By Location Archives - Page 16 of 42

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

October 13, 2014

We don’t do many vacations, so this fall break we decided to trek it up to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for a few days…it was a good decision.

Philip and I are bona fide cheapskates, and one of the implications of this is that we rarely take vacations. This summer, we had good intentions of trying to find a trip to take, but because of the issues with our car and because I ended up working when I hadn’t planned to, it never panned out. The first couple of months of my new job have been pretty exhausting and I decided back in September that I needed to get away from home….away from feeling like I should spend my Fall break cleaning the house, catching up on blog stuff, and inevitably ending up thinking too much about work. We decided to trek it up to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for a few days.

We chose Rehoboth Beach, Delaware because it’s near Milton, the home of Dogfish Head Brewing Company (more on that in a minute). A little hotel searching and we found a great deal right on the beach, by the Rehoboth Boardwalk. We decided to drive up through North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland so that we could check out the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. We left on Saturday and drove to Durham, NC, where we didn’t have time to do much except visit what might have been the busiest mall I’ve ever been to, The Streets at Southpoint. We witnessed two wrecks ON THE EXIT RAMP going to the mall then someone ran the red light while we were in the intersection. Yikes! There were more people than I believe I’ve ever seen in one place. We searched for a restaurant to eat dinner and ended up eating popcorn (that we took with us) and snacks we bought from our hotel lobby (Reese’s cups and Cheetos for the win!) for dinner.

Day two….six and a half hour drive. We started off the day filling our tank across from Lizard Lick Towing, which sounded vaguely familiar, but I had to look it up on my phone to make sure it was actually something famous. My nephews were excited about the picture. Later, our GPS took us off our path, telling us to exit left when we actually needed to exit right…but we corrected quickly and then got to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a nearly 18-mile series of bridges and tunnels over/through the bay connecting Southeastern VA to the Delmarva (get it? Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) peninsula. It was quite a sight to see.

We arrived in early evening at our hotel, the Admiral on Baltimore. The Admiral was nothing fancy, but it was clean, up to date, inexpensive, and right by the beach. We checked in and headed out to grab dinner. I won’t name the place where we ate that night…we were not terribly impressed (if you ever go to Rehoboth Beach, send me an email and I’ll tell you the name of this place so you can avoid it). The food was okay, the service was pretty meh, and the bathroom was disgusting-a unisex bathroom with an unflushed toilet and urine all over the seat and the floor. Nice. At least there were fried pickles….

Day three we started out at Safeway buying food for our room so that we wouldn’t have to dine out for every meal. After lunch we spent the rest of the day checking out all the shops in the Rehoboth Beach downtown area. Unfortunately, some of the shops and restaurants were closed for the season, but we still found enough to occupy several hours. I found several shops with cute clothes, with a bonus being that they were made in the USA (we try to buy made in the USA as much as possible) but nothing fit. Wah WAH. The clerks in the clothing stores (Hula Sue and another whose name I can’t remember!) were very friendly and one of them made a dinner recommendation for us.

Before dinner, though, we had to hit the local ice cream stand (well, one of them), aptly named The Ice Cream Store. They feature over 100 flavors and have been featured on Food Network and several other channels. They also claim to have invented bacon ice cream….so hats off to them! I decided on a cup of the Minty Python-chocolate ice cream with peppermint flavor, chocolate chips, and Junior Mints, topped off with a Peppermint Patty. Hey-O! I love my ice cream minty. Philip decided on the bacon de leche-dulce de leche ice cream with bacon pieces-in a waffle bowl. The ice cream was delicious, but the best part was eating it while we watched the waves crash onto the beach.

For dinner, we followed the sales lady’s recommendation and dined at Pig + Fish and found ourselves wishing that we’d eaten there the night before! They had great happy hour deals so Philip tried Evolution Brewing Company‘s Jacques O’Lantern pumpkin ale, which he really enjoyed. I ordered the fish & chips, served with slaw, lemon-caper tartar sauce, and, of course, a bottle of malt vinegar. Everything about the dish was great and I had to slow myself down so I wouldn’t eat every bite! Philip had the pan crispy chicken, two skin-on, sautéed chicken breast halves served with mashed potatoes, sherry pan jus, and crispy green beans, which was outstanding…perfectly cooked and delicious. The service was fast and friendly and the atmosphere was beautiful-nice, simply decorated, not too noisy. Great place!

Day four we headed to the outlets. Not much to see there, though we did come home with a few things (including a deeply discounted Kate Spade bag that I had to go back for. I canNOT pass up Kate Spade on the cheap!). My most exciting find was four 1 1/2 cup Anchor Hocking glass casserole dishes for making individual pot pies. This is what I do on vacation, people. After that, we took a two-mile walk down the boardwalk and the beach. I wish I’d taken pictures of the houses along the boardwalk. Some of them were truly amazing. We ended up at the Dogfish Head Brewpub for dinner. Dogfish Head Brewing Company is the reason that we went to Rehoboth in the first place, so it seemed fitting that we would eat at some point in the place where it all started. It was burger night so it was hard for us to pass up the great deals on the burgers; I had the Indulgence burger with American cheese, bacon, and an onion ring, while Philip built his own with blue cheese and bacon. We also had some spent-grain pretzel bites with Hop-Pickle dip and truffle mustard (loved the Hop-Pickle dip, made with spicy pickles made by Dogfish Head). The burgers were good too. I had a Nor’easter (essentially a hurricane, made with Dogfish Head wit spiced rhum-no, that isn’t a typo-pineapple juice, orange juice, and grenadine)-strong but quite good. I know my limits…I sipped it through dinner but never finished it. Philip tried the Raison d’être, which he declared excellent, and the Tweason’Ale (a gluten-free sorghum brew) which he did not care for.

Day five: Dogfish Head Brewing Company tour. We had a great tour guide, Jake, and since we came on the off-season there were only four other people on our tour. Jake showed us around the brewery, detailing the history of Dogfish Head Brewing Co.-starting with its humble beginnings in Sam Calagione’s apartment and eventually expanding to the 12th largest craft brewery in the US-and showing us the process through which all of their brews are created. We got to see the bottling operation, including cases and cases of DFH getting ready for shipment. We also saw a snake (!) while we were walking along. After the tour, guests 21 and over can choose 4 free 3-ounce samples. I don’t care for beer, so I had their beach beer, which is a non-alcoholic birch beer, similar to root beer…and delicious. Philip tried the Miles Davis Bitches Brew (American stout), Birra Etrusca (ancient ale), Kvasir (ancient ale), and Noble Rot (saison ale) (he’s now contemplating entering the world of home-brewing). After, we had lunch from Bunyan’s Lunchbox, a little cart outside the taproom serving Dogfish brats (Philip had the Italian), clam chowder with fresh clams, pork, and Dogfish Palo Santo Marron (which is what I had). Great lunch! We finished up with a shopping spree in the store then headed back for another boardwalk/beach walk.

On our final night in Rehoboth, we wanted to head out for a seafood dinner. We narrowed our options down to Henlopen City Oyster House and Salt Air, next door neighbors both recommended to me by Bob the Rehoboth Foodie, whom I emailed before our trip to ask for recommendations. We decided on Salt Air, and while I’m sure that Henlopen is a perfectly wonderful restaurant, we were glad that we did. Salt Air was a beautifully decorated upscale casual restaurant-they call themselves a “picnic on the beach”. Our server Ryan was fantastic. To start, he brought us a basket of parmesan flatbreads with a goat cheese/cream cheese blend for spreading-perfect! I couldn’t stop thinking about them! We decided to be brave and try the mussels-which neither of us have ever eaten. They were delicious, served in a cream sauce smoky with tasso ham. I quickly got the hang of using a discarded shell to dig out the mussels and scoop up some of the delicious briny broth. Philip decided on the caramelized day boat scallops, served with sweet potato puree, brown butter cauliflower, and shiitake mushrooms. He declared the perfectly browned scallops “like butter”. The portion was deceptively large and I thought I was going to need to roll him back to the hotel. I ordered the crab cakes, which came with bacon potato salad and coleslaw. Everything was perfect, the cole slaw lightly dressed with mayo-based dressing, the potato salad made with red potatoes, bacon, celery, thin slivers of red onion, and a light mayo dressing. The crab cakes were crispy and full of meat, hardly any filler. The tartar sauce on the side was a delicious complement. We followed up our dinner with a final walk on the beach…which we needed in order to walk off some of our dinner.

Thursday and Friday were filled with driving, rain, and a visit to a mall in Roanoke, Virginia to break up the monotony. Not much to tell. We returned home happy to be back to our own bed and our cat, who clearly missed us immensely and has hardly left our sides since we’ve been home. We highly recommend checking out Rehoboth Beach, Delaware!

We loved Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and we’ll definitely be planning a trip back one of these days!

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga

October 6, 2014

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga recently won the Times Free Press Best of the Best award for best seafood restaurant for the 7th year in a row.

Let me start this by saying that Chattavore always has been and always will be a blog focused primarily on promoting local restaurants. That said, decided to try an experiment. I am actually invited fairly regularly to attend openings and other events at chain restaurants. I have always kindly declined the invites, but last month I decided to accept an offer, even if I only do it once, just to see how I would approach a dining review (a) when my meal is complementary; and/or (b) at a chain restaurant.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a PR representative for Bonefish Grill. Bonefish Grill Chattanooga was just voted best seafood restaurant in Chattanooga in the Times-Free Press “Best of the Best” readers poll for the seventh year in a row and has recently unveiled a new menu with the hashtag #hellonewmenu. They wanted to invite me in to try out the restaurant. We hadn’t been in many years, so I decided to take them up on the offer. I will let you know up front that I was given a dining voucher and quite a few “extras”, though we did pay a small portion of our tab as well as tax and tip. Because of this I am going to take a more objective “just the facts” approach to the review than I normally do. However, anything positive that I say is my own opinion!

Since we attend church on the East Brainerd side of town, we decided to dine at Bonefish Grill Chattanooga for Sunday lunch. We were actually unaware until we arrived that Bonefish Grill serves brunch on Sundays (perhaps Saturday as well, but I’m not sure). Brunch offerings include a selection of omelets, “Brunch favorites” including French toast, a burger, and oatmeal, and a variety of eggs Benedict dishes. For $20.90, you can order one of their brunch items plus endless bellinis, mimosas, or blackberry sangria. We were not in the mood to go all out with brunch, but they did bring us some French toast to sample. The French toast was bruleed (which was a nice touch) and served with pancake syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, and mint, and bacon. Since we were also getting Bang Bang shrimp we should have left more on the plate…but it’s a sin to waste bacon, right?

Angela, our server, brought us a couple of drinks, including the blackberry smash, which was literally smashed blackberries, coconut water, mint, and soda water, and a house lemonade, which is made with lemongrass syrup and house made lemonade base. It’s served in a sugar-rimmed glass and is quite possibly the tarted lemonade I’ve ever had in my life, which is not a bad thing. I particularly liked the blackberry smash, though…the mint was a wonderful touch (I’m a little obsessed with mint. And know I’m thinking that I need to recreate this…but perhaps include some lavender as well). She also brought us a plate of warm bread with pesto dipping oil.

The brunch menu offers a smaller selection of “Signatures starters” and “Starters + Sharing” menu items than the lunch or dinner menus, but the Bang Bang shrimp is always available. I had never tried the Bang Bang shrimp but have heard a great deal about it and wanted to try. Bang Bang shrimp is fried shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce. It was a decent but not huge portion. We enjoyed the Bang Bang shrimp a great deal…it was just a little spicy but not too much. I’d like to recreate this in a baked version at home. The ahi tuna sashimi (seared and sliced tuna) is another popular appetizer (we ordered it on a previous trip and liked it a great deal. We also each decided to try a salad. I had the house salad, which was an unusual play on the traditional house salad with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, pumpkin seeds, and hearts of palm, dressed with a citrus-herb vinaigrette. I decided to add Danish blue cheese for $1.50. The salad was fresh and well dressed. Philip chose the Caesar salad, fresh romaine lettuce with a light, not super creamy Caesar dressing, garlic croutons, and Parmesan cheese. During dinner service they also offer a wedge salad and a couple of entree salads (Cobb, cilantro-lime shrimp salad).

One of the changes that Bonefish Grill recently made to their menu was to begin offering “hand-helds”. Don, the managing partner, told us that this was to make Bonefish Grill more accessible to those who just wanted an easy, casual dinner out. The hand-helds include a burger, fish tacos, Bang Bang shrimp tacos, and fish & chips. They also offer a lobster grilled cheese during lunch and dinner service. I decided on the Baja fish tacos, which Don told us are sometimes made with tilapia but are current being made with pollock. The fish was blackened and the tacos were served with shredded lettuce, a fresh mango salsa, and lime creme on slightly crisped-up flour tortillas. Hand-helds are served with your choice of a green salad or house-cut chips, and you guys know what I chose (I cannot pass up a house-cut chip). The chips were warm, fresh, and well-seasoned and the fish tacos were nicely seasoned and tasty.

The menu also includes a selection of wood-grilled fish and sautéed and baked entrees. The dinner menu also offers wood-grilled steaks and chops and a selection of bowls, like a spicy tuna bowl and a shrimp pad Thai bowl. They also offer a seasonal specials menu, and Philip decided to order the swordfish with pumpkin ravioli with crispy sage, shallot brown butter, and feta cheese, which Don told us was a concept imagined by the founder of Bonefish Grill to bring in Fall. The dish was served with a succotash made with corn, edamame, and sausage. Philip really enjoyed the salmon, which was well-cooked and seasoned, and the ravioli. He liked the succotash but didn’t love it as much as the other items on the plate. The portion was sizable but not huge and the ravioli was filled well and nicely seasoned. Other specials included a Vintner’s burger and Atlantic salmon with bacon jam butter.

Don insisted on bringing us some desserts and I was honestly expecting a small sample of a few of the dessert menu items. I was quite surprised when we were served a full-size portion of each dessert! The desserts include a very dark, rich flourless macadamia nut brownie (not for the faint of heart-this was one of the most chocolatey things I’ve ever eaten), served with ice cream and raspberry sauce and friendly for the gluten-free set, a sangria flatbread-brioche flatbread with berry sangria preserves and mascarpone cheese, topped with pecans and wine custard sauce (we liked it but didn’t love it), coconut pie-a creamy coconut custard topped with Myer’s rum sauce (pie good, sauce excellent), key lime pie (fresh, light, and a great balance of tart and sweet), and pumpkin creme brûlée, which is a seasonal dessert (and tastes just like someone mixed pumpkin pie with creme brûlée…which cannot be a bad thing). We couldn’t take more than a few bites of any of them! We were 100% stuffed.

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga is striving to be an elevated chain restaurant.

Their goal is to provide a menu, service, and atmosphere that are a step above other chain restaurants (and that isn’t a knock to chain restaurants, because, as I said before, I do eat in chains). Their changing menu is meant to meet the needs of their customers whether they want to have a quick dinner on the way home from shopping or an experience meal and they are working to follow the trends of the culinary world. You can find their full brunch menu here and the dinner menu here. By the way, they also offer a Saturday lunch menu with more casual combo items (like soups/salads) and a gluten free menu.

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga is located at 2115 Gunbarrel Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. They are open Sunday 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday 4:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m., Friday 4:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. You can call them at 423-892-3175. You can check out the website at http://www.bonefishgrill.com.

Clyde’s on Main (South Side)

September 22, 2014

Clyde’s on Main is a fun and trendy bar on Chattanooga’s South Side owned by Mike and Taylor Monen of Taco Mamacita, Urban Stack, & Milk & Honey fame.

When I read an article from TFP months back that the Monens (of Taco Mamacita, Urban Stack, Community Pie, and Milk & Honey fame) were turning Clyde’s Auto Glass on Main Street into a restaurant, my interest was piqued. Mike and Taylor Monen know how to start a new restaurant, and that area of Main Street is turning into a boom town. As Philip and I headed to Grocery Bar on the weekends, we would notice how the place was coming along. We don’t often go to new places pretty much immediately after they opened, but we couldn’t resist quickly checking out Clyde’s on Main, especially after seeing lots of pictures on Facebook and having one friend text me to let me know how tasty the food was. As one friend captioned his Instagram photo of Clyde’s bar: “And our next conference session today will be led by the Monens: ‘How to open dope $*&! and generally kick @$$.'” Yep.

This place is definitely all about atmosphere. It’s loud, I’ll warn you of that. Don’t go there to have a deep and meaningful conversation. However, if you just want to go to hang out and have fun, yes. There are ping-pong tables complete with brackets for tournaments on a blackboards. You can sit at a regular table, a booth, a high-top, or a pinball machine. That’s right, you can sit on a sofa placed at a pinball machine as a table. The lighting is low and the music is loud, and while I don’t remember what they were playing I know that it was good. Old school pop culture pictures hang in the restroom and an assortment of witty coozies hang at the bar. Every employee that we spoke with was extremely friendly and the vibe was great. There were plenty of families with children in the place for lunch on a Saturday (though some Facebook commentors on Meghan Pittman’s TFP review stated that they saw a poster with an “f-bomb” on it, so proceed with caution if this sort of thing concerns you-also, some of the commentors said that children are not allowed on weekend evenings, which makes sense to me as it is a place with a bar atmosphere).

I have to apologize for the menu photos. I know that they’re a little warped and there’s a shadow of my phone on them…but the ink was too shiny to take a straight on photo. Also, remember that the lights were low. But you get the point. Take your pick: appetizers, soups/salads, sandwiches, plates, and barbecue…an interesting and fun menu a little bit off the beaten path but not so far off as to be weird. There was also a list of craft beers and the old standards and a full bar including several signature drinks, with a nod to the college crowd with features like “Hunch Punch” and “Jungle Juice” (which I don’t think tastes too much like the fuchsia drink I used to get in a carton on extra special fun days in my elementary school cafeteria). While I really wanted to try some pork candy or some soft pretzels with homemade cheez whiz, we decided to pass on appetizers (and it’s probably a good thing we did, because I basically cleaned my plate). (If you’d like to see a better image of the menu, check out the menu link on their Facebook page-I tried to directly share the link here but for some reason it wasn’t working.)

Choosing an entree was a little bit daunting. The bahn mi was tempting and you guys know that I love a good burger and (since I need to revise my list) I needed to see how theirs fit into Chattavore’s top ten. I came very close to ordering the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich (buttermilk brined and hand breaded southern style chicken with lettuce, house pickles, tomato, melted American cheese, and sweet hot sauce on a Kaiser roll). However, when the manager (who was helping out our server by getting us started) told me that they still had barbecue, which they serve until they run out, I knew I had to give it a try. The friend that texted me about the food told me that when she went they were out…better get while the gettin’s good, I figured. I decided to get the pulled pork plate with barbecue baked beans and beer cheese house chips. The pork was perfectly seasoned and extremely moist and tender. I loved the rub. The baked beans were a little bit spicy and had an interesting flavor that we are fairly certain was cloves. The pickles were fresh, tangy, and just a little bit spicy. I love a good house-cut chip and these were awesome, dusted with a mildly beer-flavored cheese powder. And I was enthralled by the presentation of the barbecue sauce: six sauces (Original Red, Sweet Lily’s, Mexican Coke, Red Hot, “From Here” Mustard, and Alabama White) served in a six-pack carrier. I tasted them all (except the red hot) and decided that the creamy mayo based Alabama White was my favorite, but I also loved the tangy “From Here” mustard and the sweet Mexican Coke sauces. I loved having options.

Philip decided on the buttermilk fried chicken plate with Clyde’s Power Greens and hot mustard slaw. The chicken was served with the sweet hot sauce that came on the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. It was indeed sweet and Philip didn’t think it was extremely hot at first but it was definitely a building heat and he was breaking a sweat by the end. He was served two pieces of boneless chicken with a perfectly seasoned and crispy crust, cooked through and juicy. The slaw was fresh with a light mustard dressing that Philip pronounced was “good not great”. However, he loved Clyde’s Power Greens: kale, spinach, and collards, cooked until tender, well-seasoned and just a little spicy.

Look, we basically loved Clyde’s on Main.

The only thing that we might have changed was the noise level, but even that was definitely not a deal-breaker. The decor was great, the food was fantastic, and the staff was accommodating and friendly. Our server, Kaitlunn, was very attentive and chatty (but not in a bad way)! The prices were pretty much par for the course for a place like this. Our total was $31.31 pre-tip, which included our entrees and an IPA.

Clyde’s on Main is located at 122 Main Street, Chattanooga, TN (next to Mean Mug Coffee House). They are open Sunday-Wednesday 11 a.m.-12:00 a.m. and Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m.-2:00 a.m. You can call them at (423) 362-8335. Check out their website, http://www.clydesonmain.com. You can also like Clyde’s on Main on Facebook and follow Clyde’s on Main on Twitter.

Other restaurants in this area: Mean Mug Coffee House, Blue Orleans, Terminal BrewHouse

Fresh Pot Café (Hixson, TN)

August 25, 2014

Fresh Pot Café, located in Hixson, Tennessee, serves delicious Ecuadorian cuisine and other café favorites, like sandwiches and salads!

Can I just say how much I love it when you guys tell me what to do? I love getting emails, comments, and Facebook posts/messages asking me to make a particular recipe or recommending a specific restaurant. I have to say a big thank you to Pam for emailing me about Fresh Pot Café. It’s been on my radar for a while, but I honestly just assumed (based on the name) that it was just a coffee shop that served maybe sandwiches and desserts. I was wrong. Also, I’ve heard a few jokes about the name (Fresh POT Café-har har) and no, it’s not that kind of place. Anyway.

I’ve driven by Fresh Pot Café (located in Hixson next to Planet Fitness) quite a few times. I’m not really sure how long they’ve been around but definitely several months. We went at about 2 p.m. on Saturday and there were two other tables occupied. We were seated immediately and the young lady who seated us (the daughter of the owners, I assume) explained the menu to us. The family is Ecuadorian and, while the menu is not an Ecuadorian menu, they had several Ecuadorian specials, including two types of fried plantains on the appetizer menu and an Ecuadorian fried pork plate served with corn, plantains, potato cakes, and avocado. They had two soups of the day-garbanzo bean was one but I don’t remember the other.

We decided to have the naturally sweet fried plantains as an appetizer. They were served topped with provolone cheese and had pico de gallo as an accompaniment. Plantains have a texture similar to bananas (not too surprising) though they are a little firmer, and they have a faintly banana flavor. The cheese was a nice contrast to the slight sweetness of the plantains, and the pico added a slightly spicy, oniony bite.

As for lunch options, they had several salads (some, if not all, of the dressings are homemade), sandwiches (served with side salad, cup of soup, fresh fruit, or fries), entrees, and pastas. I considered getting the Ecuadorian fried pork special but ultimately decided to get the Louisiana crispy fish sandwich, which was recommended by Pam (who emailed me about the restaurant). I’ve been on somewhat of a fish sandwich kick lately-that’s what I had for my birthday lunch last week at 1885, and while I loved the sandwich at 1885, I have to say that I think I liked Fresh Pot’s fish sandwich a little bit more! It was crispy fried white fish with homemade remoulade, which was slightly spicy and had a relishy flavor (and I love relish), and very fresh tasting lettuce and tomatoes. I decided to have my sandwich on a hoagie (the other options were ciabatta, a garlic wrap, or a spinach wrap) and loved that the hoagie was toasted very crisp. I also decided to have the side sautéed kale salad mix, with sautéed kale, green and purple cabbage, broccoli stems, Brussels sprouts, orange juice, and sriracha. Let me say…that sounds like an odd combination, but it was delicious. It was like a warm slaw, everything chopped up very finely, not too much or too little of any one ingredient, with just a hint of orange flavor from the juice and a little burn (but not too much) from the sriracha. I would order both of these items again (and again, and again).

It took Philip about two seconds to decide that he wanted to try the shrimp and crispy grits, and he decided to add a side strawberry spinach salad (with feta and homemade strawberry vinaigrette). Everything on the salad was very fresh and the dressing was vinegary but sweet and had a nice strawberry flavor. The shrimp and crispy grits included tasso ham, corn, red pepper, and green onions. It met Philip’s two main shrimp & grits criteria: fried grit cakes and cream-based sauce. You might not expect much from a teeny little restaurant in a strip mall, but these shrimp & grits were excellent-some of the best Philip has had. The grit cakes were perfectly fried, the sauce was delicious and well-seasoned, and the ingredients were perfectly balanced.

We debated on dessert but we were pretty stuffed by the end of our meal. However, we’ll have to go back and try out both the crème brûlée and the bread pudding. Our total for our appetizer, the fish sandwich, shrimp & grits, and a side salad was $31 and it was well worth it, as this place was as good as any restaurant where you would expect to pay that much or more for a lunch or dinner. I have to say, we were very pleasantly surprised by how good this place was, which just goes to show that you really can’t judge a book by its cover (not that we were expecting it to be bad, we just had no clue it would be that good). The food at Fresh Pot Café was extremely fresh and delicious and the staff were so friendly. We will definitely be back.

Go and support local, family-owned business (and it’s in Hixson, which is so lacking in locally-owned restaurants) at Fresh Pot Café.

Fresh Pot Café is located at 5425 Highway 153, Suite B4, Hixson, TN 37343. They are open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. You can call them at 423-805-3773. They don’t have a website at this time but you can find them on Facebook.

The Big Chill and Grill (North Shore)

August 12, 2014

The Big Chill and Grill is a popular bar on Chattanooga’s North Shore that offers great food in an atmosphere that is family-friendly during the day.

The Big Chill & Grill has been around in Chattanooga for quite a few years, recently moving from Market Street (next door to Taco Mac) to the North Shore at the corner of Cherokee and Manufacturers. In the process of the move, The Big Chill became a non-smoking establishment (though they do have a terrace for smokers), making it a more diner-friendly environment. During daytime hours, The Big Chill is no longer a 21 and over establishment.

The Big Chill and Grill is a seat-yourself environment with lots of seating options: low tables in an open-air indoor seating area in the front, high-top tables or the bar, or low tables in the the back as well as the terrace where smoking is allowed. We were there around 5:30 on Sunday afternoon so it was not terribly crowded. We took a seat and our server was with us quickly, bringing menus and water.

The Big Chill and Grill is known for their strong drinks. Frozen drink mixers are constantly running behind the bar and they have a huge list of “concoctions”-frozen specialty drinks. I’ve had one of these drinks exactly one time and that was the time that I discovered exactly what my limit was (don’t have one of those drinks on an empty stomach-you’ve been warned!)….so I stuck with water. They also have an extensive selection of draught and bottled beers.

We decided to have the fried green tomatoes appetizer. It came with honey dijon mustard and a slightly sweet-spicy Asian chili sauce for dipping. The cornmeal coating was light and the tomatoes were cooked well. They could have been drained a little better-they were slightly greasy-but they were well-seasoned and tasty. Other appetizers included the standard mozzarella sticks and fried mushrooms, chips and salsa, chips and queso, and nachos (which I had on the night of the aforementioned drink when I realized that I was making a huge mistake drinking that strong drink on an empty stomach. They were quite good.).

The meal selections included salads, sandwiches, burgers, and entrees (they also have brunch from 11-3 on Saturday and Sunday and serve a lunch menu from 11-3 Monday through Friday). Tina, our server, recommended the chicken salad melter, which she described as “kind of like a grilled cheese sandwich with chicken salad”. Pretty good description. The melter is chicken salad, made with hard-boiled eggs and pickle relish, and cheddar, grilled on sourdough bread. I decided to take her recommendation and ordered the melter with house-made chips. I liked the sandwich a lot and remembered that Philip had eaten it once before, which was actually when I discovered that I like chicken salad made with eggs and relish (why haven’t I made that for you guys yet?). It was not greasy and it was a very large sandwich (I wasn’t able to finish it). The chips were not quite as crispy as I would have liked but still tasted pretty good. They were dusted with seasoned salt and were a little tiny bit sweet-I could swear that they were also dusted with a little sugar. By the way, fries and fried okra were also offered with sandwiches (and I’m sure that, perhaps with a bit of an upcharge, you could sub in one of the other sides like the homestyle green beans, which I’ve heard are amazing).

Philip decided on the chicken fried chicken, which is two large pieces of boneless fried chicken topped with white peppered gravy, skin-on mashed potatoes, fried okra, two deviled eggs, and a Sister Schubert’s roll (really! It’s on the menu!). He thought that the chicken was really juicy and flavorful, though he was pretty sure that the gravy was from a mix. The mashed potatoes are made from scratch and were well seasoned and had a great texture. I didn’t try the deviled eggs, but they had pickle relish in them and were sprinkled with paprika (I just like the fact that they include them on their menu….deviled eggs are quite an unusual menu item!). I am fairly certain that the okra was from frozen, though it still tasted pretty good and didn’t have the super-heavy jacket coating that so many fried varieties have. I just want to find a restaurant that makes fried okra from scratch!

All in all, though there are a few menu items that are frozen or from a package, I think that the menu and The Big Chill and Grill is pretty good for a “bar” menu and I know that there are quite a few items that are made fresh in-house. The prices are reasonable, with our total for fried green tomatoes, a chicken salad sandwich, and chicken fried chicken coming to $28 and some change. By the way, those frozen drinks are $6.50. The new location is really nice and well-decorated. I read some complaints about loud music on Urbanspoon and we definitely did not think that the music (which was early nineties hits like Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison”-score!) was too loud, though I’m sure that they turn it up at night when it’s more of a bar crowd.

Check out The Big Chill and Grill for great homestyle food and delicious drinks!

The Big Chill and Grill is located at 103 Cherokee Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at (423) 267-2445. They are open 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Sundays. Their website is http://www.bigchillandgrill.com. You can also like the Big Chill & Grill on Facebook. By the way, The Big Chill was recently cited for overserving with a consequence of having their license to serve alcohol suspended for six days. According to their website, as of 8/9/14 they are appealing this decision and are still serving alcohol until the appeal is considered.

Other restaurants in this area: Food Works, Elemental, Taco Mamacita, Milk & Honey

« Previous Page