisiana's Abita Purple Haze and Dixie -- who, while repairing their brewery from Katrina damage, have temporarily relocated to the heartland of the South: Monroe, Wisconsin.

South also boasts a large patio, which'll soon play host to N'Orleans brass jazz nights and gospel brunches, which in turn offer the greatest gift of all: God, and the opportunity to spastically thrash around on the floor while sober.