Restaurants Archives - Page 5 of 49

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers

April 13, 2017

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is a popular hotspot for (what else) pizza and burgers (and chicken sandwiches and hot dogs!) in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia!

Update (keep scrolling past the fried pickles for my original post!): Turns out Mike’s is a pretty good place for chicken sandwiches and hot dogs, too. Who knew? All of the burgers at Mike’s Pizza and Burgers (as well as Mike’s Hole in the Wall) are also available with grilled or fried chicken. I tried the Faith (with American cheese, honey mustard, and Mike’s wing sauce) as a fried chicken sandwich on a whim a while back and it turns out that I loved the chicken sandwich version even better than the burger. The chicken is super crispy and just a little bit spicy…it’s perfectly cooked and all of those toppings just go perfectly with chicken. I always get the wing sauce on the side for dipping. This is definitely one of the best chicken sandwiches that I have had at a local restaurant!

On our most recent visit, Philip got the Gluttony Dog, which is a jumbo hot dog wrapped in bacon and topped with chili and cheese. It was gigantic, guys! He couldn’t finish it, it was so big. The toppings all worked so well, though Philip (who recently stopped taking his daily Prilosec) was a little concerned about heartburn. I don’t think it turned out to be a big deal, though.

We also got some fried pickles. You all know that I love fried pickles, and I think that somehow I missed the fried pickles on Mike’s menu??? They are chips, not spears, which I prefer because I always burn the dickens out of the roof of my mouth with fried pickle spears. Mike’s fried pickles are coated in a crunchy coating that, like their chicken coating, is a little bit spicy, but also very salty – maybe a little bit too much so. The fried pickles are served with ranch dressing for dipping.

Original Post:

You know what I love? When I have a restaurant on my “short list” and an email shows up in my inbox offering a Groupon or Living Social deal for said restaurant. That happened this past week with Mike’s Pizza and Burgers. People had mentioned after I published my burger list that I needed to check out Mike’s, which is on Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe, and the stars aligned. It’s Fall break, we needed to go to Costco anyway, and GROUPON!

Now, let me say up front that Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is not eligible for the burger list because it is not in Hamilton County. I have to have a way to keep it as simple as possible, y’all. It’s okay, though, because as I was checking out their menu on the website I noticed that some of the burgers sounded awfully familiar. I checked out the menu for Mike’s Hole in the Wall (#8 on the list) and it turns out that the logo is the same too. Same Mike! And to top it off, our server told us that Mike recently opened Mike’s Smokehouse on Broad Street in the former Sweeney’s location. I’ve noticed it while driving by a couple of times recently…I’ll be sure to give it a try soon, and I’m hoping that Mike can make that location a success!

Anyway, back to pizza and burgers. We were a little concerned going in at 12:30ish that it was going to be crowded, especially given the fact that the Groupon deal had just come out. It wasn’t crowded, though there were quite a few tables occupied. There’s a sign to seat yourself; Haley, our server, quickly brought us our menus. We ordered waters (they serve beer, but Philip wasn’t terribly interested in any of the craft beers that they had on draught and we have like 50 beers in our basement that need to be consumed) and cheese bread-thin breadsticks with mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan, served with marinara sauce (the Italian egg rolls, hand-rolled with pepperoni, salami, ham, mozzarella, & provolone served with marinara sauce, sounded delicious but also very filling so we decided to pass those up). The cheese bread was very cheesy, thin, both chewy and crispy. Quite tasty.

I couldn’t decide between pizza and a burger (all burgers, by the way, can be served with grilled or fried chicken instead of a beef patty if desired), so we decided to try both. That’s the beauty of a Groupon! They offer a lunch special, either one slice and a salad or two slices and a drink (priced depending on which pizza you order) but we decided to get a whole 12-inch pizza and take home the leftovers for lunch the next day. You can build your own or order one of Mike’s creations. We were interested in the bacon cheeseburger pizza (crumbled bacon, ground beef, sliced tomatoes, red onion, cheddar cheese, mozzarella, topped with yellow mustard), the chicken bacon ranch pizza (chicken, crumbled bacon, mozzarella, marinara, topped with ranch dressing-I’m somewhat obsessed with this combination right now), or the Boss Hog (hand-pulled smoked butt-from the Smokehouse, ground sausage, Canadian bacon, ham, mozzarella, marinara, and Mike’s wing sauce). With all that pork, Philip couldn’t pass up the Boss Hog. It was a good choice, guys. It was totally packed with meat and incredibly cheesy. The smoked butt was deliciously tender and smoky, the sausage well cooked and not overpowering, and the sauce was spicy but not overdone. The crust was very thin with a crispy yet chewy edge. We each had a slice then boxed it up and moved on to the burger.

We decided to split a classic cheeseburger (with cheddar-you can choose your cheese from American, cheddar, Swiss, blue cheese, or pepper Jack), just to see how it compared to the burger at Mike’s Hole in the Wall (though I was tempted to try the Faith, with lettuce & tomato, bacon, american cheese, honey mustard & mike’s wing sauce). The burger was über-thick and cooked well with a great flavor to the meat, and the cheese was melted nicely on top. The condiments were not too heavy, but you guys know how I feel about lettuce and tomato on a burger (I lost the onions on my half, of course) and I ended up taking those off when my burger half started falling apart. Everything was served on a Niedlov’s bun, which Haley told us Mike brings in fresh daily. Burger rating: bread, 5; cheese: 5; meat: 4; toppings: 3.5; size: 4; structural integrity: 3; overall rating: 4.08. The fries, just like those at Mike’s Hole in the Wall, were excellent: hand-cut, double-fried, a little bit of skin on, skinny, lightly seasoned…basically perfect. I had to make Philip move the plate so I’d stop eating them.

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is a nice space, fairly spacious and nicely decorated, at the end of a strip mall. There are some arcade games to keep the kids entertained. The menu is small and well executed. The prices are competitive with similar establishments; for our cheese bread, 12-inch Boss Hog pizza, and burger with fries (which are $1.99 extra) the pre-tip total for our meal was $30.24….just 24 cents over the total for our Groupon. Woohoo! Haley was a friendly and attentive server as well. We really enjoyed our lunch at Mike’s Pizza and Burgers and will try to go back when we are in the area!

Mike’s Pizza and Burgers is located at 2535 Battlefield Parkway, Fort Oglethorpe, GA 30742. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at 706-406-2336. Check out Mike’s website, www.mikespizzaandburgers.com and like Mike’s Pizza and Burgers on Facebook.

Carrabelle’s Casual Cafe – Dayton, Tennessee

March 29, 2017

Carrabelle’s Casual Café is a casual dining restaurant located in Dayton, Tennessee, that serves low country and Southern-style food.

Have you tried any new restaurants off the beaten path lately? I don’t know if Dayton is really off the beaten path, but it’s definitely a little bit out of the way, at least the way we usually go. It’s nice to see new restaurants popping up in that area. Carrabelle’s opened up several months back, in the fall of 2016. I like to wait until restaurants have been open for a few months before I check them out, so a few few weeks ago we finally ventured north to check it out.

The full name for Carrabelle’s is Carrabelle’s Casual Café. Their website describes their cuisine as “low country Southern”. We arrived at about 4 p.m. to a fairly empty restaurant – several tables were occupied but there was no wait and our food came quickly. The building is new and the decor was pretty standard for a casual dining style restaurant.

While we checked out the menu, our server, Morgan, took our drink orders and brought our waters and Philip’s beer, from a Tennessee brewery that we had not heard of before (this doesn’t happen often – remember, he works in a bottle shop). We decided to order some fried green tomatoes ($6.99), battered and rolled in bacon and fried, served on top of grits with pimento cheese on top and a cup of Cajun mayonnaise. There was a lot going on there, but everything was very good. The grits were different from any grits I’ve ever had – they were dry, but somehow that wasn’t a bad thing. The tomatoes were crunchy and well-seasoned and the pimento cheese was melty. I liked the Cajun mayo a lot.

I was in the mood for chicken and biscuits, so it really didn’t take me any thought to choose my entree. I ordered the chicken and biscuits with a side of Cajun mashed potatoes ($10.99) but there is a “biscuit” section of the menu so I am not sure if this got rang up as “chicken and biscuits” or “chicken biscuits plus a side” because the chicken & biscuits were listed on my receipt separate from the side and the total cost was $10.49. Long story short, I don’t know if the entree version is served this way (chicken on the biscuits) or not, but that’s how I was planning to eat it so I was okay with it. The chicken was crispy and seemed freshly breaded, and the cheddar biscuits were tender and tasty. The gravy made a great dipping sauce. I liked the mashed potatoes, which were just a little bit spicy, but I will try a different side next time I go back.

Philip decided to go for the shrimp and grits ($14.99). These were not prepared in the style that he likes the best (grits cake and creamy sauce) but he said that they were very good. The grits were the same cheesy grits that were served with the fried green tomatoes. There was a reasonable amount of shrimp, bacon, and sausage, and it was served with a cheddar biscuit.

There were quite a few specials, most of them seafood dishes (most of the seafood dishes were listed on the specials menu). The menu was pretty standard for a southern style restaurant – fried chicken, shrimp & grits, chicken & waffles, several sandwiches and pasta dishes, etc. The prices were on par with other restaurants of similar quality. Our total for fried green tomatoes, chicken & biscuits plus a side, shrimp & grits, and one beer was $41.62 pre-tip). Our server, Morgan, was very friendly and attentive. The atmosphere was low-key and great for an early evening dinner date.

If you’re looking for a nice dinner in the Dayton, Tennessee area, check out Carrabelle’s Casual Café!

Carrabelle’s Casual Café is located at 4370 Rhea County Highway, Dayton, Tennessee, 37321. They are open Sunday – Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can call them at 423-428-9441. For more information, you can check out their website or like Carrabelle’s on Facebook.

Thai Esan

March 17, 2017

Thai Esan is a small and unassuming (and easy to miss) Thai restaurant located in a strip mall on Ringgold Road in East Ridge, Tennessee.

I still have plenty of places that I need to try, but after almost 6 (SIX!!!!!) years of writing about Chattanooga restaurants there are times that I feel like I’ve been everywhere and pretty soon I’m going to run out of new places to try. Totally irrational, I know, but the truth is that I can’t be everywhere and there are always new places opening that I don’t know about (not to mention long-standing secrets that I need to be told about).

I posted on my Facebook page recently asking for my readers to tell me some new places that I needed to try. Multiple Thai spots were mentioned, which caused me and Philip to develop a craving for some noodles. It is not difficult to make us crave Thai food (by the way, will someone please open a Thai restaurant in Hixson? Please and thank you.). One of the places that was mentioned was Thai Esan, which is located on Ringgold Road near the Food Lion complex (in the strip mall where Cakemakers, Etc. is located).

Thai Esan is located in the former home of Mom’s Thai Kitchen, another spot that I was told by multiple people that I needed to try and never got around to before they closed up shop. I have no idea if there is any common thread (other than Thai food, obvi) between Mom’s and Thai Esan, but I did not want to make the same mistake twice.

We headed out to Thai Esan around 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon. There was only one other couple in the restaurant dining and several to-go orders were picked up while we were there. It’s a pretty bare-bones place…not a lot of decor, and the booths need to be reupholstered or at least patched. It was clean, though, so it was all good.

A server quickly greeted us, brought us menus, and took our drink orders. We both decided to get a Thai tea because it is just so good, and we also got an order of spring rolls (4 spring rolls per order). The spring rolls were hot and fresh and the dipping sauce sweet and just a little spicy. The Thai tea did not disappoint, with the sweet black tea spice that you expect from Thai tea and a generous splash of half-and-half.

Chattavore followers, you know that I love my pad Thai. I just can’t order anything else when I visit a Thai restaurant. I know that I should, but I like to use the excuse that if I always order pad Thai that I can be consistent with giving a review. So….I went with the pad Thai with chicken. I was not disappointed. It was a generous portion – I only ate about a third, then had more for dinner the following Monday, and Philip had the rest for lunch one day. This is a lot of food. The noodles were sweet and a little bit spicier than most pad Thai that I’ve had (though I ordered it without spice). The chicken was very thinly sliced and cooked well, but I would have liked to have had a little bit more chicken just for a balance of protein and carbs.

Like me, Philip has his usual these days, ever since discovering pad see ew at Thai Chili. Unlike me, he is a little bit braver with the spice and went for “medium”. He ordered tofu as his protein, as his visits to Hong Kong Chinese restaurant have helped him discover a love for tofu. Everything was well cooked (the tofu was a gorgeous golden brown and it did have a great flavor from the sauce). He did end up regretting the medium spice, though. Apparently Thai cooks have a little bit of a different definition of “medium” than he does, and he ended up spending much of the meal picking out little pieces of fresh red chili from the dish in order to avoid breathing fire. He did say that aside from the heat, the food was delicious.

Thai Esan is relatively quick and very casual. The food is very tasty, but be careful with the spice levels unless you know that you can handle it. The prices are pretty much on par with other Thai restaurants in the area and the portions are huge so you are likely going to get more than one meal from it.

If you’re looking for some tasty Thai food in East Ridge, give Thai Esan a try!

Thai Esan is located at 4330 Ringgold Road, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37412. They are open Monday – Friday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday – Sunday, 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at (423) 668-8924. They do not have a website, but you can like Thai Esan on Facebook.

Typhoon of Tokyo

March 8, 2017

Typhoon of Tokyo is a popular quick-service Hibachi restaurant that’s been around in Red Bank, Tennessee for years. They’re known for their white sauce!

When Philip and I were first dating, he lived in an apartment off of Mountain Creek Road in Red Bank. When I revealed to him that I had never seen the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, he was pretty much beside himself and insisted that we plan a date night in which we would get dinner from Typhoon of Tokyo, a restaurant of which I had never heard, and watch the movie, which, of course, he owned. Naturally, I loved both immediately! Once we got married, we actually lived in that same apartment complex for the first year. I miss three things about apartment living: 1) no yardwork; 2) weekly trash pick-up that consisted of putting the trash outside the door of the apartment; 3) close proximity to Typhoon of Tokyo.

Sadly, for many years we rarely got to go there because they were a cash-only establishment, but a few years back they rocketed into the 20th century (not the 21st century, because everyone else was taking cards in the nineties) and were finally accepting credit and debit cards. Now we can go there whenever we want! Of course, now we have lots of other places to go, so we don’t get to go there super-often, but Typhoon of Tokyo is one of those places that I get a craving for on a pretty regular basis. I wrote about it very early in my blogging days (July 2011, to be exact) so I thought I’d update with some nicer pictures.

Typhoon closes briefly after the lunch rush, at 2:30 each afternoon, and reopens for dinner at 4 p.m. We went for a very early dinner at about 4:15 on a Saturday. It was early enough that there were not a lot of people, but it definitely wasn’t dead. Several tables were occupied and several people came in to pick up take-out orders while we were there.

When you walk in to Typhoon, there is a seating area the size of your average fast-food restaurant (the building used to be a Bojangle’s) and you walk up to the counter to order. Once you have paid, the server (usually there is only one server, and somehow they manage to keep up with it all!) brings you your drink, a bowl of very simple chicken broth based soup, and a small bowl (or two if it’s dinner time) of white sauce for dipping your food. Their sauce is the best I’ve ever had, though mine is a pretty close second. We also ordered some spring rolls. The soup is maybe a little bit too salty but still delicious. The spring rolls were okay, but not the best I’ve had. They were a little more doughy on the inside than we prefer.

For many years Philip and I both went with the small chicken dinner but on this visit I decided to order the teriyaki chicken, which only comes in one size. It’s a huge portion of fried rice served alongside chunks of dark meat chicken, zucchini, onions, and a little bit of broccoli. They used to serve mushrooms in their vegetable mix but there were none today, so I don’t know if they have stopped serving mushrooms or if perhaps they were just out. The fried rice here is always good and the white sauce makes it even better! I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the regular chicken dinner and the teriyaki chicken. It’s lightly sauced with a slightly sweet soy sauce based glaze, and it’s delicious.

Philip has moved from the chicken dinner to the chicken and steak combo dinner, but on this visit he decided to get just the steak. The steak dinner is basically the same as the chicken dinner – steak and vegetables served alongside fried rice. The steak was very tender and lightly sauced just like my chicken was.

The teriyaki chicken dinner, the steak dinner, and two spring rolls (and two waters) was $15.59 pre-tip. The menu items all fall into this price range (I think the actual price on the small chicken dinner is $6.25) with the larger meals costing a dollar or two more. It’s tasty, quick, and consistent-the chicken dinner is exactly the same now as it was in 1999 when I first started eating there.

Typhoon of Tokyo is a great quick dinner and also a great take-out option. I highly recommend it!

Typhoon of Tokyo is located at 3953 Dayton Blvd., Red Bank (Chattanooga), TN 37415. Their phone number is 423-875-6142. They are open Monday through Friday, 11-2:30 and 4-9 and Saturday from 4-9. You can like Typhoon of Tokyo on Facebook.

Greg’s Sandwich Works

February 27, 2017

Greg’s Sandwich Works is a great restaurant in the Brainerd/East Brainerd area serving sandwiches, hot dogs, salads, baked potatoes, and more!

Sometimes finding a place to go on Saturday afternoons gets taxing. Philip usually doesn’t get home from work until around 3:30 and I never knew how many things close at 4 p.m. on Saturdays! I’m sure I have complained about this before. Have I complained about this before? He loves his job and for that I am happy, but I miss the old days when he didn’t work on Saturdays and we could go wherever, whenever we wanted.

Anyway…last weekend I really wanted to go to Greg’s Sandwich Works, which is located in the location formerly known as GollyWhoppers. I was honestly shocked when GollyWhoppers closed…it seemed like a pretty popular place and it had been around for a long time. Not too long after, though, the former manager (Greg, in case you were wondering?) decided to open his own sandwich shop there.

It wasn’t in the cards for us to go Saturday, because (you guessed it) they close at 4 every day (except Sundays, when they are closed). It’s definitely more of a lunch-type place, so I get it. Luckily for us, it was a long weekend, so we decided to wait until Monday to head over there. We had a late lunch, around 1:30. There were several tables occupied but it wasn’t super-crowded, which I attributed to the fact that (a) it was past “lunch hour”; and (b) it was a holiday.

The menu here is very similar to the menu from GollyWhoppers – Greg clearly knows that there is no point in messing with what has proven to work. A popular item on the GollyWhoppers menu was the taco salad, and Greg has recreated it as the “Fiesta Salad”. Shredded lettuce gets topped with seasoned ground beef, salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream, red onions, pickled jalapeños, and black olives, served with a side of tortilla chips ($6.99). If you like, you can ask them to crush the chips up for you so that you can scoop the chips up with your fork. I, however, like to use my chips to scoop up my salad. I asked for my salad without jalapeños, and if I had not skipped right over the mention of onions I would have nixed those too, but that’s okay – they were chopped pretty large so they were easy to pick out. The salad was very tasty, with a great taco flavor to the meat and a nice contrast between the warm meat and the cold salads and toppings.

Philip decided to go with the Italian sandwich – ham, salami, provolone cheese, tomato, onion, Italian dressing, salt, pepper, oregano, and Parmesan cheese ($6.49). The sandwich is served warm on your choice of bread. Philip is a sucker for a good Italian sandwich (surprisingly, one of his favorites is at – are you sitting down? Chuck E. Cheese’s. He grew to love them when we worked there, and we still go there from time to time so he can order them even though we know that the kitchen staff hates making sandwiches. Sorry, guys.) and this was a great Italian sandwich. The flavors just work together so well, and the bread was just fantastic. I loved that it was served warm so the cheese got a little melty and the flavors a little more pronounced (cold dulls flavors a little bit).

While we were eating, Greg made the rounds bussing tables and talking to customers. He stopped to talk to me about the whole chips versus crushed chips approach on the taco salad. He obviously enjoys interacting with the customers and he and his staff are doing a great job serving delicious sandwiches, salads, etc. My only disappointment was that they did not have the selection of cookies and bars that GollyWhoppers had (Greg’s does have cookies and bars, just not as many varieties as GollyWhoppers always had available to tempt me).

If you’re looking for a great lunch spot in East Brainerd, you have to give Greg’s Sandwich Works a try!

Greg’s Sandwich Works is located at 6336 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN 37411. They are open Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can call Greg’s Sandwich Works at (423) 551-8634. For more information, you can check out Greg’s Sandwich Works’ website and menu as well as their Facebook page.

« Previous Page