By Location Archives - Page 17 of 42

Sitar Chattanooga

July 29, 2014

Sitar Chattanooga is a delicious Indian restaurant located in Downtown Chattanooga Tennessee, near the Tennessee Aquarium.

Sometimes choosing new places to eat (and write about) can be daunting. I’ve written a lot of blog posts! There are times that I feel like I’m running out of restaurants. I know that’s far from the truth, but sometimes it feels that way when I’m trying to find a place that (a) is open when I want to do a restaurant post; (b) serves something I’m in the mood for; and (c) fits into my budget (we try to save the upscale places for special occasions. Now, I know there are a ton of restaurants around that I haven’t tried, so if you have suggestions, feel free to make them!

In an attempt to make Saturdays my “blogging day” we are going to start doing as many of our restaurant trips as possible on Sundays (adjusting that schedule, of course, for those restaurants that are not open on Sunday). This week we decided to try out Sitar Chattanooga, an Indian restaurant located next door to 212 Market downtown. We’ve been on a bit of an Indian cooking kick around the house lately. We’ve heard lots of great things about Sitar and considered going for our anniversary two weeks ago but I ultimately decided that I just wanted to enjoy my evening with Philip rather than concentrate on blog-type things, so we went to Sweet Basil instead.

Now, we don’t go out on Saturday nights very often because we don’t do crowds. Sunday night definitely turned out to be the right time to head downtown for dinner and Sitar was gloriously uncrowded (though there was a steady stream of diners while we were there). We were seated immediately. The floor plan is open and the place is not very decorated…tablecloths, goblets, cloth napkins, and paper placemats on the tables and some Indian artwork scattered around (particularly behind the bar). A server poured water for us immediately and our glasses stayed filled the whole time (we drank water, of course).

The menus were fairly large, divided into the following sections: appetizers/condiments, roti char (homemade bread), lamb/seafood (yes, an odd combination), chef’s specialties, chicken, vegetarian, biryanis (rice dishes), and desserts. Philip had a different menu from me and his menu included goat dishes in the lamb/seafood section (more on that in a minute). We decided to order some panir pakora-cheese fritters made with the fresh Indian cheese panir (also spelled paneer). The fritters were large chunks of panir with spices wrapped in dough and deep fried. They were served with a sweet, thin dark sauce that I did not get the name of. The pakora was good, but I didn’t really fall in love with it. I did really like the sauce and thought that it added a lot to the flavor of the pakora.

I had a difficult time deciding whether to order sag panir (spinach and homemade cheese with ginger and spices) or vegetable biryani (basmati rice cooked with fresh vegetables). Ultimately I decided to order the sag panir so that I could compare the version that I make at home to theirs. They offer you the option to get the spice level at mild, medium, or hot; you guys know that I opted for mild (once I made this dish to the specifications suggested on Food Network’s website and had to make myself something else for dinner because it was so hot). Each dish was served with basmati rice and we also ordered a side of homemade naan bread (pictured below with Philip’s food). The sag panir (by the way, that’s also spelled saag paneer and I’ve also heard the same dish called palak paneer) was delicious, perfectly spiced with decent-sized chunks of cheese. The rice was cooked and seasoned perfectly as well. For me, though, the naan was the crowning glory of this meal. It was slightly charred, crispy around the edges, chewy, and dripping with butter. What more could you ask for? I could have made a meal out of naan alone.

Okay…back to the goat. When we visited India Mahal last year, Philip noticed goat curry on their menu and decided that he wanted to try it. Now, here in Chattanooga we don’t eat a lot of goat and it kind of gave me a little shiver…I’m not very adventurous when it comes to trying new types of meat (Philip, on the other hand, will try anything once). The meat was cut into large chunks and was served still on the bone, which was not an issue since it had been cooked in the spices and its own juices until it was completely falling apart. Philip compared it to a combination of beef and pork, so I gave it a try. And it was good! It was extremely tender and you guys, I promise that goat doesn’t taste weird at all! The curry spices were delicious.

While I’m not the biggest fan of rice pudding, Philip loves it and he really wanted some kheer. Kheer is a lightly sweetened rice pudding made with basmati rice and spiced with cardamom. It was nice and creamy, a little thinner than what us here in the States usually expect of rice pudding, and just sweet enough to taste like dessert. I loved the cardamom kick in it-that was definitely my favorite part.

Including the appetizer, two entrées, an order of naan, and the kheer our dinner was $35 pre-tip…not inexpensive but definitely not exorbitant. The staff was very friendly and attentive. As I mentioned before, the place was not packed out but there were quite a few tables occupied, many of them by regulars. The food was tasty but I’m not qualified to testify to how authentic it is. They serve a buffet for lunch and a full menu for dinner (can someone explain the Indian lunch buffet to me? All of the Indian restaurants around here do it). Sitar is actually a very small (five locations) chain that, based on my reading on their website, I believe is based out of Knoxville.

If you like Indian food, give Sitar Chattanooga a try!

Sitar Chattanooga is located at 200A Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-894-9696. You can check out their website: http://www.sitarknoxville.com and “like” them on Facebook. They serve lunch from 11-2:30 Monday through Friday and 11:30-3 on weekends; dinner is served Sunday-Thursday 5-9:30 and Friday & Saturday 5-10.

Parking: Park on the street or in one of the lots. Carta lots are less expensive than Republic lots. If you are willing to walk you can save some money (and if you are really willing to walk-which we are-you can find free parking in some of the lots at night and on the weekends).

Accessibility: Sitar is located on a city street with wheel-chair accessible sidewalks. The entrances are a little cramped. The open floor plan allows a bit of space for maneuvering a wheelchair. There is a handrail in the restroom.

Other restaurants in the area: 212 Market, Bluewater Grille

Dutch Maid Bakery & Café (CLOSED)

July 6, 2014

Dutch Maid Bakery & Café at Chatt-R-Bug is no longer in operation, but has been replaced by Twins Bakery & Cafe. I haven’t been yet, but you can check out Lisa Denton’s review from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Philip and I like to go “the back way”. Actually, I’ve always preferred highways and generally take the way that’s the fastest when driving alone. Philip, on the other hand, prefers to avoid traffic as much as possible so he will sacrifice time for a back way most of the time. I’ve adopted a few of these back ways as my usual routes. One of those out of the way routes is the back way to Target in Hixson, crossing the railroad track on Old Hixson Pike (then back down behind the Hixson ballfields…but you don’t really care about that). If you turn onto Wilbanks Road just past the tracks, you’ll see a cute little store named Chatt-R-Bug. I still haven’t been in the store, but noticed recently that there were signs for “Dutch Maid Bakery and Café”. Naturally, I had to check it out.

Philip and I stopped in last week and found a tiny little space attached to the shop and a painting studio (Palette to Palate) with five tables. We were quickly greeted by a very sweet college-age girl (Abbie) and a very nice lady named Kim. Abbie brought us some menus and told us that the day’s soup was cream of mushroom and that they also had an apple pie special, then Kim brought our waters and talked to us a bit about the restaurant. Turns out everything is catered in from Dutch Maid Bakery & Café in Tracy City, Tennessee, from breads and cakes to meats, dressings, and soups. Kim brought us some samples: Kentucky Bourbon bread, maple-pecan bread, and peach moonshine bread. They were sweet, quick bread types and while they were all delicious…..peach moonshine was by far our favorite.

The menu consisted of sandwiches-basics like chicken salad, turkey, Reuben, a BLT, and a few others-and salads, including a plate with a slice of quiche and some chicken and pasta salads. You can choose your bread and Kim told us that a lot of people like the chicken salad on the croissant, so since I was thinking about trying the chicken salad I decided to try that out along with a bowl of soup (there was a soup and half sandwich combo). I heard her telling some “regulars” who came in that the chicken salad didn’t have fruit in it that day, so I assumed that the chicken salad usually did have fruit (grapes and apples, perhaps?) in in. Instead, it had celery and onions and it was delicious. It was made with white and dark meat chicken, not too much onion, and just enough mayo to hold it together. The soup was thick and creamy with tiny pieces of mushrooms and some rice in it. It had a good mushroom flavor but since I love mushrooms I would have loved for it to have more mushroom pieces in it. The fruit I think was the tropical fruit mix that comes in a jar. It was pretty good for jarred fruit mix but of course I would have preferred fresh fruit.

Kim also told Philip that Abbie made a mean Reuben. He decided on half a Reuben and soup. The Reuben was a triple decker with Thousand Island (not Russian) dressing and cheese melted on both layers. Philip actually took out the center slice of bread because he just didn’t want that much bread. However, he thought that the Reuben was really good, though it didn’t beat out his vote for “best Reuben in Chattanooga” (Vine Street Market). There was a good balance of ingredients-corned beef, melted Swiss, sauerkraut (very good sauerkraut), and dressing grilled on the freshly baked rye bread. Philip liked the soup a lot as well.

There was a shelf where you could pick up some individually-wrapped treats (cookies, bars, caramel apple dumplings) and another shelf with breads, jellies, and preserves. Like I mentioned, they also had a dessert available but we decided to pass that up. I was very tempted to bring home a loaf of the “salt-rise” bread just to find out what it tasted like and had to check out the Dutch Maid Bakery & Café website after I got home to find out more about it. Turns out that the menu at the main location is a little larger than the one here (no surprise since they are making everything in house). There is no mention on the website of whether or not they do this catered-lunch model in other locations.

This is a little out of the way but there were several people there while we were there that seemed to be on a first-name basis with the staff (of course, Kim sat down, introduced herself, and asked our names, so I guess it’s easy to get to know people that way). These were some super-friendly people and we liked the food. If you’re looking for a quiet little lunch spot with wonderful, friendly service and the promise of yummy baked goods in Hixson, Dutch Maid Bakery & Café at Chatt-R-Bug is a place worth checking out!

Dutch Maid Bakery & Café is located at 5231 Wilbanks Drive, Hixson, TN 37343. You can call them at 423-842-0905. Check out Dutch Maid Bakery & Café’s website, http://www.thedutchmaid.com, and the Dutch Maid Bakery & Café Facebook page. You can find out more about Chatt-R-Bug on their website, http://www.chatt-r-bug.com or the Chatt-R-Bug Facebook page.

Il Primo Chattanooga

June 14, 2014

Il Primo Chattanooga is an Italian restaurant near Chattanooga’s North Shore serving Italian comfort food in a comfortable, neighborhood atmosphere.
Generally, Philip and I try to avoid the downtown Chattanooga area in the evenings during Riverbend at all costs, but a wedding downtown yesterday afternoon gave us an opportunity to try out il Primo Chattanooga, a new Italian restaurant opened by Nathan Lindley of Public House fame this past week in Riverview (North Chattanooga area)-in the old Greenlife location. I had heard and read some wonderful things about the restaurant, but honestly I wouldn’t have even realized that it had opened if not for my friend Matt who loves to make dining suggestions for me. Apparently this was no accident; their opening had been sort of a “soft” opening to allow the staff to get adequately trained. They don’t even have a sign yet, though Lindley told Philip that the sign should be up sometime next week.

We arrived at almost exactly 5 p.m. and were seated immediately by Mr. Lindley himself, then quickly served water by a very friendly guy (not our server) who talked to us briefly about the restaurant and the menu and returned to our table later for a little conversation. He told us that the idea behind Primo was to make it like a New York neighborhood Italian place and that Bruce Weiss of River Street Deli had actually consulted with them on the project to ensure authenticity. I certainly can’t attest to that authenticity as I have never been to NYC, but I can attest to the fact that the decor was clean, contemporary, and somehow dark (lots of wood and metal) while managing to be bright at the the same time (tons of windows). The menu is simple with just a few sections and just a few selections per section. See for yourself. Our server, Geoff, brought us some wedges of house made herbed focaccia with olive oil for dipping. It was tender, herbaceous, and amazingly delicious. We did not turn down offers for more with our meal and some to bring home with our leftovers. We decided to try the arancini telefono ($7). Arancini are fried balls of risotto stuffed with cheese; arancini means orange (because these kind of look like oranges) and of course telefono means telephone, apparently because the cheese strings out like a telephone wire? Anyway, these were served on a bed of house made marinara and they were very fresh and hot. The risotto is wrapped around a ball of mozzarella, rolled in flour, and fried and as Philip put it they were kind of like risotto hushpuppies…except better, because he doesn’t like hushpuppies but he loved these. The flavor was wonderful….not too cheesy but enough to have cheese in every bite, and the marinara was simple and delicious. It’s funny…I used to hate marinara before I started making it myself but now I realize that I just didn’t like marinara from a jar. But I digress. Typically we wouldn’t order an appetizer and salads, but since this was our first experience and we knew I would be writing about it we decided to go for it. Philip ordered his standard Caesar ($5), which was pretty straightforward: chopped romaine lettuce, house made dressing strong with garlic and anchovies, house made croutons, and grated parmesan. I know that saying you can taste the anchovy can freak some people out a little bit, but I don’t mean that this was a fishy dressing. It just tasted authentic. Don’t be afraid. It was delicious. I was planning to get the café salad ($5) with pecorino and Chianti vinaigrette until Geoff told us that there was a salad special: caprese ($5). When I hear caprese salad in the summertime I am rendered unable to order any other salad. The salad was made with farm-grown red and yellow tomatoes, a huge slab of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil leaves, olive oil, salt, and pepper. There was enough cheese and basil to have some in every bite and it had just the right amount of oil and seasoning. Perfectly simple and delicious. I was torn between the eggplant parmesan ($14, which included a side of my choosing) and the lasagna Bolognese ($16), so I asked Geoff for a recommendation. He told me that the eggplant parm is delicious but he highly recommended the lasagna, with a slow-simmered house Bolognese that contained three meats-house ground beef, veal, and pork sausage-and house made sheets of spinach pasta. This was a gigantic portion that Philip bet me I couldn’t finish when it came…I jokingly bet him that I could, knowing darn well it couldn’t be done. Besides, if I finished it, what would I have for lunch the next day? The bottom layer was the thick, meaty bolognese sauce with tender veal, a slight spice of Italian sausage, and the heft of beef, with just a touch of creaminess. The meat was topped with layers of house made spinach and regular pasta, followed by a thin layer of béchamel and finished with a layer of melted cheese. It was rich, simple, filling…some of the best lasagna I’ve ever had. I don’t really make lasagna much at home but this gives me a goal to shoot for! Philip considered the trout but eventually decided on the pork scallopini ($16), heirloom Cheshire pork sirloin cutlets pounded thin, breaded, fried off and served with a lemon-butter and caper sauce. For his side he chose spaghetti with marinara, which Jeff told us was not made in-house but was imported from Italy. It was cooked to a perfect al dente and served with just enough of that simple marinara to coat; Jeff also brought Philip a little cup of grated parmesan to sprinkle over the top. The meat was perfectly tender (heirloom pork doesn’t have the fat bred out of it!), fried wonderfully crisp, and served with just the right amount of sauce, tangy but not sour, buttery but not greasy, and just enough capers for a zip of flavor. Philip’s difficulty was resisting eating his second portion so that he would also have leftovers for lunch Il Primo Chattanooga is a beautiful space and when someone asks me for an Italian recommendation this will definitely be a place that I tell them about. It’s the kind of place that you can feel comfortable bringing your kids to but you could also come with just your significant other for a special-occasion meal. The staff was friendly and extremely accommodating; several staff members stopped by our table to pick up dishes we were finished with, replace our water carafe, bring items to us, or just speak to us. The prices were not cut-rate, for sure, but they were reasonable (our pre-tip price, including a Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA, was $60). I am sure that as the word gets out the crowds will increase, but this place is worth it.

Il Primo Chattanooga is serving delicious Italian comfort food…you will definitely want to check it out!

Il Primo Chattanooga is located at 1100 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-602-5555. You can like Il Primo Chattanooga on Facebook or check out their website (which at this time is just a static page). I did not find a listing of their hours but I believe that they are open for dinner Monday-Saturday (I will update when I get correct hours).
Other restaurants in this area: Tremont Tavern, The Farmer’s Daughter, Vine Street Market Other Italian restaurants in downtown Chattanooga: Tony’s Pasta, Alleia

Cashew Vegan Restaurant

May 31, 2014

After a hiatus from the restaurant to focus on catering, Cashew Vegan Restaurant reopened in August of 2016 due to popular demand.

Um, you guys, it has been over a month since I wrote my last review. We’ve had a lot of busy weekends lately! Summer break is here, though, so I’m hoping to get to some outside-of-Hamilton-County places that you guys have recommended to me. We contemplated a few different vacation destinations but I think we’ve settled on doing some mini-trips, some just day trips and some overnighters, to see more of this great state in which we live….but we decided to start the summer off with a trip to Cashew vegan restaurant, located in Coolidge Park.

According to Amy, the incredibly friendly hostess/cashier/server who greeted us and took our order, Cashew vegan restaurant has been around since September 2013. I have heard several wonderful things about it but because of its location-set back a little into a recessed area in the building in which it is located-I had never actually laid eyes on it. For some reason I started thinking about it recently and have been thinking about it for the last couple of weeks.

When we arrived, Amy immediately greeted us and we stood at the counter and perused the menu while she explained the brunch special, a burrito with black beans, tofu scramble, and roasted vegetables (served with garlicky kale and fresh fruit). The menu was divided into soups/starters, salads, kids’ plates, sides, plates, sandwiches, and drinks. Philip got water while I was drawn to the bright pink hibiscus-berry tea behind the counter. For $1.50 I decided to go for it. It was unsweetened but delicious-I love flowery drinks.

Philip asked Amy for recommendations. She pointed out the polenta stacks on the starter menu as a great appetizer option, and just based on the menu description I had to agree, so I ordered it. The menu describes the polenta stacks as “rounds of organic polenta & sweet potato topped with roasted portobello mushroom, fresh tomato, and walnut-basil cream sauce drizzled with balsamic reduction” for $8.75. There were three on the plate, each topped with a gigantic basil leaf. The polenta was warm, cut into a round and stacked with all the other ingredients. The walnut-basil cream sauce was delicious and the combination of all of the ingredients was pretty much sublime, including the balsamic reduction (and I am not really a huge fan of balsamic vinegar…but it was perfect here).

Amy also recommended the Thai loaded sweet potato (the menu features a selection of loaded white and sweet potatoes…I love loaded potatoes so this was perfect for me). I always feel like I should take employee recommendations unless they are for something that I just don’t like, so I decided to get this potato for $5.65. The Thai loaded sweet potato features shredded carrot, chopped cilantro, and chopped green onion with peanut sauce and sriracha. I never would have dreamt up this combination in a million years, but it was pretty much one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. The peanut sauce was amazing and paired perfectly with the sweet potato. The shredded carrot added a little crunch while the cilantro and the sriracha added a little hint of spice and flavor (though this was definitely the kind of dish that got hotter as I ate it…but it was not overpowering, and I am a spicy-food-pansy so if you don’t do spice you could definitely do this). My only regret is that I ordered the full potato-I didn’t realize how big it was. With the polenta stacks, the potato ended up being so filling that I couldn’t eat much of the second half. A half of any of the loaded potatoes is featured on the sides menu.

Philip decided to go for the special, which turned out to be a pretty gigantic tortilla wrapped around roasted vegetables (including broccoli, potatoes, and onions), black beans, and scrambled tofu. It was well seasoned and the flavors went together well. He did not love the kale, but that’s just because he doesn’t love kale. It was tender but still a little firm with a mild garlic flavor and just the right amount of seasoning. The fruit was nice and fresh and there was a decent amount of it (who else hates the dreaded fruit cup with a pound of melon, half a strawberry, and two grapes?).

There were quite a few desserts in the case and Philip decided that we needed to get something to bring home to pair with our Saturday afternoon coffee. There were cookies, vanilla cupcakes, gluten-free doughnuts, raw cheesecake, and Oreo brownies, but since we had a stop to make after we ate we decided to go with some desserts that weren’t too icing-y. We got a brownie and a chocolate chip-banana bread pudding. The brownie was very chocolatey with a cake texture and since it was clearly baked in a pan with individual cups for the brownies it had a great chewy texture all the way around….but the bread pudding stole the show for me. It was perfectly sweetened (as in just sweet enough) with lots of mini dark chocolate chips and sticky slices of banana mixed in. I am going to have to make this at home. It was so good.

We aren’t vegan but we do really like great vegan restaurants, which are definitely not abounding in Chattanooga. Cashew fits the bill with a varied and delicious menu and an extremely friendly staff (in addition to Amy, we also met the owners, Bailey and Christiana-sorry if I spelled anyone’s name incorrectly!). It’s a small but bright and inviting space with cool artwork. They are devoted to providing diners with as many local, organic, and high-quality food items as they possibly can. I want to go back ASAP!

While Cashew Vegan Restaurant no longer has regular business hours, check out their website for info about their catering and monthly 5-course dinners!

Cashew Vegan Restaurant is located at 149 River Street, Chattanooga, TN. You can call them at (423) 355-5486. Check out their website or like Cashew on Facebook.

Other vegan restaurants in Chattanooga: Sluggo’s North
Other River Street restaurants: River Street Deli, OPA, Poblano’s

Beast and Barrel Gastro Smokehouse

April 27, 2014

Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga’s North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog.

So, turns out that making your brother an amazingly awesome super-rich boozy chocolatey cheesecake for his birthday has can pay off. See, my brother works at The Honest Pint and was able to get tickets to one of the soft opening nights of Beast and Barrel, the new restaurant opened by the group that owns The Pint, Terminal BrewHouse, Hair of the Dog, and Mean Mug Coffeehouse. And he invited me to be his plus one. That decision took all of one-quarter of a second.

I was pretty excited in January when it was announced that Northshore Grille had been purchased by the owners of the aforementioned restaurants. It’s no secret to anyone who reads my blog that I love all of the above, and while I did not dislike Northshore Grille, well, there was no question that it was about to be made better.

The full name of the new restaurant is Beast and Barrel Gastro Smokehouse. The restaurant was created to be a family-friendly, non-smoking environment with an “elevated menu” (according to this article from the Times-Free Press in January). They left a lot of the decor from Northshore Grille in place because, well, it was a beautiful space, with dark wood and cool ads on the wall. They’ve added their own design elements, though, lots of black with white accents. The decor is simple but amazing.

One thing that I noticed immediately was that the menu was much, much smaller than the other restaurants, more akin to the smaller menus that one might find in a fine dining establishment but featuring an enormous range (impressively enormous considering the small number of items actually on the menu) of items. First, bar snacks including popcorn of the day and jerky of the day; a small selection of salads; appetizers; sandwiches; burgers; entrées; and dinners for two. They have a great beer list including imports, Tennessee and American craft beers, and lots of others; a large wine list, and lots of cocktails including a few signatures (including Divorce Shore which was apparently what Northshore Grille was called?). All I can say is that these guys know how to create a menu.

A small plate of jalapeño cornbread with honey butter was quickly delivered to our table and followed shortly thereafter by a plate of house charcuterie. The cornbread was sweet, so that was a bit of a blow because you guys know I am not into sweet cornbread, but it did have a good flavor and was very moist. The charcuterie was amazing, including the house pastrami, pastrami-style salmon, and house made ham as well as house made pickled cucumbers, carrots, and onions (the pickles were a bit spicy, by the way). My brother ordered the quail poppers, boursin and smoked jalapeño stuffed quail breast wrapped in bacon and served with jalapeño jelly. At least the menu said quail breast, but I feel pretty certain those were legs. They were a little difficult to eat as “poppers” as they had bones in them so the quail had to be carefully eaten from the bone, but the combination of the slightly gamey quail with the spicy jalapeño, the creamy, herby Boursin (man, I love that stuff) and the smoky, salty bacon (wherever it was from, it was amazing) was pretty genius. Even though we weren’t sitting at the bar, you know I had to try the sage and brown butter popcorn because I cannot pass up popcorn nor brown butter. I was not disappointed and will be making this at home very soon.

I had a hard time deciding what to order. I considered a burger because, well, burger but decided that I needed to order something a little less standard. Ultimately, I was torn between the steak frites (fancy French terminology for steak & fries) and the Big Katz sandwich-basically a Reuben made with house pastrami, house made sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing (the menu did not declare that it was made there but I’m guessing that it is), grilled up on marble rye bread. By the way, the “Katz” in the name of the sandwich is a nod to Sandor Katz, a well-known authority on the fermentation of food (did you know that sauerkraut is fermented cabbage?) so I assume that they borrowed the technique from him. The sandwich was delicious….I mean, that pastrami (peppered corned beef) was perfectly seasoned and wonderfully tender, the kraut was a little spicy and had a nice texture, there was a perfect amount of dressing, and the grilled rye was a nice complement to it all. I ordered fries as my side (some of the other options included baked beans, whipped potatoes, and collards). The fries were skinny, house-cut parmesan fries. They tasted great but I think I would have preferred a slightly thicker-cut fry.

One of the reasons that I ultimately decided on the Big Katz instead of the steak frites was because my brother ordered the steak so I figured I’d just try his. The menu describes the steak frites as “house cut 12oz ribeye steak char-grilled to temperature and topped w/ a hunk of cognac peppercorn compound butter. Our fresh frites are fried to golden brown then tossed w/ garlic, parsley and parmesan cheese.” Tom ordered his steak medium-rare (we definitely come from the same family. Both of my siblings are medium-rare people just like me.). There was a pretty gigantic slab of butter on top that added to the richness of the steak, which was cooked perfectly to temperature and seasoned just right. It is a simple dish but that’s the beauty of steak frites….amazing simplicity on a plate. It’s more difficult to do well than you might think but they manage beautifully.

A couple of my brother’s friends ate with us as well. One of them had the steak frites as well and the other ordered the Philly Cheesesteak with whipped potatoes. I took a tiny bite of the cheesesteak; it was oniony and cheesy on good, chewy bread with thinly sliced beef, and the potatoes were creamy and whipped to perfection.

So, will Beast and Barrel be a success? If my experience was any indication, yes. These guys have proven their staying power with their other restaurants and I don’t think that Beast and Barrel will be any different. The early reviews on their Facebook page have been nothing but glowing. I’ll be going back soon to try out the burger (and so Philip can try the Big Katz) so keep an eye out for an update to this post.

Give Beast and Barrel a try and tell me what you think!

Beast and Barrel Gastro Smokehouse is located at 16 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-805-4599. You can check out their website, beastandbarrel.com or like Beast + Barrel on Facebook.

Other restaurants on the North Shore: Good Dog, Totto, OPA, River Street Deli, Hill City Pizza, Poblanos

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