By Type Archives - Page 22 of 37

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)

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)

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.

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.

Gollywhoppers-April 13, 2013

April 14, 2013

Gollywhoppers was a popular sandwich shop on East Brainerd Road that has closed since this review and been replaced by Greg’s Sandwich Works.

Recently I have been trying so hard to find my own photography “style”. I have a pretty good understanding of how my camera works, lighting, etc….but propping and styling is a weakness. When I look at the photos of food bloggers and food photographers that I really admire, I notice that they seem to have a “signature”…for example, Deb of Smitten Kitchen usually photographs against her charcoalish countertop, Melissa of The Faux Martha against an all-white background (which I’ve been experimenting with), and Heidi of 101 Cookbooks has an unreal white and gray marble countertop that provides an amazing backdrop for the majority of her photo. Well, I have an unattractive laminate countertop that was installed in 1977 and my, um, “backsplash” is a painted wall. I refuse to spend a billion dollars on props and we eat everything that I cook so a lot of my photos are taken in the Corelle stoneware we bought several years back. Keepin’ it real. I want a signature of my own…something that people recognize as Chattavore just like I can immediately spot a Smitten Kitchen photo on Pinterest or wherever else. I think if I can find my own propping/styling….style I can then focus on increasing the quality of my photography.

Anyway, the hunt for a signature style led us to Southeastern Salvage on Saturday in search of tile, wood, textiles, etc. We walked away with a market basket to replace the one that I bought at Target last year that is on its last leg and one of these days one of those milk jars is just going to come bursting out. But anyway….Lee Highway is not really a road where you want to make a left turn not at a light, so we ended up turning back toward Hamilton Place as we left. If you haven’t noticed, there are not an awful lot of local restaurants around HP (I suspect that the rent is too high for most mom & pop operations) so we knew we were going to end up somewhere on Brainerd or East Brainerd Road and finally decided on Gollywhoppers.

Gollywhoppers has been around for a long time (since 1997) but because we don’t spend an awful lot of time in that part of town we’ve never eaten there. They are located in a fairly large strip mall sort of building on East Brainerd Road as it nears Brainerd. When you walk in, there are menus on the table as well as menus by the entrance so you can decide what you want to order before you walk up to the counter if you’re like me and you can’t stand to feel like the cashiers are staring at you while you try to decide what you want to order off the menu over the counter. We sat down at a table to decide what to order.

The menu includes sandwiches, of course-half sandwiches or the Gollywhopper whole sandwiches, each available on French, cracked wheat, rye, or pumpernickel bread, each baked from scratch (they also serve hamburgers and a hot dog that they claim is the best in town). They have baked potatoes, including the super-stuffed potato topped with all sorts of things, including chili and cheese as well as a barbecue stuffed potato. Their salad menu includes a taco salad, a southwest grilled chicken salad, a stuffed tomato, and their salad bar. They serve several soups including soup specials on certain days and chili, of course, which can be made into chili pie, a ubiquitous Southern dish (known in some parts of the country as Frito pie and in other parts “walking tacos”) of corn chips topped with chili, cheese, and onions-theirs also has slaw, sour cream, and jalapeños. They also have a handful of homemade sides: baked beans, slaw, pasta salad, and potato salad. Finally, their dessert menu includes a laundry list of made-from-scratch bars which are showcased in a case by the registers, including red velvet bars, lemon bars, peanut butter swirl bars, Special K bars…..the list goes on. You can purchase a whole (very large) bar for $3.99 or a bite-sized (more manageable for one person) bar for $0.99.

I love a good, messy, overstuffed baked potato so I seriously considered ordering the super-stuffed potato, but I really wanted to try a sandwich so I finally settled on a half pimento cheese sandwich on cracked wheat bread (I thought about French bread but wasn’t sure how “crusty” the French bread would be and pimento cheese doesn’t really pair all that well with crusty bread) with taco soup (served with crackers or cornbread….I decided on cornbread). This is served as a combo that comes with a drink, so I got sweet tea (as did Philip). By the way, when they say “sweet tea”, they mean it. We ended up cutting it with unsweetened and I added a lot of lemon (as I always do). Here’s a fun Chattavore fact…..I used to drink “sweet tea” (as everyone likes to make fun of us Southerners for saying) constantly; it was pretty much the only thing I drank. In 2006 when Philip had a surgery and had to water up to prep for anesthesia I joined him in the water deluge and we’ve never looked back. I haven’t made iced tea in years except for a party….but it’s still an occasional dining out treat if real brewed tea (not nasty Nestea) is available.

The bread is not sliced bread but rather individual rolls. Since the half sandwich is actually served on a full roll the same size that I’d serve if I was making sandwiches on rolls at home, I’m dying to see what the whole sandwich is served on and should have asked but didn’t even think about that till just now. The cracked wheat bread was fresh and soft, obviously not 100% whole wheat but the perfect texture for pimento cheese. Their pimento cheese was not a spread like I made but more drippy with whole shreds of cheese. It was clearly homemade with large chunks of pimento. Quite delicious, and I could have eaten the whole sandwich if I hadn’t forced myself to stop. The taco soup was not like any I’ve had before (the taco soup I make has beans and corn in it, this did not) but quite tasty with lots of tomatoes, ground beef, and shredded pork, shredded cheese, and crushed tortilla chips at the bottom with perfect seasoning. The cornbread was sweet and was pretty good as sweet cornbread goes, but you know I’m a savory cornbread girl. They did get points for serving it with real butter as opposed to “buttery spread”.

Philip decided on the Reuben, which isn’t actually listed on the menu. He was going to order corned beef with whatever on it….as he started ordering he asked the cashier what came on the corned beef sandwich and the guy told him that it was up to him unless he ordered the Reuben…so if you want a Reuben, know it’s available to you. Philip decided on that with rye bread (he was given a choice of rye or pumpernickel) with chips and a drink. They have a wide variety of chips available and Philip decided on jalapeño flavored. He liked the Reuben, saying it was good, not the best he’d had, but good. I tasted it….I’m not really a judge of Reubens because I don’t care much for rye bread (it’s the caraway) but I liked it. The corned beef was tasty, the bread fresh (of course), the cheese a little melty, and the dressing and the sauerkraut brought everything together just like they should on a Reuben. I need to learn to love caraway.

After we ate we were a bit too full to sample any of the bars but I did look at the case just a little wistfully as we walked out. A red velvet bar with cream cheese icing would have ended my day perfectly yesterday but instead I ended up eating Ghirardelli chocolate chips out of the jar from my pantry at 9:30 last night. Oh well. Live and learn. The total for our two combos was about $19. The food was fresh and quick but not too quick, and the service was friendly. There were plenty of people in the store even at almost 2:00 on a Saturday afternoon, so Gollywhoppers has definitely made its mark on the area.

Gollywhoppers closed in late 2014 and has since been replaced by Greg’s Sandwich Works.

Gollywhoppers is located at 6337 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. You can reach them at 423-855-2001. You can also “like” them on Facebook and check out their website at http://www.gollywhopperstn.com. They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. They also provide catering with at least 24 hours advanced notice.

Marco’s Italian Bistro (Chattanooga North Shore) (CLOSED)

March 31, 2013

Marco’s Italian Bistro was an Italian restaurant, now closed, that was located on Chattanooga’s North Shore (Frazier Avenue).

Well, kiddies, spring break is almost over. This teacher is feeling a little sad. While winter break is two weeks long and sates me for a little while, fall and spring breaks are just a blasted week and always leave me longing for more, especially when the weather is colder at the end of March than it was in December and I spend the whole week trying to hide out in my house wearing knee socks and fuzzy slippers to avoid freezing to death.

Finally on Thursday the weather started warming up a bit, enough to be outside without a coat at least. Philip and I went downtown to St. Mark’s United Methodist (in the north Chatt area) to check out their Faith Marks exhibit (about the spiritual meaning behind people’s tattoos) with out friend Rachel. Very, very interesting (you may not know that I am married to a, um, tattoo enthusiast, or that I have a couple myself). After checking it out, we headed to the North Shore for dinner. Not too many places left in that area that haven’t been blogged about, so it came down to North Chatt Cat or Marco’s. Obviously, Marco’s won.

We got there around 6:45 or 7 and were seated immediately. Our server, Frank, quickly took our drink orders and let us know the specials: housemade butternut squash ravioli with either cajun cream sauce or citrus pesto, and some variety of filet (I think it was filet, anyway….definitely a steak of some sort). We set to perusing the menu, which consisted of appetizers, salads, chef’s specials, create your own pasta, pizzas, and desserts.

Frank brought us some bread, an herbed focaccia with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs, and red pepper for dipping. It was pretty tasty and I especially liked the crunchy outside texture of the triangles. I decided to order a half spinach salad (spinachio on the menu), which is definitely out of character for me since it contained goat cheese, which is just not my thing. However, it also contained pancetta, dried cherries, and roasted walnuts, which are all my thing, and was served with a tangy red wine honey vinaigrette. Full disclosure, I don’t really care for goat cheese because it tastes “musty” to me, but combined with all of the other delicious flavors in the salad, I didn’t find the goat cheese at all off-putting and it may have inspired me to try goat cheese (in small amounts) in combination with other strong flavors to see if I can increase my appreciation of it! Philip decided on a half Caesar (Appassito insalata Caesar) on the menu, which was a grilled romaine heart served with creamy Caesar dressing and a gigantic parmesan cracker (a frico). The menu said there were croutons with the salad but there were not any on his, though with the crunchy parmesan croutons were not necessary. The creamy dressing was really good and the frico was delicious. Philip liked it but I do tend to prefer a more traditional chopped romaine Caesar. Rachel decided on a cup of the bisque di pomodoro, tomato basil bisque drizzled with olive oil. It was slightly creamy, thick, with visible pieces of basil. I didn’t taste it, but Rachel enjoyed it.

As soon as Frank announced that butternut squash ravioli was a special I knew what I was going to order. I decided to top it with the cajun cream. It also came with sautéed spinach in the middle. The spinach was garlicky and perfectly cooked. The portion of ravioli was perfect, just enough for dinner so I wasn’t stuffed after. The raviolis had a decent amount of filling, not overstuffed but not skimpy either, and the filling was sweet and squashy. I liked the cajun cream but wish it had been just a little more spicy. Yes, I’m a bit of a wimp, but when dishes are supposed to be spicy I do like to taste at least a little bit of spice. I would have liked a tangible amount of grated parmesan (instead of the powdery white stuff you can see here) on top. Still, I liked this dish and would order it again.

I didn’t take Philip long to settle on the chicken piccata, which is chicken breasts pounded thin, lightly breaded and sautéed, and topped with a light lemon-caper sauce. Marco’s serves theirs on a gigantic bed of arugula. Frank asked Philip if he wanted to sub a side for the arugula…apparently a lot of people don’t notice that part of the menu and are taken aback when the chicken arrives atop all that arugula. Philip, however, loves arugula and definitely wanted it. There was definitely a lot of arugula and a good-sized portion of chicken. The sauce was lightly drizzled over the whole dish. It was light and lemony, not overpowering, and the arugula was very fresh and not wilty at all except in the spots where the warm chicken had touched. Philip really liked this dish and would definitely order it again.

Rachel decided on the baked ziti, ziti mixed with tomato-meat sauce and baked in a crock with mozzarella on top. Wow, this was a large portion. Rachel didn’t make it through too much of it and took home probably enough for at least two meals. There was a ton of cheese on top….I don’t know how “traditional” that is (or how traditional baked ziti is, for that matter) but I definitely never argue with a blanket of mozzarella. The pasta was not swimming in tomato sauce but was nicely coated and there was a good amount of meat, though it was sausage, not beef, which is what I expect in a meat sauce around these parts. I tasted the pasta; the sauce had a strong tomato flavor and the cheese was nice and melty, though I avoided the meat because I’m just not a fan of Italian sausage.

Philip saw crème brûlée on the menu and knew he had to have it before we had even ordered our meal. He sees crème brûlée on a menu and develops a one-track mind. The crème brûlée was good, flecked with vanilla bean with the whole cold/warm dynamic going on, but it wasn’t turning cartwheels great. It was crème brûlée, and you really have to do something amazing with crème brûlée to really blow me away since it’s one of those things I can make at home (restaurant meals tend to become less impressive when you start cooking everything at home).

I liked the food at Marco’s but it was a little pricier than I expected; I had a bit of sticker shock over the end bill, about $45 before tip for my & Philip’s meal (2 half salads, a pasta special, the chicken piccata, and the crème brûlée). …but we don’t usually order dessert so I guess that’s what kind of threw us over the top. Frank was friendly and attentive as were the hostesses and the atmosphere was pretty nice. If you are on the North Shore and looking for some Italian food, give Marco’s a try!

Marco’s is located at 417 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-710-2568. Check out their website, http://marcoschattanooga.com and “like” them on Facebook. They are open Monday-Saturday from 4-10 p.m. and are also open for brunch 11-3 on “special occasion” Sundays like Easter (that’s today, so if you are interested give them a call!) or Mother’s Day.

Conga Latin Food-March 9, 2013

March 10, 2013

I have no idea how long Conga (formerly known as Taco Rico) has been serving Salvadorian food down on Main Street (who else is singing Bob Seger now?) but I first realized it existed when it popped up on the Living Social (or maybe it was Groupon?) radar early last year. I scored a buy one get one free coupon in my Adventures in Dining coupon book. I drive by it every Wednesday when I drive to the farmers market, but Philip is never with me so it’s never an opportunity for dinner, and every time I think of it we aren’t in the mood, or else we just don’t want to drive down there. As if downtown Chattanooga is on the other side of the state….but when you live 30+ minutes from where you work, sometimes you just really don’t want to get near work on the weekends. A lot of times, actually.

Anyway, I was taking some family photos for a friend at the Choo-Choo then on Main. They decided to stop at the Terminal per our glowing recommendations and we headed back to the car to get our Conga coupon. We had heard glowing recommendations for Conga from three different people in the past week so we figured it was time. No one else was in the restaurant when we walked in and were seated immediately. I’ll say one thing….the server was very eager to take our order. She asked three times before we were ready! Anyway, we decided to order some fried plantains then felt a little puzzled when a basket of crispy fried plaintains (with a chip-like consistency) arrived at the table then minutes a later a plate of thicker-sliced, warm but not crisp plantains arrived with refried black beans and some creamy substance (crema perhaps????). Apparently the plantain chips are brought out just like chips & salsa at a Mexican joint. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the flavor and texture of both (plantains are very similar to bananas in texture though only slightly similar in taste) and thought the beans and what.ever.that.creamy.stuff.was. were delicious. Philip liked the “chips” but, while he liked the flavor of the other plantains felt the texture was just too much like a banana (he hates the texture of bananas). There were also “sweet” fried plantains, fried yucca root, and more “standard” Latin appetizers like cheese dip and guacamole.

The menu is small but includes a few standards (tacos, a burrito, chicken tamales) as well as chicken or beef tortas (which I filed away to order for later, empanadas (basically a Latin stuffed turnover), and pupusas, thick masa cakes stuffed with cheese and other fillings (spinach, beans, pork & bean [which the menu calls “original”], pork, chicken, cilantro & onion, or carrot). I decided on the combo #1: one pupusa (I ordered spinach) with rice & beans. The pupusa was delicious, filled with delicious stringy cheese and spinach and seasoned perfectly. There was a slaw dressed with a vinegary dressing that I didn’t care for too much because it had a very strong oregano flavor. I like oregano in small doses but this was a bit much for me. The rice and beans were excellent; long grain white rice, seasoned with salt and not much else but cooked to a perfect bite, and beans with onion and cilantro, well-seasoned but not overpowering. Different from your average Mexican restaurant plate of refried beans & red rice. Mmmmm.

Philip went for a taco combo (2 tacos plus rice and beans) with an extra taco. He ordered a fish taco, a chorizo taco, and a pastor (pork) taco. The tacos come on your choice of corn or flour tortillas and he chose flour (you know I would have chosen corn, but they weren’t my tacos!). He bit into the fish taco, chewed for a moment, then said, “Oh MY,” and handed it to me. I took a bite and he said, “It takes a second to hit you.” Sure enough, the longer I chewed the more pronounced the flavor became. The fish was grilled and coated with some sort of heavenly seasoning. Amazing. The pastor taco was filled with chunks of deliciously seasoned pork, and the chorizo was mild, not greasy in the least, and wonderfully spiced. Philip ordered his tacos with cilantro and onion, which added a perfect accent to all three meats. Philip also loved the rice and beans.

A sign in the window proclaimed sweet crepes (filled with Nutella or other confections) for dessert, but we decided to walk down a couple of blocks to Velo to buy some lolly-pies from Sugar Pie (more on that later). There are also sangrias on the menu (which I always think look so delicious but I am sure I would hate them because I do not like wine) and bottled Latin versions of standard soft drinks (which means they are sweetened with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup). Of course, we had water, and that is my one complaint of the day: after bringing our food, our server was too preoccupied with whatever she was doing to come back and fill our drinks (and I was dying of thirst, so I drained my water). She was friendly, though, and I’m just going to assume was busy and off her game (other customers came in after we did and she was the only server, plus they were getting ready to end their lunch service). I thought the food was delicious and I will definitely go back. By the way, before our coupon was applied our total was about $20.

Conga Latin Food is located at 207 East Main Street, Chattanooga, TN 37408. You can call them at 423-201-4806. They do not have a Facebook page or website at this time.

El Sol Mexican Restaurant-March 2, 2013

March 3, 2013

Wow, is it really March? I just typed “February” into the title field for this post then realized, “Wait, it’s March!” It’s snowing here in Soddy-Daisy right now (and has been since yesterday morning) but it’s not cold enough to stick and besides, snow on the weekend is a total waste as far as teachers are concerned. No matter, though. Spring break is at the end of March! I have a full week of doing nothing planned and I can’t wait.

Anyway, I wasn’t feeling too hot yesterday (still not) and didn’t really have a restaurant in mind. I wasn’t in the mood to go much of anywhere, really, but there also wasn’t any food that I just wasn’t in the mood for. I really wanted some soup but I couldn’t think of any locally owned restaurants that claim soup as a specialty, not since Soup’s On that used to be on Broad closed (and I don’t think they were ever open on Saturdays anyway). Soup suggestions, anyone? Anyway, Philip suggested El Sol, the Mexican restaurant in the building that was formerly Hillbilly’s and before that Backyard Burgers-near Highland Plaza on Hixson Pike. Fine by me.

We were seated quickly. There was only one server working the floor, but at 1:30 in the afternoon there were only a couple of other tables occupied. He took our drink orders and suggested queso dip, which we of course accepted. He quickly brought out our waters, our queso, a basket of chips, and some salsa. The queso was standard Mexican restaurant queso…not too spicy, creamy, not too runny but not too thick. The chips and salsa were the same….the chips pretty standard, not too thick, not greasy, pretty fresh. The salsa was mild and not super-chunky, which is always a plus for me because I am not a fan of chunky salsa (for this reason I do not like salsa from a jar). Not bad but it didn’t stand out in any way from any other Mexican restaurant in the area (besides a couple that shall remain unnamed that I have not blogged about whose chips have been stale the last couple of times that I’ve been).

Again, the menu was pretty standard. There was a lunch menu on the back with lunch specials served until 3 p.m. I decided on taquitos Mexicano, which come stuffed with shredded beef or shredded chicken. I ordered one of each. Taquitos are, of course, tortillas (theirs were flour) rolled around a filling and fried. These were served with sour cream, pico de gallo, guacamole, and shredded cheddar (an unusual choice for a Mexican restaurant for sure) and refried beans and rice. I found the taquitos to be a little bit greasy but they did have a good flavor. I am not one to choose chicken over beef (ever!) but in this case I actually liked the chicken taquito better than the beef because the beef had large pieces of onion in it. The guacamole was fresh-tasting and very smooth. I really liked the rice…it was seasoned well and not clumpy. The beans were pretty standard.

Philip ordered the burrito El Sol, which contained beans and rice, lettuce, and chorizo (not listed as an option on the menu, but just ask!). It was covered with cheese sauce and salsa verde (green or tomatillo salsa). Philip is a huge fan of chorizo and has taken to ordering it at all the local Mexican restaurants. He liked their chorizo a lot-better than El Metate’s, as good as Delia’s, and not extremely greasy, which a lot of chorizo is. Overall, he really enjoyed his burrito and would order it again.

For some reason, dessert is not an item that we often order in Mexican restaurants, but their dessert menu (curiously) is at the front of the menu (not an afterthought at the end like most) and we happened to notice it. While my eye was immediately drawn to the banana chimichanga (hello, bananas Foster in a fried tortilla?!?!) Philip despises the texture of banana so that idea was out. He was all about the sopapilla, though, and when we had finished our lunch he wanted to order one. I was definitely game. Their sopapilla is basically a fried flour tortilla sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with honey, topped with whipped cream (okay, Redi-whip) and a maraschino cherry (you can also get ice cream if you like, presumably for an additional charge). Funny, I just got a new Tex-Mex cookbook (The Homesick Texan Cookbook) and the sopapilla recipe in it is not made with a flour tortilla (it’s made with fresh dough) but I’ll cut them some slack. This was pretty good, reminiscent (in my opinion) of the cinnamon “crispas” that Taco Bell used to serve in the Eighties, and that made me think of my grandmother, which is definitely a happy thing. They were good, but I want to make the real thing soon and share them with you!

Overall, I’d say that El Sol didn’t stand out as any better than the average Mexican restaurant in the Chattanooga area, but it definitely wasn’t below average. Delia’s still stands undefeated in my play book. I’d eat at El Sol again, though, and if you are thinking about going to the Taco Bell just down the street…..keep driving for a minute and pull on in to El Sol. It’s worth the extra minute’s drive.

El Sol is located at 4047 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37415. You can call them at 423-877-2879. They do not have a website or Facebook page (at least not that I could find).

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