By Location Archives - Page 38 of 42

China King Hixson-February 4, 2012 (CLOSED)

February 5, 2012

Note: China King Hixson closed sometime in the later half of 2013. Somehow I totally missed this until a reader pointed it out to me! There’s now a Workout 24/7 there. Shows you how much attention I pay, since I grocery shop in the Publix plaza at least once a week!

All right, I railed against going to this place for quite some time. Call me a snob, I don’t care. I just have this “thing” about hole-in-the-wall Chinese places….I’m suspicious. I can’t help it. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, and sometimes I’m not. There’s one very close to my house that we went to once and my eggroll had some sort of mysterious fluorescent pink meat in it. Never again.

Anyway, Philip went to a different hole-in-the-wall Chinese place in East Brainerd with a friend last week and loved it, so he wanted to try this one. One of my friends and her husband really like it and go there frequently, so I figured it was worth a shot. When we were racking our brains trying to think of something to eat on Saturday night, Philip suggested we go. So we did.

It was around 7:30 when we got there. There was one couple that was actually eating in the restaurant, and 4 or 5 people waiting for orders (2 more came in to pick up while we were there). The decoration was sparse, as you would probably expect, and they did have the required slightly creepy looking photos of different meals that are available hanging about the counter, like a menu. The menu is huge, but that’s generally pretty standard at a Chinese restaurant…..122 menu items plus “Chef’s Specialties”, “Special Combination Plates”, and lunch specials. Since we are partial to fried rice, we went for the special combination plates, which included the meat, pork fried rice, and an eggroll for $6.95. Philip got sweet and sour chicken, and I got sesame chicken. I won’t go into too much detail about what is available…it’s again pretty much the standard Chinese restaurant menu…plus you can check out the menu at the bottom of the post.

Philip took the first bite of the eggrolls….he’s a little bit braver than I am. Okay, he’s a lot braver than I am. Anyway, there was no pink mystery meat in the center of the eggrolls, just cabbage. We were in business. Since we had about 15 minutes from the time we got our food to the time we were actually eating it, it wasn’t overwhelmingly hot….just perfect. I’d be willing to be you’d burn your mouth eating one in the restaurant, though!

Interestingly, the sesame chicken smelled super-garlicky. It didn’t taste super-garlicky, though, so that was good. It was sweet, not overly sticky, and not spicy like you occasionally find (General Tso’s would be considered the spicy version of sesame chicken). I had two random pieces of broccoli, which I got a good laugh from. Philip’s sweet & sour was pretty much the average sweet & sour….not too much breading and not too greasy; that was a plus. The rice was fine, maybe not as sticky as I really like my fried rice to be. That’s the problem with making things at home…you end up liking what you make more than what you get at restaurants. I guess that’s why so many restaurants are terribly disappointing to me. Still, I didn’t have to cook this, and it’s nice to have the night off from time to time. There were not a ton of veggies in the rice…a few carrots, onions, and peas-but interestingly there was actually a fair amount of diced pork, which tasted pretty good. Can someone explain to me why the rice at some Chinese restaurants is yellow? Some, not all. I would love to know.

In the end, we had enough left over to have it for lunch today as well. Again, that’s always nice, and it makes me feel less guilty about the amount that I spend when I go to a restaurant. Of course, there were the requisite fortune cookies at the end of the meal, and our fortunes were so boring that I don’t remotely remember what mine said. I think Philip’s said something about going fishing. I was more intrigued by the one that Philip picked up off of the table where we were waiting….it said something about modifying your plans. But I digress.

Okay, in the end….China King is not the ultimate be all and end all of Chinese restaurants. It was decent food, though, and inexpensive, at least when you consider that we got two meals from it. I doubt will eat there often, but I am sure we will eat there again. Perfectly acceptable for a no-cook Saturday night.

China King is located at 5922 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343 (in the Publix complex, between El Metate and BiBa’s). You can reach them at 423-842-0666.

Urban Spoon-January 28, 2012 CLOSED

January 30, 2012

3/31/13 During a trip to the North Shore this weekend we saw that Urban Spoon has closed.

Saturday Philip and I decided to venture down to the North Shore to try out The Urban Spoon. The Urban Spoon is a little hole in the wall in the former location of Chattanooga Sandwich Company. I had heard great things about their Sunday breakfast buffet, so I checked out their online menu and it seemed to fit the bill of the type of food we were in the mood for that day.

I was worried that it may be crowded and we would have to wait for a long time, especially since we were pretty much starving. No worries…we were seated immediately. I took quick note of the specials on the blackboard when we walked in-a smoked salmon salad, cottage pie and mixed green salad, and “chicken pot pie” soup before I checked out the menu, which included a soup/salad section, an entree section (including sandwiches), and a dessert section.

Philip decided to try a cup of the Suck Creek stew. The menu description reads, “Smoked sausage, chicken, black-eyed peas, onions, and smoked ham hock. Can you say….suck-u-l-e-n-t!” It was indeed tasty-nice and smoky. I only took one bite, so I didn’t taste the spiciness, but Philip told me that it was spicy, presumably from the smoked sausage. When the soup came out, a couple of cornbread muffins accompanied it. I’m not going to lie to you here-the cornbread was good, but it wasn’t “my kind” of cornbread. It was sweet, and I prefer my cornbread “unsweet”. It was also a little drier than what I make. I ate my muffin, but, my friends, it just wasn’t as good as my own. I’m a little biased!

For his entree, Philip chose the Georgia Pecan-Crusted Chicken, described in the menu like this, “This dish became famous when we were the wedding caterers from hell! Fresh sautéed chicken breast smothered in seasoned pecans and baked to delightful tenderness. Served with wild rice pilaf, sweet gingered carrots, and drizzled with Honey Mustard.” Amazing is all I can say. The pecans were deliciously toasted and completely coating the chicken, making it as crispy as if it had been fried, and the honey mustard lent a perfect and not overpowering sweetness to the chicken. The rice was perfectly seasoned and made me a little jealous. I haven’t perfected a great non-fried rice recipe. I must figure out their secret. The gingered carrots were indeed sweet and gingery, but not too much so. Ginger can be a very strong spice if overdone, and this was not. This dish was pretty much perfect.

I decided on the cottage pie special with vidalia onion dressing for my salad. In case you don’t know what cottage pie is, it’s shepherd’s pie made with ground beef (and if you don’t know what shepherd’s pie is, it’s a thick stew made with ground lamb and vegetables and baked under a mashed potato “crust”). Some people and restaurants make their stew tomato-ey and others make it more gravyish. I personally make mine gravyish, and I was glad that The Urban Spoon did so as well. I did think that the stew was just a tiny bit saltier than I would have made it, but it was still delicious, with green beans, corn, peas, and onions mixed in. The mashed potatoes tasted great on the pie as well as by themselves. The salad was made with mixed greens, a tomato wedge, a red onion slice (which I removed, of course, after taking the photo), a big slice of pickled beet (which I ate even though I think beets smell like dirt-look at me trying new things!), and a pimento-stuffed green olive. I chose the vidalia dressing over ranch and raspberry vinaigrette since it was “different”. I’d only had vidalia dressing once, at another local restaurant which is well-known for theirs, and didn’t like it. That was not the case here. The dressing was great. The meal overall was great!

By the way, aside from one slightly eye-jarring wall, the decor inside of The Urban Spoon is nice, spare but not lacking, with paintings of local scenes (I assume by local artists) hanging on the wall (and available for purchase!). As you walk by, you can see into the kitchen, which is always nice. I was very pleased with this experience, and I will definitely be back, hopefully on a Sunday morning next time!

The Urban Spoon is located on Chattanooga’s North Shore at 207 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can reach them at 423-710-3252. Check out their website, http://www.urbanspoonchattanooga.com, and their Facebook page.

Old Saigon Vietnamese-January 6, 2012

January 8, 2012

Have you ever eaten at Old Saigon Vietnamese restaurant? Were you even aware that there was a Vietnamese restaurant in Red Bank? If you said no, you’re probably part of the majority. Old Saigon is at the corner of Dayton Boulevard and Martin Road….it’s at a traffic light, in a building that used to be Esquire Cleaners. We had actually eaten at Old Saigon once before, several years ago, when it was in the Rush complex in Hixson. Oh, you didn’t know that there used to be a Vietnamese restaurant there? I didn’t think so. In fact, it was so, um, well-hidden that we ate there once and even though we really liked it, we never went back. Yesterday we were out looking for somewhere to eat, somewhere to blog about, and we passed Old Saigon…then promptly turned around and went back.

There was no one else in the restaurant when we went in at about 3:10 on a Saturday afternoon. Granted, that’s not really a busy time anywhere, but that was one tip that this is one of Chattanooga’s best-kept secrets. Anyway, we walked in and were quickly greeted by one of the owners, one of the sweetest and most friendly people I have encountered dining in a restaurant. The restaurant is clean and very simply decorated, unlike many local Asian restaurants that almost seem too ornately decorated, like they’re trying too hard. We ordered potstickers and water while we perused the menu. It took me forever to decide what I wanted to order. I started to order sesame chicken, but I kind of had a feeling that sesame chicken is not really a traditional Vietnamese dish, so instead I ordered bánh xèo, described as “a special crispy pancake filled with chicken, shrimp, cabbage, carrot, broccoli, and bean sprouts”. I wanted to order pho, a traditional Vietnamese soup, but I was pretty hungry and a little concerned that it may not be filling enough…Philip decide to have mi xao, described as “shrimp, chicken, beef, and steamed vegetables in a special sauce served on a bed of crispy fried egg noodles”.

The potstickers arrived very quickly. As you can see below, they didn’t look like much…but they were delicious. If you’ve never had a potsticker, they are wonton wrappers filled with ground pork, sliced scallions, and seasonings. They are seared on the bottom and them steamed to cook the whole thing. These were served with soy sauce. They were fantastic!

Philip’s mi xao was a huge plate of fried egg noodles dripping in sauce, vegetables, and meat. The owner suggested that he try it with sriracha, telling him that it was delicious on the mi xao. He did try a bite, because usually he loves very spicy foods, but was unable to put it on the whole dish…he’s had a sore throat and just couldn’t go there. The noodles were very crunchy around the edges of the plate but soft where the sauce was. I tasted it, and it was delicious. I can’t even describe it. Honestly, it’s different from anything I’ve had at a Chinese or Thai restaurant, so I wouldn’t even know how to begin to compare it to anything….so you need to try it! Philip finished the whole thing. It was just too good to stop!

All right, I feel bad even saying this…but I wasn’t crazy about my bánh xèo. It was very crunchy, and everything was obviously very fresh and well-cooked. It was fairly bland, but it did have a sauce that I was a little scared to use because it had something that looked like chili flakes floating in it. It wasn’t spicy, though, so I poured some over my bánh xèo. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t for me! It was huge, and I could only eat about half of it. I found myself wishing that I had gone ahead and ordered the pho (pronounced “fuh” if I’m not mistaken) or the fried rice, which I had the last time that we went there and loved. In fact, I would go so far as to say that, aside from Ichiban, it was the best fried rice I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. I recall that it was delicious!

We were far too full when we were finished with our meal to order dessert, but their desserts sounded delicious. Fried banana-fresh banana wrapped in egg roll skin and fried, sprinkled with powdered sugar? Mango sticky rice-sticky rice topped with fresh mango, coconut milk, and peanuts? Yes, please! We’ll just have to eat the pho when we go back so we’re not so full and order one of these treat! We’ll definitely be back, and it won’t be another five years this time.

Old Saigon is located at 2601 Dayton Boulevard, Red Bank, TN 37415. You can reach them at 423-876-0322. They are open Wednesday-Saturday, 11:30-8, and Sunday, 11:30-2:30.

Delia’s Taqueria-December 26, 2011

December 29, 2011

I have a confession to make. I know that being a food blogger, I should be adventurous and be willing to try new places sight unseen….but that’s not my style. I don’t usually try new eateries until someone I know has recommended them. Example: Kioto. My assistant ate there before me (Thanks Melissa!) and recommended it….so I knew it was safe. Another example: we recently tried to “have an adventure” and try a brand-spanking-new local place without hearing anything (positive or negative) about it….and it was a complete disaster.

That being said, when I saw Delia’s Taqueria while driving through Soddy-Daisy a month or so ago, I knew I had to give it a try, the sooner, the better. There’s just something about hole-in-the-wall Mexican joints; they are always, ALWAYS the best. Not that you could really call Delia’s a “hole-in-the-wall”, since it’s free-standing. Really, it’s more like a stationary taco truck. There’s not really any seating to speak of…a couple of picnic tables out front is all. So, get it and go….and that’s okay with me, because food this good….well, you really don’t want just anybody seeing you eat it. Oh, and another plus for me: I love being the person to tell Urbanspoon about a new restaurant! That’s just plain fun. But, I digress.

Delia’s is a little red food truck, cart, trailer, whatever. I guess you just have to see it to get the visual. It’s connected to a trailer that used to be the office of a used car lot, which I am assuming has been transformed into a storage facility or office of sorts. They have a little covered porch where you walk up to the window to order, and their menu is a huge board of pictures and descriptions of dishes (think of the menus in Mom & Pop Chinese joints). We took a few minutes to peruse before ordering. The man who took our order was very friendly. Philip asked him if they had been doing good business and he told him that they had been. He also told us that they make all of their food fresh, right down to the tortillas and the chips. Okay, I’m sold. We ordered and were on our way within 10 minutes, and that is with the guy in front of us ordering for himself and his 5 children. I’m not kidding! That’s what I call speedy service. The worst part of this was having to smell the intoxicating bouquet (ha!) of the food while we made the 10-minute drive home….but somehow I made it and even managed to photograph the food before ripping into it.

Of course, I have a gene that does not allow me to eat food from a Mexican restaurant without having chips and salsa. I cannot physically do it. These (fresh and homemade) chips and salsa did not disappoint. Oh, do you need me to repeat that for you? THEY MAKE THEIR OWN TORTILLAS. The chips were fantastic, and the salsa was very fresh-tasting and tomato-ey, just slightly spicy but safe for lightweights like myself. They did include tiny cups of “hot sauce”, one red (just a little spicy) and one green (medium to hot…I only took one bite) that each had fantastic flavor.

Chips & Salsa-Hot, Fresh, and Homemade for $2.00!

There were many items on the menu that were extremely tempting for me, but I decided that I would go simple on this first trip since I feel like you can really judge a restaurant based on their most simple, basic items. I chose the taco platter, which included two chicken or beef tacos (I chose beef), rice, and beans. You can choose the type of tortilla that you want (corn or flour), and of course I chose flour. The tacos also had lettuce, tomato, and white cheese (queso blanco? I’m not sure what kind of cheese it was!). The menu states that they are made with pico de gallo but there wasn’t any on my taco, and honestly I was happy with that. I prefer my tacos without salsa or pico. The tortillas were not fried, which I love. You don’t find a lot of Mexican restaurants that offer tacos in corn tortillas that are not fried (although I’m sure most of them would do it if asked). It’s more authentic this way. The tacos are served in two tortillas each, which helps with the “breakage issue”. The meat was incredible. It was perfectly spiced but not greasy at all and was not in a thick sauce as you typically find in more Americanized Mexican eateries. The produce was fresh and tasty. The beans were perfect-not too thick, not too thin….and there was NO SKIN on them, which is so important! I really loved the rice, too. It was not overly flavored and didn’t have a lot of weird chunks like Mexican rice sometimes does. I ate every bite of my meal. And I didn’t regret it.

Two Beef Tacos, Rice, & Beans-$4.99

Philip decided on the Fiesta Burrito, which is available in ground beef, steak, chicken, a mix of steak and chicken, shrimp, pork, a combo of steak, chicken, and pork, barbacoa (the best description I could find for barbacoa was “Mexican barbecue.” Traditionally sheep meat is used for barbacoa, but this is Soddy-Daisy, so I am assuming they used beef…), al pastor (which to me sounds like it would be lamb but apparently is pork with a chili sauce), Mexican sausage (chorizo, I presume-are there other varieties of Mexican sausage? I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know!), or vegetables. The Fiesta Burrito is prepared with rice, beans, pico de gallo, and sour cream. Philip chose Mexcian sausage. When he took a bite, his eyes rolled back in his head and he proclaimed the meat “incredible”. He insisted that I needed to try it, so I did. I typically don’t like sausage because I don’t care for the spice combinations, but this stuff truly was incredible. Of course, Philip finished his burrito as well, and then stated that, “Now there’s no need to ever go to Q’doba.” I won’t argue with that!

Mexican Sausage Burrito ($4.99), before....

Mexican Sausage Burrito, After-I had to show you the inside!

All of this incredible food, my friends, was had for around $13. They also serve fountain beverages and the traditional bottled drinks that you see in the “international foods” aisle at the grocery store, which always look so tempting and yummy, and Mexican Coke, which is made with cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. They also served flavored fresh waters in flavors like mango and tamarind. I must try these at some point. Also, I recommended Delia’s to my mom, who went and got take-out that same night….and then again the next night-so clearly it made an impression on my parents, too.

I love promoting truly local businesses, especially these tiny operations that don’t generate a lot of publicity in the traditional ways. This place is amazing. Please eat there, all of you, so they will stay in business and we can eat there whenever we want! You will not regret it!

Delia’s is located at 105 Porter Street, Soddy-Daisy, TN 37379 (near Wal-Mart). You can reach them at 423-521-7145. They are open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. At this time, they do not have a website or Facebook page. I have sent the menu to Urbanspoon to be uploaded onto their Urbanspoon page, but here it is for you!

Taco Mamacita, Vegetarian-Style-December 23, 2011

December 28, 2011

Over the last couple of months, Philip and I have cut way down on our meat consumption in an attempt to be a little more healthy and save a few bucks as well. It’s funny, it started as a “let’s see how this goes a couple of days a week” sort of thing, which morphed into a “let’s try it every other day” sort of thing, then eventually my inner over-achiever took over and lately we haven’t been eating much meat during the week at all. Now, we are far from observing a vegan diet during the week, as we still eat lots of milk, cheese, eggs, and butter….but we really don’t miss the meat, which has been quite surprising to both of us.

We visited Taco Mamacita on “Christmas Eve Eve” with some friends who were visiting from out of town-in town for 16 hours before heading out of state to see family for Christmas. Philip had already mentioned ordering some of the vegetarian items off the menu, and I was perusing the menu trying to decide if I was going to go for strictly vegetarian options or if I was going to have something with shrimp or fish (interestingly, eating too much meat seems to take its toll on my digestion now, so since I knew I’d be eating pork and prime rib for Christmas Eve and Christmas, respectively, I had already decided to forego pork, beef, or even chicken on this jaunt). One of our friends, however, is a vegan, and when she asked our server about vegan options, the server produced a vegan menu. I had no idea any such thing existed!

There is a handful of vegan appetizers on the menu, one being chips and the choice of one of their three salsas and another being the salsa sampler, which is, of course, chips and all three salsas (mango-chunky; roasted tomato-red, slightly spicy; tomatillo-green, a little tart). As you can see, we ordered the salsa sampler. We also ordered the chips and queso, but I’ve already shown you a picture of that, so no reason to take another one! Anyway, the chips are hot, fresh, and yummy, and I liked all of the salsas, but I have to say that the tomatillo is my favorite. I just really love tomatillo salsa (AKA salsa verde, or “green salsa”).

Salsa Sampler: clockwise from left-roasted tomato salsa, mango salsa, tomatillo salsa (salsa verde)

I decided to go for an avocado taco, because I have been completely obsessed with all things avocado of late, and a “Freakin’ Vegan.” The avocado taco included, naturally, slices of avocado, lettuce, pico de gallo, and escabeche. The Freakin’ Vegan had rice with spinach, petite red beans, lettuce, pico, guacamole, and escabeche. I tried to find a good description of escabeche online, but everything I found kept saying that escabeche was a method of preparing fish using a pickling liquid (similar to ceviche, I presume). This led me to assume that the escabeche on my taco was the large shreds of onion on top that were kind of limp, as if they had been soaking in some sort of liquid-perhaps the pickling liquid???? Anyway, I guess I should have asked. But I didn’t. I did, however, remove said large strips of onion from my tacos. You know I’m not a fan! I also asked for my tacos to be served on corn tortillas instead of the standard flour tortillas. I was glad that I did! Not that there’s anything wrong with their flour tortillas-they’re quite good-I just prefer corn. Much prefer. Anyway…..I was surprised to find that I actually preferred the Freakin’ Vegan to the avocado taco. The avocado taco was good, it just seemed a little messier and more difficult to eat than the Freakin’ Vegan, and the beans gave the Freakin’ Vegan a little more substance. Both tasted great, though! I also got the vegan option of the black bean and corn salad, which was absolutely delicious, with a white balsamic vinaigrette. I ate every bite of it and considered drinking the liquid out of the bowl. I definitely recommend this as a side. I liked it best of any of the sides I have tried here.

Freakin' Vegan on the left, Avocado on the right, black bean and corn salad in the middle!

An upclose and personal view of the Freakin' Vegan

And the inside of the avocado taco

Philip didn’t go quite as far as I did; he had a vegetarian meal but not a vegan meal. He chose the black bean taco, which I had on the trip I wrote my first Taco Mama blog about, which has a black bean cake, monterey jack cheese, crema, lettuce, pico de gallo, and escabeche (there it is again!) and a vegetarian jerk taco, which included sauteed plantains, shredded cabbage, refried black beans, mango salsa, peach aioli, and spicy Caribbean jerk sauce. For his side, he decided on chipotle turnip greens. I was honestly surprised that Philip ordered the plantain taco, because plantains are similar in texture to bananas, which Philip hates (for the texture!), but he really liked the plantain taco. He was also extremely happy with the black bean taco, and he loved the chipotle turnip greens, which I actually tasted. They were very smoky and seasoned just right. I am not a huge fan of turnip greens-in fact, I despise the smell of them-but these were good! By the way, I didn’t take a picture of the inside of his black bean taco; you can go to my original post if you’d like to see one.

This is what the inside of the vegetarian jerk looks like!

I was definitely pleasantly surprised by how fantastic the vegan and vegetarian items at this great restaurant were. That’s one of the truly great things about some of the up and coming local restaurants: they are really working to keep all of their clientele and potential clientele happy and provide options that meet everyone’s dietary preferences and needs. Support local business! Eat at Taco Mama!

Taco Mamacita is 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.

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