Restaurants Archives - Page 37 of 49

Ichiban Hixson Pike-August 19, 2012

August 26, 2012

Seriously, people. This is getting ridiculous. I am getting so desperate for material that I sat on this post for almost an entire week. I can’t wait until I get back into the “groove” of my job so that I can get back into a regular posting schedule!

Anyway, Ichiban was my birthday dinner with my family. My mom gave me that option of getting a birthday cake or going out to eat, and since I knew that there would be cake at my in-laws’ when we ate with them the same day, I opted for dinner out. We were actually supposed to go to another restaurant, but my sister called called me and told me there was an hour-and-a-half wait so we were going to Ichiban instead. Fine with me. I like Ichiban better than said other restaurant anyway. Plus it gave me blog post material….

If you’ve never been to Ichiban, it’s the whole hibachi experience with the chef that puts on a big show, tossing knives and setting things on fire. I am under no illusions that this is in any way “authentic” Japanese food, but you can’t argue that it’s fun to watch and the food tastes good. We hadn’t been in quite some time because you also get seated around a large hibachi so you often end up sitting with people you don’t know, which Philip hates, so we only go if we are with a group (which isn’t often). My family took up our entire side of the table, though, so we didn’t need to worry about that. In fact, no one else was even seated in the same room as us. Hmmmm.

When you order, you are brought a cup of chicken broth with a couple of scallions floating in it. It’s pretty bland (and not just here…universally so, at least in my experience) but for some reason I slurp it down anyway. Next, an iceberg salad with a bright orange ginger dressing. I like the dressing okay, but the whole combination is a bit watery and I despise iceberg in every form except a wedge salad. I have a great recipe for ginger dressing (which I should share sometime) that I like a lot better than this one and that has the added bonus of the fact that you can use it to top whatever greens you wish.

I decided to get the shrimp and steak combo with fried rice. Philip decided on the filet mignon, also with fried rice. As is usual for us, we asked for our steaks medium-rare. The meal is served with steamed rice, but I always add fried rice for $1.00. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone order it with just the steamed rice! I wonder how much money they make from fried rice??? Anyway, the meal also comes with mixed vegetables-onions, zucchini, and broccoli- that are cooked on the hibachi as well as very finely shredded cabbage that they only give you if you want it (I did). You get the rice first, then the vegetables, and the meat is last. Everything is doused with soy sauce and ginger sauce and cooked with oil and butter (at least I tell myself that the gigantic yellow block they use is butter, not margarine. Please don’t tell me any different. I eat there about once every 4 years and I don’t want to know.). It’s amazing how much the chef can have going on and still get every detail correct, cook the food just right, and crack jokes. Our chef asked my (picky-eater) nephew why he wasn’t eating and if he was on a diet….then he asked my mom how she liked her steak and if he could have a bite. Funny guy. He told us he had been doing the job for eight years.

Ichiban is not an inexpensive place. Meals range from about $13 (I think) to around $25 for the steak and lobster. As with many places that I’ve written about, I consider it a special occasion or once-in-a-while restaurant. Anyway, who wants to go watch that show on, say, a weekly basis (maybe my 5-year-old nephew, who had a gigantic smile on his face the entire time, although he wouldn’t let me take his picture)? Still, we got two nights worth of meals out of it. Speaking of paying…you get fortune cookies when you pay. I learned this week that fortune cookies, though mostly served at Chinese restaurants, are actually a Japanese creation.

Ichiban is located at 5035 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343. You can call them at 423-875-0473. Visit their website at http://www.yourichiban.com.

Meeting Place-August 18, 2012

August 19, 2012

So…..Friday was my birthday. I am officially in the realm of “mid-thirties”. Ouch. Philip didn’t get home till 7:30, though, so we ended up going to Zaxby’s for dinner. It happens (sadly). I hadn’t really planned on going out for my “birthday dinner” on Friday night, though (I’d actually planned on cooking, but it was pretty late, I was incredibly tired, and I needed to get out anyway to make a grocery store stop). Restaurants are always so crowded on Fridays and I am always soooooo tired. In fact, when Philip texted me to let me know he was on his way home, I was more or less asleep. And I didn’t even have kids in my class on Friday! The first week of school truly wore me out.

When Philip and I were trying to decide where to go for our anniversary back in July, Meeting Place (aka St. John’s Meeting Place) was on the short list, but we ended up deciding on Alleia, which coincidentally shares a chef/owner (Daniel Lindley) with St. John’s Restaurant and Meeting Place. So, as I was reviewing the list of downtown restaurants that we still needed to visit, Meeting Place jumped out as the place to go for my birthday. Philip made a reservation for 6:15 and we were on our way.

We visited St. John’s many, many years back (we’ll make our way back for the blog one of these days) and found the food to be fantastic but the service to be a little more stiff than what we were accustomed to (by the way, we were-obviously-much younger then and probably a little shell-shocked by the experience….we might feel a bit differently about it these days). Meeting Place is much more casual, and we were immediately greeted by a very friendly hostess. She led us to our table near the front window. A server brought us water and we briefly perused the menu and checked out the decor while waiting for our server, Jill, to come to our table. I loved the decor….dark (grey walls, black furniture) but not depressing. That takes a true professional. It was beautiful, with nice lighting that wasn’t too bright and at the same time wasn’t too dark (although it was still very bright outside so sun was still pouring into the large window in the front…I’d love to see the mood lighting in the dark).

Jill quickly came and explained the menu to us. There is, not surprisingly, an extensive drink menu which, also not surprisingly, we barely even glanced at. The menu is divided into “small plates” and “large plates”. The way that Jill explained this to us is that small plates are half-entrée sized portions, perfect for sharing, and large plates are full-entrée sized portions. Several things on the small plates menu caught my eye, especially the hot chicken biscuit and the sweet potato chips with gorgonzola custard and Benton’s bacon jam. You know I was all about the latter, so we decided to order this to share as a starter. Let me tell you…it was amazing. Gorgonzola is a very strong, pungent bleu cheese, but this custard was bleu cheesy without being overpowering. The bacon jam was perfect, alternately sweet and savory, and paired perfectly with the salty gorgonzola custard. The chips were wonderfully crispy and there were also some lovely toasts provided. This was a delicious small plate that I would most definitely recommend. I almost forgot to mention…we were also brought a small portion of house-baked potato bread with sorghum butter….delicious. Again, I loved the sweet/salty combo of the butter and the bread had a perfect texture. Wonderful.

For my entrée I decided on the Niman Ranch pork with fried rice and egg and sesame aioli (after very earnestly considering the Sequatchie Cove Cumberland cheese fries with braised beef cheeks. Oh my.). Guess what? The menu doesn’t mention that this dish comes with a strip of crispy pork belly on the side. Now, if you are not familiar with what pork belly is, it may sound a little suspicious to you…but bacon is made from pork belly, so don’t be scared. This was a flawless combination of crispy and fatty, and inwardly I was laughing about how there is just something about a good restaurant that makes me feel okay about eating copious amounts of pork fat. The square of pork shoulder was fork-tender and tossed with a light hoisin (basically, Chinese barbecue sauce) glaze. I don’t typically enjoy hoisin sauce but this was not off-putting at all. It was just right and delicious. The fried basmati rice was delicious and the fried egg was done just right…..crisp around the edges with a runny yolk just right for dipping forkfuls of pork and rice into. Yesssssss.

Philip decided on the duck confit with a Johnny cake (basically a cornmeal pancake), maple, and blueberries. The Johnny cake was stuffed with a maple-flavored duck confit (a dish of French origin made of salt-cured duck leg poached in duck fat) and there was also a piece of fried duck leg on the side, and there was a blueberry compote of sorts (I really don’t know if that is the best word for it, but it’s the best one I can come up with at the moment) drizzled over the Johnny cake and the plate. The duck was tender, just slightly sweet, delicious, and the Johnny cake was also perfectly sweet (not too much so) with a wonderful texture. The blueberries were a nice complement. Before he ordered I was concerned that a small plate may not be enough food for him but honestly I think he had almost as much food as I did.

There were many tempting items on the dessert menu. I would have loved to try the carrot cake soufflé, but Philip is not a huge fan of carrot cake so I refrained (we always share dessert….it’s just not necessary to eat an entire dessert in a restaurant). They had housemade ice creams and sorbets and of course a molten chocolate cake (with caramel ice cream) as well as a cheesecake…but our decision was between the vanilla bean crème brûlée and the Wildwood Farm blueberry trifle. We had to consult Jill for assistance, and she strongly recommended the crème brûlée, much to Philip’s delight (it’s absolutely his favorite dessert ever). It was a fairly large portion with a beautifully brûléed (go figure!) crust of sugar on top of the creamy vanilla custard, replete with tiny vanilla beans at the bottom of the bowl. I love the contrast in temperatures in crème brûlée, a little warm, a little cold, and how the caramelization of the sugar topping makes it just a little bitter. Amazing. I heard the couple that was seated next to us discussing that they might look at the dessert menu but that there was also Ben & Jerry’s and Cold Stone Creamery to consider (they were tourists). You better believe I was looking at them like, “Whaaaaat?” This dessert menu shouldn’t be passed up.

If you hadn’t figured this out before know, I would highly recommend Meeting Place. It’s a fine dining restaurant with a casual feel (although we saw a few people come in looking like they were dressed for a cocktail party…there were others in shorts, though) and the price is not over the top-our total before tip was about $48 (for two small plates, a large plate, and dessert)-much less than Meeting Place’s more formal sister restaurant.

Meeting Place is located at 1278 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-266-4400. You can also make reservations online. They are open Monday-Thursday, 5:00-9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5:00-10:00 p.m. You can read more about the restaurant and the menu on their website. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

Dixie BBQ-August 14, 2012

August 15, 2012

It’s a rare restaurant post in the middle of the week! This was actually supposed to be a post about spaghetti squash with sage and brown butter, but you guys will have to wait a few days for that one. Tuesday was the first day of school, and here’s how it goes down-every year: I tell myself that I’m going to cook…then I get home and I can’t even think about cooking. Today was no exception, unless you consider the fact that I told Philip on Monday night, “I have something planned to cook tomorrow night, but I’m under no illusion that I’m actually going to cook.” So….we went out to eat. No big surprise.

On Sunday there was a Groupon for Dixie BBQ-$6 for $12 worth of food. I had $5 in Groupon bucks, so I got the deal for $1 (by the way, I’m not really sure how one earns “Groupon bucks”. They just sent me an email a while back that I had some….)! My family has been eating at Dixie BBQ for years, but somehow I have never been here, even though it’s only about 10 minutes from my house. I guess I just kind of forget about it. I recently added it to my “list” on my iPhone, which I maintain to help us remember the places that we still need to go when we are out places. Tonight seemed like a perfect time to go….not very far, and we could pick it up and bring it home to eat.

By the time we walked away from the ordering window we reeked of smoked food (not a bad thing, at least in our opinion!). They have your normal BBQ restaurant fare….sandwiches, plates (meat, bread, & two sides), stuffed potatoes, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and I think there might have been chicken tenders but I can’t remember. The meats were pork, beef, and smoked chicken, and the sides that I can remember were slaw, baked beans, fried okra, potato salad, tater logs, and tater tots. I think there were a few more, but I don’t remember what they were!

I knew before I got there what I was going to order….the “killer potato”. Everyone in my family swears by this potato. I decided to order it with pork. I was not disappointed. It was gigantic and covered with cheese, butter, sour cream, pulled pork, and barbecue sauce. The pork was delicious, tender and SO smoky. I really liked the barbecue sauce….it was sweet (but not too much so) and not overly spicy. This was a great potato. The only thing I would change would be to add some chives or chopped green onions…but it really was a great BBQ potato.

Philip decided on the pork plate with fried okra and coleslaw. It also came with Texas toast (which Philip hates, no matter where it comes from, and threw in the trash). He thought the slaw was “meh”…he really loves Rib & Loin’s slaw (so do I, and I generally hate slaw) and just didn’t feel like it was quite up to par in comparison. He did like the okra, though. I tasted it too and thought that it tasted really good. We couldn’t decide if it was frozen, though….and suspect that it might be. Like me, he loved the pulled pork as well as the sauce.

The only real issue that I had on this trip was the fact that they do not take credit cards-cash or check only. I looked at the cash lying on my dresser before we left the house and thought, “Nah, I won’t need it….” I’m just so used to everyone taking cards these days, so I was a little taken aback when the girl told Philip that they don’t take cards. By this time she had already redeemed my Groupon so it was too late to back out of the order…so we ended up going to the Kangaroo station next door to visit the ATM. No big deal, though. We should have known better than to assume that they took cards-a lot of small, local businesses don’t because of the additional cost. Besides, we needed cash for the farmers market, and we needed gas, so we killed three birds with one stone (and didn’t get charged an ATM fee!). The total on our order was $13.11, which means that the total out of our pocket was $2.11.

So, if you are looking for some great smoked meat in the Hixson/Soddy-Daisy/Middle Valley area, check out Dixie BBQ. They are located at 1530 Boy Scout Road, Hixson, TN 37343. You can call them at 423-842-4025. I did not think to check their hours of operation and I couldn’t find the hours online. I believe that they are closed on Sunday. They do not have a website or a Facebook page.

Nitty-Gritty Café-August 11, 2012 CLOSED

August 12, 2012

3/31/13 Nitty Gritty Café has closed.

Philip and I drive by this place every single Sunday as we go to and from my parents’ house….but since they’re closed on Sunday, we’ve never had occasion to stop in, and honestly, we forget about it most of the time. A lady at church went out of her way to mention it to me last week, though, so yesterday Philip and I purposed to try it out.

Let me say, this place is tiny. TINY. There is a handful of parking spaces (Nitty-Gritty diners may not park in front of the fruit stand next door) and I counted seven tables, a couple of them being two-person tables (which is what we chose). We were a little confused when we walked in because we weren’t sure where to sit (I guess the server/hostess was busy in the back and it took her a second to come out). I’m not trying to pick on Nitty-Gritty Café, because God knows this has happened more times than I can count….but I really just wish that all restaurants would put up a sign letting diners know whether they should seat themselves or wait to be seated. At least they had a hostess who came out after a couple of minutes and told us to sit wherever we wanted….we’ve eaten at restaurants where we had to seek out a staff member to ask them.

I didn’t catch the server/hostess’s name, but she was extremely friendly. She brought us our menu and told us the special (fried catfish). There were daily specials listed on a chalkboard-Tuscan chicken pasta, Fried Chicken, Catfish, and I think meatloaf might have been on there too. They are closed on Sunday and Monday and the special was the same for Friday and Saturday. The menu features the daily specials with country-style veggies (you can choose two or three vegetables with your meat) like mashed potatoes, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, corn, or beans, several sandwiches (chicken, BLT, fried pork tenderloin, grilled cheese), a handful of burgers, a house or Cobb salad, several topped hot dogs, and some entrées like shrimp & grits and chicken tenders. They also have a case of cakes for dessert (there’s also a “dessert of the day”, and I’ve heard that their banana pudding is great), which all looked delicious, though we did not have room for dessert on this day…..

I really wanted to try some of the vegetables but I wasn’t feeling up to it (something I ate for lunch on Friday was disagreeing with me) so I decided to try the Jack burger (I have really strange food preferences when I’m not feeling well…I like to eat things like tacos and Ruffles with sour cream & onion dip). The Jack burger is a hand-patted burger patty on a bun with melted white American cheese (I know, I thought it was a little strange that it wasn’t Monterey Jack cheese too….), a fried green tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise, with French fries. For the record, the fries were just frozen fries. A little off-putting since hand-cutting the fries would really amp it up a bit, but not particularly surprising or unusual (don’t think too many restaurants are hand-cutting their fries). They were fine. The burger patty was obviously handmade, since the shape wasn’t perfectly circular….a quality that I appreciate. It was well seasoned. The lettuce was iceberg and the bun was just a bun out of a bag (so again, a homemade or bakery purchased bun would really amp this up). I liked the fried green tomato and the cheese was very melty, not just stuck on the burger. All in all, not a bad burger….I’d order it again, for sure.

Philip decided to get the shrimp & grits. If you’ll recall, I mentioned here and here that shrimp & grits is one of his favorite restaurant meals, but he is very picky about them. These shrimp & grits were very plain looking….seasoned shrimp, crumbled bacon, & grits. I didn’t see any cheese, onions, etc., which is highly unusual. He said that the grits themselves were a little bland (not a lot of salt) but once he really stirred the shrimp and bacon into the grits they added the seasoning that was necessary. He really liked the seasoning that was on the shrimp and felt that the shrimp was cooked well. He also had cornbread and liked it fine….but I’ll be honest, if you try my cornbread recipe you’ll find that most restaurant cornbread just doesn’t measure up. It’s not their fault, it just….is. Just as a side…I’d love to see them work on their presentation. The gigantic bowl that Philip’s shrimp & grits were in was overkill and I saw several items served on styrofoam trays (they also charge $0.25 for water to pay for the styrofoam cup). Just a note. Some people don’t care about presentation but it can make or break a dining experience for others. I’m somewhere in-between….

One more thing is that they offer complimentary pinto beans to each table. Since Philip loves pinto beans (I can take ’em or leave ’em) we tried them. Again, they were pretty good….cooked to a good texture, not too hard, not too soft….but needed a little more salt, which we just added at the table. Perhaps this is their angle-everyone likes a different amount of salt. We are not salt fiends but do like to be able to taste that our food has been salted (but this can be an issue with beans, and we often have to add salt to our beans at the table at home as well). I really do want to go back and try a vegetable plate and see how their execution is on home-style vegetables. I love a good veggie plate!

So, I’ll be honest, it isn’t Blue Ribbon Café. It’s not likely to overtake BRC as the “best restaurant in Soddy-Daisy” in my humble opinion….but it’s pretty good, and seeing as how there aren’t exactly non-chain restaurants on every corner there’s definitely room for some variety in the mix. The prices are decent (our total was about $17 before tip), the food is pretty good, and they offer some unique menu items. The staff is very friendly. Give it a try!

The Nitty-Gritty Café is located at 11210 Dayton Pike, Soddy-Daisy, TN 37379. You can call them at 423-531-4582. They do not currently have a website or Facebook page. I have included the menu below although there are several menu items on signs hanging at the counter and the menu that is given to you at the table is also slightly different from this (for example, you will not see the burger that I ordered on the menu below).

Lupi’s Pizza Pies (Hixson)-August 1, 2012

August 5, 2012

So yesterday’s post mentioned “those nights” that you just can’t quite bring yourself to cook. Wednesday night was one of those nights for me. I think it was the whole “last night of summer break” thing. Philip was going to be late getting home and all I wanted to do was make my lunch, take a hot bath, paint my toenails, and hang out on the couch with my laptop.

So, I pulled up the Lupi’s menu on my computer. For some reason, even though it’s been in Hixson since 1999 (and since 1996 downtown), I always forget about Lupi’s. I have no idea why. Philip and I were talking about it over the weekend and I added it to the list on my iPhone (actually, it’s a set of lists, divided up by regions of town). Wednesday night seemed to provide the perfect excuse.

It didn’t take me long to settle on an order. They’ve recently added housemade mozzarella to their menu, and they feature a margherita pizza with this mozzarella, local tomatoes, basil, and coarse salt. They also have a “take and bake” option, so I ordered that in a 16-inch with a whole wheat crust and headed on out to pick it up, thinking that would give me more flexibility as far as time went (so I wouldn’t have to go out at 8 p.m. to pick up a pizza).

Sadly, when I got there, I was handed an already baked pizza. I chose to not say anything…I wasn’t in the mood to hang out, and it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Mistakes happen, and the pizza did look and smell amazing. I decided just to take it and reheat it for a few minutes on my pizza stone (which I preheat at 400 degrees before placing pizza on it. Ten minutes and cold pizza is perfect and crisp again. This trick also works for fried chicken and French fries. I am not joking.).

I kind of underestimated how large this pizza was going to be. I think I could have gone with the 12″ and we would have had plenty of pizza for Wednesday night and plenty to have leftovers for dinner Thursday. Oh well. It was so good I didn’t really care. I was not expecting the pizza to have tomato sauce on it (since it had sliced tomatoes) but it did. Lupi’s pizza sauce is pretty sweet, but I liked it and appreciated that they didn’t put a ton of it on the pizza. The fresh mozzarella was amazing, and I liked the basil sprinkled evenly over the pizza. Believe it or not, the salt really added a lot to the pizza….it’s amazing what a little salt can do to bring fresh tomatoes to life. My only issue is that to me margherita pizza should have a very thin crust….this is the traditional way that it is served. This crust was fairly thick. I really, really liked it-it tasted great and did not have a cardboard texture like so many wheat crusts do-but just would have preferred a thinner crust here.

Here’s my favorite thing about Lupi’s: it’s about as local as you can get. Their flour comes from Sonrisa Farm, the local farm from which I buy my wheat berries at the farmers market. The tomatoes are local. I don’t know where they get their milk, but they made the mozzarella with their own hands. They buy local products whenever possible-including produce, ground beef, honey, etc.). And I love this: the money that would be contributed to advertising campaigns instead gets contributed to local schools, charities, and organizations. And you know what? I am pretty sure that they are doing okay without advertisement.

Lupi’s offers pizzas in slices as well as 12″ and 16″ whole pizzas. They offer an interesting variety of toppings…the usual assortment of meats and a wide range of vegetables, including more unusual options like roasted corn, zucchini, and avocado (I must try this). They also offer calzones and a small but fresh assortment of appetizers like bruschetta, garden salad, and homemade mozzarella drizzled with balsamic vinegar. You can also purchase a ball of mozzarella or a ball of pizza dough. They also feature catering and the option to buy a whole lasagna, bulk salad dressings, and a large salad (but they do request a day or two worth of notice for these items).

Know this: if you eat at Lupi’s, you’re going to pay for it. My pizza was about $18….but it was gigantic, and it made two meals for two people….two hungry people. People with smaller appetites (I admit, I eat like a horse…I’m sure you aren’t surprised) probably could have stretched it even farther. My rationale is that I would spend this much if we ordered Domino’s (because inevitably I’d buy that wretched cheesy bread….it’s so addictive with its burnt, crust ends) and if we order from Lupi’s we are supporting so many local businesses and getting much fresher, much more delicious product than if we went to the big D. It’s worth it to me.

Lupi’s Hixson is located at 5504 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343. You can call them at 423-847-3700. Their website is lupi.com; they also have a Facebook page. They are opened Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., and Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

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