Restaurants Archives - Page 20 of 49

Hong Kong Chinese (East Brainerd)

February 23, 2015

Hong Kong Chinese restaurant is a great Chinese restaurant with delicious food and great service on East Brainerd Road in Chattanooga.
I didn’t start eating Chinese food until I was a junior in college. Actually, it was probably more to impress a guy than anything else…but he married me so I guess it all turned out okay. Plus, it turned out that I actually liked Chinese food…I have no idea why I was always so convinced that I wouldn’t. I guess it’s too late to wonder, though. Anyway, when we were dating and early in our marriage, Philip and I used to frequent China Inn, a Chinese buffet in the TJ Maxx complex at Northgate. Friendly staff, good prices, and great food-we loved that place! We were crushed when it closed, though we shifted our affections toward Mandarin Garden…which then closed. And Philip doesn’t like Formosa (for the record, I do). In fact, we have found the Chinese options in our area to be rather disappointing overall.

However, Philip has a friend who lives in East Brainerd and they frequently visit Hong Kong Chinese, which is in the complex where the East Brainerd Publix is. I know when they’ve been because Philip comes home with a box of cereal, a telltale sign that he had to buy something in order to get cash back at checkout-Hong Kong only accepts cash or checks. He has sworn to me for a couple of years now that the food at Hong Kong is delicious, but it’s a little bit of a trek especially when you never carry cash, so it’s taken us a little time to get out there.

It’s been quite a week here in Chattanooga, what with ice and snow and temperatures nearing zero. Us Southerners aren’t built for that type of weather and neither are our Public Works departments…I mean, it really doesn’t make financial sense to spend a lot of money to purchase a lot of equipment meant to deal with weather events that may happen once or twice a year if that. So…I was off work all week (and I might add…Tennessee schools tack a little time on to the end of each day so that snow days are built in, so it’s not like we just get free days-I’ve seen a little complaining about that this week) and feeling just a little stir crazy after being in the house 95% of the week. We ventured out in still a little bit of slush so Philip could check out the craft beer selection at Sigler’s, then we headed to the Kitchen Spice Indian store next the to East Brainerd Goodwill…then we went to Publix and bought cereal so we could eat at Hong Kong.

There were no other customers eating in the restaurant, which looks pretty much like your stereotypical mom and pop Chinese restaurant-a few basic tables, some floral border on the walls, and pictures of menu items above the counters. The people in the back were very busy preparing to-go orders and the phone rang frequently (not to mention the steady stream of people picking up their orders). The lady who took our order recognized Philip and told him that they were out of tofu, because apparently he likes to order tofu. Anyway….

We got there at 3:01 so we were just a little too late to order off of the lunch specials menu, which includes entree, chicken fried rice, an egg roll, and soup or a soda. Instead, for $15 and some change (plus a little that Philip dropped in the tip jar), we ordered the combination plates. When I asked Philip what was good off of their very large (as Chinese menus tend to be) menu, he assured me that everything he’d had was good (by the way, I’ve included the menu at the bottom of the post). In the end I got an order of sesame chicken and he decided on chicken with cashew nuts. Each order came with chicken fried rice and an egg roll, and we drank water.

Sesame chicken is my favorite Chinese menu item but I often find that the sauce is so thick and sweet that it becomes cloying. I did not find this to be an issue with this chicken, which was sweet but not tooth-aching, crunchy, and not too sticky. There was a little broccoli, though I would have liked to have had more. The rice was well-cooked and peppered with peas and carrots. My only real complaint is that the egg roll had a little bit of weird pink pork in it…which always freaks me out a little bit. The pink color just comes from the salt used to cure it, but the neon hue is just a little unnerving. Still, the egg rolls were delicious.

Philip’s chicken with cashew nuts was far more vegetable-laden than my sesame chicken, with lots of carrots, celery, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and cashews. Rather than being breaded like the sesame chicken, the cashew chicken was simply velveted (coated in cornstarch before being sautéed) and had a light, slightly sweet sauce. The portions were decent sized but not overly gigantic…we both ate most but not all of our meals and didn’t feel stuffed after.

For the price and the friendly service (I saw some reviewers on Urbanspoon refer to the service as rude and state that they’ll walk away if you aren’t ready, but they’re BUSY. While we decided on our order, the lady taking the orders walked away to work in the kitchen, then she came back after a couple of minutes to take our order), I think that Hong Kong Chinese is a great option. It was definitely the best Chinese food that I’ve had around Chattanooga in quite a while, and it didn’t leave me with an MSG aftertaste or a telltale MSG bloat after (too much MSG makes me feel puffy and swollen). Obviously, the location will prevent us from going on those work nights when I just don’t feel like cooking…

…but when I have a Chinese craving that I can’t shake Hong Kong Chinese will be my go-to. Judging from the number of people picking up takeout, it seems that quite a few people in the area agree.

Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant is located at 8644 East Brainerd Road, Suite C2, Chattanooga, TN 37421. They are open daily, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., except Sundays when they are open 12 p.m.-9:30 p.m. You can call them at 423-899-4878.

Also in this area: Bones Smokehouse

Taconooga (Downtown Chattanooga)

February 9, 2015

When I asked readers for Mexican food recommendations, TacoNooga on the North Shore ranked near the top of reader recommendations!

I am embarrassed that it took me as long as it did to get to Taconooga…it’s been around for a while, but that location doesn’t seem to be the best (which makes no sense, given how many people are always crawling the North Shore) so I guess I wanted to wait to make sure they were going to stick around! I’m glad that they did. Mexican food is one of my top “cravings” and, though we don’t eat it as much as we used to, I could probably eat it every night and not get tired of it. I was struck with a craving on Friday and decided that we needed to head to Taconooga this weekend, especially after commenters on my Facebook page raved about it.

This weekend was gorgeous, with nothing but blue skies and temperatures in the sixties. The North Shore was very busy (but then, when is it not?) and when we got to Taconooga around 2:00 it was packed out. No empty tables, though they quickly cleared a table that just had some supplies stacked on it so we could sit. Apparently we hit at the end of the lunch rush, because it wasn’t quite as busy when we left as it was when we arrived, but there were still a lot of people. We were given menus (the food menu, the drink list, and a weekend specials menu, which I wish I’d taken a photo of) and our server took our drink order.

After she brought our drinks it took her a few minutes to get back to us to take our order, for which she apologized, but the place was busy so we were really not upset! She was very friendly and I wish I’d thought to ask her name. After she took our order it only took a few minutes for her to bring out our food, which she told us was all made very fresh.

Perhaps the one downside to Taconooga is that the chips and salsa are not complimentary, but in my opinion it is mandatory to have tortilla chips with something in a Mexican restaurant so we were willing to pay. There are a lot of options: queso, freshly made guacamole (which is supposedly out of this world…we saw a couple order it and it was a huge bowl that looked delicious), choriqueso (queso with chorizo), and several others. We decided to just stick with the basics and get chips and salsa. You get to choose two of the three salsas: we chose the house salsa and the spicy chili salsa (the third was tomatillo). Both tasted very fresh. The spicy chili was not so spicy that I couldn’t eat it, but it definitely had a strong kick. The house salsa had some sort of herb or spice that I didn’t recognize that set it apart from others. The chips were thick, hot, and freshly fried. Perfect.

I decided to get the tacos al pastor and the pescado especial (fried tilapia tacos). The al pastor tacos had chunks of pineapple from the marinade, which I’ve never had in a taco al pastor before, but it definitely gave a tangy sweetness to the tacos. They had tons of cilantro, which in my opinion is always a good thing, and lots of red onion….which I would usually hate but for some reason I like raw onion on tacos. The pescado especial had a large piece of battered, fried fish on double corn tortillas and was topped with lettuce, mango salsa, and jicama for crunch. There was a side of a mayo-based sauce that I added to the fish taco. It was very fresh and the sauce, though I couldn’t place the flavors, was a great complement. There were large chunks of mango and jalapeño in the salsa, but it wasn’t overly spicy. I loved the addition of jicama.

Philip decided to get a chorizo (Mexican sausage) taco and a taco lengua (that’s right…tongue). Like my taco al pastor, both of his tacos were topped with ample amounts of cilantro and onions. He liked the chorizo and said that it was some of the best that he’d had-in competition with Taqueria Jalisco and Delia’s-not greasy, spicy but not too much so. The lengua was perfectly spiced, falling apart, shredded finely. I know the idea of tongue scares people, but it is really just like a very tasty pot roast. I PROMISE. I would tell you if it was bad! It was very tasty.

We ordered two sides: frijoles charros (pictured above with Philip’s tacos) and Mexican street corn (which you can order on the cob or loose…neither of us likes corn on the cob). The frijoles charros are pinto beans cooked with bacon, onions, and garlic. They were very smoky, tender, and flavorful….but if I had to choose one side to eat here for the rest of forever, it would be the Mexican street corn: yellow corn with queso fresco, spicy mayo sauce, and chili seasoning. There was just enough mayo sauce to make it a little creamy. The seasoning on top made it nice and smoky, and the queso fresco gave a salty bite. Everything we ordered was delicious, but the Mexican street corn was the highlight of the meal. By the way, the sides are big enough for two people, so next time we’ll probably just order one Mexican street corn and forego the beans.

Taconooga is definitely a contender for a spot among the best Mexican restaurants in Chattanooga.

The food is fresh and delicious and the staff is friendly and amazingly quick. It was a good value, too-a ton of food for just around $21 pre-tip. It’s great to see restaurants like this full to the brim with customers. I’ll be back as often as I can get back!

Taconooga is located at 207-A Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. You can call them at 423-757-5550 or email them at taconooga@gmail.com. Check out Taconooga’s website and like Taconooga on Facebook.

Mimi’s Deli & Bakery (Hixson, Tennessee)

January 26, 2015

Mimi’s Deli & Bakery is a great, family-owned sandwich shop and bakery in Hixson, Tennessee. I think they have the best sandwiches this side of the county!

A few years back, Mimi’s Gluten-Free Market opened up in Hixson, right next door to O’Charley’s. Though we aren’t gluten-free, we went in several times then sort of inexplicably stopped going…I have no idea why. They carried quite a few products that we couldn’t find anywhere else without having to drive to Whole Foods or Earth Fare. They mentioned to us on one visit that they were hoping to eventually add housemade sandwiches and baked goods to their offerings…then one day we drove by and noticed that the place was no longer Mimi’s Gluten-Free Market but rather Mimi’s Deli & Bakery.

So it turns out Hixson wasn’t quite ready for such a niche market, and the family that owned the shop decided that rather than close their business they would change their business into a restaurant. It took me a while to go in, though I’m really not sure why. Let me be clear….this isn’t Mimi’s Gluten-Free Deli & Bakery, though you can have your sandwich on gluten-free bread if you so choose, and the bakery case is full of gluten-free options like big, gloriously iced cupcakes, brownies, and cake pops (plus a few gluten-full items for those of you who are a little frightened of the gluten-free offerings).

In the back of the space, there’s still a small area selling some food items, including prepared gluten-free breads and frozen items and baking items. The rest of the place is full of tables. The seating is ample, so you can find a spot after you place your order and pay at the counter. The menu items are written on a gigantic chalkboard wall, but for details you can grab a menu at the counter to peruse. There are sixteen sandwiches, five hot dog options, burgers, salads, soups, and sides.

The lady at the counter recommended the cheesesteak, with sliced beef, onions, peppers, Provolone cheese, mayonnaise, and a house seasoning blend on an 8-inch hoagie roll. I have a hard time passing up a well-made cheesesteak, though they are admittedly difficult to find. I am usually sorely disappointed by cheesesteaks that are full of tough meat, not enough cheese, and barely cooked vegetables served on a dry and overly crunchy roll. This was not one of those sandwiches. The meat was perfectly cooked-so tender and deliciously seasoned. The vegetables were caramelized with just a tiny bit of crunch, and there was a ton of cheese melted on top. The roll was chewy but soft enough to bite through and the whole thing was hot and fabulously delicious. I’ve been watching my caloric intake, but I threw that out the window for this meal and ate the whole thing. And I didn’t regret it even a little bit.

Philip is a sucker for a Reuben, so he took the lady’s other recommendation and ordered the Reuben (the traditional Reuben with corned beef, not the California Reuben with turkey). The Reuben was made on grilled marbled rye with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and house made Russian dressing. Everything was well-heated through (unlike some other places that serve Reubens with cold corned beef in the center where the grill just doesn’t quite get) and the ingredients were well-balanced-not too much or too little of any one item. The Russian dressing was tasty…the best Reubens are always made with house made dressing. We also ordered a basket of hand-cut natural fries, which were tossed with house seasoning. They were skin-on, which you guys know that I love, perfectly cooked, and deliciously seasoned.

One other thing! I had to take a picture of the ketchup. Unfortunately, a lot of times when you eat in restaurants you are assaulted with cheap food-service ketchup (a lot of times that’s bottled as “fancy ketchup). Not here. The ketchup was Hunt’s! My BFF is a ketchup connoisseur, so I had to text this to her as I knew it would make her smile.

I’m going to take a leap here and tell you that Mimi’s Deli & Bakery has the best deli sandwiches in Hixson, at least from what we’ve experienced.

The people were very friendly and are obviously committed to serving a quality product. The prices were good as well-for our sandwiches and fries (we drank water), we paid about $17. There were quite a few people in and out while we were there, so this place is not a secret…but the service was impressively quick. Get to Mimi’s, you guys!

Mimi’s Deli & Bakery is located at 5036 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343 (between O’Charley’s and The Bread Basket). You can call them at 423-877-8700. They are open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Additionally, they offer delivery (!) Monday-Friday, 11-2 p.m. as well as call-ahead ordering. You can find more information on the Mimi’s Deli & Bakery website, including their menu. Be sure to like Mimi’s Deli & Bakery on Facebook!

MoMo Hibachi (Soddy-Daisy, TN)

January 5, 2015

MoMo Hibachi is a popular hibachi restaurant that serves great, inexpensive hibachi food in a casual atmosphere in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee.

I’m not really sure how MoMo Hibachi has been in Soddy-Daisy for at least a year or two and I have never been there. That doesn’t really matter, though. Saturday was the day. It was a terrible rainy day and we have been working on giving our kitchen a facelift, painting the cabinets and countertops (that, my friends, is a process!) so we didn’t want to venture too far away from home. We headed over to MoMo at about 2 p.m., when there was only one other table occupied.

We had a seat and the server brought us menus and took our drink orders. The restaurant is clean and fairly sparsely decorated and is somehow smaller than I had envisioned (El Metate takes up a large portion of the strip mall). We spent a few minutes perusing the menu, which consisted of appetizers, salads, fried rice dishes, and yakisoba dishes.
We decided to order some spring rolls, which came out very quickly. The spring rolls were light, perfectly fried, and stuffed with cabbage and a few carrots. They came with a packet of hot mustard and a couple of packets of duck sauce in those telltale takeout plastic packages.

Entrees come with a side salad, which is served with ranch, honey mustard, and ginger dressing; we both chose ginger. The salad was a pretty standard hibachi restaurant salad, just iceberg lettuce and carrots, but the ginger dressing was not the thick orange dressing that you find at Ichiban. It was a thin, very sweet gingery dressing and was very tasty though maybe a bit too sweet right at the bottom of the salad.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted chicken, steak, or shrimp, so I decided to get all three with fried rice. The rice was well-seasoned and the meat cooked well and, again, seasoned well. I would have liked to have gotten a little more of the vegetables (zucchini and onions) and maybe some mushrooms too. However, I really liked the dish and it was a large portion for the price ($7.75) and I brought home leftovers. A bottle of “MoMo sauce” was brought to the table as well. It was the standard Japanese Yum-Yum sauce, sweeter than my Japanese White Sauce but very tasty.

Philip also decided to get the chicken, steak, and shrimp combo but he decided to get the yakisoba noodles instead of rice. His dish was very similar to mine, except, of course, for the noodles in place of the rice (the yakisoba chicken, steak, and rice combo was $7.95). The noodles were thick and chewy, very delicious. We liked them a little bit better than the rice. This will probably be the standard order for both of us when we go back, though I’ll probably order the steak from now on as it was my favorite of the three meats.

The service was good. There was one server working. While we were there, quite a few tables filled up and she managed to check on us several times, keep our drinks filled, and take our credit card when we were finished while waiting on the other tables. The food came out quickly and was fresh and tasty. The portions were good for the price.

I’d recommend MoMo Hibachi for a quick and tasty hibachi meal.

MoMo Hibachi is located at 9332 Dayton Pike, next to Soddy-Daisy Wal-Mart. They are open Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. You can call them at (423) 332-3003. They do not have a website, but you can “like” MoMo Hibachi on Facebook.

Siren’s Seafood and Steak Market (***CLOSED)

December 22, 2014

Siren’s Seafood and Steak Market was a seafood & steak market and restaurant located on Signal Mountain. They are currently closed, though rumor has it they may relocate eventually.

I’ve been meaning to get to Siren’s for some time now. They opened several years back on Signal Mountain Boulevard and at some point…they moved up to Signal Mountain. I really have no idea when. I also have no idea if they always had a menu or if that is a more recent development since they moved up the mountain. The employees were very busy when we were in Saturday so I didn’t have a chance to ask them.

There were only a couple of people in the shop when we went in on Saturday afternoon, but several came and went making seafood and meat purchases or placing food orders while we were there. There is a dining room with several tables on one end of the building and the seafood/meat shop on the other end. There’s also lots of outdoor dining…but it was a little chilly for that.

When you walk in, there’s a counter at the end in the dining room where you can look at the menu and place your order when you’re ready. You pay at the counter and find a table in the dining room, then they bring your food out to you. The menu consists of appetizers (crab bites, oysters on the half shell, and sesame crusted tuna), gumbo, sandwiches, fried seafood, chicken, burgers, salads, blackened fish, boiled seafood, and a kids’ menu. They also had a menu of specials, which included crab cakes and shrimp and grits.

I decided to get the fried oyster po’ boy, which consisted of lightly breaded and fried oysters served on a length of soft but crusty bread with remoulade, lettuce, and tomato. The oysters were well cooked and there was a good amount of sauce-not too much, not too little. The best part is that the oysters are cleaned, shucked, and prepared right there, in house. Philip decided to get the catfish po’ boy, which was a nicely sized piece of catfish, lightly breaded and fried, served the same way as mine. It was well-seasoned and tasty. The sandwiches came with lightly dressed coleslaw, hush puppies, and crinkle-cut fries, which I have learned are always food-service fries. The menu here is about the seafood, though, so that’s okay. I had sweet tea to drink and Philip had a Founder’s All-Day IPA (they have a pretty decent beer list for such a small place). For our two meals and the beer, our total was $24.56.

In the seafood section, there were several varieties of fish available in addition to shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops. The meat section had a variety of cuts of beef as well as duck breast and there were also whole ducks in the cooler. They also had crab cakes and some other house-made items for sale in the cooler. There were seasonings and other dry goods available as well. I really wanted to get some mussels but we weren’t going straight home, so we’ll be going back up soon to get some. Since I discovered that I like to eat mussels, now I want to learn to cook mussels.

Siren’s Seafood is definitely the place to go for seafood in Chattanooga, and they offer a nice meat variety as well.

Siren’s Seafood and Steak Market was located at 411 Wood Street, Signal Mountain, TN. They are currently closed. I have heard that they are planning to possibly relocate to downtown Chattanooga, but I have not heard definite plans for this. You can like Siren’s on Facebook and check out their website.

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