Bakeries & Coffee Shops Archives - Page 2 of 2

Milk and Honey

April 28, 2013

Milk and Honey is a popular spot on Chattanooga’s North Shore serving breakfast, lunch, gelato, sorbet, housemade paletas (popsicles), & a variety of drinks.

Drawing on their backgrounds in the restaurant business, Mike and Taylor Monen started Taco Mamacita (read my reviews here and here) in 2008 and haven’t looked back. It seems that they have built a restaurant empire in Chattanooga, adding Urban Stack Burger Lounge in 2010 (read my review here), Community Pie early this year (read my review here), and Milk & Honey just last month (they also have Taco Mamacita locations in Nashville and Sullivan’s Island, SC). Milk and Honey is the answer to the lack of desserts at the Monen’s restaurants. According to Lauren Evans, Operating Partner, Taylor (who masterminded all the recipes at Milk and Honey) had always dreamed of opening a sweets shop and the need to add desserts to their menus provided the perfect opportunity to start a shop that would operate as its own entity but also provide desserts for their other restaurants: paletas (fresh fruit popsicles) for Taco Mamacita, gelato as the base for Urban Stack’s milkshakes, and gelato for Community Pie.

When I arrived at Milk and Honey at 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon to chat with Lauren, the space was teeming with afterschoolers seeking a treat….I saw a lot of popsicles and cookies (thumbprints and cereal bar cookies) being consumed. The line was out the door but was quickly moved along by cute and friendly girls wearing shirts that said “Let’s Spoon” on the back. The black and white color scheme of the shop permeates every facet, down to the straws (pictured below).

There are a few booths inside the shop plus stools at the counter, but I have a feeling the real draw for diners here is the open seating area by the entrance. A long counter runs along the front wall with seating on either side, so you can sit outside or inside and enjoy the weather on a nice day. A sandwich board proclaims not only the gelato and sorbet flavors for the day but also the “nooner” and other lunch items. The nooner is the lunch special, which is served from 11 a.m. until it runs out and changes weekly. When I visited, the nooner was a NY-style corned beef Reuben.

A chalkboard style menu showcases all of the amazing and unique creations, from coffee drinks, tea, and homemade ginger ale to housemade gelato (which is Italian ice cream, made with milk and denser than American-style ice cream) and sorbet (in rotating flavors that are never the same as what are being offered at Community Pie), the colorful paletas (also in rotating flavors), and breakfast served daily from 6:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. (and sometimes later) Monday-Friday and until 3 p.m. as Saturday and Sunday brunch (they even provide carhop service!). The muffin of the day, the Milk & Honey birthday cake, cookies, granola, handmade caramels, and caramel popcorn in beautiful displays round out the countertop accoutrements. Milk & Honey obtains as many ingredients as possible from local sources like Pure Sodaworks, Benton’s, and Sequatchie Cove, which you know is a Chattavore plus!

I spent a few minutes talking to Lauren about the shop. The opening of the shop has been met with overwhelming enthusiasm from the community. I asked Lauren if there was a time that they weren’t crowded, and she said that indeed, 4-8 p.m. on weeknights provides some relief from the crowds (I imagine that once school is out that window will shrink a little bit). The weekends, however, are busy from 9 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. (and they close at 10!). It has been a bit of a learning experience for these restaurant business veterans, who are used to the traditional busy times (lunch and dinner times). Because people tend to gravitate toward Milk & Honey for dessert, the shop gets busy at later times than a traditional restaurant would.

When I asked Lauren what her favorite items on the menu are, she told me that her favorite drink is the horchata latte: a double-shot of espresso with horchata (a sweetened rice milk flavored with cinnamon). Her favorite dessert item is the stracciatella gelato, which is made with the signature milk & honey flavored gelato layered with housemade magic shell that eventually gets crunched up to make a unique chocolate chip gelato. Her favorite breakfast item? The mega biscuit, which features red pepper spread, eggs, sausage, white cheddar, onion, shallots, and spinach. Her favorite lunch item is the turkey & brie pita with raspberry preserves. The biggest sellers overall have been the gelatos and the coffee drinks.

While I was intrigued by Lauren’s favorite horchata latte and have heard that the coconut milk latte is to die for, the lavender & honey latte grabbed my attention, since I am obsessed with all things lavender flavored (as evidenced here, here, and here). For $4.53 I got a small latte ($3.75) and a thumbprint cookie ($0.40). While the coffee tasted great, I was a little sad that I didn’t really taste the lavender, which is infused into the honey….however, I have been inspired to try to make a super-lavender flavored coffee creamer (with half and half, of course) at home (maybe I’ll share that with you all later!) and next time I’m definitely trying the coconut latte. Or the horchata latte. We shall see. The cookie was delicious, with a crumby (not soft) texture and a lovely almond flavor. My friend who met me after I talked with Lauren decided on the burnt sugar gelato and a thumbprint cookie. I didn’t taste her gelato but she said that it was indeed pretty tasty. I can’t wait to return to try breakfast…and lunch…and every flavor of gelato, sorbet, and paleta under the sun (except maybe the ones that have habanero in them…)!

Even if you don’t have the chance to make it by Milk and Honey for a while, you can find them all over the community. As I said before, you can find their wares at Taco Mamacita, Urban Stack, and Community Pie….but you can also find the “Ollie Pop” at Elemental, a new restaurant located by Whole Foods Market. The Ollie Pop is a brown-cow style popsicle featuring vanilla gelato (though they have used other flavors, like banana) dipped in chocolate. You will also be able to find their products in a case at Enzo’s Market on Main Street, which will be opening on May 10. They’ll be selling paletas, gelato, and coffee at the Chattanooga Market on Sundays.

Milk and Honey is located at 135 North Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (next to Taco Mamacita). You can call them at 423-521-3123. You can also check out their website, http://milkandhoneychattanooga.com, or you can find them on Facebook.

Pasha Coffee & Tea

October 28, 2012

A couple of years ago Philip played a Monday night free show at a coffee house in St. Elmo we’d never heard of. It was pretty new and very tiny, tucked into the corner of a building that also contained a flower shop and a restaurant. The name of it was Pasha Coffee & Tea. We bought a bag of their organic, fair-trade whole coffee beans. It was a good thing.

Pasha has been on “the list” for a while but because of its location we hadn’t made it down there yet. Last month there was a Living Social deal for $30 worth of food and drink from Pasha for $15 so I pounced on it. I started thinking about it this week and decided that we needed to skip our normal Saturday morning breakfast at home tradition and head down to Pasha for one of their breakfast sandwiches. We didn’t make it down there until almost noon, so we considered ordering off the non-breakfast menu, but ultimately decided to go with our first instinct (breakfast is served daily).

We decided on the hummus, pita chips, and stuffed grape leaves plate as an “appetizer” (you can also order them as separate items). I’d tasted stuffed grape leaves at a diner several years back-0ne bite-and wasn’t too sure. Philip had them at the home of a friend who’s mother was of Middle-Eastern descent, and he liked them. I am not going to lie….these were different. The flavor was good, the texture was weird. Acquired taste, maybe? I have no idea what was stuffed in them. Hmmm. The hummus was good, nice and creamy, flavored with cumin, which is unique but not unheard of. The pita chips were packaged, not that I’m complaining. I like packaged pita chips. I’d order the hummus and pita chips again, but probably not the grape leaves. Maybe I’ll have to make them at home some time?

I decided to order the eggaprese sandwich-two eggs, pesto, spinach, mozzarella, and tomatoes on a toasted everything bagel. The combination on a breakfast sandwich was definitely intriguing. The ingredients were nice and fresh and the sandwich came out quickly. I liked the flavor of the pesto. I was not terribly impressed by the eggs, though…first of all, I think the sandwich would have been fine with just one egg. Second of all, I am pretty sure the eggs were cooked in the microwave. I am so picky about eggs, that just didn’t do it for me. I wish I’d just ordered the caprese sandwich. Nice concept, though, and I’d like to try to recreate it at home. I ordered a small frosted mint latte and it was delicious…not too sweet, not too milky, not too minty. Just right. Mmmm.

Philip decided on the Janissary-two eggs, feta cheese, turkey, pesto, and cholula (spicy mayo) on a toasted everything bagel. He felt pretty much the same way that I did about the eggs-meh-but really liked everything else about the sandwich. I tasted it. The cholula really did add a pretty strong hit of spiciness to the sandwich. One bite wasn’t too much but I’m betting a whole sandwich would light my mouth on fire! He ordered a mocha, which he felt was very chocolatey….but then, it is a mocha, right?

We also bought a bag of Peruvian coffee beans. The cashier told us that Pasha gets their beans from Bongo Java in Nashville. There were brownies and muffins on the counter as well…they looked delicious but we decided against a dessert item. Our total was around $40, which included the appetizer, two breakfast sandwiches, a small and a large coffee drink, and a bag of coffee beans (and, of course, most of that was covered by our Living Social deal).

Pasha has an interesting selection of sandwiches-curried chicken salad, the Elena Ruiz (turkey, cream cheese, and strawberry preserves), and a spicy BLT, to name a few-and I’m definitely going to have to go back for a sandwich. They’ve really put some thought into their menu. I love their coffee and I love their commitment to the community and to organics and fair-trade items. I don’t love their microwaved eggs. Can’t win them all. All in all, though, I really like this place. You should try it out.

Pasha Coffee and Tea is located at 3914 St. Elmo Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37409. You can call them at 423-475-5482. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Serendipity Cafe-May 7, 2012 (CLOSED)

May 8, 2012

***Note: Serendipity Café closed in September 2012 due to the owner’s decision to retire.***

Philip was working out of town this past Friday and Saturday, and Sunday he was tired and in no mood for crowds or anything too energy-consuming, so we didn’t get around to a restaurant review. Instead, we decided to head out to dinner tonight. We started out going to the Rice Boxx in the Lupton Drive area, but got there and realized that they are not open on Monday! So…we headed over toward Red Bank to Serendipity Cafe. Actually, I have thought about Serendipity Cafe on several occasions, but since we generally do our review visits on the weekend-and they are closed on the weekend-it hasn’t worked out to this point. Perfect timing!

Serendipity Cafe is located in the former Captain D’s building on Dayton Boulevard (near Red Bank Middle School). Honestly, this area seems to be an area of town where local businesses go to die…it seems that every restaurant that goes opens in the former Shoney’s building next door quickly closes. Serendipity Cafe has been open in this location for several years (after existing as Serendipity Delights in a smaller space for some time before), so clearly they are doing something right!

Serendipity Cafe has a drive-thru for call-ahead orders. For ordering in, you walk up to the counter to order. There is a case showing available desserts and some of the menu offerings as well as dry erase boards to the right telling the daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner specials and soups of the day. There are daily soup specials and daily dinner specials. The dinner special was spaghetti and the soup was broccoli-cheese. I quickly noticed that the Wednesday soup special is spicy taco…I’ll have to go on a Wednesday! There was a little case by the register with a couple of different types of jumbo cupcakes-red velvet was one, but I don’t remember the other. There was also something called “almond pillow cookies”. Serendipity Cafe has several types of salads (chicken, tuna, broccoli salad, Waldorf, etc.) which are available as sides or as a “scoop plate” that allows you to sample several different types of salads.

Since I am a pimento cheese fanatic, I had to give theirs a try. I decided on a half pimento cheese sandwich on regular wheat bread (their options were white, honey wheat, whole wheat, sourdough, and rye. Normally I would choose sourdough, but pimento cheese goes best with soft breads.), a small broccoli cheese soup, and a corn muffin (crackers were the other option besides cornbread). The soup was very thick and not super-cheesy….it was really more like a cream of broccoli to me-not that that’s a bad thing. It was very tasty, seasoned just right with small bits of broccoli throughout. The sandwich was not overly stuffed with pimento cheese so that the lettuce and tomato would slide all over the place, and you could see the individual shreds of cheese, so it was clearly made in-house. It had a distinctly sweet flavor and tiny green flecks in it, which I am pretty sure was relish. Overall, I liked it. I was afraid that the corn muffin would be sweet, because when I think of corn muffin, I think of Jiffy. It was not, however, and I was relieved. I was raised on non-sweet cornbread and that’s how I like it. This cornbread was yummy and very similar to what my mom makes-score! They also scored big points with me by serving real butter, not “buttery spread” with the corn muffin (and having it on the table…along with half and half instead of nondairy creamer). You know how I feel about buttery spread! There were also chips….Ruffles. Not much to say about Ruffles!

Philip decided on the quiche Lorraine, which the lady described to him as quiche with bacon, cheese, and onions, along with a side of Waldorf salad. The quiche was also served with (undressed) mixed greens and a pack of Club crackers. He commented that there wasn’t a lot of bacon in the quiche (I load mine up, believe that!) but that it tasted very good. The cheese on top looked like cheddar. I took a bite and loved that there was a lot of cheese. The quiche was “done” perfectly…not soggy or watery, as is so easy to do to quiche, and seasoned just right. The crust was flaky and perfectly browned. The Waldorf salad was interesting, unlike any version I’ve ever had or heard of. It had apples, celery, raisins instead of grapes, mini-marshmallows, and some sort of whipped creamy concoction (Cool Whip, I assume). This made it more “dessert-y” than traditional Waldorf salad, which has apples, celery, grapes, and mayo, but it was very good.

While we were ordering, I was eyeing the gigantic red velvet cupcakes next to the register, but Philip was ogling the bread pudding with Irish creme sauce in the case. Since I had a Federal Bake Shop cupcake at work that day (hooray!) I let him choose the dessert without any input from me (I do like bread pudding, though). Here’s a little factoid I’ll never forget….on our first date, we went to Rembrandt’s coffee shop and he ordered a latte with Irish creme flavoring. Mmmm, Irish creme. As I’ve said before, I don’t really drink alcohol (I don’t like the taste) but I do love using liqeurs for flavoring, such as a tablespoon or two of Bailey’s in my hot chocolate. They really nailed the flavor of Bailey’s; I’m assuming it was an Irish creme flavored extract but perhaps it was actual Irish creme..who knows? The bready part was very moist and Philip compared it to a sweet dumpling. It was indeed very sweet, and we each ate one of the three scoops and we were done (but would definitely order it again!).

On the table, they have a list of their daily specials. We’ll definitely have to visit on a Tuesday or Wednesday (which is also spicy taco soup day, remember?). There is also a list of desserts, which are not all available every day.

If you are in the Red Bank area during the week and looking for a tasty and homecooked meal, check out Serendipity Cafe. The food was delicious, the service very friendly, and they make no bones about the fact that quality is more important than speed. Serendipity Cafe is located at 3510 Dayton Boulevard, Chattanooga (Red Bank), TN 37415. You can call them at 423-875-3477. You can check out their website, http://www.serendipitydelights.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

Julie Darling Donuts-April 14, 2012

April 17, 2012

Boy, Saturday was a big day for us! After we finished our great lunch at Niko’s, we headed over to the North Shore to get some donuts from Julie Darling. I’m not sure why we hadn’t been yet…I saw an article about them when they opened in 2010 and immediately wanted to go. So….we finally made it.

We went on Saturday afternoon (around three p.m.) and they did not have the red velvet donut, which, according to the brochure we picked up, is their “signature”. I wanted to cry….I’m pretty much obsessed with all things red velvet (strange, I know, for someone who tries to avoid food dyes…but it’s not something I eat on a regular basis) and I knew when I read about it in the aforementioned article that I would be ordering that. So….I was completely thrown off by the fact that it wasn’t available. It took me a few minutes to make a decision…they had glazed (yeast-raised) doughnuts, cake donuts (iced/uniced), and a variety of filled donuts. We each chose two and brought them home (we were far too stuffed to eat them there).

After I dried my tears and pulled myself together, I decided to get a lemon-filled donut and a ‘nana pudding donut. Truth be told, I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for a really good filled donut (cake donuts are my favorite-not a huge fan of glazed). The lemon was lightly glazed and the ‘nana pudding had a little glaze and some powdered sugar icing with crushed vanilla wafers on top. I was concerned that the vanilla wafers would get soggy but needn’t have been concerned-I saved half of each donut until Sunday and the wafers were fine. Anyway, the ‘nana pudding was far and away my favorite from these two. There was no actually banana in the donut, but rather a creamy banana-flavored filled, like pudding or the filling from a cream pie. It was smooth and banana-y but not overly so. Not that the lemon wasn’t good….I just didn’t find it to be head and shoulders above other lemon-filled donuts I’ve had in my lifetime. The lemon flavor of the technicolor filling was very strong and bright….I think I would have liked it better if it had been a little milder, like a homemade lemon curd. Still, the doughnut was extremely fresh and no doubt had better ingredients than what you might find in your standard chain doughnut shop….

Unlike me, Philip is a fool for a glazed donut, and a day-old Krispy Kreme is pretty much his idea of heaven on earth…so, of course, he decided on a plain glazed donut. For his other donut he chose (surprise!) the pancakes and bacon donut, which is a yeast-raised donut with maple glaze and bacon topping. Philip liked both of his donuts, but did say that the bacon on the pancakes and bacon donut seemed a little “dry”…I’m wondering if it was from sitting in the case (according to a post I read on another blog, the bacon is cooked in the shop). There certainly was a lot of it….I’d like to know just how they crush it so finely! He preferred the glazed donut, because, like I said, he’s just a glazed donut kinda guy. He did say that he didn’t like it as much as Krispy Kreme. I would probably disagree with him if I were to compare the two, but he really, really loves Krispy Kreme. I don’t understand, but I guess it’s a nostalgia thing (also, he is not a “hot and fresh” Krispy Kreme guy….he likes them a day old and a little crusty. Weirdo.).

I haven’t been enamored with the national donut chain (that shall remain unnamed) that has recently reemerged in the Chattanooga area. It’s not that I have a problem with them or their donuts…I mean, I’ll eat them if they’re offered (and it’s a flavor I like)….but I guess it just annoys me that everyone makes such a big flipping deal about a huge chain that’s good but not stellar, when we have local gems like this we could support (I feel the same way about a very large coffee chain….sorry to offend anyone!). If we spend a little time rooting out local options, we might (ahem, probably would) realize that those options are the best options in every way. So, get some donuts from Julie Darling!

Julie Darling Donuts is located at 121 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-591-3737. They do not have a website, but you can “like” them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

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