Restaurants Archives - Page 39 of 49

Sluggo’s North Vegetarian Cafe-July 3, 2012

July 4, 2012

Philip and I don’t eat a massive amount of meat. It’s more expensive (obviously) than vegetables, so we probably only eat it a couple of times a week. Bacon is the only meat that is regularly on my shopping list, and besides our weekly breakfast that includes bacon, it is usually an “accent” or seasoning in a meal, not the centerpiece. We tend to lean more toward eggs and dairy products for our protein.

That said, I would certainly not classify us as “vegetarians”, as we do share a torrid love affair with medium-rare filet mignon and tender pulled pork shoulder. I doubt that we would ever completely cut out meat or animal products in our diet…but we are perfectly happy to eat not very much meat. One issue I have, though, is vegan products masquerading as meat. If others want to eat it, that’s fine….but I am not down with tempeh or seitan, or Tofurkey or Chik’n nuggets. I can eat tofu….I can eat black bean burgers (but not Gardenburgers or Boca burgers).

I have been very curious about Sluggo’s North, a vegan cafe (the name belies the fact that there are no animal products at all on the menu-no eggs, dairy, etc.) in North Chattanooga. Sluggo’s has been around for a few years, has a very high rating on Urbanspoon, and I have heard great things about it from several people, including my very carnivorous brother. My aunt Susan, who is a vegan, is visiting from Texas (this is my cooking kindred spirit aunt) so Philip and I took the opportunity to take her to Sluggo’s and do a little reviewing.

Sluggo’s menu consists of appetizers (like hummus, pesto bruschetta, and pot stickers, which were an appetizer “special” that day), soups (chili, curry-lentil), salads, wraps, burgers, sandwiches (like the seitan Philly and the “culture club” with seitan, tofurkey, and soy bacon), bowls (including a sweet chile Thai bowl and a ginger curry bowl), and entrees (such as a soy taco plate and sweet potato and spinach enchiladas, which I came so close to ordering. They also have a selection of sides like garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, pinto beans, collards, and pasta salad.

Sluggo’s is an order-at-the-counter restaurant. They have a blackboard with their daily specials by the counter and a stack of menus on the counter. You place your order, get a number, and they bring your food to your table. On this day, they were curiously out of ice and all of the drinks in their fountain; the options were tea (sweetened or unsweetened, water, and seltzer) or beer (they have a small selection of draught beers and a decent selection of bottled beers). Their lack of drink selection was not an issue for us, as Philip and I had water (of course) and my aunt chose tea.

I decided on a spinach and roasted red pepper hummus wrap, grilled and filled with spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, raw veggies, and their tahini goddess dressing, which I had heard lots of good things about prior to visiting. Sandwiches, wraps, and burgers can be ordered alone or as a plate, which come with one side and a side salad. I decided on kale, one of the day’s side specials, and citrus-basil vinaigrette on my salad. When I got my meal, the first thing that struck me was how gigantic the wrap was. Like, it was the size of two wraps that I would make at home. If we had not had a million other stops to make, I would have brought half of it home to eat later. It was delicious, drippy with the tahini (sesame paste) goddess dressing plus hummus where you might expect mayo. The fact that it was grilled made the tortilla crunchy and toasty-delicious, but the ingredients inside were still nice and cool, as veggies in a wrap should be. They did not skimp on the spinach, which was piled on thickly, or the roasted red peppers, which retained their crunch. There were also plenty of slices of cucumber and plum tomatoes. Sadly, there were red onion strips (which make me cry), so I had to pick those off, rendering my hands unbearably smelly for the rest of the day no matter how many times I washed them. The kale was delicious, perfectly cooked so that it was soft but not lifeless and seasoned just right, with a hint of lemon. The mixed green salad also had carrot shreds, cucumbers, and red onions (which I gifted to Philip). The vinaigrette had a perfect citrusy tang but also tasted like it contained some sort of pesto-ish something, which was very nice indeed.

Philip and my aunt both decided on the mushroom-walnut burger: a homemade “paddy” (that’s what the menu says) served on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and soy Russian dressing. Philip ordered his with mashed potatoes and gravy (which are apparently a huge hit here) and tahini goddess dressing on his salad, and my aunt decided on the macaroni and cheese as her side. What I appreciate about these burgers is that they are what they are, if that makes sense. This isn’t a burger made of mushrooms and walnuts but trying to be a burger. It would never make the cut. No, it’s a mushroom-walnut burger. It was (just slightly) sweet and (just slightly) spicy, with a nice chew and a delicious flavor. The bun was not cardboardy as whole wheat buns are wont to be, and the soy Russian dressing was delicious. It tasted just as Russian dressing should (and that is coming from someone who typically despises things that are made from soy-milk, yogurt, cheese, etc.). Philip’s potatoes (which, he pointed out, are actually smashed, not mashed, potatoes) were perfectly cooked, creamy, salted just right, and covered with a delicious brown gravy that had a spice to it that made it reminiscent of a sausage gravy flavor. As for my aunt’s mac & cheese, I have to admit I was apprehensive. I mean, vegan mac and cheese???????? I am pretty passionate about what macaroni and cheese should (and shouldn’t) be….but this really was delicious. The color was slightly off-putting, but that feeling was laid to rest once I tasted the creamy, salty, and, yes, cheesy goodness. Vegan mac & cheese can be tasty!

It may take a while for me to warm up to certain aspects of vegan food (specifically, non-meat masquerading as meat) but I am sold on Sluggo’s. The fact of the matter is, it never hurt anyone to eat a little less meat, and when you can get food this good you really don’t miss it all that much. I highly recommend that those nay-sayers among you give it a try. You may find that you are swayed to be a little more meatless from time to time!

Sluggo’s North is located at 501 Cherokee Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-752-5224. They are open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. They do not have a website, but you can check them out on Facebook.

Hill City Pizza-June 30, 2012

July 1, 2012

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. I love Living Social. Yesterday they ran a “deal” for $10 for $20 to spend at Hill City Pizza….a place on “the list”. So I bought it, and today we ate lunch there.

Hill City Pizza has been around for a couple of years, on Chattanooga’s North Shore in the former location of the Mud Pie. If you can believe it, I never once ate at the Mud Pie in all of the years that it was there. I went in once, but for some reason we didn’t order. We went to Taco Bell instead. That was high school….sometimes teenagers make dumb decisions. But anyway, back to Hill City Pizza.

There were not a ton of people around when we hit Coolidge Park around 1 p.m. Still in the middle of a heat wave…..by this point in time temps were nearing 100 degrees and I guess not too many people decided to brave it. They were probably all at Chuck E. Cheese’s (seriously-go there on the coldest, hottest, or rainiest Saturday of the year. You’ll see what I mean.) and we definitely weren’t complaining.

There weren’t a ton of people in the restaurant either….a family, a couple of women around my age having lunch, and a fairly large group of high school or college age kids (sometimes it’s hard to tell). There was no one at the door and no sign telling you to seat yourself….which is a trend I’ve been seeing more of lately. Just hang a sign, people. I hate standing around and feeling like an idiot until I decide what I’m supposed to do. Anyway, we grabbed a table and our server (whose name I did not catch) brought us a menu and took our drink order very quickly.

Since we had $20 to spend, we decided to order an appetizer-breadsticks stuffed with mozzarella. They were pretty good, not great; a little bland without the sauce (marinara topped with parmesan and chopped parsley). They seemed awfully perfect, so we asked our server if they are made in house. They are not. That’s a little disappointing. Oh well…can’t win ’em all.

You can choose your pizza from their specialty pizzas (margherita, Hawaiian, barbecue chicken), top your own, or order a slice and add toppings. Topping a slice is definitely the most economical option, although their pizzas are not huge so two might be more of a meal (unless the slices are larger than the ones that come from the pie we ordered). We decided to order a “Grecian”-roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, black olives, red onions, artichokes, and feta cheese. It came out pretty quickly. The crust is not super-thin but also not super thick. The toppings were well cooked (as in, the onions were cooked enough that I was able to eat them, since I don’t do raw or undercooked onions). I liked the flavor combination, although I do think kalamata olives would be a little more authentic on a Grecian pizza….but maybe real authenticity isn’t what they’re going for. The only complaint I had about the pizza was that the toppings were not distributed quite as evenly as I would have liked (when I make a pizza at home, I’m pretty meticulous about even distribution).

Our total topped just a little over $20; the pizzas run from about $12 to about $15. They also have several entrees (chicken tenders, eggplant parm, etc.) and salads, and key lime and Reese’s pie for dessert. We weren’t thinking about dessert, though, because we were stopping in at Pure Sodaworks for soda after lunch (southern sweet tea and root beer!). Our server was friendly and the food was decent. The look of the restaurant was nice but acoustically it was a little loud. We’d go again, but we’d probably skip the breadsticks (they weren’t bad, but I just prefer housemade….).

Hill City Pizza is located at 12 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-702-5451. They do not have a website (I wish I had realized this; I would have taken a photo of the menu) but you can check out their Facebook page.

Fork & Pie Bar, June 23, 2012

June 24, 2012

Not too long ago, I wanted to open a pie shop, right here in good ole Chattanooga. The problem is, I don’t really have the funding or the business experience to go all willy-nilly opening a business, so it wasn’t like an immediate venture or anything. And someone beat me to it.

A couple of months ago my pie-loving friend Matt tweeted to me about the Fork & Pie Bar, which was set to open on Market Street downtown. Fork & Pie opened on June 8 to great fanfare in a relatively pie-starved city. Us Southerners do love our pies, but unless you are willing to make them yourself (I am, obviously), you are not likely to find them beyond the grocery store bakery (well, until June 8, 2012, that is). One of the owners is also an owner of Brewhaus, so they clearly had a leg up on me in the restaurant business.

Fork & Pie is located in a section of Market Street that has been somewhat abandoned recently, next to Fischer-Evans and near the former Rone-Regency Jewelers. Market Street Tavern is opening soon right next door. It’s a revitalization that is much needed. I love seeing my beautiful, amazing city coming back to life, a little at a time, a process that started when I was in middle school. Change is slow but hard-won. The restaurant is an open floor plan, a long, narrow space with seating around the perimeter, including a little mini-bar seating area with stools in one of the front windows. I wished we had sat there, for photo lighting purposes. The floors are wood and the walls are black, the decor sparing but deliberately so…a minimalist “less is more approach”. I liked the atmosphere, but Philip thought that a pie shop should have a more light & airy (i.e. not as dark) atmosphere. By the way, you just seat yourself, so don’t wait for someone to come and seat you!

A large chalkboard proclaims the quiche of the day as well as any other important info that you might need…such as the fact that their dessert mini-pies were not available on the day of our visit (all of the mini-pies were being taken to the Chattanooga Market for a pie-eating contest). Frowny-face! Menus are laid out on the table. I liked the design of the menus, with the logo at the top, savory pies on the left, sweet pies on the right, Sunday brunch items and sides on the back. The back of the menu also shows all of the local businesses supported by Fork & Pie, such as Link 41, Velo Coffee Roasters, Pure Sodaworks, and Eagle’s Rest Ranch. Our server also told us that nothing is ever frozen. Winning!

I quickly zeroed in on the Mexican Cantina Pie (after briefly considering the chicken pot pie and the Tuscan chicken pie). I chose this one, to be perfectly honest with you, because it seemed best suited to eat with the avocado salad side (I have a slight avocado addiction). The Mexican Cantina pie is a 4-inch pie baked in a house pie crust, with chunks of chicken, peppers, onions, mushrooms, black beans, corn, and cilantro, topped with sour cream. It was spicy, but not too much so, from the small pieces of jalapeno enrobed in the light sauce formed by the vegetables. The flavor was good, but I did think it was slightly undersalted. The crust was flaky and cooked nicely. The avocado salad was delicious, with pieces of tomato, carrot slivers, and red onion (which I ate-raw! Look at me trying to overcome my phobias). It had a guacamole-ish texture and was served with lightly toasted pita wedges. I liked it. They should put it on their appetizer menu (which includes hummus, tzatziki, and spinach dip) as well!

As soon as Philip discovered that the “quiche du jour”, which was sausage and Swiss, was made with Link 41 sausage, he was all in (he did consider the barbecue pork pie, but decided against it since the crust was a “sweet” cornbread crust, and he isn’t a sweet cornbread fan). The quiche was made with Link 41 sausage (particular variety not listed, and we didn’t think to ask), Swiss cheese, red onions, and eggs in a whole wheat crust. Unlike the other pies, served personal-size, the quiche is cut from a larger pie. Our server told us that the quiches usually go quickly. Philip decided to get the fresh fruit (blackberries, blueberries, pineapples, and strawberries) as his side. Philip was impressed by the whole wheat crust, which was crumbly (as one might expect with a whole wheat crust) but not falling-apart crumbly (which would have been bad). The custard was firm with a nice ratio of sausage and cheese, which was browned perfectly on top. Again, though, a little undersalted. Good, but as Philip told our server, not the best he’d ever had (but, in their defense, I make a mean quiche. Blindfolded. With my hands tied behind my back. The man is spoiled, what can I say?).

For dessert, we decided to split a pecan pie with whipped cream (fifty cents extra). If there had been mini-pies, I probably would have chosen chocolate chess pie or banana pie (which is touted as a pie version of banana pudding), but Philip was pretty excited about the pecan pie and I didn’t want to burst his bubble by insisting on something else (after all, I do like a good pecan pie). And the pecan pie was good. Very, very good. Buttery, with the sugar nice and caramelized and the pecans perfectly toasted. The seasoning was delicious and the whipped cream was just that. Whipped. Cream. Not whipped topping, which would have stirred my ire faster than you can blink. We stopped just short of licking the tin it was served in.

Chattanoogans, if you love pie, go here. They seem to be just slightly afraid of the salt pig, a fear I am sure they will overcome (admittedly, many of us are afraid of salt. DON’T BE!). Besides, it could have been just these pies on this day. They are certainly not afraid of butter, which bodes well for makers-of-pie. I like their inventive spirit where devising pie varieties is concerned, and home pie-making inspiration is always welcome.

Fork & Pie Bar is located at 811 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-485-3257. They are open Monday-Thurdsay, 11-9, Friday and Saturday, 11-11, and Sunday 10-2 (they have special brunch quiches available on Sunday). Check out their website, http://www.forkandpiebar.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Nino’s Pastaria-June 16, 2012

June 18, 2012

Saturday afternoon found Philip and I trying to find somewhere a little out of the ordinary to eat. We didn’t want to go downtown for fear that we may end up in the melee that was the last night of Riverbend, and we’ve just about exhausted our Hixson restaurant options. Philip asked me if there was anywhere we could go on Signal Mountain, then he suggested Pastaria (also known as Nino’s, which I didn’t know until recently).

Since it was in between lunch and dinner (it was about 2:30 or 3:00), there was only one other couple there and we had our pick of tables. The inside of the restaurant was very nice, clean, not overly decorated but not too sparsely decorated at the same time, with rows of square tables diagonally placed throughout the large dining room. Since it was a little cooler on the mountain, we decided to sit outside. Lisa, our server, was very friendly and quickly took our drink orders and brought us a menu and bread. We also ordered bruschetta, which was delivered quickly by Sara, the manager, who was also cooking on this particular day.

The bread is made in-house, as is the butter, which you know made my day. The bread wasn’t super-hot but it tasted pretty good and the butter was delicious (of course!). The bruschetta was delicious, small slices of a thin loaf (a baguette, I assume) grilled and topped with a tomato-garlic relish, melted mozzarella and parmesan, and fresh basil (several herbs are growing in boxes beside the patio, and when we asked, Lisa told us that they do use them in some of the cooking).

I had a hard time deciding what to order. They serve pizzas, which all sounded good, but I wanted to get pasta and finally decided on the funghi bianchi….penne pasta in a creamy sauce with sliced mushrooms. I also ordered a salad. The salad was meh, not bad but not really anything to write home about. It was chopped romaine topped with pecorino romano and served with the balsamic vinagrette that’s out in a bottle on the table. I just like for my salads to have a little more interest, is all….

I did really like my pasta, though. The sauce was creamy but not heavy, seasoned nicely. The flavor of mushrooms really permeated the sauce and the mushrooms were perfectly cooked, not underdone so they were dry but also not overdone so they were shriveled. The pasta was al dente….it was just dried pasta, not handmade, so it’s not an, um, “artisinal pasta experience”, but how many of those do you get to have? I liked it and I would definitely order it again.

Philip decided on the carbonara. Traditional carbonara is a bacon and egg pasta…..hot pasta with bacon and egg mixed in. The residual heat from the pasta cooks the egg. Many restaurants shy away from this traditional approach and instead basically pour cream sauce over pasta, mix in some bacon, and call it carbonara. Nino’s takes the traditional approach, even using pancetta (Italian bacon, unsmoked) instead of regular bacon. You can also order asparagus instead of pancetta, but why would you want to do that? Philip, of course, decided on the pancetta. He was really impressed by the carbonara. It was fresh, salty, and just barely creamy from the eggs (by the way, the pasta in the dish was spaghetti). I tasted it. It was delicious.

We decided to order some spumoni ice cream, because I puffy-heart love spumoni. In case you didn’t know, spumoni is kind of an Italian neopolitan ice cream…made with chocolate, cherry, and pistachio ice cream. So good. They also serve chocolate mousse, tiramisu, and gelato (which is Italian ice cream, a little denser than American ice cream).

Nino came in while we were there and came out to work some on the plants out front. He came to our table and talked to us…he was very friendly and welcoming. Our server was also extremely friendly and helpful. We had a great experience. Apparently Nino’s has gotten some bad press recently and they are working hard to try to make a comeback. They have been in this location for 17 years, so apparently they’ve been doing something right all these years. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend you check it out and form your own opinion!

Nino’s Pastaria is located at 720 Mississippi Avenue, Signal Mountain, TN 37377. You can reach them at 423-886-1900. They do not have a website or Facebook page at this time, but you can view their menu on their Urbanspoon page (click on the Urbanspoon icon below).

The Rice Boxx-June 9, 2012

June 12, 2012

As I mentioned in my Serendipity Cafe, we attempted to go to the Rice Boxx last month. Unfortunately for us, we went on a Monday night, and they are closed on Mondays. So, this past weekend we decided to go there for lunch on Saturday. In case you didn’t know, The Rice Boxx is located in the Bi-Lo complex in the Lupton Drive/Rivermont area. There were not very many people in the restaurant, so we were seated immediately. Our server quickly took our drink order and left us to peruse the menu.

The menu is pretty large with a section for Chinese/Thai and a section for Japanese (including a section only for sushi). I’m going to be honest, I am always a little bit suspicious of places that serve several different types of Asian cuisine under one roof….but I was a sport. One thing that I noticed that I found interesting was that, while they had a kids’ menu, the items on the menu were not typical kids’ menu items…they were child-sized portions of some of the items off of the regular menu.

We ordered a Thai spring roll (vegetarian) and a pork egg roll to start our meal. Turns out that Philip’s meal came with a spring roll, so we did not have to pay extra for that. As we were eating the rolls, we simultaneously noticed that there was no pink meat in the egg roll. I cannot stomach pink meat in egg rolls. That just screams processed to me, and I assume that the pink hue comes from the “pink” curing salt (nitrites) that are used. Anyway, this egg roll just had plain old ground pork. The rolls were both very crispy but not mouth-searingly hot (hot enough to be well-cooked but not hot enough to remove the skin from the roof of your mouth). My favorite was the spring roll, with its rice noodles and cabbage and flaky rice paper wrapper…but that’s just me.

I decided to order off of the “Japanese” section of the menu so I ordered teriyaki chicken and shrimp (menu options are available as hibachi-with soy sauce-or teriyaki-obviously with teriyaki sauce) with fried rice and white sauce (ginger sauce is also available, but I’ve never been a fan….and I have openly declared my love for white sauce here before). The server got mixed up and brought me chicken and steak, but the error was quickly corrected. I probably won’t bother with the shrimp again….it was a little bit chewy. The chicken was nicely done with no fatty or chewy pieces, and there were a lot of vegetables on the plate, which was nice. The rice was cooked nicely, but it was bland…forcing me to douse it with copious amounts of soy sauce. I can’t deal with underseasoned foods! I did like the white sauce….actually, I liked it more than Ichiban’s or Kyoto’s, but not as much as Typhoon’s or the sauce I make myself.

Philip decided to order General Tso’s chicken off of the Chinese/Thai menu. He got this with fried rice, and it also came with broccoli and soup. He decided on egg drop soup, which came with a bowl of fried wonton strips (which I happily helped him eat-I love those things!). His comment about the soup was, “Tastes like egg drop soup.” Thanks for the description. Wow. We cracked up at his plate when they brought our meals out….it was a gigantic pile of chicken, a mound of rice….and three broccoli florets. I was concerned that he would gorge himself on broccoli. But anyway….Philip too thought that the rice was bland, although he does not love soy sauce like I do and just ate it that way. He said that the broccoli was underseasoned (unseasoned?) as well, and only ate one piece (I needn’t have been worried). He did really like the chicken, which I tasted. General Tso’s chicken (which is an Americanized Chinese dish that you would not find in China-but then, aren’t most of them?) is usually similar to sesame chicken but with a slightly spicier sauce. I could taste the chilies in the sauce, but it was not overpoweringly spicy. Philip’s favorite thing about it was that while it was sweet, it did not have the usually tooth-aching quality you find in most Chinese restaurants.

If you decide to visit the Rice Boxx, you should definitely visit the restroom. The hallway leading to the restroom has a flashing light that changes colors…red, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green….very kitschy. It made me feel like I was trapped in an eighties horror flick. Too funny.

So, the verdict is that The Rice Boxx is not my favorite, but it definitely wasn’t bad. The prices were decent, as was the amount of food that we got. On this day, seasoning was a bit of an issue….and I wouldn’t bother with the shrimp if I were you. We didn’t try the sushi, but if you were so inclined you could sit at the small sushi bar and watch him make your sushi, which always make me feel better about restaurants that serve sushi, and I read several positive comments about the sushi on Urbanspoon. If you are in the area and you are craving some sort of Asian food, it’s worth a stop in.

The Rice Boxx is located at 3600 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37415. You can call them at 423-305-0855. You can also visit their website at http://www.riceboxchattanooga.com.

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