By Type Archives - Page 25 of 37

Meo Mio’s-December 8, 2012 CLOSED

December 9, 2012

Back in the summer, Philip played a songwriter’s night arranged by the Chattanooga Songwriter’s Association at a Cajun restaurant in Tiftonia of which we had never heard. The name of the restaurant was Meo Mio’s, and we had no clue how to pronounce it. Turns out it’s MEEE-oh MY-oh’s. Easy enough. Anyway, I stayed home for some reason and Philip didn’t eat, so we decided we’d make a trip back to try the food at some point. A soon-to-expire Groupon and a desire to stay away from downtown Chattanooga while Christmas-parade-preparations were happening provided the perfect excuse.

The restaurant was pretty much dead so we were seated immediately. Our server, Destiny, took our drink orders quickly then came back to see if we were ready to order. We weren’t. It took a few minutes to decide, since neither of us is what one would call a connoisseur of Cajun food. Philip, who sampled some excellent Cajun cooking on a trip to Louisiana last spring (I was not with him), wanted to try the fried gator bites-he loved the gator that he tried in Baton Rouge-but they were out. Apparently gator can be hard to come by; to be fair, the menu does warn that gator bites are subject to availability.

After considering a fried oyster po’boy (I’ve been wanting to try fried oysters, you know, just to branch out a little), I decided that an entire sandwich was too big of a leap and I should just go with a fried shrimp po’boy-fried shrimp, shredded lettuce, tomato, and Cajun mayonnaise (yes, otherwise known as remoulade….perhaps they think Tennesseans wouldn’t know what to make of that word?) on a wheat hoagie roll. The sandwich comes with chips but Destiny suggested the beer-battered onion rings. They also serve beer-battered fries but were out of them…the fact that they were out made me suspect that the fries and onion rings are frozen. The onion rings were pretty good, though. The sandwich was gigantic; the hoagie roll was more like a footlong hotdog bun. Because the bread was so narrow, when I closed it up everything fell out. It tasted pretty good but I would prefer a homemade roll-to me, the bread is the essence (to get really cliché) of a sandwich.

Philip considered the boudin, a Cajun sausage made with pork, rice, and Cajun spices, served with corn on the cob, slaw, and red potatoes…but he talked himself out of it and instead decided to go for rosemary shrimp parmesan, which the menu said was served with a side salad and a rosemary breadstick. Philip ordered the salad with raspberry vinaigrette. I have mentioned before that I have a tendency to judge restaurants based on their house salad, and this house salad was blah….some iceberg and romaine with a few shreds of arugula, some cheddar, and a couple of slices of cucumber, tomato, and onion, topped with boxed croutons. It was fairly fresh and the salad itself didn’t taste bad but Philip hated the vinaigrette, which was too much on the acidic/vinegary side and not enough on the sweet/raspberry-y side. Bottled, I feel sure (sigh. I wish more restaurants would make their own dressings. It’s so easy!).

The pasta was basically a creamy parmesan sauce served over fettucine topped with Cajun spiced shrimp. They did not bring Philip a breadstick and he didn’t think to ask about it. He liked the shrimp; it was well-cooked and well-seasoned. The sauced pasta was so-so….the cream sauce itself did not have a bad flavor but it needed salt/seasoning. Philip would have preferred the sauce if it had been spiced with the Cajun seasoning as well. I am not sure where the rosemary came in as we didn’t taste it on the shrimp or in the pasta.

When time for dessert came, we ordered some beignets, tossed in powdered sugar and served with Nutella. We were pretty excited about them…but they were out. If another reviewer on Urbanspoon is correct and the beignets are fried baguette slices and not raised the traditional yeast-raised doughnut strips, that’s okay. Destiny explained that they only had Bourbon balls and cheesecake and that everything else (New Orleans style bread pudding, beignets, chocolate cake) was being made at that time. We decided to order the Bourbon balls, which were made to order-a cook came out of the kitchen and went behind the bar and we heard him say something to the manager (or owner?) about needing something for an order of Bourbon balls. They were made of chopped pecans, sweet wafers, syrup, and rum, mixed together and formed into balls, topped with Nutella. They were quite tasty but not quite as strong as Destiny made them out to be (I’m not really complaining!).

Honestly, I’ve never had “authentic” Cajun food, so I’m not one to really judge the authenticity of the food. I do have a little bit of a suspicion of casual restaurants that serve seafood in a landlocked state. They have a pretty good selection of items that I recognize as traditional Cajun foods (besides the boudin, they also have red beans and rice, jambalaya, gumbo, crawfish, and several seafood selections). The food wasn’t bad but it wasn’t jump up and down good either. Apparently lunchtime on Saturday is not the ideal time to visit, as they seemed to be out of lots of things. I suspect that this is a restaurant that is at its best at busy times (when the staff is on their toes and menu items are available) and would suggest that if you want to try it you go at night.

Meo Mio’s is located at 4119 Cummings Highway, Chattanooga, TN. You can call them at 423-521-7160. You can also check out their website, http://www.meomios.com,

Panda Chinese Restaurant-November 29, 2012

December 2, 2012

So, I had to get my local restaurant dining out of the way early this week. Last night was the Ladies’ Christmas Dinner at my church so I knew there was no way I was eating out for lunch without having to do the rubber band trick on my pants by the end of the night (it works for non-pregnant ladies too, my friends). I decorated a table, ate some delicious brisket, and may or may not have donned a hood that made me look like a sheep, black paint on my nose, and a graduation robe as a judge in the Sheeple’s Court. But I digress.

My table….

Since it was a weeknight, there was no way we were going out of Hixson for dinner. That’s just not how we do it. We are homebodies for real, guys. We flipped through our ever-shortening list of Hixson/Soddy-Daisy choices till we landed on Panda Chinese Restaurant, across from Abba’s House and next to Sick Boys Ink (our tattoo shop of choice. I’m not kidding.). It’s not the national chain Panda Express, by the way. Panda Chinese has been around forever with its Chinese food & frozen yogurt sign, but somehow neither of us has never eaten there.

We were greeted by a very friendly lady who seated us, gave us menus, and took our drink orders. She was minding the entire dining room as well as the cash register and balanced it all pretty well. There were several other tables occupied but I definitely wouldn’t call it “crowded”. Several people came in to pick up to-go orders while we were there as well. Anyway…she delivered our waters along with plates, silverware, folded napkins, and a bowl of fried wonton strips. Help me. I could eat nothing but fried wonton strips as my meal, so I was happy. What is it about this crispy little puffy fried strips of dough? They aren’t salty or sweet or anything like that but man are they delish. Love.

As is the protocol in Chinese restaurants, the menu was gigantic. We briefly considered one of the “family meals” which included soup, eggrolls, rice (fried or steamed), and two entrees to be shared, but the entree selections were limited (sweet & sour pork and garlic chicken OR beef & broccoli and shrimp with lobster sauce) and didn’t necessarily include the things that we would have chosen to order otherwise. Instead we ordered off the menu, taking no less than ten minutes to decide what to order. We skipped the soup but each ordered an eggroll, holding our breath until I cut mine in half to see if it contained pink meat, which frightens me. Beyond belief. No pink meat, just normal-colored ground pork, cabbage, and pepper fried up in an eggroll wrapper. Simple and delicious as an eggroll should be.

I decided on the cashew beef, which drew me in with the promise of mushrooms, water chestnuts, and cashews all on one plate. Sounds good to me. The meat was thinly sliced and tender, the vegetables nicely cooked. The sauce had a gravy-like consistency and didn’t taste too salty, though I will address the seasoning in a minute. The fried rice was rather plain, just some long-grain rice fried up with some egg (no carrots, peas, etc.), but tasted pretty good. It was a huge portion so I had the leftovers for lunch on Friday and really liked it better the second time around, especially since I mixed the rice into the beef mixture instead of eating it on the side.

Philip got the sweet and sour chicken since he judges Chinese restaurants on how well they do this dish. The sauce was not as thick and corn-syrupy looking as sweet and sour sauce often is, and he didn’t think it was as sweet as what is usually served in most Chinese joints. The chicken was nicely fried, the breading not as thick and doughy as you might expect, and the vegetables crisp-tender. He really liked it, although of course anything fried is rarely better the second time around.

All in all, I would say that Panda is a pretty good Thursday night Chinese experience (by the way, the total for our meal was $21.85). I’d love to try a real authentic Chinese restaurant, though, because, let’s face it, the food that we recognize at Chinese food in no way resembles what people in China actually eat, or even what the people who own/work at these restaurants cook for themselves. Perhaps I should just go in one day and ask them to cook me what they’d consider “authentic”? Anyway, back to the seasoning issue…while I didn’t think that the food tasted overly salty, I am fairly certain there was MSG in it. You can argue with me all day long that MSG has no adverse effects, and I know that there are many who believe that and that science is rather inconclusive regarding adverse effects from MSG….but I know how my body reacts and I definitely had some bloating. I liked the flavor of the food here enough to go back, for sure….but next time I’ll ask for it without MSG.

Panda Chinese Restaurant is located at 5137 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343. You can call them at 423-870-9563.

Sugar’s Ribs (Downtown Location)-November 24, 2012

November 24, 2012

November 24…Small Business Saturday. Of course, Chattanooga small businesses are concentrated in the downtown area. We headed down there to meet one of the owners of Dish T’Pass Cooking School and Catering Co. (more info coming soon!) and check out some things at Mia Cucina. Downtown Chattanooga is chock-full of great restaurants…we decided to hit up Sugar’s on Broad Street today.

There were not a ton of people in for lunch when we were there. Our server was with us quickly with a carafe of water for the table. She suggested some queso and tomatillo salsa as an appetizer, which we were more than happy to order. The white cheese queso dip was delicious, thick and creamy and with just a tiny bit of salsa stirred in. We were wondering if the recipe was the same as the Boat House, which is owned by the same group as Sugar’s….we really liked their’s too. The roasted tomatillo salsa was also wonderful, not too spicy and salted just right. You know I’m a stickler for just the right amount of salt. The chips were thick and hot and also salted just right.

All of the menu items at Sugar’s are served a la carte, with meat selections of smoked butt, smoked chicken, smoked brisket, BBQ legs, and hot legs. There was also fajita BBQ that I think was pork but I can’t remember for sure….it isn’t listed on the menu online. They serve regular-sized and mini sandwiches, tacos, and “servings” of meat served with a cornbread muffin. I decided on a pulled pork taco (with cabbage, radishes, cilantro, queso fresco, and grilled sweet onion with a side of tomatillo salsa and margarita sauce, which was creamy, lime-y, and avocado-y) and a mini brisket sandwich, just brisket on a dry slider bun. There are six sauces on each table and the meat is not sauced prior to serving. I found that the pork and the brisket both had a healthy smoke flavor and were deliciously moist. Neither needed the sauce for flavor but I did add just a little bit of sauce to the taco and dipped my mini sandwich in a little bit of sauce. My favorite sauce was the Tennessee Sweet & Gloppy (though I also liked the mustard sauce). I also ordered the grilled okra, which, if you are like me and you are turned off by the slime that is often present in non-fried okra, you might be a little frightened of…but you shouldn’t be. It’s delicious, smoky, and not slimy at all.

Philip decided on the serving of brisket with vinegar slaw. The chunk of brisket was huge and tender and, again, perfectly smoky. Philip tried it with a couple of different sauces before declaring that, while he liked them both, he really thought that the meat stood alone without the sauce. In my opinion, smoked meat that doesn’t need sauce is the hallmark of great barbecue. The slaw was just plain chopped cabbage with a sweet vinegar dressing and Philip loved it, even declaring that he liked it better than Rib and Loin’s, which is really saying something…although, to be fair, theirs is mayo-based and Philip didn’t try their mayo-based slaw. The cornbread muffin was average, not really anything to write home about but not bad….definitely the only mediocre part of this experience.

Sugar’s also offers a salad, flatbreads (like pizzas), and a variety of desserts, like banana pudding and several pies, though we were way too full to sample any of them. They have an interesting atmosphere, darkly lit with a wall of records and a mural of musical icons. There was also a disco ball that a nearby toddler kept pointing out to her mother (“Ball! Look, ball!”) which we found hysterical. Our server was very friendly and helpful. We really enjoyed this Sugar’s experience and declared that it was one of our favorite (if not the favorite) barbecue places in Chattanooga. As I type this on Saturday evening, I can still faintly smell the smoke in my hair. That’s some good smoked meat!

Sugar’s Ribs is located at 507 Broad Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (as well as the original location at 2450 15th Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404. You can call the downtown location at 423-508-8956 and the “Ridge Cut” location at 423-826-1199. Check out their website, http://sugarsribs.com. You can also like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Dub’s Place-November 10, 2012

November 11, 2012

How long have you lived in Chattanooga? Chances are if you’ve lived here very long at all, and have done any amount of driving in the Red Bank area, you’ve noticed Dub’s Place on Dayton Boulevard. It’s been there forever; since 1952, to be exact. Prior to yesterday, I had been there once in my life….I was probably about ten. I remember that they served ice cream and not much else. And that they always closed in the winter.

I recall last winter driving by, noticing that they were open, and thinking, “Huh. That’s weird.” Then I didn’t really think much more about it until my sister-in-law sent me a text that I needed to check it out and that they had a new owner. Dub’s was on my “list”, but since I thought they served ice cream confections with any other food being an afterthought and therefore likely substandard, we hadn’t visited yet. Now that I knew they had a real menu, though, we decided to check it out Saturday when I was craving a burger (it happens every couple of weeks. I can’t help it.).

We were a little confused when we got there. A hoard of people happened to be wandering up to the door from a nearby neighborhood when we pulled in to the parking lot, but the doors were locked and the “closed” sign was up. Jordan, the owner (or “captain”, as he calls himself) unlocked the door and explained that, while their posted opening time is 11:00 a.m., they pretty much open when people start showing up, which is usually around noon. We went in and started checking out the menu, which contained just a few food items: burgers, hot dogs, a few sandwiches (blt, pimento cheese, etc.), fries and a few other sides, and barbecue, which is not officially on the printed menu yet but which Jordan has recently added to the full-time menu…he smokes his own Boston butts (pork shoulder) and makes his own sauce. He gave us a cup to bring home so we could try it out (after we went on and on about how much we love smoked meat and homemade sauce) and it really is delicious. The meat is smoked till it has a little bit of a crust on the outside (heaven help me) and the inside is perfectly tender then chopped fine and sauced with Jordan’s homemade sauce, which starts with a North Carolina-style vinegar base to which he adds some tomatoey thickness and sweetness to satisfy Tennessee tastebuds. The sauce has a spicy zing that hits you in the back of the throat and lingers just a little without being overwhelming. Very tasty.

Since we went there specifically to satisfy my burger craving, I ordered a 1/2 pound patty burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and spicy mayo. If I’d noticed that relish was on the topping menu I would have thrown some of that on there too (I know it’s usually a hot dog topping but it is GREAT on burgers!), hand-cut fries (yippee!) and lemonade. Kookie, who, well, does the cooking, delivered it to me maybe ten minutes after we ordered. Um, wow. This is a gigantic burger, obviously hand-patted, and you can see the seasoning on the outside of it. The toppings were very fresh, not wilty or mushy, and the burger was perfectly cooked. Delicious. The fries were indeed hand-cut, which is obvious by the enormity of some of them. In the kitchen, uniformity can sometimes be a sign that food is prepackaged. This food is not. These were fantastic.

When I asked Jordan what a crumble burger was, his response was, “You aren’t from Red Bank, are you?” Indeed I am not….I am from Soddy-Daisy and our high school football teams have a legendary rivalry. Thank you very much (my team = not doing so well these days, but when I was in high school….well, those were the glory days, I tell you!). Anyway, like I said before, I’ve only been to Dub’s once in the past, so no, I didn’t know what a crumble burger was, but apparently it’s been around since the advent of Dub’s place in 1952. Jordan began describing what I know as a “loose-meat” sandwich (referred to as a Maid-Rite in some parts of the country) with crumbled ground beef, onions, pickle, and mustard on a bun. Jordan described it as tasting like a Krystal; I might blow some of my foodie cred here but Philip and I love Krystals (hey, I’m a die-hard Chattanoogan!). Philip decided to order a large one, with cheese, which Jordan assured him would help hold the sandwich together, plus fries and a chocolate malt (which can be added to the combo for an additional charge). It came just as Jordan described and indeed tasted a lot like a Krystal. A little greasy was Philip’s only negative comment, but I suspect that if the meat was drained too much then it would be really crumbly, too crumbly. It was well-seasoned and delicious, though. He liked the malt a lot too…he would have liked a little more malt powder (we like our malts to be über-malty, almost bittersweet) but loved that it was well-mixed; there are only two other places in town that know how to mix a malt.

In addition to the hamburger shop offerings, Dub’s has a traditional ice cream shop menu that includes an extensive listing of shake flavors (including the usual chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, plus more unusual flavors like watermelon and mango. There are sixteen flavors in all.) and fifteen sundae toppings. They also offer soft serve in a cup or a cone….plus chocolate or cherry dips (kind of like Magic Shell). The DQs around here only do chocolate dips but a friend took me once to the DQ in Lenoir City and they did cherry dips. Yum. (That DQ is no longer there, by the way). Next time I go I’m going to have to try the orange creamsicle, because creamsicles were truly my childhood obsession.

We had a conversation with Jordan as we finished our lunch. He told us about his goal to really make Dub’s stand out for its customer service….he wants people to remember the friendliness of the staff as well as the excellence of the food. He shares my philosophy on what restaurant menus should be: small and well-executed. He really did take the time to make friendly conversation with every customer that walked in the door, and there were actually quite a few while we were there-most of whom appeared to be regulars. With the great, fresh menu items that they are offering, Dub’s is sure to gain some more regulars!

Dub’s Place is located at 4408 Dayton Boulevard, Red Bank, TN 37415. You can call them at 423-875-3151. You can email Jordan at DubsPlace1952@comcast.net and like them on Facebook. They are closed on Monday and open 11-9 Tuesday-Thursday, 11-10 or 11 on Friday and Saturday, and 1-9 on Sunday. They are OPEN ALL WINTER (besides about 2 weeks at Christmas-everyone needs a vacation!).

Market Street Tavern-October 31, 2012 (CLOSED)

November 4, 2012

12/16/12 I am not sure what happened….but MST closed their doors on 12/1/12. It seemed very sudden and was definitely disappointing given the quality of the food and their wonderful new location. It made me very sad!

Philip and I have a nine-year-old Halloween tradition: stay as far away from home until the danger of trick-or-treaters has past. I know that sounds mean, but really there’s a good reason behind it. See, the first year that we lived in our house, we bought two gigantic bags of candy. And had about five trick-or-treaters. This, of course, meant that we were stuck with massive amounts of candy leftover. We figured out that since we live very close to three large subdivisions, all the trick-or-treaters go there instead. We decided after that to make an effort not to be home…that way, we didn’t feel the need to buy candy for the few trick-or-treaters who might be out just so we’d end up with a ton of candy that we’d then feel the need to eat.

Since we had a Living Social deal to Market Street Tavern, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to check out their new location. If you’ll recall, we visited there in February and their shrimp & grits unseated Food Works’ as Philip’s favorite. That was a big deal. One of the few “negatives” that I had to throw out was the decor, leftover from the Italian restaurant that was located there prior to MST. They have now moved across the street to the old Hardie and Caudle building, next door to Fork and Pie Bar. Their new location is much more conducive to a “tavern” atmosphere, with dark wood floors and simple dark-top square tables. The new location is basically one large rectangular dining room with the bar located in the front, a row of tables along one side (with booth seats running along the wall and chairs on the other side), and tables in the back. A sign said to have a seat, so we did. Our server, Kelsey, was with us almost immediately.

They’ve revamped (read: simplified) their menu in a way that would make Gordon Ramsay proud (if you’ve ever watched Kitchen Nightmares, you know what I’m talking about. Do a few things and do them well.). MST now has nightly specials, like wings and pitchers on Monday; Pimp-Your-Mac on Tuesdays (basically designing your own mac & cheese creations), which made me sad that Halloween did not fall on a Tuesday; jazz and wine night on Wednesday (though there was no jazz when we were there because someone had broken in to the restaurant on Tuesday and Wednesday had been a bit chaotic with getting that taken care of); sliders on Thursday; and Sunday brunch; there may have been more but I don’t remember. All the nightly themes/specials are listed on a chalkboard when you walk in the door, and there are many menu items listed on another chalkboard in the dining area.

Steak & Eggs (Sunday Brunch); courtesy of Holt Webb Photography/Market Street Tavern

Fried Green Tomatoes Benedict (Sunday brunch); courtesy of Holt Webb Photography/Market Street Tavern

Gouda Mac & Cheese (and the base for “pimp your mac”!); courtesy of Holt Webb Photography/Market Street Tavern

As I perused the appetizer section of the menu (okay, it’s called the “snacks” section), I was really dying to try the Dixie trio: pimento cheese with bacon, roasted corn spread, and warm bleu cheese served with MST’s fabulous house-made chips. I decided in the end, though, that I shouldn’t overdo it since I still had salted brown butter rice krispies treats at home and knew I would want one later. That is definitely on my “to-try” list for later. They have also replaced the fried pickle spears that I had on my last visit with fried pickle chips.

Dixie Trio (the black-eyed peas have now been replaced with bleu cheese dip); courtesy of Holt Webb Photography/Market Street Tavern

It was not easy for me to decide on an entrée. I seriously considered ordering a pimento cheese sandwich but after sampling the little cup of pimento cheese (they actually use roasted red peppers-like I do!) decided that while it was good, I wasn’t really in the mood. I then began teetering between the LaFrieda (Pat LaFrieda is a renowned NYC butcher) burger (chuck and short rib meat) and the fried green tomato po’boy (fried green tomatoes, Benton’s bacon, avocado, lettuce, and comeback sauce, which Kelsey described as “kind of like Zaxby’s sauce but a little spicier”). I finally decided on the burger, which I ordered “Tavern-style”, which meant that it came with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and comeback sauce (the other “styles” are Jalapeno Jack, Bleu, BBQ Gouda, and Chipotle). Since I am obsessed with homemade potato chips, I ordered those as my side, with a cup of comeback sauce to dip them in. Can I just say I wasn’t disappointed with my choice? I’ll definitely have to try the po’boy on another visit, but the burger was fantastic; cooked perfectly, cheese melted just right, great balance of veggies, delicious meat, and sauce, all piled on a Niedlov’s bun. The comeback was very similar to Zax sauce but even better, just a tinge spicy and wonderful with the chips. I ate the entire burger and almost all of the chips.

Philip considered the garden burger, which is made with whole grains and is vegan (and was highly recommended by our server) and then the fried chicken (which he decided against when he found out that it is chicken tenders). In the end, though, he ordered the shrimp and grits. Once he decides that he really likes a menu item at a restaurant it is very difficult for him to order anything else. The shrimp and grits were just as he remembered them-three fried grit cakes (made with local grits from Falls Mill) with shrimp and Benton’s bacon in a smoked tomato butter sauce-except that he thought there may have been a little less sauce then the last time he had them (which he did not view as a bad thing). There was a nice ratio of shrimp to grits to sauce-not a couple of dinky shrimp plopped on a huge stack of grit cakes-but, like last time, he was not able to eat the third grit cake. When we left, he declared that their shrimp and grits are still his favorite.

A much better photo of the shrimp & grits; courtesy of Holt Webb Photography/Market Street Tavern

I love the new, small menu at MST. I love that they are really focusing on interesting themed specials and doing a few things really well-and with as much local food as possible. All of the staff was extremely friendly and Kelsey was an exceptional server. Holt, the night manager (who also took the photos for the website) emailed me almost immediately after our visit to offer photos and any additional information to assist me with my blog post. We really loved the new atmosphere and the openness of the new location, as opposed to the three different rooms in the old location. All in all, this was a great experience and, like before, I highly recommend Market Street Tavern.

Market Street Tavern is located at 809 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-624-0260. Find them on Facebook and Twitter or check out their website/blog at http://marketstreettavern.wordpress.com.

« Previous Page