Downtown Chattanooga Archives - Page 21 of 21

Taco Mamacita-August 6, 2011

August 9, 2011

Saturday night we decided that we were going to go downtown to eat and then pick up groceries at Greenlife after. Our first thought was to go to The Terminal, but because it was Saturday evening we weren’t too sure how long we’d end up waiting if we went to a more “bar-ish” restaurant. We tossed around a couple of ideas and then Philip suggested Taco Mamacita. I had been once, and, to be honest, was not bowled over that first time. Not that there was anything bad, I just wasn’t dying to go back. Since Philip hadn’t been, though, I was willing to give it another try-and I’m glad I did.

We got there pretty early-around 5:30 or so-so we didn’t have to wait at all. We walked right in and got seated, and our server came over immediately, took our drink orders (two waters, of course), and talked to us about the menu. I had tried their chips and salsa the first time I was there, so we ordered chips and queso. They came out very quickly. The chips were hot and fresh, and the cheese sauce was very similar to what you get in more “traditional” Mexican restaurants, but a thicker with a little more complexity to the flavor (look at me throwing out all the fancy terms!). Still, pretty much standard queso-which is not a bad thing.

Our server went over the menu with us really quickly when she took our drink orders. She recommended that if we were really hungry we would probably want to get a salad or enchiladas, which are both a full meal. Philip’s ears perked when she pointed out the brisket rancheros enchiladas (I believe I have mentioned that he has a thing for brisket) but in the end we both decided that the name of the restaurant isTACO Mamacita, so we wanted to get the namesake. We each ordered the two tacos and a side meal.

I decided on the Oy Vey (slow-cooked chipotle beef brisket, topped with ranchero sauce, crispy lettuce, pico de gallo, monterey jack cheese, guacamole, and fresh escabeche), the black bean taco (housemade black bean cake topped with crema, crispy lettuce, pico de gallo, monterey jack cheese, guacamole, and fresh escabeche), and Mexican street corn (off the cob). Philip decided on the Memphis (slow-braised pork, diced white onion, chopped dill pickle, jalapeno corn slaw, dry rub seasoning, and barbecue sauce) and the Taco Royale (double-stacked taco-yes, as in double decker a la Taco Bell-with roasted chicken, salsa verde, shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, crumbled chorizo, black bean mash, and chipotle cream sauce) with churros beans, which our server described as beans in a vinaigrette. Those four tacos really just scratched the surface-Taco Mamacita offers fourteen different tacos!

As I mentioned before, I wasn’t totally sold on my first try here. I guess I ordered the wrong thing! My tacos were really, really great today. The chipotle in the brisket gave a really nice smoky flavor, and all the different flavors and textures really worked together. I wasn’t too sure about a “black bean cake” on a taco, but the server recommended it (she pointed out that the shrimp po’boy BLT taco I was contemplating was “pretty fattening.” She clearly doesn’t know me!) and I was willing to give it a try. I wasn’t sad that I did! It was like a great black bean burger, but on a taco. The corn was really good, too….but it was corn. No big news there. Philip’s “Memphis” taco was simply fantastic. I will definitely order it when I go back. It had all the classic barbecue flavors, and the dill pickle really set off the flavor. I didn’t try the Taco Royale, but Philip said that it was really good. The charros beans were very interesting-I’ve never had beans in vinaigrette before. Tasty!

Oy Vey on the left, black bean on the right...

...and again

Taco Royale in front, Memphis in back...

AAAANNNNND again!

By the way, Taco Mamacita serves their tacos on flour tortillas. I really prefer corn, but I guess with all the toppings flour tortillas hold together a lot better (corn tortillas fall apart if you look at them too hard!). I was hoping that they were housemade, but my server checked and told me that they buy them. However, she did point out when she was going over the menu with us that everything is made fresh to order, so if you want them to leave something off (or add something, I presume) they’ll be happy to do so.

I always feel like I should at least mention atmosphere, and with a lot of small local restaurants I feel bad because I am always trying to gloss over the lack of decor. I don’t feel like it’s necessary to judge a restaurant on its appearance, but Taco Mama definitely has atmosphere. It’s brightly (but not eye-jarringly) decorated with large pictures on the wall, decorative tabletops, and pendant light fixtures. There’s also a patio so you can eat outside if you like, but it was so hot that we did not think that was a good idea! There were families with children there, so I think it’s safe to say that it’s a family-friendly atmosphere (the toddler sitting at the table next to us apparently enjoyed his/her food, as it was all over the floor!).

If you are in the mood for Mexican food with an interesting twist, I’d definitely recommend that you try Taco Mamacita. They are located at 109 North Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37405 (the old Durty Nelly’s location). They can be reached at 423-648-6262. Check out their website or Facebook page.

Riverside Food Works-July 14, 2011

July 16, 2011

July 14 was mine and Philip’s 10th wedding anniversary! To celebrate, we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Food Works. It crossed my mind that maybe we should try a restaurant we hadn’t been to, but then there’s always the chance that you’re going to get a dud and be disappointed. Stick with what you know for special occasions! Here’s a picture that our server took of us:Anyway…enough with the shameless celebrating our 10 years of marital bliss! Let’s get down to business.

Food Works is a restaurant that many love, and some loathe. As for the loathers, I don’t really understand. I will say that I have ordered a couple of dishes that I did not like, but the ones that I did overshadowed those that I didn’t. Perhaps if my first experience had been a bad one, I would feel differently. I, for example, would not recommend the roasted red pepper alfredo with chicken added….but I have learned that I never like pasta dishes in restaurants that have chicken added. The chicken always tastes to me like it just came out of the freezer, so I just avoid them. I have, however, heard others say they like this dish, so to each his own. So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, on to the experience of the night.

Food Works takes reservations as well as walk-ups. We always make reservations just in case we happen to go on a night that the city decided to come out in droves before 7 p.m. You never know. For this night, we decided to go at 5:30. I guess we were feeling particularly elderly (remember that commercial a few years ago-it’s fun to eat at 4:30 p.m.! Anyway….). Lucky we did! From 4-6 p.m., an early bird special is available. With the early bird, each diner gets a starter, entree, and dessert for $20 per person. Not all menu items are included on the early bird menu, but there was a good selection, and we both found what we had in mind.

Philip ordered the Caesar salad (which is his standard salad order, except at Food Works-more on that in a minute) and shrimp and grits. While I generally try to change up my order when we come here, Philip ordered shrimp and grits on our first visit, and he loved it so much he has never ordered anything else. And he won’t order shrimp and grits anywhere else, for fear of being disappointed if/when they do not measure up. The shrimp and grits is sauced with a creamy, slightly spicy sauce that contains small bits of Tasso ham, and rather than spoonable grits, the grits are a cheesy, fried grit cake. I have tasted it, and it is wonderful. I won’t even attempt this at home, because I know I’ll never make the cut. The Caesar salad is good-very peppery, with ciabatta croutons cooked in butter (!) over whole leaves from romaine hearts. Once our salads came, though, Philip remembered that he usually orders the house salad, because even though the Caesar is good, the house is better.

Hearts of Romaine, House Caesar Dressing, Parmesan, Cracked Pepper, and House-Made Croutons

Sauteed Gulf Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Green Onions over a Smoked Cheddar Grit Cake served with a Tasso Scampi Cream Sauce

So, now, let me tell you about my order. I ordered the house salad and the Food Works burger, medium, with cheddar cheese (if I trust my source, I always order my burgers medium. Steaks medium-rare. Mmmmmm.). The house salad here is to die for, and I always order it, even though it’s pretty expensive at $6 and I would never pay that price anywhere else. It’s mixed greens, sliced Roma tomatoes, candied pecans, and bacon with a honey-balsamic vinaigrette, and it is so good. That’s all I can say about it. I’ve never had a salad this good anywhere else. Their burger is fantastic as well, one of my favorites in town, although I was slightly disappointed that mine was more medium-well than medium, but it still tasted great, and the sky was looking pretty ominous so I wasn’t going to hang out to wait on another one. I was still happy. The bun was grilled, slightly charred even, and I thought that really added to the flavor and texture of the burger. The onions were grilled as well, or else they would have been instantly removed from my burger. The fries were nothing special-skin-on, seasoned-but very good all the same.

Fresh Greens, Tomatoes, Smoked Bacon, and Candied Pecans Tossed in a House Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

8 Oz Angus Burger Grilled to Order with Green Leaf Lettuce, Grilled Red Onions, Tomatoes, Kosher Pickles, & Aioli on a Kaiser Roll with Fries

For dessert, Philip was torn between the creme brulee (he loves creme brulee) and the coffee bread pudding, but chose the bread pudding after (a) I reminded him that I would be making it in a couple of weeks when my aunt visits; and (b) our server recommended it over everything else on the menu. He was not disappointed. It was a GIGANTIC hunk of “Heath Bar” bread pudding (he actually brought about half of it home), warm with coffee-flavored creme anglaise (basically a custard sauce). I tasted it, and it really was delicious.

House made Heath Bar Bread Pudding with Coffee Creme Anglaise

I decided on the strawberry shortcake. It was decidedly simple, basically just a biscuit with strawberries and whipped cream. The strawberries were macerated (a fancy word for marinated, maceration kind of breaks the strawberries down a little, softens them, draws out some of the juice and creates a syrup) in Grand Marnier (an orange-flavored liqueur). I could taste the orange; it wasn’t overpowering but added to the overall flavor. The biscuit was warm, which added a nice temperature contrast to the cold strawberries. The biscuits tasted good, but I’m gonna toot my own horn here for just a second and tell you that my homemade biscuits are better.

The strawberry shortcake is not listed in the current online menu, so unfortunately, I have no "menu description" to provide here! See the preceding paragraph for details.

With our early bird special, we got two (usually very expensive) salads, two entrees, and two desserts (we almost always drink water wherever we go) for $40+tax+a 15% tip that was automatically added, presumably because it was the early bird special. That’s never happened before, and we did find that a little bizarre, especially since there was no line for an additional tip when the server brought the ticket back for Philip to sign. Luckily, we had some cash (a rare occurrence) so we were able to leave an appropriate tip for our server, Geoff, who did an excellent job. He was friendly and attentive without being overbearing, and he was very knowledgeable about the food. I was very impressed at the questions that he asked about specific components of each item that we ordered. Plus, he took our picture! I feel very strongly that great servers should get a tip that matches their level of service.

I meant to take some pictures of the interior. Food Works is located in the old knitting mill on Manufacturer’s Road, and I really love the atmosphere. If no one in your party has trouble with stairs, I recommend that you ask to be seated upstairs; it really does make a difference in the ambiance.

Riverside Food Works is located in the Signal Knitting Mill at 205 Manufacturer’s Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. For reservations, call 423-752-7487. They open at 11 a.m. daily, serving lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. You can read about them and view their menu on their website; they also have a Facebook page.

The Honest Pint-July 9, 2011

July 9, 2011

A few weeks ago, I purchased a “deal” from Living Social that gave me $30 worth of food at The Honest Pint for $15. I have been itching to try The Pint for several months now, especially since I learned that it is owned by the same people who own The Terminal Brewhouse, one of my absolute favorite restaurants on the planet (and one that I must review ASAP!). This deal gave me the perfect excuse.

When we walked in, we were greeted by a sign telling us that we would have to present our IDs, possibly multiple times, as this was an over-21 establishment. Crap. Bet it smells like smoke in there….well, it wasn’t too bad, but when Marcus, who was tending bar (and who happens to be my brother’s roommate) greeted us, he pointed out the nonsmoking section, which is separated from the smoking section by glass doors. Yea! Separate but equal. Sometimes it can be positive. The smoking section is much, much larger than nonsmoking, but hey, technically it’s a pub, or a bar, or whatever you want to call it. I’m not offended. The decor in this place is just great. I think a lot of it is left over from the previous establishment, Parkway Billiards, but they have definitely added their own flair.

The ceiling. Yes, I took a picture of the ceiling. Someday I want tiles like this on my ceiling.

A quick view of part of the nonsmoking section.....

The server, Juliana, quickly greeted us and pointed out their Saturday and Sunday specials menu, which included a selection of Bloody Marys, several cocktails, and some special entrees (I’ll get to those in a moment) as well as a beer menu (extensive, as would be expected, and their beer focus is on Irish beers and American craft beers, although I assure you that there are beers for the Bud lover too), plus the regular food menu, which contains several traditional Irish dishes with an Honest Pint twist (“herder’s” pie, colcannon, boxty), as well as the things you would expect in any restaurant (sandwiches, salads, etc.) but nothing that was just average. Everything has a twist! They describe their style as a “fusion of American and Irish cooking that will both surprise and impress you.” The entrees on the specials menu included corned beef hash, which meant that there was no choice involved for Philip, a quiche whose name I can’t put my finger on, but that contained pimento cheese (yowza!) and came with a side of breakfast potatoes and bacon jam (more on that later), crepes filled with chicken in an apricot mustard sauce, and an “Honest Happy Meal”, which was corned beef hash, a 20 oz. Guinness, and a toy. I got a good laugh out of that. As much as the quiche appealed, my brother (who is a regular) had recommended the BELT sandwich (which I heard the server call a belt, not a B-E-L-T). Since we had $30 to spend, we also decided to get pommes tots, tater tots fried in duck fat and served with curry ketchup, smoked aioli, and sriracha mayo.

That turned out to be a fantastic decision. I can’t even describe to you how good these things are. I am not a fan of duck as a meat, but duck fat is a wonderful deep-frying medium. So good. So very, very good. The sriracha mayo had a good flavor but was a little spicy for my wimpy tastebuds. The smoked aioli was delicious, and the curry ketchup….well, there are no words. Philip and I were both speechless. It was amazing, and we will be attempting to duplicate that flavor at home. I asked the server, who confirmed that the sauces were, indeed, house made. Score.

Smoked aioli on the left, curry ketchup in the middle, and sriracha mayo on the right. I should have REALLY gotten in there and taken a picture of the tots!

One thing that you should know about Philip is that he truly, truly loves corned beef, and loving corned beef hash is a natural extension of that. I make it once a year, as corned beef is expensive and it generally only goes on sale at St. Patrick’s Day. The hash at The Honest Pint consists of shredded corned beef, cubed potatoes, scrambled eggs, and cheddar cheese. Philip died and went to heaven. He was so happy, in fact, that he tried to convince the chef, Philippe, to come out and accept a hug as a token of Philip’s appreciation, but no dice. He even made a remark to Marcus on the way out somewhere along the lines of “it was the best he’d had,” to which, I, of course bristled. He contended that it was “different” from mine. Perhaps because I leave out the cheese? Or I top mine with a fried egg? Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Corned beef seems to be a much disputed subject. I don't understand this. It tastes GOOOOOOD.

The menu description of the BELT sandwich asserts that “the BLT is the BELT’s girlfriend.” Hahahahahahahaha. The BELT is a standard BLT made with applewood smoked bacon, with the addition of an over-medium fried egg and sriracha mayo, on a pretzel bun (rye is also an option). Again, I ordered this on my brother’s recommendation and also followed his advice and subbed rashers (Irish bacon, which is more like Canadian bacon than what we know as bacon) for the applewood. Good choice-although I am sure that the applewood bacon would have been fantastic too. The sandwiches come with house-made chips, but you can sub in tots or smashed potatoes for a small charge. I went with the chips, though, as I’m a sucker for a good homemade chip, and I was not disappointed. By the way, the chips are delicious dipped in the pommes tots sauces! Now, let me say, this was not lowfat food, as evidenced by the grease on my napkin….but I did not go there looking for lowfat food, so no matter. The sriracha mayo was not overpowering in the least. This is just a great sandwich.

Bacon in all of its forms is good for the soul.

The pièce de résistance of our meal, however, came in the form of a tiny little condiment cup of bacon jam, with a spoon, complements of the chef. Maybe it was a consolation prize for not accepting Philip’s hug? If so….we were consoled. Recently, I saw a show on Cooking Channel highlighting food trucks around the country. A burger truck was putting something called bacon jam on its burgers…and also selling it by the jar. On the internet. I almost bought some, but then I looked up the recipe and decided I could make a lot more for a lot less than I’d pay for that jar, so needless to say, when I saw the words bacon jam with the quiche, my heart started beating just a little faster…and I’ll definitely be ordering that quiche if it’s available the next time I go. Bacon jam is a revelation, my friends. Think of the best things about barbecue-the sweet, the smoke, the salt, the spice-then combine those with bacon, and you have bacon jam. I am glad we complimented the chef!

By the way, The Honest Pint is also a music venue, spotlighting local artists. Philip is hoping to line up a show there soon!

This was one of the best restaurant experiences we have had. Ever. The service was great, the atmosphere was great, and the food was beyond great. The prices also made me happy, since only a very few items topped $10, and we had trouble spending $30…our total was $27 and some change. We will definitely go back-many times.

The Honest Pint is located at 35 Patten Parkway, Chattanooga, TN 37402. They can be reached at 423-468-4192. Check out their website and like them on Facebook. And if you go, be sure to tell them that Chattavore sent you-we gotta spread the word!

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