Restaurants Archives - Page 18 of 49

Hennen’s (Downtown Chattanooga)

July 20, 2015

Hennen’s is a great upscale but not stuffy restaurant in downtown Chattanooga. We decided to go there for our 14-year anniversary!

Who are these infants? July 2001

So, last Tuesday (7/14) was Philip’s and my 14th anniversary-one of the few times a year that we spend a little more money on dinner (also one of the few times a year we go out on a weeknight). We put a lot of thought into where to go and got lots of great suggestions from my Facebook followers (all added to the list, thanks guys!). We decided in the end to go to Hennen’s…we’d been there before but it was long before my blogging days.

We made our reservations for 6 p.m….then watched a storm roll in at about 5:15. We managed to get ahead of the storm, so it hadn’t started raining when we got there, but even if it had, we would have been okay because Hennen’s has a great set-up where you can park in the garage in the same building, come down on the elevator, and enter the restaurant without having to get out from under cover (and if you remember to take your garage ticket with you, you can pay at a machine before you leave).

We were basically starving when we arrived, so we decided to order an appetizer. We were trying to choose between white bean hummus (with marinated tomatoes and warm flatbread) and poached pear and blue cheese flatbread. We ended up deciding on the latter. It was a good decision. It had a great crust with lots of pears that had been poached in what I assumed was port, which was reduced and drizzled on top, and a good amount of gooey blue cheese. I puffy heart love blue cheese. If you don’t, don’t order this flatbread.

I couldn’t decide between the PEI (Prince Edward Island) mussels and the braised short ribs with herb mashed potatoes and green beans. Our server, Abby, highly recommended the mussels. I have a rule that I always take recommendations (if I ask for them, that is). The mussels were served in a bacon-jalapeño broth with wedges of grilled Niedlov’s bread and I decided to get some fries to go with them, because I always make fries to go with mussels. The fries were pretty average, nothing to write home about but not bad. The mussels were delicious, though. The bacon was diced into pretty tiny chunks and I swear there was an entire jalapeño sliced up in there. It was definitely a 3+ alarm broth, which kind of caught me off guard (I was surprised by how much heat the broth lent to the mussels themselves) but boy was it good. Additionally, the mussels were well-cleaned (i.e. no grit; nothing ruins a meal for me quicker than grit of any kind) and the bread was nicely grilled and perfect dipped in the broth.

Philip decided on the tagliatelle pasta with grilled chicken, shrimp, Andouille sausage, caramelized onions, and peppers in a cream sauce. It was a very large portion (he brought half home). The pasta was well cooked, as were the chicken and shrimp. The sausage was very spicy and added a lot of flavor to the dish (even Philip, who is pretty immune to a lot of things that I find unbearably hot, said it was “lighting him up”). I tasted the pasta with a little bit of the shrimp; the cream sauce was light, a little garlicky, and delicious. He also had a Caesar salad, which was very fresh, with a slightly spicy and very garlicky creamy dressing and housemade croutons.

Just a note…there are a lot of steaks on the menu. While we obviously didn’t order them, we saw a few go by while we were eating. They smelled absolutely fantastic. It doesn’t seem like there are a lot of upscale restaurants that specialize in steak anymore, so it’s nice to see that they do.

When it came time for dessert, we had a bit of a dilemma. We always share a dessert, but Philip is pretty much a crème brûlée addict and essentially unable to order anything else if it’s on the menu. I, however, really wanted to try the beignets (French doughnuts) after seeing a friend eat them the last time we were there. So…we decided to live dangerously and order both (I know. Who ARE we?). The crème brûlée was tasty but not the best we’ve had (I like for the custard to be super-cold and this was maybe a slight bit warmer than I prefer, so not as thick as it could have been) but gah, those beignets! They were served with powdered sugar (of course!) and mocha creme. They were still hot, they were a little yeasty, and they were just amazing. And we didn’t have to pay for them! Abby gave them to us as an anniversary gift (thanks Abby!)!

The best part was that by the time we were finished with our dinner, the storm (which came hard and heavy while we were eating and threatened to knock out the power a few times) had blown over. Our total was about $61 pre-tip. The service was very good and the food was delicious…and Philip even got lunch for the next day.

We would definitely recommend Hennen’s!

Hennen’s is located at 193 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-634-5160 and you can also visit their website, hennens.net, to make reservations. You can also like Hennen’s on Facebook.

Deli-Boys of Cleveland

July 13, 2015

It’s too bad it took me so long to get to Deli-Boys, because this was one of the best sandwiches I’ve had a in a while! It’s worth the drive to Cleveland, TN, for sure.

Deli-Boys is located in Cleveland, and I’ll admit, I don’t give Cleveland much love on here. I promise it isn’t intentional! It’s kind of far away (45 minutes to an hour depending on the route I take and how fast we drive) so it requires a little bit of planning ahead. Every time I think about it, it seems too late to try to venture in that direction.

I was telling Philip, though, I’m starting to run low on places to review in Chattanooga-I’ve pretty much exhausted Soddy-Daisy and Hixson, and there are a few places downtown but a lot of them are only open during the day on weekdays, making them a little more tricky. We’ve got to start visiting places a little more “off the beaten path”, so if you have suggestions for Brainerd, East Ridge, Harrison, Ooltewah, Collegedale, Cleveland, and North Georgia, please let me know!

So anyway….I started thinking this morning about where we should go and I honestly couldn’t think of anywhere in Chattanooga that I was itching to try today. We needed to go to my parents’ house in Soddy before we got moving, so I suggested to Philip that we just keep moving north through Dayton and take the back way to Cleveland. My brother had suggested that I review Deli-Boys ages ago, and since my brother and I have similar restaurant preferences, I knew I could trust his suggestion.

Deli-Boys is located in a strip mall on Keith Street, just past Smoothie King. It’s on the side of the building, so you need to know where you are going or look for the sign out front to be sure that you can find it. We got there at about 1:00 and it was pretty crowded, though we were able to walk right up and give our order. By the time we left, the tables were pretty much full. The lady at the counter was extremely friendly, as was the guy who brought our food to the table and bussed our trash while we ate.

Deli-Boys offers sandwiches that you can build yourself (ham, chicken, turkey, roast beef, corned beef, and pastrami), specialty sandwiches (Italian, club, Cajun, meatball, veggie, chicken farm, pizza sub, Reuben, Rachel, steak and cheese, chicken and cheese, French dip, grilled cheese, turkey fajita, Caribbean, and BBQ) and all sandwiches come in small (3″), medium (6″), and large (12″, I assume). They also serve salads (house, Greek, Italian, chef, chicken, or tuna) and baked potatoes (deli, chili, veggie, cheesy, and “just baked” with butter and sour cream) and soup of the day.

I considered ordering the Rachel. Different restaurants have different interpretations of the Rachel-some make it just like a Reuben expect with turkey instead of corned beef-but their Rachel is corned beef, pastrami, or turkey, 1000 Island dressing, melted Swiss, and hot slaw or coleslaw instead of the sauerkraut that is signature on a Reuben. However, I knew that Philip was planning to order a Reuben so I decided to order something else so that our orders wouldn’t be too similar. I decided instead to build my own-pastrami (I adore pastrami, which is basically just peppered corned beef) with Muenster cheese, steamed and topped with Boar’s Head horseradish mayo and Boar’s head spicy mustard, both recommended by the lady at the counter, lettuce, tomato, and pickle, on a whole wheat sub. I love that you can order a small sandwich. It was more than enough food for me and didn’t leave me feeling overly stuffed. It was a delicious sandwich. The meat, cheese, and bread were heated through (there is nothing I hate more than a sandwich that is supposed to be warm but turns out to be cold in the middle) and all the ingredients were very fresh, including the bread, which is baked there. The bread was soft and chewy, pretty much a perfect sub roll. The horseradish mayo and spicy mustard were a fantastic complement to the Boar’s Head pastrami. As a side I just had salt & vinegar chips, but there are other sides available, including slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, side salad, and mac & cheese.

As I mentioned before, Philip ordered the Reuben, which is pretty much his standard deli order, at least on the first visit to a new place. The Reuben was served on grilled marble rye with Boar’s Head corned beef, melted Swiss, 1000 island dressing, and sauerkraut. I assume that they grill their sandwiches on a panini press, because the bread was deeply ridged and Philip said that it was the crispiest Reuben he’d ever had, which he said was definitely a positive. While he said that Vine Street Market still stands as his #1 Reuben, the Reuben here was definitely one of the best that he’d had-very fresh, ingredients well balanced, and everything heated through just right.

Our total for two small sandwiches, two bags of chips, and two drinks was around $14. I noticed that they had cookies on the counter, but I didn’t notice until we were walking out that they had a cake stand with cupcakes, including homemade Hostess-style cupcakes, which I kind of wish I’d gotten (but I have crack pie in my freezer, so I am saving my sweet tooth for that). The people were very friendly, the service was quick and efficient, and this is obviously a popular place for the locals. They also offer catering.

If you have reason to head to Cleveland (or even if you don’t!) you should check out Deli-Boys!

Deli-Boys is located in the Colony Square Plaza in 2538 Keith Street, Cleveland, TN 37312. They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (closed Sunday). You can call them at 423-472-8868. You can visit their website, www.deliboysonline.com. You can also like Deli-Boys on Facebook and follow @deliboysonline on Twitter.

Backyard Barbecue Closed

June 29, 2015

Backyard Barbecue was a BBQ restaurant in Soddy-Daisy near the lake. We enjoyed our meal there. Unfortunately, it closed just a couple of months after this review.

There’s a little spot near Soddy Lake that’s been a produce stand for as long as I can remember. I recall going there often as a little girl with my mom as she would buy tomatoes, squash, okra…of course, she knew the owners and they knew us. Small town connections. Anyway, a few years back half of that building was occupied by a restaurant. It’s been a couple of different places, but not all that long ago a BBQ joint, Backyard Barbecue, that had been in Daisy near Wal-Mart (in the old Delia’s location) moved in.

The owner of Backyard Barbecue contacted me a while back via the blog and invited me in. I had every intention of getting there before now, but I’ll be honest…I forget about it when I’m trying to think of somewhere to go. A friend texted me a few weeks ago to tell me that she had enjoyed her meal there, and my sister texted me the same thing this past week. I didn’t have anywhere else in mind for this weekend, so Philip and I decided to head over and get some barbecue.

There were no other patrons in Backyard Barbecue when we arrived around 12:30 or 1:00 on Saturday. The owners’ daughter took our order and promised us that we wouldn’t be disappointed with our meal. The joint is owned by a husband/wife pair; the man wasn’t there when we arrived but came in while we were eating. The lady heard us tell their daughter that we hadn’t been in before and brought us samples of the baked beans and potato salad, which she said were both recipes her husband had developed, to taste.

I didn’t take pictures of the potato salad or the beans; I guess I should have. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll tell you that I wasn’t too sure about the beans. They definitely don’t look like your run-of-the-mill baked beans…they are very dark in color, contain ground meat, and look more like chili than baked beans. I was a little suspicious but needn’t have been. They were delicious! They didn’t taste like run of the mill baked beans either, but I am not really a huge fan of baked beans so that was okay with me. They were sweet, tangy, and just a little bit spicy. The potato salad was actually very similar to the loaded baked potato salad I make (spoiler alert: I already have this recipe ready to post this Wednesday. Coincidence!) with red-skinned potatoes, bacon, and green onions. It was delicious as well. Neither of us ordered beans or potato salad to go with our meals, but we definitely will next time (and you should too!).

I considered getting a sandwich but decided instead to get a platter-meat, 2 sides, a roll, and sauce. I opted for brisket with fries and fried okra. They slice or shred the meat when it is ordered as opposed to having the meat already prepped ahead, allowing the meat to be served as fresh and moist as possible. The brisket was rubbed with a delicious, slightly spicy rub that I assume is made in-house and sliced thinly with the fat cap still intact. It was moist and delicious. Instead of drizzling the sauce on my meat, I decided to dip my meat into the sauce. The sauce was housemade…it was a thin sauce, not thick and tomatoey as you typically find around here. It was sweet and tangy and a little spicy, but not too much so. The fries were skin-on and appeared handcut; they were available seasoned or plain and I went for seasoned. The seasoning was a delicious rub. The fried okra was pretty standard for a barbecue joint-pretty sure it was frozen but it wasn’t bad. The roll was also pretty nondescript. I wish I had tried the honey cornbread that was listed as an available addition.

Philip decided to get the pork shoulder platter with slaw and fried okra. He was served a generous portion of pork shoulder that had been shredded. It had plenty of “bark” (the delicious dark bits from the outside of the smoked meat) mixed in and it was moist and flavorful. The slaw was a little sweeter than we would have liked. As I mentioned before, when we go back we will order potato salad and baked beans as our sides.

As I read reviews on Tomato (formerly known as Urbanspoon), as I typically do before visiting a restaurant, I noted that a few people said it was pricey. At $24 for two platters and two waters, it might be a little pricier than most barbecue joints in town but not too much so. Some also complained about the wait time. We didn’t have to wait long but there wasn’t anyone else in there while we were waiting. Since they prep everything as it is ordered, I could see how thing might be a little slower going on a busy night. If you are in a hurry, you might want to order ahead. The food was very tasty, though, and the people were very nice, so I’d encourage you to try Backyard Barbecue out for yourself!

Backyard Barbecue is located at 11210 Dayton Pike, Soddy-Daisy, TN, 37379. You can call them at (423) 457-9547. They are open from 11-8, Tuesday-Saturday. They do not have a website, but you can like Backyard Barbecue on Facebook.

Harvest Grocery Grand Opening

June 15, 2015

Harvest Grocery is Hixson, Tennessee’s first natural and whole foods store (and the only locally-owned store of this nature in Chattanooga). It opened on June 10, 2015 and had a grand opening all weekend. I was excited to take part in the grand opening and get lots of photos to share with you!

Save for the few years that I lived on campus at UTC, I’ve lived north of the river in Chattanooga my entire life…most of that time in the Hixson/Soddy-Daisy area. Whole Foods and Earth Fare seem a million miles away…and I have major issues with traffic, so that complicates things as well. I’ve filled out store location suggestion forms for both of those stores as well as Fresh Market and Trader Joe’s…I’ve even sent emails. To no avail. It never made sense to me. This area of town seemed ready for such a store, but then a friend who works at one of those stores told me that a very large percentage of their business comes from the Hixson area. That explains a lot.

Anyway, I was intrigued when it became obvious that construction was being done on the old Hixson Pike Bi-lo building. I heard rumors that it was to be a Whole Foods, then a Fresh Market. When the “Harvest Grocery” sign went up, I couldn’t find any info for a chain named Harvest Grocery, leading me to believe that it must be a local start-up, which was later confirmed by Chattanooga Times-Free Press. The sign said, “Coming Spring 2015”. I couldn’t wait-it was just what we needed!

I was even more excited when Jon Moss, Harvest Grocery’s marketing manager, contacted me about participating in the Grand Opening. We agreed that I would do two cooking demonstrations and after a lot of consideration I decided to make hummus on Friday night and biscuits on Saturday morning. I served up six batches of hummus and 5 bags of Stacy’s pita chips on Friday night and 200 mini biscuits topped with fruit spread on Saturday morning. Everything was made with products from the store. I got to meet lots of interesting people and gave out lots of cards. I hope some of you are following because you met us at Harvest!

I also got lots of photos for you! I am not going to say too much about them…they mostly speak for themselves!

I met vendors from lots of businesses who will be selling their products at Harvest, including (left to right): Rembrandt’s, Olive Chattanooga (I had no idea how delicious balsamic vinegar could be!), Grafe Studio, Certified Piedmontese Beef, and Tennessee Moonshine Cakes. Matt from Pure Sodaworks was also there, along with many others that I didn’t get photos of.

Finally! Cruze Dairy Farm milk is available in Hixson!

Bulk food are one of the things I am most excited about. No I no longer have to drive downtown or to Hamilton Place for bulk coffee beans, spices, rice, beans, etc.

This was Philip’s favorite part of the visit…I’m sure that will surprise no one. He tried a sample of Big River Iron Horse stout.

Harvest has a great selection of prepared foods and deli items, including baked goods (some baked in house, some obtained locally from other bakeries), pizza, sandwiches, specialty gourmet foods, hot/cold bars, gelato, and specialty drinks (coffee, smoothies, juices). There’s also a great seating area (along with outside seating, which is pictured at the beginning of this post).

So what can I say about Harvest Grocery? I’m happy they’re here. It’s a beautiful store with a large selection of organic and natural foods that are not available in any other store on this side of town. They also give lots of love to local vendors, which makes me very happy. The prices? Competitive with the other stores in town of the same category, but more expensive than Bi-lo or Publix (hey, they’re selling a different type of product). I’ve heard some people say they were 100% organic or 100% local or 100% gluten free and they are none of those things, but I’m okay with that. They have plenty of organic, local, and gluten-free items. There’s truly something for everyone. All the staff was friendly and helpful…I hope they stay that way. That’s one of the most important things about a grocery store in my opinion (after the quality of the products, of course).

So, get to Harvest Grocery and support a local business that’s been sorely needed!

Harvest Grocery is located at 5414 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN (north of Northgate, just past Abba’s house and the light at the corner of Hixson Pike and Adams Road). You can call them at 423-847-0200. Check out their website, http://harvestgrocery.com/. You can “like” Harvest Grocery on Facebook. You can also follow Harvest Grocery on Twitter and Instagram.

Zarzour’s Café (Downtown Chattanooga)

May 30, 2015

Zarzour’s Café is a Chattanooga classic. It’s been around since 1918 and serves delicious burgers plus meat and three and desserts!

I have been meaning to go to Zarzour’s Café since I wrote my first burger list in 2013 and a commenter declared my list invalid since I had not tried Zarzour’s, which is the oldest restaurant in Chattanooga, having opened in 1918. The problem is, they are not open on the weekend and they are only open 11-3 on weekdays. Plus, I wasn’t sure if they took credit cards (they do not) and I never have cash so I knew that visiting would take some planning ahead so I wouldn’t get caught without a way to pay. Since I’m off from work right now (woohoo summer break!) this gave me the perfect opportunity to plan ahead. We grabbed some cash and headed downtown.

We got there around 12:45 or 1 and were able to easily find parking on the street (there is a small lot next to the restaurant as well). The place is small (and smells like burgers-that is, glorious-and it was fairly crowded but there were still several tables open. We seated ourselves and perused the menu that was on the table, even though we really didn’t need to. There are a handful of items that are on the menu all the time-burgers and fries and a couple of salads-plus rotating daily specials and desserts. The specials come with two vegetables and tea or you can add a soda for an additional charge.

A server took our drink order then when she returned with our waters she took our order-two cheeseburgers, one all the way and one with no onions, plus fries. A lady (who turned out to be the owner, Shannon) was manning the flat-top griddle and the fryer behind the counter while joking around with customers and dropping a few curse words (so beware-and maybe sit in the back room-if you have ears that are sensitive to that sort of thing…I do not), and it appeared that the two servers were getting the other items from a stove in a small room in the back. Most of the people that came in while we were there ordered burgers but a few did get specials. There were several people that left while we were there who were obviously regulars and were on a first name basis with the staff. I also saw a server helping a man with a cane carry an order to his car. That’s service, guys.

Our orders came out fairly quickly, especially considering that one person was preparing all the burgers and fries. I’ll get the fries out of the way first…they were standard frozen crinkle-cut fries. Pretty good but nothing special as fries go. It doesn’t matter, though, because it’s all about the burger here. One bite and I was hooked….the meat had that crispy quality to it from being browned on the griddle, but the inside was juicy and the whole thing was perfectly seasoned…I’ll give the meat a 4 since it was cooked perfectly but I assume that it is just regular, nothing special about it ground beef. The bread gets a 5…it was a Niedlov’s bun and GAH. It was cooked to a perfect crisp on the flat-top. Toppings are a 3.5 …just the right amount of condiments (mayonnaise and mustard) so it was not dripping and the pickles, lettuce, and tomato were fine. Cheese also a 4-American cheese is just the best for melting but others contribute more to the flavor. As for structural integrity, I’ve got to give it a 5…it was darn greasy but it held together perfectly all the way to the last bite. Size is also a 5…it was not huge and I didn’t feel stuffed after eating it but I was not hungry for several hours after. Overall, this burger gets a 4.4. I feel like it needs a bonus, though, and I’m going to hold onto that for later because this burger was just so darn good (and that crispy bread tho!) that even though a lot of its components were nothing special everything together just worked so perfectly.

So I can’t tell you much about Zarzour’s other than that it’s a popular place with a salty-mouthed owner manning the griddle (which I found hilarious). And it serves amazing burgers.

I’ll have to go back to try out the specials and the desserts because those desserts sounded pretty delicious. But I know that restaurants don’t stick around for nearly 100 years if they aren’t fantastic, so they are definitely doing something right. By the way, our total was $18 even pre-tip (you put your tip in a jar on the counter). So go there!

Zarzour’s Café is located at 1627 Rossville Avenue (not Rossville Blvd.), Chattanooga, TN 37408. They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. You can call them at (423) 266-0424. They do not have a website, but you can like Zarzour’s Café on Facebook.

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