About Linen
Our story
A wine bar for people who like wine, and for people who’d like to like it. Opened in 2019, still run by the people who started it.
How it started
An old linen shop, a short list and a lot of candles
Camille Dufresne grew up three miles from Barnard Lane and spent twelve years on restaurant floors in Savannah, Charleston and Atlanta. She also worked two harvests, one in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and one in the Loire, and came home sure of two things: wine is better with food, and nobody should be made to feel small for asking what a word means.
In 2019 she found an empty building that had been a linen supply shop for sixty years. She kept the brick, the long zinc bar and the name, and opened Linen in March with a 12-bottle list and a kitchen the size of a one-car garage.
We got through 2020 by selling bottles and take-home dinners from the front window. The neighbors who bought them are the reason there are 28 chairs in the dining room today.
- 2019Opened in March
- 20Wines by the glass
- 28Dining room seats
- 16In the Back Room
The people
Three people run Linen, and you’ll see all of them most nights.
- CD
Camille Dufresne
Owner and wine director
Grew up three miles from the restaurant and spent twelve years on dining room floors in Savannah, Charleston and Atlanta before opening Linen.
Advanced Sommelier
- RQ
Rafael Quintero
Chef
Born in Savannah, trained in Madrid and Charleston. Cooks what the Georgia coast and the farms west of town have that week.
- JT
Josie Tran
General manager and events
Runs the floor, the schedule and the private dinners. If you called about the Back Room, you talked to Josie.
How we cook and pour
We buy from people we can name. Shrimp and oysters come from the Georgia coast, rice from the Carolina Lowcountry, vegetables from three farms west of town. When something’s at its best we put it on the menu, and when it’s gone we take it off.
The wine list is the same idea: small growers, honest farming, real places. Most of it is French, Italian, Spanish and Oregonian, because that’s where Camille knows the people, and a bottle you can’t find at the grocery store is the point.
A look around
The bar, the dining room and the glasses, polished every afternoon at three.
What our guests say
- ★★★★★
“I told Camille I liked Chablis and didn’t know what else, and she poured me a Grüner I’ve thought about for a week. The shrimp and grits is the real thing. We stayed two hours and never felt hurried.”
Elena V.Dinner at the barReview on Google - ★★★★★
“We did the Fennimore Ridge dinner last month. Four courses, five wines, and the winemaker walked the room and talked to every table. Best $95 I’ve spent in Savannah.”
Jared & Priya K.Winemaker dinnerReview on Google - ★★★★★
“We booked the Back Room for my mother’s 70th, 14 of us. Josie sorted the menu, the allergies and the cake. Nobody had to think about anything except being there.”
Tom H.Private dining, 14 guestsReview on Google
Come say hello
The bar is first come, first served. Or reserve a table and we’ll have the candles lit.