Restaurants Archives - Page 15 of 49

Little Tokyo Express (Hixson, Tennessee)

November 25, 2015

Little Tokyo Express is a quick, tasty, casual, and reasonably-priced hibachi-style restaurant located in Hixson, Tennessee.

A few weeks ago I blogged about Soho Hibachi in Hixson. Someone commented on my Facebook post that she liked Soho but preferred Little Tokyo Express. We’d visited Little Tokyo several years back (before Chattavore sprang into existence) and as I recalled we liked it fine, but for some reason we hadn’t been back. We decided that it was time to go back and give it another try.

Little Tokyo Express is located on Hixson Pike in a building that used to be Wendy’s. It’s pretty basic inside, but clean and well-kept. The menu is limited, which is always a good thing: a regular menu with about ten items, a children’s menu, and a menu of sides. You order at the counter, get your drinks from a fountain, and are given a number to put on your table for the food to be delivered. The cooks are located right behind the counter, so you can see everything that they are doing as they are prepping your order (if you are so inclined, anyway).

I decided on the teriyaki chicken. All orders come with fried rice, but you can add noodles if you prefer for an uncharge. You can also order your meal with mixed vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions). I ordered mine with mixed vegetables. The chicken was well-browned and tender, coated with a light, sweet and savory sauce. The rice was well-seasoned and had just a few peas and carrots in it. The vegetables were well cooked and lightly seasoned, except for the onions, which could have used a few more minutes of cooking. They were still a little crunchy and had a bit of a raw onion bite to it. I didn’t eat very many of them.

Philip ordered the steak and chicken. He also got mixed vegetables and rice. If we had realized before we ordered that we could have gotten noodles, one of us would have ordered them to try, but I didn’t know until I saw that the couple who ordered before us had noodles on their plates. His rice, vegetables, and chicken were essentially the same as mine. The steak was cut into thin slices that were about 2 inches square. Like the chicken, the steak was lightly browned on the outside and was also very tender.

Here in the South, the white sauce or “Yum-Yum sauce” is very important. So far, I have not found any white sauce at a restaurant that quite measures up to the white sauce served at Typhoon of Tokyo (or the white sauce that I make myself), and I’ll be honest…Little Tokyo’s doesn’t quite either. It’s good, but a little sweeter than I prefer; it had a good consistency. I mixed a little soy sauce into mine to make it a little more salty and a little less sweet. That worked out well. They are very generous with the white sauce, as they have lidded containers of it next to the register as well as pump containers on the counter with the forks, napkins, etc. where you can serve yourself more if you need it.

For teriyaki chicken, a steak and chicken meal, and two waters, our meal was $17.87 before tip….not a bad deal for the large portion of food that you are given (to-go boxes are readily available near the counter if you need them). The staff was friendly and the food was tasty. I’ll admit that Typhoon is still my favorite but I would definitely go to Little Tokyo again. Little Tokyo Express in Hixson, Tennessee serves good food at a good value.

Little Tokyo Express is located at 4516 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee, 37343. They are open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at 423-874-0500. There is a Facebook page that appears to be for Little Tokyo Express, but the information is not accurate as the website points to a restaurant in Pittsburgh.

Mojo Burrito – St. Elmo

November 11, 2015

Mojo Burrito in St. Elmo (downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee) serves great Tex-Mex food in a fun, casual atmosphere with a focus on local food!

I’ve written about Mojo Burrito before, but the Red Bank location. Besides, it’s been a few years. The original location, the St. Elmo Mojo Burrito moved a few weeks ago into the location that formerly housed Slick’s Burgers and, before that, Sugar’s Ribs. They’ve done quite a bit of remodeling on the location, brightening it up, changing the seating arrangement, and adding an expansive outdoor seating area (both covered and uncovered) for those who like to dine al fresco.

The first thing that you notice when you walk in, at least if you’ve ever been to the previous location, is that the line makes sense now. The last time I went into the previous location before it was lunch time on a week day and the line got out of control. No one knew where to stand. That kind of thing stresses me out.

Typically I order nachos when I go into a place like Mojo Burrito. I just have a thing for salty tortilla chips gooey with melted cheese. The fish tacos caught my eye, though, so I decided to order those-fried tilapia tenders, served with remoulade sauce and pineapple salsa, with beans and rice on the side. I ordered black beans with my rice, Mexican-spiced rice. I took my tacos on soft flour tortillas (you can also get crunchy corn tortillas). The fish was cornmeal breaded and fried till crisp, nicely seasoned. The tacos came with lettuce and I also got a little bit of fresh jalapeño. The remoulade was delicious, just lightly spicy with a few capers (if you hate capers, don’t worry…you won’t even taste them). The pineapple salsa was fantastic…pineapple with a little onion and jalapeño, very fresh. Everything worked really well together.

Philip stuck to his usual, a burrito. He’s a traditionalist. He got it with ground chuck, which the guy taking the orders told him was “very garlicky”. He was not lying. He also got rice, black beans, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo, and a little of the hot salsa. It was quite a burrito, and I am always astonished by the ability of the burrito makers to fold those gigantic things so proficiently. The guy made it look easy! The burrito was huge, very fresh, and delicious. The burritos also come with a side of chips and salsa, plus we ordered a small basket of chips with the mild salsa because I wanted some too. The chips were light and perfectly salted, the salsa garlicky and just a tiny bit tangy with jalapeño.

The thing that I love about Mojo Burrito is their commitment to fresh and local ingredients. Their prices are really very close to similarly structured chain restaurants (e.g. Moe’s) and the portions are generous to say the least. They have a creative, varied menu with something for everyone. For fresh, local, and delicious Tex-Mex in St. Elmo, check out Mojo Burrito’s new location!

Mojo Burrito St. Elmo is located at 3950 Tennessee Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37409. You can call them at 423-822-MOJO (6656). You can check out their menu and learn more about Mojo Burrito on their website, mojoburrito.com. You can also like Mojo Burrito on Facebook.

The Camp House – Downtown Chattanooga

November 2, 2015

The Camp House is a coffee shop in Downtown Chattanooga that serves breakfast and lunch on weekdays and brunch on Saturdays.

I’m not really sure why, but for some reason I have a tendency to neglect coffee shops here on the ol’ blog. It’s not that I have anything against them (I definitely don’t), it’s just that for some reason I don’t really think about them. This week, I realized that and added several local coffee shops to the “must try” list.

After examining a few menus we decided to go to The Camp House down on MLK. We’ve been to The Camp House when it was in its previous location on Main, but (1) we’d never eaten there; and (2) we’d ever been to the new (well, newER) location. They have a pretty extensive menu, serving breakfast, lunch, and, on Saturdays, brunch. I’m going to be honest, I did not realize that they only serve brunch on Saturday and I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have the items on the lunch menu I checked out (because they had several things that sounded pretty fantastic). Oh well. I sucked it up and ordered brunch with the understanding that we’ll have to go back on a week day for lunch soon (look for an update to this post).

The first thing that you notice about The Camp House is that it is really a massive space. Not surprising, as it doubles on Sundays as a chapel for Mission Chattanooga. There are cozy sofas as well as dining tables and lots of people hanging out with laptops. There is also a very large outdoor seating area. The decor is dark and muted with lots of wood, cool chandeliers, and little potted succulents on the tables.

Specials for the day were a pumpkin waffle or French toast. I debated the migas (eggs, chorizo, corn chips, salsa) and the meat and cheese waffle (melted Gruyere, strawberry jam, ham, and honey) but eventually settled on the potato cakes (potato cakes, tomato, sour cream, onions, chorizo and a fried egg). I was a little concerned because I am not always a big fan of chorizo (it can be a little overpoweringly spicy for me) but I needn’t have worried because, while it was spicy, it was not mouth-searing. It was very flavorful. The potato cakes were extremely brown and crispy, the tomatoes and sour cream a cool complement to the sausage and potatoes. The egg was perfectly over-easy with a gorgeous runny orange yolk. I decided to skip coffee in favor of water.

Philip wanted a waffle and asked for the classic waffle (with just butter and syrup) but instead he was served a Camp House waffle (granola, yogurt, strawberries, pears, and date syrup). It didn’t have date syrup on it, though…it had honey on it. And it was delicious. The vanilla flavor in the waffle was very strong and the fruit, honey, yogurt, and granola all melded together perfectly. He also ordered a scrambled egg, which was just a pretty basic folded egg. He decided to order a chai latte. The latte had a very strong cinnamon and ginger flavor (the ginger burned!) and was nice and hot (they prepped it while we waited at the counter).

Like I said, we’ll be going back as soon as we get the chance to try out their lunch menu, which is served weekdays from 11-6. The food we were served today was fresh and tasty and definitely not the “usual” brunch (at least mine wasn’t, and I did think that Philip’s waffle was pretty unique). The atmosphere is nice and mellow and relaxing as well. If you are downtown and looking for a casual coffee shop atmosphere for breakfast, lunch, or an early dinner, The Camp House is a great option!

The Camp House is located at 149 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402. They are open Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. with breakfast served 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and lunch served 11 a.m.-6 p.m., and for brunch Saturday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. You can call them at 423-702-8081. You can also check out their website, thecamphouse.com and like The Camp House on Facebook. You can also follow @TheCampHouse on Twitter and on Instagram.

Soho Hibachi (Hixson, Tennessee)

October 26, 2015

Soho Hibachi is a popular hibachi and teriyaki restaurant that provides tasty food and quick service on Highway 153 (near Target) in Hixson, Tennessee.

As I type this, I am lamenting the fact that tomorrow is the last weekday of my Fall break. I love my job, but the chance to stay up late then sleep in (8 a.m. is sleeping in for this old girl) and hang out doing whatever I want is pretty much my favorite. On top of that I visited the Small Business Development Center earlier this week and got several ideas for building this blog thing into something larger than life.

Anyway, it’s Thursday right now and tomorrow we are going apple picking at Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. We decided to go grocery shopping today so that we wouldn’t have to do our usual Friday night shopping trip after our day trip. Before we shopped, we decided to eat a late lunch at Soho Hibachi since it is right next door to Aldi, where we do as much of our shopping as possible.

I’ve been hearing good things about Soho for a while, but we generally only go to that little plaza on Friday nights when it’s pretty crowded, and if you know anything about me you know that we avoid crowds like the plague. It definitely wasn’t crowded when we got there at about 2:00 on Thursday afternoon so we waltzed right up and placed our order.

They have a lunch special of two Japanese spring rolls for $1.50. We generally order spring rolls, summer rolls, or egg rolls at any restaurant where we dine that serves them. The spring rolls came out quickly. They were small, wrapped in very thin spring roll wrappers and fried until shatteringly crisp (and mouth-searingly hot!!). They were vegetarian, filled mostly with cabbage, and were very good but not exceptional.

When ordering you are given two menus from which to choose: hibachi or teriyaki. The lunch special is chicken, either teriyaki style or hibachi style, for $5.95. I am a fool for teriyaki, so I chose teriyaki. You can choose steamed white or brown rice, fried rice, or noodles. I decided on the noodles. The chicken was white meat chicken, cut into thin strips and seared till brown along with broccoli, zucchini, and onions, then tossed with a sweet but not overly so teriyaki sauce. It is definitely not the thick and sticky sauce that you get at a store and was quite delicious. The noodles (udon, for the record) were a little chewy, well-seasoned, and delicious, mixed with wilted Napa cabbage.

Philip decided to go for the hibachi-style filet mignon with fried rice for $9.25. The filet was cut into small chunks and seared on the hibachi along with broccoli, zucchini, and onions. Everything was seasoned well and cooked to a perfect texture. The fried rice was also well-seasoned, with carrots and peas, and cooked to a good “chewiness” level.

Soho Hibachi has a “serve yourself” condiment bar where you can get white (yum-yum) sauce, ginger sauce, duck sauce, Sriracha, etc. We tried the white sauce (of course) and thought that it was quite good-a little salty, a little sweet. Not as good as what is served at Typhoon of Tokyo, which will always be our gold standard for quick hibachi food, but good nonetheless.

The decor in Soho Hibachi was nice…simple, basic, clean with a few embellishments. The service was quick and professional and there were quite a few people picking up carryout orders while we were there. At $18.03 before tip, the price is competitive with other similar restaurants in the area. For a quick hibachi or teriyaki-style meal in the Hixson area, definitely check out Soho Hibachi!

Soho Hibachi is located at 5510 Highway 153, Chattanooga, TN 37343. There are open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. You can all them at 423-877-8808. They do not have a website or a Facebook page.

Mercier Orchards and Blue Ridge Brewery

October 19, 2015

A short drive from Chattanooga, Tennessee is Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. It’s great for apple picking! Nearby Blue Ridge Brewery offers a great lunch.

In the life of a teacher (or school system behavior analyst), Fall break is easy come, easy go. Easier go, for sure. The nine weeks leading up to any break don’t really feel so easy come! This year, we decided to forego any real traveling and instead just hang out around Chattanooga and save our money for a trip we’re planning to take next summer, to visit friends who will be living in Maine by then.

We thought about visiting Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House in Lynchburg (and one of these days we’ll get around to it) but I’ve been wanting to try apple picking for some time now so we decided to take advantage of this being apple-picking season and instead go to Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, Georgia. They extended their “u-pick“, which usually is only available on Saturday and Sunday, to Friday through Monday for Columbus Day weekend, so we went on Friday.

So did a lot of other people. We got there early, though, so we didn’t have to stand in line; we just paid $3 apiece for apple picking and $12 for a peck-size bag for our apples (you have to purchase a bag from them, so you don’t need to take your own bag). We jumped on a trailer behind a tractor and took a little tour around the orchard, learning about the family that owns the orchard (it’s still owned by the same family that started it, and almost all of the children and grandchildren work there in some capacity).

The day that we went, the apples ready for picking were Fuji, Ambrosia, Suncrisp, Cameo, and Corail. Our tour guide told us that Ambrosia apples were his second favorite (after Pink Ladies, which were not available yet) so we tried to get some of those little yellow & red gems, but we really had to look for them! Most of them had been picked or fallen off of the trees, but we did manage to find quite a few. The others were more plentiful, and it didn’t take too much for us to fill our little bag up. We got to taste an apple fresh off the tree (you are free to eat anything you want in the orchard) and learned that most of the apples that we buy at Publix come from Mercier, but by the time they make it to the store they’ve been in cold storage for at least six months. Wow.

And then…and then we went to the store. The store at Mercier Orchards is kind of like what I imagine that the Cracker Barrel in hell might be like. Okay, obviously I am exaggerating…but it was wall to wall people and crowds like that make me a little edgy. I survived, but I didn’t get any fried pies because we were not about to stand in that line. I’ll live to see another day, though. I did get some cider doughnuts (just the cinnamon sugar kind…the powdered sugar kind don’t really do anything for me) and some apple butter. Philip got a couple of bottles of hard cider. He’s not a hard cider fan, so we’ll see how that goes.

After we left Mercier Orchards, we headed to downtown Blue Ridge to eat at Blue Ridge Brewery (you can eat lunch in the deli at Mercier but it was way too crowded for us to even consider that). Philip tried a flight of their in-house brews (their brewer was out of town, so they only had 3 beers available and there is some odd law that because they don’t distribute their beers that they cannot mix them in a flight with other brands). He tried a hefeweizen, a kölsch, and two glasses of the stout. He also tried the burger, which was large, well-cooked, and juicy, with a side salad and roasted potatoes. I had a Philly cheesesteak (the lunch special) with roasted potatoes. The sandwich was delicious, with tender steak and well-cooked, caramelized vegetables.

After lunch, we took a little jaunt around downtown Blue Ridge. You can take a ride on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway, and downtown is kind of like a mini Gatlinburg. There are tons of restaurants and quite a few little shops. Apparently, there’s another brewery, Grumpy Old Men Brewing, just a few blocks down from downtown. We didn’t go there, but if we go back to Blue Ridge we’ll definitely plan to check it out.

Okay…the point of this? Chattanoogans (or Southeast Tennesseans, or North Georgians), if you are looking for a great day trip, apple-picking at Mercier Orchards and just “being a tourist” around downtown Blue Ridge are a great way to spend a day!

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