Chattavore

What I ate, plate by plate.

Nana’s Frozen Custard-September 23, 2011

April 2014: After they winter “break” and opening for one Saturday afternoon/evening, Nana’s sadly announced that they would not reopen the store again due to rising costs and a decrease in sales. I. Am. Devastated. However, the Nana’s truck will still be serving delicious frozen custard around town. Follow them on Facebook to find out where they’ll be.

Nana’s Frozen Custard, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.  (1) Cold; (2) Creamy; (3) Thick; (4) Amazing flavors; (5) Interesting menu; (6) Close to home.  As my friend Chastity says, Nana’s pretty much ruins every other ice cream place.  It’s just the best!  In case you were wondering, yes, there is a difference between ice cream and frozen custard.  Ice cream is made from a base of milk and/or cream, and frozen custard includes eggs to increase.  I prefer custard.  Nana’s Frozen Custard, to be exact.

You may have noticed that I am posting this a little late.  Yep, our last trip to Nana’s was on 9/23.  I took pictures but I guess in the busy-ness of work and finishing up my class, I just forgot to post about it.  Now, I’m having another Nana’s craving, which made me remember that I needed to do my post.

We aren’t big sweets-eaters around here.  It isn’t that we don’t like them, it’s just that I prefer to make things from scratch, so sweets are not always readily available.  Ice cream is no exception; from time to time, I will buy some at the grocery store, but it usually results in either the ice cream going bad after we’ve eaten a couple of servings, or us totally eating way too much ice cream in order to avoid the ice cream going bad.  Neither is a good thing.  Thus, even though it is less cost-effective, we generally buy our ice cream from an ice cream shop.  It feels more like a treat that way, anyway.  So, Nana’s is a fairly frequent (once every month or two) treat for us.

Nana’s is a walk-up ice cream (excuse me, custard) stand with several picnic tables.  They also have a drive-thru window.  You can choose a standard, like a cup or cone with varying amounts of any flavor of Nana’s custard, a malt, a shake, a float, a sundae, or a “shiver”, which is similar to a Blizzard…or you can choose a treat off of their extensive original menu.  The creations on their menu have interesting names like “Apple Pie Blossom” (a big scoop of vanilla custard melting over apples wrapped in a flaky crust, complimented by warm caramel sauce and brown sugar, “Happy Birthday to You” (Celebration! Cake flavored custard glowing with blue marshmallow frosting and confetti sprinkles, “Frozen Hot Chocolate” (hot cocoa mix blended with vanilla custard, topped by a swirl of marshmallow embedded whipped creme and chocolate sprinkles), and “Chester Frosty” (vanilla custard floating in blue marshmallow creme and Gummi fish, topped with Lifesavers swim “rings” and sprinkled with sandy brown sugar).  I always look at the menu and deliberate between the Apple Pie Blossom and Strawberry Shortcake (vanilla custard surrounded by moist pieces of cake, swimming in sweet sliced strawberries and topped with whipped creme), but I always end up getting a cup of custard.  Ultimately, I guess I just feel that there is no reason to sully the perfection of Nana’s custard with toppings and mix-ins.  There are also a few “food” items on the menu, such as hot dogs, chili, and Frito pie.

The menu of custard flavors available changes on a regular basis.  Some flavors are available seasonally (I’m pretty sure I’ve seen pumpkin on the menu, for example).  I am not sure if the other flavors change daily, weekly, or what.  I assume there is some sort of schedule on which the flavors are available, and, of course, the standards like vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry are always an option.  I pretty much rotate through three flavors: mint chocolate chip, lemon, and birthday cake.  On this particular night, I had birthday cake.  Now, I love birthday cake ice cream.  Mayfield’s has a great version, as does Ben & Jerry’s….but Nana’s is the best.  I mean, the best.  It has actual smashed-up cake in it.  I haven’t asked for confirmation on this (I’ll have to next time I’m there) but I think it is Federal Bake Shop cake.  At least it tastes like it is.  I haven’t done a Federal Bake Shop post yet…..but tasting like it has Federal Bake Shop cake in it is a very good thing.  It’s always difficult for me to decide which route to go, though.  I love every flavor I’ve tried.

Medium birthday cake ice cream. Yes, we took these pictures on the bench of one of the picnic tables.

Philip always, I repeat always gets the chocolate malt.  According to him, Nana’s and Kay’s Kastle are the only places that know how to mix a malt.  Usually, the malt powder is clumpy or all stuck at the bottom.  At Nana’s, though, the malts are always perfect.  Perfectly blended, with just the right amount of malt powder.  The malts are the perfect thickness, topped with whipped cream and a malted milk ball (which, oddly enough, Philip hates, even though he loves malts).  He is never disappointed (well, except for the time that the “new guy” mixed his malt.  But those things happen sometimes).

“Regular” size chocolate malt (as opposed to large)

Let me just lay this out here, though.  Nana’s ain’t cheap.  It usually costs around $8-$10 for Philip and me to go there, depending on whether I am being prudent and eating a small custard or being “decadent” and eating a medium.  I have accepted the expense, though.  There’s no waste, and it’s the best ice cream….er, custard….in town.  I’m willing to spend a few bucks from time to time to have the best.

There is one downside, though.  I don’t post negative reviews about food, because I figure that maybe it’s just me and everyone has their own tastes….but I’m going to comment on the service. I am not crazy about the customer service.  I am not the only one that feels this way….when I told people that I was doing a Nana’s post, other people commented that while they loved Nana’s custard, their service needed some work. Nana’s is staffed mainly by teenagers, and it just seems to me that unless good customer service is really stressed to teenagers, they will not deliver.  It’s not that they are unfriendly, they just don’t seem too excited to have to open the window and talk to customers.  Last time we went, we could see the girl mentally drawing straws to decide who was going to wait on us.  Once they open the window, they’re fine….not enthusiastic, but friendly enough.  Since they aren’t rude, and the custard is out-of-this-world, I am willing to let it slide….but Nana’s, if you guys are reading this…kick it up a notch!

Nana’s Frozen Custard is located at 6707 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343.  You can call them at 423-842-3003.  Check out their website or check them out on Facebook or Twitter.

Nana's Frozen Custard on Urbanspoon

Tubby’s Real Burgers-October 15, 2011

When I was in college, I had the ultimate sorority girl job at Monkey Business, a cute little shop on Frazier Avenue, on downtown Chattanooga’s North Shore.  We sold jewelry, candles, and all sorts of fun, kitschy stuff in a fun atmosphere that closed by 7 p.m. daily (!).  It was a dream, and I loved working there….but alas, Monkey Business closed not all that long after I left.  What I was left with, though, was the memory of the chicken fingers and fries that Jan, the owner, used to bring us from Tubby’s Real Burgers.  Back in the day, Tubby’s was just a little walk-up hamburger stand on Cherokee Boulevard (the less, um, desirable end of Frazier), and I had always assumed that it wasn’t any good.  I mean, back then, a great hamburger to me was a quarter-pounder (my, how things change!).  But I digress…..

Back to the chicken fingers and honey mustard.  Honestly, I don’t really remember that much about the chicken fingers and fries that Jan brought us….I just remember the honey mustard.  You see, I am a honey mustard fanatic.  When I went to UTC I could frequently be found buying chicken fingers and fries in the University Center just to dip them in the Naturally Fresh honey mustard offered there (I also kept a jar in my fridge).  I knew all the places to get the best honey mustard.  The honey mustard at Tubby’s was a revelation.  Seriously.  I am going to venture to say that it was my first experience with homemade honey mustard, and it’s still some of the best I’ve had.  Jan had asked for the recipe, but it’s a secret….so we all just had to settle for dipping our Tubby’s chicken fingers in it.  Sigh.

Saturday night, Philip and I met some friends at Tubby’s for dinner (I just realized that 3 of my most recent restaurant posts have been with other people-what’s up with us actually being social?  Anyway….).  For years, I had to beg Philip to go there, but now he loves it, and it was actually his suggestion to go there.

Tubby’s is no longer a walk-up stand, although it is still on Cherokee Blvd., which is a lot nicer now than it was in 1999.  They have a 2-room set-up: an indoor dining room and an outdoor, open air dining room where smoking is allowed.  The only problem that I have with it at all is that they are sandwiched between two apartment buildings, and I guess the tenants of the apartments use the parking lots.  The parking lot was nearly full, and we assumed that there were a ton of people inside….but when we walked in, only a couple of tables were occupied.

Now, I’m not going to make any bones about it.  This place is a greasy spoon.  Personally, I’m okay with that.  They’re not putting on airs, and they don’t need to.  They serve typical hamburger stand fare-a few burgers, a few appetizers (fried pickles!), a few other sandwiches (chicken, grilled cheese, etc.), a few dinner plates, fries, onion rings, tots, etc.  I, however, did not consult the menu.  I wanted a chicken fingers dinner, no ifs, ands, or buts.  Philip ordered a 1/2-pound bacon-cheddar burger with everything (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayo, mustard, and ketchup) and tots.

The food took about 10 minutes to come out, which is perfectly acceptable-that way I know that it’s being made when I order it.  The guy is grilling the hamburgers about 4 or 5 feet behind the counter, and it’s an actual grill (with flames) and not a flat-top griddle.  When they brought out our friends’ food, one of their burgers was wrong: he had ordered just lettuce and onion, and they brought it without lettuce and onion, but quickly fixed it.  Ours was just right, so we took our pictures and dug in.

Philip says this is his favorite burger in Chattanooga.  It’s just the right amount of greasy with just the right amount of grilled flavor.  I tasted it, and it was great.  It was definitely huge, and very drippy…just the way I like it. The tots were just regular old tots, out of a bag, I’m sure….but then, what restaurant makes their own tots????  Our friends both enjoyed their burgers too.  Tubby’s actually serves a full-pound burger called “The Gut-Buster.” I’m scared.

1/2-pound Bacon Cheddar Burger with Tots

My chicken fingers dinner came with slaw, grilled buttered toast, and skin-on fries.  I am not a huge fan of slaw (except on my barbecue sandwiches at Rib & Loin), so I only took a bite or two.  It tasted fine….but I just wasn’t interested.  I don’t know if Tubby’s chicken fingers are homemade.  They aren’t outstanding, but they’re pretty good.  The fries, though…..the fries.  I love skin-on fries (well, I love fries, period, but skin-on are my favorite), and I love to dip my fries in honey mustard.  I think what I’ll do from now on is order a burger then order fries and honey mustard (hopefully they allow that!).  The outside of the fries is very crispy, and the inside is very soft and fluffy.  That’s a perfect fry, my friends.

Chicken Fingers Dinner: 4 chicken fingers, skin-on fries, slaw, toast, and honey mustard.

So, if you are a fan of yummy greasy spoon fare, don’t let Tubby’s Real Burgers pass you by.  Get a burger and fries (and honey mustard!).  You won’t regret it!

Tubby’s Real Burgers is located at 710 Cherokee Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37405.  You can call them at 423-265-0069.  At this time, they don’t have a website or a Facebook page.  You can view their menu on Urbanspoon.

 
Tubby's Real Burgers on Urbanspoon

Chattavore on the Road: Calhoun’s Gatlinburg, 10/8/11

One of my very favorite restaurants anywhere is Calhoun’s, owned by Copper Cellar Restaurants, a small chain with a variety of restaurants based in Knoxville.  While Calhoun’s has locations in Knoxville, Nashville, Lenoir City, and Pigeon Forge, Philip and I love to visit the Gatlinburg location, which gives us the perfect excuse to spend a weekend in a kitschy town fighting crowds and people-watching.  We’ve been going here for ten years (the first time we visited was on the last stop of our mega-road-trip honeymoon) and we aren’t about to stop anytime soon.

One tip to know when you are visiting Calhoun’s Gatlinburg is that you should arrive early.  We usually eat breakfast, skip lunch, and eat a super-early dinner in order to avoid a wait, then we eat a snack later in the evening.  We arrived at Calhoun’s at around 3 p.m. and got seated immediately.  Our server, Ronni, quickly took our drink order while we perused the menu.

I have had several different menu items at Calhoun’s, including their chicken fingers (fantastic), Southern Salad (yum), and burger (perfection).  They are known for their barbecue, and a bottle of their “famous sauce” sits on every table.  The sauce tastes great, but something in it always gives me a terrible stomachache, so I can’t eat it any more (I used to order the Steak Calhoun, which is basted in the BBQ sauce, and it was always bad news).  I’ve never, ever had a meal here that I didn’t enjoy, but if you ask me (and Philip) nothing beats the steaks.  I always order the Ale steak, a 10 oz. sirloin, marinated in olive oil, mustard, garlic and Calhoun’s Cherokee Red Ale, topped with Worcestershire butter (Copper Cellar also owns a microbrewery and Calhoun’s sells a variety of microbrewed beers).

Philip used to order the filet, but after tasting my Ale steak a while back, he has taken to ordering it as well (it’s a few dollars less than the filet, which is always a plus).  Steaks come with mashed potatoes (although we always pay a little extra to get a loaded baked potato) and another side, and we also order a salad for $3 extra.  I always get the house salad with Ranch dressing, and Philip orders the Caesar.  As his extra side, Philip ordered “Tennessee Corn Puddin'”, and I ordered Spinach Maria, which is really just a slightly spicy parmesan creamed spinach.

Once you order at Calhoun’s, a basket of delicious bread makes its way out to you.  Usually, there are two French rolls, two White Lily biscuits, and a cornbread muffin.  Sadly, on this day, there was only one biscuit….but we probably didn’t need any more than that.  They’ll gladly replenish your bread basket if you ask, but again, we were trying not to totally overdo it.

Cornbread muffin, French rolls, White Lily biscuit, and REAL butter

I love Calhoun’s house salad, which is composed of mixed greens, diced tomatoes, chopped bacon, croutons, and shredded cheddar and Jack cheeses.  They used to put diced egg on it as well, which was very tasty.  I am a “fork dipper,” meaning that I dip my fork into my dressing before spearing my salad.  I feel like this allows me to really taste all the components of the salad while getting just enough dressing.  Delicious.

House Salad, ranch dressing on the side

Philip is a huge fan of Caesar salads, but he often has to ask for more dressing at Calhoun’s.  Not on this day.  The leaves were quite sufficiently coated with their Caesar dressing, very garlicky with plenty of red wine vinegar for tanginess.

Caesar Salad

We’re definitely medium-rare steak people.  As far as we are concerned, there is no other way to eat steak.  If you’ll take a look at the bottom picture, you’ll see that they definitely do medium-rare right.  By the time the steak arrives, the butter is completely melted, and the marinade provides the perfect seasoning for this delicious piece of meat.  The baked potato is, well, a loaded potato.  As far as I’m concerned, a steak without a baked potato isn’t a steak at all.  I love the Spinach Maria, which is creamy and cheesy with just a little bit of spice, I’m assuming from red pepper flakes.  Philip wasn’t a huge fan of the corn pudding…it was just okay.  He has ordered their broccoli before and really enjoyed it.

Ale Steak with Loaded Baked Potato and Spinach Maria

Ale Steak with Loaded Baked Potato and "Corn Puddin' "

Medium-rare is the only way to eat steak!

We didn’t order dessert on this occasion…okay, we never order dessert with dinner…but we have gone here specifically for dessert and really liked it.  We were stuffed to the gills, though, and holding out to try a deep-fried Snickers bar on the strip later that evening.  We paid Ronni (who was very friendly and attentive) and set out to burn some calories.

We have inquired about the possibility of Calhoun’s coming to Chattanooga on several occasions and have been told that it’s never out of the realm of possibility and that the owner’s main rule is that he will not open a restaurant outside of Tennessee.  Help us start a crusade to open Calhoun’s in Chattanooga!  Of course, if one ever did open here, it would probably be so crowded all the time we would never go there and we’d still only eat at the one in Gatlinburg during our once-or-twice-a-year weekend getaways.  Whatever happens, I’m betting Calhoun’s will remain our favorite place to eat steak!

Calhoun’s Gatlinburg is located at 1004 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN, 37738.  Their hours are seasonal; find them here.  The telephone number for Calhoun’s Gatlinburg is 865-436-4100.  You can view the full menu and details about the restaurant (and the rest of the Copper Cellar family) at their website.  You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

 

Calhoun's (Gatlinburg) on Urbanspoon

Kioto Japanese Restaurant-September 9, 2011

I’m not going to lie to you. When I drove by what used to be Tinker’s Barbecue just down the street from my house in either late June or early July (I don’t remember which) and saw a sign saying that “Kioto Japanese Restaurant” was coming soon, I snorted a little. And yes, I know that should be spelled “Kyoto” but that isn’t how they spell it. Anyway…..I guess I’m a little snobby about little hole-in-the-wall restaurants and my policy is that I usually don’t even try them until someone I know tells me they’re good. So, when my assistant told me last week that she and her husband had dinner at Kioto and loved both the food and the prices, I decided to give it a shot, hoping that a new blog post was in the works (FYI, there have been several planned posts that got derailed because the food was not bloggable. Despite all the positive that you read on here, I don’t love every restaurant I try, but if you’ll read my post “Keepin’ it Light, People“, my mission is not to hurt anyone’s business, so my policy is, if I don’t have anything nice to say, I don’t say anything at all!).

So anyway…..last night we went with some friends and had dinner there. And it was good! I’ll go back.

When you walk in to Kioto, I won’t lie, there’s not a whole lot in the way of “atmosphere”. Tables and chairs. That’s pretty much it. If the food is good, though, I don’t really care about the atmosphere, unless it’s a bad atmosphere (for example, I’m not really a fan of the typical “sports bar” atmosphere. No offense to those who are). The server who seated us was extremely friendly, and I wish I had caught her name. She took our drink order before she left the table, then gave us a few minutes to peruse the menu.

As far as what they’re serving, Kioto is somewhere between Typhoon of Tokyo and Ichiban/Kanpai. They serve the soup and salad like the more expensive restaurants, but the prices are definitely closer to Typhoon prices. They pretty much immediately brought out the little cups of chicken broth, which, I’m not going to lie, tasted like it was made from bouillon cubes. Pretty quickly after that came the iceberg salad, and they brought out squeeze bottles of ginger dressing and “white sauce” (which was actually more pinkish-orange than white, but was very tasty). They also brought ranch dressing out for my friend’s 8-year-old to put on her salad. Again, I wasn’t a huge fan of the ginger dressing. I love the ginger dressing at Ichiban, but this was somewhat overpoweringly ginger-y. I ate it off of the top layer of my salad and then used the white sauce for the rest of my salad.

The soup-basically chicken bouillon with a few green onions floated in it.

Iceberg salad

The menu included items such as grilled vegetables, sesame chicken, shrimp, and scallops. All menu items were served with zucchini and onions (lunch entrees are served with carrots instead of zucchini). Unfortunately, there was not a lot of diversity to our order, so I don’t have very many pictures to show. We all ordered the filet mignon dinner, which, at $9.95, is a huge bargain over what you would pay at a full-service hibachi restaurant. My friend even changed the doneness of her meat from medium to medium-rare just to be funny since the rest of us ordered ours medium-rare. Soooo, I can only tell you about the filet. But that’s okay.

The food came out pretty quickly, and the meat was done very nicely, which is always impressive because it’s hard enough to get a whole cut of steak perfectly medium-rare, much less meat that is cut into chunks. There was a ton of rice, and the meals automatically come with fried rice (as in, you don’t have to pay extra like you do at the more expensive hibachi restaurants). There were peas and a little bit of corn in the rice (I’m not sure I’ve ever had fried rice with corn in it, but I don’t know. Maybe I have. It was fine, though), and onions and zucchini served on the side. The vegetables were cooked very well-the zucchini was tender without being soggy, and the onions were cooked just to the point that they weren’t quite caramelized but they also were not crispy, which was definitely a deal-maker for me, because, if you’ve read some of my posts, you know that onions that are raw or undercooked make me want to cry, and not because of the fumes. I just can’t deal.

The filet mignon dinner-tell me, what other restaurant is going to serve you filet in any form for $9.95?

Here’s the thing. This was a ton of food. I kind of wish I had just skipped the soup and the salad and saved that stomach space for the entree. It’s not that the soup and salad were bad, but they just weren’t anything to write home about. The main dish, though, was very tasty, and I could have finished it if I hadn’t ended up with a stomachache. I definitely overdid it, which is not something that I do very often, but it does seem easy to do at a hibachi restaurant for some reason. I also ingested copious amounts of the white sauce. At the end of the meal, we were brought a fortune cookie, which always makes me laugh-a Chinese cookie at a Japanese restaurant? Did you know, though, that fortune cookies were actually created right here in the US of A? So really, it’s an American cookie masquerading as a Chinese cookie being served at a Japanese restaurant. But I digress. Anyway, my fortune told me not to oversleep today-that it was going to be a productive day. What? Clearly Confucious did not know that today was Saturday, and I ignored the advice and slept all the way till 8:30 this morning (that’s late, right?). Anyway….

Including the tip, two filet mignon dinners (we drank water) cost us about $27.00. If we had gone to Ichiban, that would have been more like $50 or so. Now, I’m definitely not saying that we’ll be going to Kioto in place of Ichiban. Ichiban, in my opinion, is the gold standard for Hibachi restaurants, but it’s a special occasion sort of place, and we don’t go very often because, honestly, it’s a little weird to sit with people you don’t know. Kioto is a little more expensive than Typhoon, but it’s also infinitely closer to us (less than two miles away!) and we will definitely go back. If you want a show and the atmosphere, spend the money and go to Ichiban. If you just want some tasty hibachi food, save your cash and check out Kioto.

Kioto is located at 8719 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343 (near the Dallas Bay Bi-Lo). You can call them at 423-521-8444 or 423-521-8445. They are open Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. You can call ahead and pick up at their walk-up window. Kioto does not currently have a Facebook page or website. However, they did have take-out menus, so I’ll share it with you!

Kioto on Urbanspoon

The Terminal BrewHouse-August 20, 2011

So….Wednesday was my birthday. Alas, we went out to dinner on Tuesday night because we were short on time and I was craving queso….so on Wednesday I forced myself to use up the eggplants I bought at the farmers market to make eggplant parmesan. Anyway this has been a stressful couple of weeks (school started on the 10th, and the first month of school is always the most stressful!) and I was definitely getting a decent meal out somewhere, although until last night I wasn’t sure where. When I got home from work yesterday, though, Philip showed me a picture of the pimento cheese fritters that he had tried while eating lunch with friends at The Honest Pint. If you’ll remember my Honest Pint post, I mentioned that The Terminal and The Pint are owned by the same people….so that made me start thinking about the terminal, and my mind was made up. Lunch today would be had there.

We’ve been to The Terminal a lot, and we’ve never been disappointed (well, except for the time that we tried to go there with a group of four friends on a Saturday night and couldn’t get seated for an hour…so we had to go elsewhere. That was disappointing). The Terminal BrewHouse is located next to the Chattanooga Choo Choo (THE Terminal) in the Stong (no, there is NOT an R in that word) building, a posh hotel back in the day. It is fully renovated (clearly) with wooden booths and cool tables made from reclaimed pine, a large bar taking center stage downstairs, brick walls, three floors, and a “green roof” where you can sit outside and they often host musical acts.

The Terminal is called a BrewHouse because the are a microbrewery, with six beers brewed on the premises. Their website promises that “the beer you hold in your hand is pulled fresh from the tank,” and also reminds diners that they “do not order more beer, [they] craft more beer,” and therefore some of their beers may be temporarily unavailable. I don’t really drink beer….I don’t really drink alcohol at all….but I have great respect for restaurants that are going out of their way to craft something-anything-from scratch. Great beermaking is a science and an art, and from everyone that I’ve heard from, The Terminal has mastered it.

Since Philip and I started going to The Terminal, I have heard more than one person say, “Isn’t that a bar? I don’t like bar food.” This is not bar food, my friends. This is just good food. The menu is divided into nine sections: beer, appetizers (“Start Me Up”), soup and salad “stylings”, entrees (Market & Main dishes), “outstanding” pizzas, “Galactically Famous BrewHouse Burgers, sandwich shop, sides, and desserts (happy endings). The menu items have funky names, like Mr. Frog’s Super Happy Fun Journey (an appetizer sampler), Navin R. Johnson (a salmon entree), and the FruFru, a grilled chicken, brie, and pear sandwich.

Our server, Jennifer, came to our table within 15.2 seconds and took our drink order, then as she walked back by Philip asked her to bring us an order of FESTO (Feta Basil Pine Nut Olive Oil spread, or Feta Pesto, baked to “gooey perfection” on Niedlov’s bread). The FESTO came out quickly, and we scarfed it down just about as quickly. This stuff is so good. It has the salty briny taste of feta with the nutty bite of pine nuts, all bound together with olive oil, spread on crust bread, baked until the edges are just perfectly crispy, and sprinkled with basil. Oh my. We get this every time we go. I keep thinking that we need to order another appetizer, like Twisted Hummmmmmmus (“Tahini and Garbanzo mixture tweaked out with black bean and roasted red pepper goodness. Served w/ fresh chips and pita bread”) or the BrewHouse Nachos (not on the online menu, these are back by popular demand-slow cooked maple chipotle pot roast, queso, onions, and diced tomatoes on corn chips. I’m thinking that’s more of a meal than an appetizer, and that’s probably how I’ll order it)….but we just can’t ever bring ourselves to not order the FESTO.

Feta Basil Pine Nut Olive Oil Spread: We call it FESTO - Slathered on fresh bread from around the corner and baked to gooey perfection.

It didn’t take me long to decide what I wanted. In fact, I knew what I was going to order before I walked in the door. I gave the menu a quick once-over just in case I changed my mind, but I didn’t. I had been craving a West By God salad for about a month. I couldn’t possibly order anything else. Now, I almost never order salads as my meal in a restaurant. In fact, this is the only one. I’ve never had a salad like this anywhere else (unless you count the copycat that I make at home). The West By God is described in the menu as “Grilled steak and French fries over house greens, candied pecans, tomatoes, onions and bleu cheese. We climbed the mountain and brought down this West Virginia classic (we left the crushing poverty though).” I order it with the Terminal’s housemade Ranch dressing, as recommended by the server the first time I ordered it. I realize that for some, French fries on a salad may seem strange, but don’t knock it till you try it. The combination of grilled steak (it’s shaved before it’s grilled, so it is similar to what you might find on a Philly cheesesteak as opposed to if you grilled it first then sliced it), French fries, and bleu cheese is not to be believed. It’s like a sandwich….on a salad….and the candied pecans are icing on the cake. Of course, I order mine without the onions, because raw onions make me want to cry (and it’s not the automatic eye-watering effect that comes from slicing an onion. I love cooked onions but I HATE raw). The ranch dressing-wow. If you’ve never had ranch dressing that didn’t come from a bottle, I encourage you to try it. Here’s the recipe I use. It’s fresh, herby, and delicious, and it’s the perfect compliment to the wonderful-ness of this salad, which contains delicious bitterness from the mixed greens, grilled spiciness from the steak, warm, salty, crispiness from the hand-cut, skin-on fries, pungent tanginess from the bleu cheese, and sweet toastiness from the pecans. Do you get my point? This salad has so many flavors going on that you might think it would be too much…but it isn’t. It’s a perfect salad. Perfect.

West By God: Grilled steak and French fries over house greens, candied pecans, tomatoes, onions and bleu cheese. We climbed the mountain and brought down this West Virginia classic (we left the crushing poverty though).

Philip took a little bit longer than I did to decide what he was going to order, but not long. He considered the bison burger (which he’s ordered before) and even looked at the Philosopher’s Burger (which is new and not yet on the online menu-ground lamb, seasoned with cinnamon, oregano, shallots, and sea salt, served with feta aioli and candied red onion on a Niedlov’s bun) before settling on a regular beef burger with cheddar cheese and bacon, fully dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard, and mayo, with hand-cut fries. We always order our burgers here medium. Now, the menu doesn’t point out where the beef comes from, and I didn’t think to ask, but so many of their ingredients are locally sourced that I am going to assume that I can trust their beef. Besides, they have a statement in their menu (I wish I’d written it down!) about the doneness of their burgers. They’ll cook it any way you want it. Medium is the way to go….but then, if you know me, you know I’d rather poke my eye out than eat overcooked beef. Some people are grossed out by pink-ness. I am grossed out by brown-ness, black-ness, charred-ness. What’s the point? But I digress. This burger is just amazing. So far, it’s my favorite burger in town (I love FoodWorks’s burger….but The Terminal has them beaten by a smidge). The handmade Niedlov’s kaiser roll is amazing, the meat is perfect (it’s just the right amount of greasy!)….it’s so fresh, the vegetables are always right. I can’t say enough good things about this burger. It’s also gigantic, so if you order it, prepare to be stuffed because if you’re like me, you won’t be able to leave any on your plate (and you know my rule that I always-almost always, anyway-leave something on my plate).

Galactically Famous BrewHouse Beef Burger: All burgers are ½lb and fully dressed with lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard, and mayo on a Niedlov’s Kaiser. Served with fries or Sweet potato fries.

When we were done, Jennifer tried to tempt us with dessert. Specifically, she tried to tempt us with floats made from Clumpie’s ice cream and beer. Now, that doesn’t sound like my thing, but if you are a beer lover, perhaps it’s yours. People tend to have very strong feelings about mixing/not mixing their beer with things. What does sound tempting, though, is the Brewer’s Wife Stout Bundt Cake. Alas, we were stuffed, and dessert was not to be had. Someday.

If you aren’t in the mood for a burger or salad, I’ve heard great things about (but have yet to try) the pizzas. The stuffed sandwiches are great and made a convert of a friend of mine who for some reason did not like the food on his first visit. The It’s Always Sunny In Philly (cheesesteak) is great, and Philip really liked the Dirty Hippy, a mushroomy vegetarian sandwich.

If you haven’t tried The Terminal BrewHouse, I encourage you to give up your notions of “bad bar food” and give it a try. Tell them Chattavore sent you.  The Terminal is located at No.6 14th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37408 (right next door to the Chattanooga Choo Choo).  They can be contacted at 423-752-8090.  Check out their website and their Facebook page.

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