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The Big Chill and Grill (North Shore)

August 12, 2014

The Big Chill and Grill is a popular bar on Chattanooga’s North Shore that offers great food in an atmosphere that is family-friendly during the day.

The Big Chill & Grill has been around in Chattanooga for quite a few years, recently moving from Market Street (next door to Taco Mac) to the North Shore at the corner of Cherokee and Manufacturers. In the process of the move, The Big Chill became a non-smoking establishment (though they do have a terrace for smokers), making it a more diner-friendly environment. During daytime hours, The Big Chill is no longer a 21 and over establishment.

The Big Chill and Grill is a seat-yourself environment with lots of seating options: low tables in an open-air indoor seating area in the front, high-top tables or the bar, or low tables in the the back as well as the terrace where smoking is allowed. We were there around 5:30 on Sunday afternoon so it was not terribly crowded. We took a seat and our server was with us quickly, bringing menus and water.

The Big Chill and Grill is known for their strong drinks. Frozen drink mixers are constantly running behind the bar and they have a huge list of “concoctions”-frozen specialty drinks. I’ve had one of these drinks exactly one time and that was the time that I discovered exactly what my limit was (don’t have one of those drinks on an empty stomach-you’ve been warned!)….so I stuck with water. They also have an extensive selection of draught and bottled beers.

We decided to have the fried green tomatoes appetizer. It came with honey dijon mustard and a slightly sweet-spicy Asian chili sauce for dipping. The cornmeal coating was light and the tomatoes were cooked well. They could have been drained a little better-they were slightly greasy-but they were well-seasoned and tasty. Other appetizers included the standard mozzarella sticks and fried mushrooms, chips and salsa, chips and queso, and nachos (which I had on the night of the aforementioned drink when I realized that I was making a huge mistake drinking that strong drink on an empty stomach. They were quite good.).
The Big Chill and Grill is a popular bar on Chattanooga's North Shore that offers great food in an atmosphere that is family-friendly during the day. | restaurant review from Chattavore.com
The meal selections included salads, sandwiches, burgers, and entrees (they also have brunch from 11-3 on Saturday and Sunday and serve a lunch menu from 11-3 Monday through Friday). Tina, our server, recommended the chicken salad melter, which she described as “kind of like a grilled cheese sandwich with chicken salad”. Pretty good description. The melter is chicken salad, made with hard-boiled eggs and pickle relish, and cheddar, grilled on sourdough bread. I decided to take her recommendation and ordered the melter with house-made chips. I liked the sandwich a lot and remembered that Philip had eaten it once before, which was actually when I discovered that I like chicken salad made with eggs and relish (why haven’t I made that for you guys yet?). It was not greasy and it was a very large sandwich (I wasn’t able to finish it). The chips were not quite as crispy as I would have liked but still tasted pretty good. They were dusted with seasoned salt and were a little tiny bit sweet-I could swear that they were also dusted with a little sugar. By the way, fries and fried okra were also offered with sandwiches (and I’m sure that, perhaps with a bit of an upcharge, you could sub in one of the other sides like the homestyle green beans, which I’ve heard are amazing).
The Big Chill and Grill is a popular bar on Chattanooga's North Shore that offers great food in an atmosphere that is family-friendly during the day. | restaurant review from Chattavore.com
Philip decided on the chicken fried chicken, which is two large pieces of boneless fried chicken topped with white peppered gravy, skin-on mashed potatoes, fried okra, two deviled eggs, and a Sister Schubert’s roll (really! It’s on the menu!). He thought that the chicken was really juicy and flavorful, though he was pretty sure that the gravy was from a mix. The mashed potatoes are made from scratch and were well seasoned and had a great texture. I didn’t try the deviled eggs, but they had pickle relish in them and were sprinkled with paprika (I just like the fact that they include them on their menu….deviled eggs are quite an unusual menu item!). I am fairly certain that the okra was from frozen, though it still tasted pretty good and didn’t have the super-heavy jacket coating that so many fried varieties have. I just want to find a restaurant that makes fried okra from scratch!
The Big Chill and Grill is a popular bar on Chattanooga's North Shore that offers great food in an atmosphere that is family-friendly during the day. | restaurant review from Chattavore.com
All in all, though there are a few menu items that are frozen or from a package, I think that the menu and The Big Chill and Grill is pretty good for a “bar” menu and I know that there are quite a few items that are made fresh in-house. The prices are reasonable, with our total for fried green tomatoes, a chicken salad sandwich, and chicken fried chicken coming to $28 and some change. By the way, those frozen drinks are $6.50. The new location is really nice and well-decorated. I read some complaints about loud music on Urbanspoon and we definitely did not think that the music (which was early nineties hits like Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison”-score!) was too loud, though I’m sure that they turn it up at night when it’s more of a bar crowd.

Check out The Big Chill and Grill for great homestyle food and delicious drinks!

The Big Chill and Grill is located at 103 Cherokee Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at (423) 267-2445. They are open 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Sundays. Their website is http://www.bigchillandgrill.com. You can also like the Big Chill & Grill on Facebook. By the way, The Big Chill was recently cited for overserving with a consequence of having their license to serve alcohol suspended for six days. According to their website, as of 8/9/14 they are appealing this decision and are still serving alcohol until the appeal is considered.

Other restaurants in this area: Food Works, Elemental, Taco Mamacita, Milk & Honey

Big Chill & Grill on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Bars, Breweries, & Pubs, By Location, By Type, Downtown Chattanooga, Restaurants Tagged With: bars/pubs, downtown Chattanooga restaurants By Mary // Chattavore 3 Comments

Beast and Barrel Gastro Smokehouse

April 27, 2014

Beast + Barrel | Chattavore

Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga’s North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog.

So, turns out that making your brother an amazingly awesome super-rich boozy chocolatey cheesecake for his birthday has can pay off. See, my brother works at The Honest Pint and was able to get tickets to one of the soft opening nights of Beast and Barrel, the new restaurant opened by the group that owns The Pint, Terminal BrewHouse, Hair of the Dog, and Mean Mug Coffeehouse. And he invited me to be his plus one. That decision took all of one-quarter of a second.

I was pretty excited in January when it was announced that Northshore Grille had been purchased by the owners of the aforementioned restaurants. It’s no secret to anyone who reads my blog that I love all of the above, and while I did not dislike Northshore Grille, well, there was no question that it was about to be made better.

The full name of the new restaurant is Beast and Barrel Gastro Smokehouse. The restaurant was created to be a family-friendly, non-smoking environment with an “elevated menu” (according to this article from the Times-Free Press in January). They left a lot of the decor from Northshore Grille in place because, well, it was a beautiful space, with dark wood and cool ads on the wall. They’ve added their own design elements, though, lots of black with white accents. The decor is simple but amazing.

One thing that I noticed immediately was that the menu was much, much smaller than the other restaurants, more akin to the smaller menus that one might find in a fine dining establishment but featuring an enormous range (impressively enormous considering the small number of items actually on the menu) of items. First, bar snacks including popcorn of the day and jerky of the day; a small selection of salads; appetizers; sandwiches; burgers; entrées; and dinners for two. They have a great beer list including imports, Tennessee and American craft beers, and lots of others; a large wine list, and lots of cocktails including a few signatures (including Divorce Shore which was apparently what Northshore Grille was called?). All I can say is that these guys know how to create a menu.

Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com

A small plate of jalapeño cornbread with honey butter was quickly delivered to our table and followed shortly thereafter by a plate of house charcuterie. The cornbread was sweet, so that was a bit of a blow because you guys know I am not into sweet cornbread, but it did have a good flavor and was very moist. The charcuterie was amazing, including the house pastrami, pastrami-style salmon, and house made ham as well as house made pickled cucumbers, carrots, and onions (the pickles were a bit spicy, by the way). My brother ordered the quail poppers, boursin and smoked jalapeño stuffed quail breast wrapped in bacon and served with jalapeño jelly. At least the menu said quail breast, but I feel pretty certain those were legs. They were a little difficult to eat as “poppers” as they had bones in them so the quail had to be carefully eaten from the bone, but the combination of the slightly gamey quail with the spicy jalapeño, the creamy, herby Boursin (man, I love that stuff) and the smoky, salty bacon (wherever it was from, it was amazing) was pretty genius. Even though we weren’t sitting at the bar, you know I had to try the sage and brown butter popcorn because I cannot pass up popcorn nor brown butter. I was not disappointed and will be making this at home very soon.
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com

I had a hard time deciding what to order. I considered a burger because, well, burger but decided that I needed to order something a little less standard. Ultimately, I was torn between the steak frites (fancy French terminology for steak & fries) and the Big Katz sandwich-basically a Reuben made with house pastrami, house made sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing (the menu did not declare that it was made there but I’m guessing that it is), grilled up on marble rye bread. By the way, the “Katz” in the name of the sandwich is a nod to Sandor Katz, a well-known authority on the fermentation of food (did you know that sauerkraut is fermented cabbage?) so I assume that they borrowed the technique from him. The sandwich was delicious….I mean, that pastrami (peppered corned beef) was perfectly seasoned and wonderfully tender, the kraut was a little spicy and had a nice texture, there was a perfect amount of dressing, and the grilled rye was a nice complement to it all. I ordered fries as my side (some of the other options included baked beans, whipped potatoes, and collards). The fries were skinny, house-cut parmesan fries. They tasted great but I think I would have preferred a slightly thicker-cut fry.
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com

One of the reasons that I ultimately decided on the Big Katz instead of the steak frites was because my brother ordered the steak so I figured I’d just try his. The menu describes the steak frites as “house cut 12oz ribeye steak char-grilled to temperature and topped w/ a hunk of cognac peppercorn compound butter. Our fresh frites are fried to golden brown then tossed w/ garlic, parsley and parmesan cheese.” Tom ordered his steak medium-rare (we definitely come from the same family. Both of my siblings are medium-rare people just like me.). There was a pretty gigantic slab of butter on top that added to the richness of the steak, which was cooked perfectly to temperature and seasoned just right. It is a simple dish but that’s the beauty of steak frites….amazing simplicity on a plate. It’s more difficult to do well than you might think but they manage beautifully.
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com

A couple of my brother’s friends ate with us as well. One of them had the steak frites as well and the other ordered the Philly Cheesesteak with whipped potatoes. I took a tiny bite of the cheesesteak; it was oniony and cheesy on good, chewy bread with thinly sliced beef, and the potatoes were creamy and whipped to perfection.
Beast and Barrel is a bar and gastropub on Chattanooga's North Shore owned by the same group that owns Terminal BrewHouse, Honest Pint, and Hair of the Dog. | review from Chattavore.com
So, will Beast and Barrel be a success? If my experience was any indication, yes. These guys have proven their staying power with their other restaurants and I don’t think that Beast and Barrel will be any different. The early reviews on their Facebook page have been nothing but glowing. I’ll be going back soon to try out the burger (and so Philip can try the Big Katz) so keep an eye out for an update to this post.

Give Beast and Barrel a try and tell me what you think!

Beast and Barrel Gastro Smokehouse is located at 16 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-805-4599. You can check out their website, beastandbarrel.com or like Beast + Barrel on Facebook.

Other restaurants on the North Shore: Good Dog, Totto, OPA, River Street Deli, Hill City Pizza, Poblanos

Beast + Barrel on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Bars, Breweries, & Pubs, By Location, By Type, Downtown Chattanooga, Restaurants, Southern & Barbecue Tagged With: bars/pubs, downtown Chattanooga restaurants By Mary // Chattavore 3 Comments

Tremont Tavern Revisit-June 20, 2013

June 24, 2013

Chattavore's Top Ten Burger in Chattanooga | chattavore.com

Tremont Tavern is a wildly popular bar and neighborhood hangout in North Chattanooga that many say has the best burgers in town.

When I wrote my Friday list about my Top Five Burgers in Chattanooga a couple of weeks ago, a few very strong opinions were expressed. Every. Single. One. of those opinions was in favor of Tremont Tavern.

Philip and I went to Tremont last spring. We really liked it, and I made them second on my list. The caveat, though, was the fact that since our most recent visit was before Tremont started grinding and patting their own beef, we hadn’t really had a burger from their, at least not the burgers that they are serving now. So, I resolved that I would return to Tremont and my mind was changed, I would update my list to reflect that. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you may have noticed that I did, in fact, update my list this past Friday to show that Tremont now has what I consider the best burger in Chattanooga. It’s that extra step of cutting and grinding their own meat that really sets them apart from everyone else. They take a whole shoulder clod (sounds like a lovely piece of meat, right?), cut away all the unsavory stuff (the stuff that just gets ground up really fine at the factory), grind the meat and the fat separately, then weigh them into an 80/20 mix.

So anyway, I knew I had to get back. We waited until after lunch-rush time…the space at Tremont is pretty small and I’ll tell you, I have to be pretty patient in my professional life. I try to avoid situations that require a lot of patience (e.g. waiting at restaurants) outside of my classroom whenever possible. One o’clock on Thursday turned out to be a pretty good time. Our friend Brian, who also accompanied us to Merv’s, went with us.

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It was difficult for me to decide what to order. Last time that we went, I had the pimento burger, with pimento cheese, onion straws, and bread & butter pickles. While it was amazing, I wanted to try something different. The Coltrane, with a fried egg on top, was tempting, but I was also interested in the Gouda, with smoked gouda, onion straws, and barbecue sauce. My friend Matt had recommended it, and anything with smoked cheese is pretty much perfect in my book. Our server (there were actually two girls serving us, and I regret that I didn’t get either of their names) told me that the Coltrane was a good “hangover burger” but that the Gouda was probably the most popular burger on the menu….so I went for it. It was pretty much perfect. Messy, drippy, sticky, and delicious. I had to wash my hands after eating it. It was gigantic, and I ate all of it. Luckily I don’t eat like this every day! The barbecue sauce was perfect with the onion straws and a great match for the smoked cheese. Not overdone but just righ, with the Niedlov’s bun soft enough to absorb some of the juice from the burger and structured enough to not fall apart. Last time we came I had the housemade chips, so this time I tried the beer-battered fries. They were pretty good, but I liked the chips better, and I ate so much burger that I didn’t have too much room for fries!
Tremont Tavern is a wildly popular bar and neighborhood hangout in North Chattanooga that many say has the best burgers in town. | restaurant review from Chattavore.com

Philip contemplated getting the jalapeno Jack burger (which he had last time) again, but ultimately decided that the Dirty Gomez (don’t think I didn’t look at that name twenty times to make sure I typed the write thing!) sounded too awesome to pass up. 50/50 beef and housemade chorizo, with avocado and queso fresco. This started out as a special (Tremont has a “burger of the day” every day) and ended up being so popular that they put it on the menu. When he bit into it, the first words out of Philip’s mouth were, “Oh dear sweet Baby Jesus!” That good. I tried it…I don’t normally care too much for sausage, but it was quite good, just a little bit spicy but not too much so, with the taste of peppers in the background. He had the tots….he loves tots.
Tremont Tavern is a wildly popular bar and neighborhood hangout in North Chattanooga that many say has the best burgers in town. | restaurant review from Chattavore.com

Brian had the jalapeno Jack, with fresh jalapeno, bacon, ancho cilantro dressing, pepperjack cheese, green leaf lettuce, sliced tomato, and red onion, and chose corn chowder (the soup of the day) as his side. He was extremely happy with his burger, which I described in more detail in my last Tremont post, and liked the corn chowder a lot as well (though he did douse it with hot sauce). I don’t like to spend a lot of time harassing my friends for details about their food, but he was definitely happy and did remark that he liked the Tremont burger more than he liked the Merv’s burger (which he still really liked).
Tremont Tavern is a wildly popular bar and neighborhood hangout in North Chattanooga that many say has the best burgers in town. | restaurant review from Chattavore.com

We spent several minutes chatting with Dustin, the owner of Tremont Tavern, about their new(ish) practice of grinding their own meat. Apparently lots of other restaurants were starting to use the same preformed Black Angus patties that they were using and they decided that they needed to step it up a notch to set themselves apart from the other guys. They have certainly done just that, and I’d say that there aren’t too many other restaurants-especially not restaurants quite this tiny-that have such a fiercely loyal customer base.

If you love burgers and you’ve never been to Tremont Tavern, try them out….you just may become their next loyal customer.

Tremont Tavern is located at 1203 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-266-1996. You can “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
Tremont Tavern on Urbanspoon

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Bars, Breweries, & Pubs, By Location, By Type, Delis, Sandwiches, Burgers, & Hot Dogs, Downtown Chattanooga, Restaurants Tagged With: sandwich/burger/hot dog restaurants By Mary // Chattavore 4 Comments

Merv’s-June 5, 2013

June 9, 2013

Merv’s is a dive bar located in Red Bank, Tennessee that claims to serve the best burgers in Tennessee. Here’s what I thought.

Boy, I found out on Friday just how passionate people are about burgers.  For starters, my “Chattanooga’s Top 5 Burgers According to Chattavore” post garnered me my biggest blog day thus far (and that’s in 2 years of writing this blog!).  Second, I definitely stirred a few people up on Facebook.  They did not agree with my opinion.  That’s the beauty of blogging, though.  I can write my opinion, you can write yours.  Maybe I’ll change my mind, maybe not.  No matter, really.  Burgers are…a good thing.

The reason I start with that is because since I was student teaching in the fall of 2000 I have been hearing about the awesome burgers at Merv’s.  My cooperating teacher was actually the first to tell me, and I have heard it from many, many since.  The restaurant claims, in fact, to serve not just Chattanooga’s best burger but Tennessee’s best burger.  As I mentioned in Friday’s post, Philip and I lived in an apartment complex on Mountain Creek Road for the first year that we were married and we never made it to Merv’s.  That was a different time for me, though, and if I wanted a burger I probably went to the Burger King just a little bit farther down Mountain Creek.  For shame.

My excuse for not going sometime between moving away from Mountain Creek Road in 2001 and now?  I thought Merv’s was a bar and thus a smoky environment.  I guess that at some point in the past this probably was the case, but (maybe because of the smoking ban that rendered the under-21 crowd unable to enter a smoking-allowed-establishment) Merv’s may be a “bar” (as in they serve beer and have darts and pool) but it is not a smoky joint.  Look, they have a kids’ menu.  You’re safe.  I knew that if I was going to write about my opinion about Chattanooga’s top burgers, I was going to have to check out Merv’s first, so Philip and I invited one of his friends to have dinner with us at Merv’s.

First impressions?  The parking lot kind of sucks.  All of the spaces were full when we got there and there were actually two cars that had created their own spaces at the end.  We could have made another space by the telephone pole but instead we parked kind of caddy-cornered across the street in the parking lot of the former Food Lion.  I’m all about far-away parking.  It’s exercise you don’t really have to think about.  There are booths and tables inside, plus a bar (of course) and televisions playing various sports channels.  It’s a pretty big place, sparsely decorated, with a jukebox and a crowd of people who are obviously regulars.  I actually saw the servers hug a couple of people as they were leaving.  One server took our drink order, but then she ended up behind the bar (and eventually in the kitchen, I think) and another very friendly girl whose name I regret I didn’t get brought our drinks out.

The menu consisted of several fried appetizers, several sandwiches (including a BLT with eight-that’s right, eight-strips of bacon), plate dinners, salads, and, of course, the burgers.  I really wanted to try the fried pickles (which a friend had told me were good) but at $6.95 they cost as much as the burgers, so no…..There really was no question about what we were going to have.  We went for burgers, and burgers we would have.  We asked the server for recommendations about the burgers, and she recommended the bacon cheeseburger hands down.  That’s what all three of us ordered (mine without onions, of course).  We considered the onion rings, but since she told us that they were frozen, not homemade like the fries are, we decided to go with fries instead.  She promised the large basket would be plenty for all three of us.  Just as an aside…they also make homemade chips….but have bags of Lay’s and other packaged chips on a shelf behind the bar.  Why someone would buy bagged chips when homemade are available is beyond me.  Anyway….

It took maybe a little longer than we expected for the burgers to come out, but not really a long time.  No big deal.  They came out with a cup of ketchup on the side of each.  The burgers were large but not the biggest I’ve seen and served on a standard sesame seed bun.  Nothing fancy here.  They were topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayo, mustard, and ketchup.  The burgers were cooked through without being overdone, juicy and just verging on greasy but not overwhelmingly so.  While I consider a Tubby’s burger a 10-napkin burger, this was more of a 4-napkin burger….but that’s not a bad thing, because sometimes it can get a little ridiculous.  The bun was grilled, giving it a crunchy edge, which I liked but Philip thought that was the only problem (but he just doesn’t like grilled bread or buns)-so if you don’t like grilled bread/buns, be sure to ask them not to grill yours.  She wasn’t lying about the basket of fries being large….it was a large basket of fries and between me and two grown men we still had at least one or two servings left in the basket when we were done.  I liked the fries, which had the skin left on.  They were cooked well but not overly crisp, which is just how I like my skin-on fries.  I did not feel that they were very greasy.  I did, however, think they could have used a little more salt.

merv's (1 of 3)

merv's (3 of 3)

merv's (2 of 3)

Merv’s is a dive, but it’s not scary or shady at all.  The burgers are great.  I’d be interested to try some of their other menu items but I seriously doubt I could ever bring myself to order anything else.  The prices are about average.  The beer list leaves something to be desired if you aren’t into cheap beer…they did have Sam Adams, Yuengling, Killian’s, and Shock Top….but other than that it was your standards…Bud, High Life, etc.  We split the fries with our friend and the total for Philip’s and my meal was around $17 before tip.  Not a bad price, since we were just discussing the other day that unless we go to a fast food place we generally expect to pay at least $30 once the tip is factored in.  If you are looking for a good burger and fries at a decent price in the Red Bank/Signal Mountain Road area, Merv’s is a great choice (and let’s be honest, if Sofa King wants their food to be competitive with Merv’s and Tubby’s that close by, they need to step up their game)!

Merv’s is located at 713 Mountain Creek Road, Chattanooga (Red Bank), TN 37405.  You can call them at 423-877-0221.  They have a website (which is really just a menu with contact info and a map): http://www.mervsofchatt.com/Mervs_Restaurant_Chattanooga_TN.html. There are links on the website to Facebook and Twitter, but the Facebook link just takes you to the homepage and they only have one tweet…so right now I would really bother with the social media.

Update 2/14: Merv’s flooded not too terribly long after this post went up last summer. They were closed for remodeling for a very long time, with rumors floating around that they were permanently closed (I saw this on Urbanspoon, of all places!). Good news! The rumors were false. As of last week, Merv’s is reopened for business!

Merv's Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Bars, Breweries, & Pubs, By Location, By Type, Delis, Sandwiches, Burgers, & Hot Dogs, Red Bank, Restaurants Tagged With: Red Bank restaurants, sandwich/burger/hot dog restaurants By Mary // Chattavore 8 Comments

North Chatt Cat-April 20, 2013

April 21, 2013

North Chatt Cat was a dive restaurant/bar (now closed) that was formerly located on Chattanooga’s North Shore near Coolidge Park.

Do you guys have any idea how difficult it is to find a butter dish?  When I wrote my biscuit post a few weeks ago I took a picture with my very utilitarian Snapware butter container in it and made the observation that I really needed to get something cuter.  I’m thirty-four years old, y’all.  I don’t do a lot of entertaining but a 34-year-old woman really should have a presentable butter dish.  Anyway, we set out to Mia Cucina yesterday looking for a nice butter dish and came up with nothing.  Seriously.  In fact, the only one I saw yesterday at all was a crystal one from Belk.  A crystal butter dish.  A very large crystal butter dish.  It looked more like a butter cloche.  No thanks.  Anyway, I think I’m going to order a Fiesta Ware butter dish.  Did you know that Fiesta Ware is made in the USA?  I’ve never been a huge fan, probably because I’m not really into the bright colors, but I think I’m going to start building a collection of black & white Fiesta Ware.  It shouldn’t be too big of a surprise since we’re all about local food, but we are big on “made in the USA”….better quality and supporting the US economy and job market.  I found this website yesterday: http://stillmadeinusa.com/. Fascinating.

Anyway, since we paid for parking downtown we decided that we should just go ahead and eat down there, and since Mia Cucina is right across the street from North Chatt Cat, which is about the only place on the North Shore that we haven’t visited from my “list” it seemed logical to go there.  Plus, they have outdoor seating and the weather was glorious.  We grabbed the last table on their patio after walking through their indoor seating area which smells like burgers (surprise, surprise, I know!).

There was one server working and she brought us a menu after we sat down.  The menu is very simple: sandwiches, extras (like cheese & bacon), sides, non-alcoholic drinks (tea & fountain drinks), and beer.  That’s it.  There are two prices for each item: a price for those paying with cash and a price for those paying with credit.  Cheap beer (PBR, High Life) abounds but they do have a few more, um, “upper crust” varieties like Yuengling and Sam Adams.  As far as imports, I saw a guy drinking Red Stripe (which is Jamaican but produced in the U.S. so I guess technically is not an import) before we left, and I think I saw Corona on the menu but I’m not sure.  They don’t have a website and the menu from Urbanspoon does not have the beer menu from the back page so I’m not positive.

There are quite a few sandwiches on the menu, including a veggie burger, a black bean burger, a Reuben, and a grilled cheese.  There are also chicken fingers on the menu.  There are several sandwiches with animal names, like the hound dog, which I am assuming is a hot dog (there’s no description) and the Tweety Bird, which is grilled chicken.  Philip decided on the bison burger because if a restaurant has a bison burger he must order it.  I decided on the Puddy Cat, a 1/3-lb burger, after considering the 1/2-lb Ally Cat but deciding I did not need to eat a 1/2-lb burger.  I also contemplated a BLT but ultimately decided to try the burger.  I asked for onion rings ($1.00 up-charge) but unfortunately the fryer was on the fritz.  Our server told us we could have chips (chips,fries, or tots are included in the price of the sandwich) or she could take off the side and charge us $1.00 less.  We opted for the chips.  We each ordered cheese on our burger as well ($0.25 up-charge).  (pictured below is the Puddy Cat)

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Our burgers came out pretty quickly (within about 10 minutes).  Nothing fancy about the presentation: a red burger basket with a piece of parchment.  The buns were just a standard, out-of-the bag bun, with iceberg lettuce, a tomato slice, pickle chips, American cheese, mayo, & mustard.  Philip also had onions.  The chips were just plain old Lay’s…not much to say there.  My burger was a fairly thin patty, cooked through and well-seasoned with that classic greasy spoon burger taste  (not a bad thing).  Not too much mayo or mustard, also a good thing….often places just drench the sandwiches in condiments but these had just the right amount.  Philip’s bison burger was much more rare than mine, probably about medium, because bison meat dries out very easily so you cannot overcook it or it isn’t worth eating. (pictured below is the bison burger)

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I wouldn’t call these burgers the best in Chattanooga but they were just good old greasy spoon burgers.  This place is definitely a dive, but it’s been around for a long time (ten + years, I believe….I’m pretty sure they opened when I worked on the North Shore in college).  The food is tasty but not unique.  There were some older guys sitting next to us who were obviously regulars, and there were other diners young and old.  It’s definitely a mainstay and worth checking out.  If you can find a seat on the deck/patio, the views are awesome.  We even saw a couple standing at the edge of the deck, looking toward the river, to drink their beers (there were no seats available on the deck, though there were several inside).  By the way, our total was about $17.

North Chatt Cat closed in 2015 but has been replaced by another restaurant.

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North Chatt Cat was located at 346 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405 (at the corner of Tremont & Frazier).  You can call them at 423-266-9466.  They do not have a website, but you can “like” them on Facebook.

North Chatt Cat on Urbanspoon

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Filed Under: Bars, Breweries, & Pubs, By Location, By Type, Delis, Sandwiches, Burgers, & Hot Dogs, Downtown Chattanooga, Restaurants Tagged With: CLOSED restaurants, sandwich/burger/hot dog restaurants By Mary // Chattavore 3 Comments

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About Chattavore

Hi, I'm Mary! Welcome to Chattavore, a destination for people who want to feed themselves and their families well every day! Life can be crazy, which means that getting dinner on the table can be a challenge (more often than not!) and my mission is to take all your favorite recipes and figure out how to serve them on a Tuesday.

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