Restaurants Archives - Page 27 of 49

Blue Orleans-August 31, 2013

September 1, 2013

Blue Orleans is a New Orleans-inspired Creole restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, opened by a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

So, when I wrote about Enzo’s Market a few weeks ago I believe that I mentioned that we were actually planning to try Blue Orleans but they are not open for lunch. They open at 4:00 p.m., so we decided yesterday to head there again with our friend Rachel for an early dinner. We got there about 4:30 and were the first patrons in the restaurant, so we were of course seated immediately.

Blue Orleans is a New Orleans-inspired Creole restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, opened by a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The walls are brick, the floors hardwood, and the tables shiny wood. The restaurant is decorated with fleur de lis and some Saints gear, but nothing gaudy (which is what you often find in Creole/Cajun restaurants). It’s a nice, tastefully decorated place, smaller than we imagined based on the outside.

Our server, who was lovely (and I believe my have been one of the owners), took our drink order. They serve 20-ounce bottled Coke products for $2.00 each (this is the second place we’ve been in the last month that serves bottled drinks-unusual indeed), unsweetened tea, beer, wine, and of course water. Philip and I ordered water and Rachel decided on unsweetened tea. One thing I can say is that they kept our drinks full to the top! Our server and another very, very friendly lady came around frequently to refill our glasses. Philip tried to talk us into some gator bits but Rachel and I weren’t convinced….plus at $9 they were a little steep. That was one issue that I had-the menu items were priced pretty high, with the least expensive entrée being a $12 po’boy and they quickly went up from there.

I decided on the shrimp po’boy, “dressed” (remoulade, lettuce, tomato, and pickle). The sandwich was huge, served on a large portion of French bread with breaded fried shrimp, shredded iceberg lettuce, and pickle chips. The shrimp were large and well-cooked, not chewy or gummy. The remoulade lent a bit of spiciness but was not overly spicy. The sandwich was a little “bready” and I ended up pulling a lot of the excess bread off, but it was still pretty good. I ordered Cajun fries with it; the fries were obviously from frozen, but I appreciated that they were not overly doused with Cajun spices like some that I’ve had…just enough to give them a mild spice.

Philip went way authentic (that’s sarcasm) and got a black and blue Orleans burger, which is topped with bacon and blue cheese and dressed with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise. This was really one of the largest burgers I’ve ever seen…it looked like one of those truck stop burgers that if you eat the whole thing they put your picture on the wall (by the way, Philip would have gotten his picture on the wall). The burger took up almost the whole bun, though, like me, Philip did pull a bit of the bread off. I wouldn’t call the burger itself a masterpiece…I don’t think there was anything “special” about the meat, but Philip did really like the combination of bacon and blue cheese with the other toppings. Philip got regular fries, which were just the same frozen shoestring fries that I had but just salted, not seasoned-nothing special but not bad either.

Rachel decided on the shrimpalaya-spiced cajun rice with sliced andouille sausage and seasoned sautéed shrimp. It was a pretty generous portion. Like my shrimp, Rachel’s shrimp was well-cooked, not chewy or gummy. The sausage was mildly spicy but not overwhelming. I tasted the rice and found it to also be well-cooked, not mushy or sticky and also not hard or crunchy, and it was spicy without being overwhelming (by the way, I need to get my aunt’s recipe for jambalaya to share with you guys!).

We decided to get some beignets to share for dessert. I love beignets, but, believe it or not, I’ve never made them from scratch. I really should soon. They are yeast-raised and most of the recipes that I’ve found for them contain evaporated milk, which is not an ingredient I generally keep on hand. I used to buy boxes of Café du Monde beignet mix at the grocery store and make them from that….not from scratch but still pretty delicious. Anyway, our server made sure that we were okay with waiting 10-15 minutes for the beignets to be prepared (we were) then brought out dessert plates for us. Beignets are basically yeast doughnuts without a hole. Strips of dough are fried till brown, during which time they puff up, and then they are generously doused with powdered sugar. These were very tasty-yeasty and a good sweet tooth solution without being tooth-achingly sweet.

So my verdict on Blue Orleans? Well, I am going to qualify this by saying that I have basically no experience with Cajun or Creole food. I’ve never been to New Orleans and the only “Cajun” restaurant where I’ve ever eaten before was Meo Mio’s. I’ve made “Cajun” recipes before or ordered “Cajun-seasoned” foods at restaurants. I am no expert. This food was definitely better than what we had at Meo Mio’s, but I have no idea how authentic it was. It was pretty good, but was it worth the price? Eh. I probably won’t go there again just based on the price for what we got. I will say that I thought the atmosphere was really nice, and the staff was very nice. I do believe it’s the only Cajun restaurant in town anymore (correct me if I’m wrong), so if you like Cajun food you’ll have to try it yourself to decide on the authenticity. Have you tried it? What are your thoughts (be nice/constructive and remember my comments policy!)?

Blue Orleans is located at 1463 Market Street (on the corner of Market and Main), Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-757-0088. You can find more information, including the Blue Orleans menu, at the Blue Orleans website. They are open Monday-Wednesday, 4-9 p.m.; Thursday 11-2 p.m. and 4-9 p.m., Friday 11-2 p.m. and 4-10 p.m., and Saturday, 4-10 p.m. (closed Sunday).

Elemental-August 17, 2013

August 18, 2013

Elemental, now closed, was a restaurant on Chattanooga’s North Shore near Whole Foods. Their former chef Charlie Loomis has now gone on to open FEED Co. Table & Tavern.

Okay, let me tell you guys a story. It is completely unrelated to this post…but it needs to be told. It’s Saturday night as I type this. This afternoon, after spending a couple of hours reading about coding, I installed some ad codes in the HTML of my blog. The first one looked a little wonky but it showed up and worked, just needed some tweaking. So I install the second one, hit save…and boom. My blog = gone. Panic! Panic! Luckily in my research earlier in the day I had been poking around my server so I went into my server files and was able to fix the problem. Good grief.

Okay…moving right along. Today (Saturday) was my birthday! I am now firmly in my “mid-thirties”. Right in the middle to be exact. On our anniversary last month, we went to Easy Bistro but decided to go to Elemental for my birthday. I started waffling a little bit this morning because I had really wanted to try 1885 for a while too but in the end we decided to go to Elemental since we’d been planning that. Hopefully we’ll get to 1885 soon because I’ve heard lots of great things about it!

Anyway, there were not a ton of people in the restaurant when we got there at about 1:00. We were quickly seated by Josh, who turned out to also be our server. Since we had never been there before, he explained the mission of Elemental-to use as many local products as possible-and told us about the list of local farmers and producers on the back of the menu, then brought us water and left us to peruse the menu for a few minutes.

The first thing that struck me about Elemental was the atmosphere…very casual and rustic (I hate to use that word, but it really does fit here) but in a polished way. A Ford tractor adorns the center of the restaurant. There’s lots of wood, beautiful wood tables with succulents in a tiny Mason jar in the center of each. Track lighting illuminates the restaurant and small glass pendant lights with Edison bulbs hang over some of the tables, including ours, where we sat at a hightop table perched on wooden swivel stools as I admired the large metal letters spelling “Elemental” on the gigantic oven hood over the open kitchen. Swoon.

As I mentioned above, the back of the menu offers a list-a very long list-of local producers and farmers from which Elemental procures their goods. Chef Charlie Loomis, who moved here from Asheville to work as the head chef at Greenlife, strives to find goods as close to home as possible. If they cannot be bought locally, he will move to regional producers. This was definitely one of the most impressive lists of local sources that I have seen in my two and a half years blogging about Chattanooga restaurants.

So…food. I really, really wanted to try the boiled peanut hummus, served with marinated olives and housemade crackers. House.Made.Crackers. I had heard that it was amazing. Unfortunately, they were out. Josh suggested a flatbread as a consolation prize, so we decided on a chicken flatbread with basil pesto, marinated tomatoes, and housemade mozzarella. Delicious indeed, with a chewy crust, puffy and blackened in spots but thin and crispy for the most part. The mozzarella was perfect, creamy, just a hint of salt, and chewy, and the red and yellow tomatoes had that amazing ripeness that can only be found in July and August.

The special of the day was a BBQ burger, complete with a fried egg, and I would have ordered that if it hadn’t been for my mom’s promise of grilled burgers for Sunday dinner. I briefly weighed the roasted vegetable sandwich with pimento cheese and aioli against the BLT with Benton’s bacon (!), thick-sliced tomato, iceberg lettuce, basil aioli, and pimento cheese. Chances are that if you are a regular reader you already know which item I chose. Yes, my friends, Benton’s bacon won out. The sandwich was served on a shiny Niedlov’s bun dusted with sesame seeds, and my goodness…they did not skimp on the bacon-that was quite a stack, and Benton’s bacon, well, it’s just some of the best I’ve ever tasted. The tomato was ripe, juicy, and indeed very thickly sliced, then salted and peppered. There wasn’t a ton of pimento cheese under the tomato…just enough to lend the flavor. It was the best restaurant pimento cheese I’ve ever had-made with housemade aioli and Sweetwater Valley cheese, and it was the only pimento cheese that I’ve ever thought was as good as my own. Sorry, I happen to think very highly of my pimento cheese recipe! Iceberg lettuce may seem passé, but the crunch is unrivaled in the lettuce world (ha!) and really, isn’t that the purpose of the L in the BLT? The basil aioli was the final complement, lending just a little bit of herby bite and the bottom of the sandwich. I decided to have the split red potatoes, quite simply just roasted red potatoes with housemade rosemary aoili on the side. Simple and delicious-and I can’t believe I’ve never thought of serving my roasted potatoes with aioli. I think I’ll start!

Philip pretty much immediately decided on the Cloudcrest Farm pulled pork sandwich with a mixed green salad (by the way, the other sides were sweet potato wedges and cooked seasonal greens). The salad included a variety of spicy greens and a few thin beet strips as well as a light vinaigrette. The pulled pork was served on a Niedlov’s bun with a very flavorful, slightly spicy sauce and a lightly mayo-dressed coleslaw that also included beets. The pork was definitely the star of the show, cooked to falling apart tenderness and tasting so….porky. That may sound weird, but the thing about most pork these days is that they are bred to be so lean that they don’t really taste like pork. Local producers tend to use heirloom breeds that have more fat, hence more flavor. The pork at Elemental…doesn’t. Taste. Like. Chicken. This sandwich was perfect.

Unfortunately, I was so full after this meal that I couldn’t even think about dessert. I would have loved to check out the Ollie Pops, which are brown cow-esque confections made by Milk & Honey-vanilla gelato coated in chocolate-or one of Chef Loomis’s own creations. I look forward to going back for dinner and hopefully saving room for dessert this time…though I have heard from more than one person that trying the Sunday brunch is a necessity. We were able to spend a few minutes talking to the chef before we left and he reiterated the importance of elevating the menu by offering simple food from local purveyors. The quality of the food makes his job much easier-when it starts that fresh and amazing, you don’t have to do much to it before you serve it to guests. (***Note: in late August/early September Chef Loomis and Elemental parted ways. Chef Loomis has since moved on to 1885 Grill and Elemental has changed their menu but vowed to continue their mission of serving fresh, local, high-quality food.)

Our total for lunch before tip was about $26…not too bad for a locally-produced, upscale lunch in a beautiful atmosphere. I have to be honest, I’d read mixed review on Urbanspoon…but it appears that most of those were from the earliest days after Elemental’s opening, and I didn’t experience any of the downsides that were mentioned in those reviews. As always, I would encourage you to go and check it out for yourself…I don’t think you’ll be sorry (I wasn’t!).

Elemental is located at 313 Manufacturer’s Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. They are open Monday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. `You can call them at 423-648-9160. Check out their website, elementalrestaurant.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Universal Joint Chattanooga

August 11, 2013

Universal Joint Chattanooga is a burger joint located in an old service station near the Hamilton County Courthouse in Downtown Chattanooga.
I don’t remember exactly when it was, but I remember being pretty excited when I heard that the old Pure station on Georgia Avenue was being converted to a burger joint. You know me and burgers…we’re tight. I looked up the company-Universal Joint-and found that they are a small chain, small enough to “qualify” for Chattavore status (I’ll only review very small and regionally specific chains).

For months I drove by the location of Universal Joint Chattanooga every single day on my way to and from work, watching the progress on the outside of the building and wondering when they would open. That day came Thursday and Philip suggested that we attempt to go there this weekend, so we decided to drive by to see how busy they were and make a decision (cause you know we aren’t into playing the waiting game). It was crowded but not packed out, so we parked and walked there, leaving our umbrella in the car (which turned out to be a mistake because the sky opened up and it poured down rain while we were eating, which is why the photos are kind of dark….).

They did not have a hostess doing “seating duty”, which I imagine was due to the fact that there were plenty of tables available both inside and out. Happily, they had a blackboard at the door telling patrons to seat themselves. I really, really wish that all hostess-less restaurants would do this-way to go, UJ. There is lots of outdoor seating-both covered and uncovered-but with the threat of rain we decided it was a better idea to go inside. We chose a seat near the window and were quickly greeted by two different servers, including Sierra, who ended up being our server. She quickly brought out our waters and left us to peruse the menu for a few minutes.

Philip was instantly drawn to the Sunset Dip (smoked tomatillo cheese dip) on the “bar snacks” portion of the menu, which also included edamame with soy-ginger sauce (an unusual offering) and BBQ brisket nachos. There’s also a “group snacks” section that includes loaded fries, spicy egg rolls, sliders, hummus, pimento cheese, and wings. I don’t really get the distinction between “bar snacks” and “group snacks” but I don’t guess it really matters. Anyway, we ordered some of the cheese dip at the same time that we ordered our burgers. We really, really liked the dip. It was a fairly standard cheese dip but had the dang of tomatillo (and we are tomatillo fanatics) and a little bit of spice, which I noticed but Philip didn’t, but his spice radar is much less sensitive than mine. It was not overly spicy…it just had a nice little bite. The chips were not hot, but they were crispy and tasted good. I would definitely order this again.

Now, the menu includes salads, non-burger sandwiches, chicken fingers, and tacos, but come on…this is a burger joint and burgers are obligatory, at least on the first visit. After contemplating the Smokehouse Bacon burger (with bacon, cheddar, Swiss, fried onions, and barbecue sauce) and the Old 1-2 (with “million island”, chopped lettuce & onion, sliced tomato, and American cheese) I settled on the Steinbeck’s Burger (with pimento cheese, bacon, jalapeños, and ranch) with fries. I did ask for the jalapeños on the side…I try not to alter the dish from the creator’s original intention, but I also try not to ruin a dish for myself by ordering something that might be so spicy that I can’t enjoy it (I had a bad curry experience at a favorite restaurant once and it was pretty upsetting that I could barely eat a quarter of my meal). The jalapeños turned out to be pickled anyway, so I didn’t eat them…I just don’t really care for pickled jalapeños much. The burger was good, nice and thick with a good grilled flavor and cooked well. I really liked the pimento cheese, which clearly contained shreds of cheese and which I sampled with my fork before eating the burger. I would eat the pimento cheese by itself, which is indeed a compliment, Universal Joint. I love pimento cheese. The bun was good but not really anything special, which is about where the fries are…I’m pretty sure they were frozen.

Philip got a regular cheeseburger with cheddar and he ordered tots with his burger. He felt about the same way about his burger that I did…it was well-cooked with a good flavor and it had a nice slice of cheddar melted on top (extra points for melting the cheese…not everyone does that, oddly). The tater tots were standard, obviously frozen…but then again, ordering tater tots is like ordering fried okra…chances are it’s going to be frozen. Does anyone know a restaurant that makes their own tots? I want to go there.

The verdict? Good, not great. No, they didn’t shove anyone out of the Top Five. My biggest problem was that our appetizer came out at the same time as our burgers (actually, right after)….and since the burgers took a little while, that meant that our chips and cheese dip came out like twenty minutes or so after we ordered them. I was a little irritated because the wait for the burgers really wouldn’t have seemed that long if we’d had our appetizer; I had to keep reminding myself that they’ve only been open for three days. I’m sure they’ll get their speed of service issues taken care of. Another thing that we noticed was that it was loud in there…after all, it’s an old garage. They might want to consider some modifications to the acoustics in the building to make the noise level a little less overwhelming. Still, it’s a pretty cool atmosphere, the food was pretty good, and the staff was friendly. I am sure they’ll work out their kinks soon. By the way, our total (for 1 regular burger, 1 special burger, and an appetizer) was about $24 pre-tip.

If you’re looking for a burger in Downtown Chattanooga, Universal Joint Chattanooga is definitely a good option.

If you want to check out Universal Joint Chattanooga, they are located at 301 E. 6th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (across from Unum, near the court house). You can call them at (423) 468-3725. Check out their website: http://www.ujchattanooga.com They reference a Facebook page on their website but it doesn’t appear that the Facebook page for Universal Joint Chattanooga has been established yet…I’ll try to check back soon.

Taqueria Jalisco-August 3, 2013

August 4, 2013

Taqueria Jalisco is a tiny Mexican restaurant just off of Main Street in Downtown Chattanooga. They serve delicious authentic Mexican food.

If you’ve read much of Chattavore, you probably know of my love for this little place in Soddy-Daisy called Delia’s. It’s pretty much ruined me on other Mexican joints in the area. I’ve been hearing so many awesome things about Taqueria Jalisco, just off of Main Street, that I knew I was going to have to check it out and soon. I went to a Mexican restaurant that shall remain unnamed (not Delia’s!) for lunch yesterday (yes, my friends….it’s that time again. School starts back Thursday!), kind of thinking, “Well, I guess I’m going to ruin my appetite for Mexican” but that didn’t happen, so after scooping up a couple of awesome finds at McKay, we headed on over to Taqueria Jalisco.

Now, this place is seriously tiny. We found a parking spot on the street (there’s no parking lot but street parking was pretty abundant) and walked on in. There’s a screened in patio and a small dining room…we grabbed the last table in the dining room and were handed menus. The menu is simple….appetizers, tacos, a handful of entrees, and tortas (Mexican sandwiches). All of the drinks are bottled-bottled water, Pure Sodaworks sodas, Mexican Coke (real sugar!) and Jarritos. Actually, if I had realized that the water was bottled, I would have ordered a Jarritos…I love that stuff!

We also ordered chips & salsa for $3.00. Some of the other appetizers included guacamole and pupusas. The salsa was pretty spicy, but not unbearably so, and very smooth (i.e. not chunky) which is just how I like my salsa. The chips were nice and crisp, unsalted (as they are in most Mexican restaurants). The chips were good, but they did not beat the thick and always freshly cooked chips at Delia’s.

I decided on tacos Mexicanos, with corn tortillas, onion, cilantro, and choice of meat. You can also order tacos Americanos, which are served (obvi) in the American style with cheese and sour cream. For my meat I requested al pastor, which is chunks of pork marinated in a whole bunch of delicious spices, and barbacoa, basically slow-cooked shredded beef. Each taco was served on two corn tortillas with a good portion of meat, plenty of chopped cilantro, and diced white onions. Now, another thing that you know if you read my blog much is that raw onions pretty much reduce me to tears…except here. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason raw onion in Mexican-style tacos does not bother me, and in fact I feel like ordering them without would take away from the flavor. So I leave them on and I’m glad I do. Both meats were delicious, the pork perfectly seasoned and cooked perfectly, not dry in the least, and the barbacoa shredded and seasoned, tasting like the best pot roast you’ve ever eaten. Actually, the special was two tacos with rice & beans for $5.50, so we ordered that and found that their rice and beans were also excellent, very fresh (no skin on top of the beans-score!) and seasoned just right. Delicious.

Philip ordered the same thing as me, except that he ordered his standard chorizo as well as a lengua taco. Yes, that’s right. Beef tongue. He has been wanting to try beef tongue for quite some time and, as it is not exactly an easy-to-find meat…this was his first opportunity. While I do tend to be a bit freaked out by unusual meats (Philip is not and will try anything once), I was adventurous and gave it a try…and it was good! Looking at it you would definitely know that it was not your run-of-the-mill meat, and the texture was different in a way that I can’t really describe (but, in my opinion, not an off-putting way at all) but it was delicious…like the barbacoa, tasting like a great pot roast. Philip really enjoyed it, but his real treat came when he took a bite of the chorizo, immediately proclaiming it to be the best he’d ever had. I tasted it as well and indeed it was delicious and I was a little jealous that I hadn’t ordered it, though I would have had to eat three tacos because no way would I have given up the pastor or the barbacoa taco.

So, we both pretty much licked our plates and then we asked for the one item on the dessert menu: tres leches cake (cake with three milks, duh and yum). Alas, they were out and tears were nearly shed (and we had to have a consolation treat of Biscoff cookies with our afternoon coffee) but our server assured us that it was delicious (thanks for rubbing salt in that wound, buddy!). We’ll have to go back soon to sample it. At $17 and some change pre-tip, it was a pretty good bargain too.

So the verdict….well, it’s a toss-up. Delia’s wins in the chips and salsa category and the location category (you know, since it’s ten minutes from our house) but when I compare their al pastor, barbacoa, and chorizo to Taqueria Jalisco, well….sorry Delia’s. Taqueria Jalisco edges you out by a nose. I’m so glad for some great authentic Mexican restaurants in our area and I can’t wait to visit Taqueria Jalisco again. Go. There.

Taqueria Jalisco is located at 1634 Rossville Avenue (not Boulevard!!!), Chattanooga, TN 37408. You can call them at 423-509-3430. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

Enzo’s Market Café-July 27, 2013

July 28, 2013

Enzo’s Market was a grocery store with a café that was located on Main Street in downtown Chattanooga that is now closed.

I’ve been meaning to make it to Enzo’s for some time now. I’ve been to check out their grocery selection, which I find to be quite nice, with a much greater local selection than their main competition downtown (pretty sure you all know who I’m talking about) with the small hometown grocery feel. The staff of Enzo’s Market has always been very friendly and I have been able to find some items (miso, spring roll wrappers) that I can’t typically find at the big suburban chain where I do most of my grocery shopping.

Of course I have been curious about the café but it’s quite easy to forget a grocery store café when trying to decide where to eat. Today, we had actually planned to eat at another nearby restaurant (to which our friend had a gift card) but we forgot to check the hours and it turns out that they are not open for lunch. Oops. We’d already gotten a space in the Chattanooga Parking Authority garage at the Choo-Choo, so we needed to go somewhere within walking distance. Duh, Enzo’s.

They were still serving breakfast when we got there (they do until 2 p.m. on Saturdays) but I’d already had breakfast food so it didn’t really pique my interest. They have a regular menu (several sandwiches as well as deli samplers and pizzas after 4 p.m.) as well as daily specials. The specials today were “the hangover”-a pancake stuffed with sausage and cheese and topped with a fried egg; “monkey hips”-rice topped with black beans, cheddar, sour cream, and pico de gallo; and a third, a sandwich that I can’t remember for the life of me. They also have premade sushi in their case, deli salads (which can be bought in bulk or on the sampler plate), salads, and two soups of the day (today’s soups were broccoli and white bean & chicken).

While I would typically gravitate toward the burger on the menu, I just had a cheeseburger from Armando’s Thursday night so I wasn’t terribly interested. I could not decide, though, between “the local”-pimento cheese and bacon on multigrain bread-and the “hickory-dickory cluck”-smoked chicken salad on wheat with gruyere. The chicken salad won out. I also decided to order a bowl of soup and chose the broccoli. I liked the soup, which was pureed but I don’t believe it was broccoli-cheese. It did not seem to have a cream base. I am fairly certain that it was vegetables simmered in a broth base and then pureed. I could tell that there were carrots in it in addition to the broccoli. It was pretty good but I do think it could have used just a smidge more salt. I really liked the sandwich, which was nicely toasted (not grilled), with a great smoky flavor to the shredded chicken, which was accented with fresh herbs, celery, and dried cherries. It had slightly more mayonnaise than I usually put in my chicken salad but it was not off-putting. I would definitely order it again or even get some to take home with me…it would be great on crackers. While I was tempted by the green apple Jones Soda in the case and the lovely selection of Pure Sodaworks bottled drinks, I was prudent (ha!) and drank water. Their drink selection is seriously overwhelming!

Philip was eyeing the reuben but in the end the pull of the hangover was too much. He just couldn’t turn down the promise of a pancake filled with pork and cheese. The pancake was gigantic, the sausage housemade, and the cheese plentiful. I tasted a bit of the sausage and it was really, really good…very mild but fresh-tasting. The cheese was nicely melted from the combined heat of the pancake and the sausage, and the egg was perfectly cooked-whites set but yolk good and runny. That’s how it has to be, my friends. That’s how it has to be. His only beef….the syrup. It was pancake syrup, not maple syrup. Sigh. You can’t have it all. Philip decided to have a Natural Brew vanilla cream soda. Seriously, their drink selection was gigantic.

Rachel was contemplating the local but at the last minute decided to have the monkey hips. It was a seriously huge plate of rice topped with a very large serving of black beans, a ton of cheese and pico, and a nice dollop of sour cream. It was basically like the “naked burritos” that so many of the gigantic burrito places serve. I tasted it and found the rice to be well-cooked (though she did say that she got a few slightly chewy grains) and the beans to be nicely seasoned.

As far as desserts go, there are lots of bakery selections in the case: cookies, brownies, cake slices, and so on. There are also cups of Milk & Honey gelato and paletas (popsicles) in a case by the counter. If you walk around the corner, you will also find a freezer full of King of Pops popsicles. We decided, however, to forego dessert here and head to the actual Milk & Honey because I was dying for one of their horchata iced lattes (if you haven’t had one….you must).

One thing….it wasn’t a problem but just something that I noticed. The cashiers both times that we have purchased grocery items have been extremely friendly (but not overly or annoyingly so). The cashiers that were working at the café when we ordered today were not rude or unfriendly per se, but they were not particularly enthusiastic. I went back up later to look at the menu again because I couldn’t remember the name of what I ordered and another female employee that apparently had come in while we were eating greeted me in a very friendly manner and pointed out the specials on the wall. I found the deadpanning of the other two girls interesting. Maybe they were ready to go home? Who knows.

So…at about $27 pre-tax (I’m not sure about the final cost since Rachel was kind enough to treat us), this is definitely a little pricier than your standard grocery store deli food…but then, your standard grocery store deli is not serving a menu that’s thought out like this with specials and so forth. In addition, Enzo’s Café is no more expensive than other comparable market cafés in town (Whole Foods, Earth Fare). It’s not fast food but it doesn’t claim to be. I wouldn’t call it a culinary revelation but I’d definitely eat there again. They have a nice, relaxed atmostphere (which makes them very kid-friendly!) with great indoor and outdoor seating. If you’re on Main Street and need a casual meal (they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner), definitely give Enzo’s Market a try!

Enzo’s Market closed after a pretty short run. It was followed by Grocery Bar, which unfortunately was also unable to last.

Enzo’s Market and Café is located at 1501 Long Street (next door to Battle Academy), Chattanooga, TN 37408. They have parking for customers in the back. They are open Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can call Enzo’s at 423-486-9312. You can visit their website: http://enzosmarket.com and peruse their regular menu: http://enzosmarket.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/enzos_menu_website.pdf. You can also like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

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