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The Rice Boxx-June 9, 2012

June 12, 2012

As I mentioned in my Serendipity Cafe, we attempted to go to the Rice Boxx last month. Unfortunately for us, we went on a Monday night, and they are closed on Mondays. So, this past weekend we decided to go there for lunch on Saturday. In case you didn’t know, The Rice Boxx is located in the Bi-Lo complex in the Lupton Drive/Rivermont area. There were not very many people in the restaurant, so we were seated immediately. Our server quickly took our drink order and left us to peruse the menu.

The menu is pretty large with a section for Chinese/Thai and a section for Japanese (including a section only for sushi). I’m going to be honest, I am always a little bit suspicious of places that serve several different types of Asian cuisine under one roof….but I was a sport. One thing that I noticed that I found interesting was that, while they had a kids’ menu, the items on the menu were not typical kids’ menu items…they were child-sized portions of some of the items off of the regular menu.

We ordered a Thai spring roll (vegetarian) and a pork egg roll to start our meal. Turns out that Philip’s meal came with a spring roll, so we did not have to pay extra for that. As we were eating the rolls, we simultaneously noticed that there was no pink meat in the egg roll. I cannot stomach pink meat in egg rolls. That just screams processed to me, and I assume that the pink hue comes from the “pink” curing salt (nitrites) that are used. Anyway, this egg roll just had plain old ground pork. The rolls were both very crispy but not mouth-searingly hot (hot enough to be well-cooked but not hot enough to remove the skin from the roof of your mouth). My favorite was the spring roll, with its rice noodles and cabbage and flaky rice paper wrapper…but that’s just me.

I decided to order off of the “Japanese” section of the menu so I ordered teriyaki chicken and shrimp (menu options are available as hibachi-with soy sauce-or teriyaki-obviously with teriyaki sauce) with fried rice and white sauce (ginger sauce is also available, but I’ve never been a fan….and I have openly declared my love for white sauce here before). The server got mixed up and brought me chicken and steak, but the error was quickly corrected. I probably won’t bother with the shrimp again….it was a little bit chewy. The chicken was nicely done with no fatty or chewy pieces, and there were a lot of vegetables on the plate, which was nice. The rice was cooked nicely, but it was bland…forcing me to douse it with copious amounts of soy sauce. I can’t deal with underseasoned foods! I did like the white sauce….actually, I liked it more than Ichiban’s or Kyoto’s, but not as much as Typhoon’s or the sauce I make myself.

Philip decided to order General Tso’s chicken off of the Chinese/Thai menu. He got this with fried rice, and it also came with broccoli and soup. He decided on egg drop soup, which came with a bowl of fried wonton strips (which I happily helped him eat-I love those things!). His comment about the soup was, “Tastes like egg drop soup.” Thanks for the description. Wow. We cracked up at his plate when they brought our meals out….it was a gigantic pile of chicken, a mound of rice….and three broccoli florets. I was concerned that he would gorge himself on broccoli. But anyway….Philip too thought that the rice was bland, although he does not love soy sauce like I do and just ate it that way. He said that the broccoli was underseasoned (unseasoned?) as well, and only ate one piece (I needn’t have been worried). He did really like the chicken, which I tasted. General Tso’s chicken (which is an Americanized Chinese dish that you would not find in China-but then, aren’t most of them?) is usually similar to sesame chicken but with a slightly spicier sauce. I could taste the chilies in the sauce, but it was not overpoweringly spicy. Philip’s favorite thing about it was that while it was sweet, it did not have the usually tooth-aching quality you find in most Chinese restaurants.

If you decide to visit the Rice Boxx, you should definitely visit the restroom. The hallway leading to the restroom has a flashing light that changes colors…red, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green….very kitschy. It made me feel like I was trapped in an eighties horror flick. Too funny.

So, the verdict is that The Rice Boxx is not my favorite, but it definitely wasn’t bad. The prices were decent, as was the amount of food that we got. On this day, seasoning was a bit of an issue….and I wouldn’t bother with the shrimp if I were you. We didn’t try the sushi, but if you were so inclined you could sit at the small sushi bar and watch him make your sushi, which always make me feel better about restaurants that serve sushi, and I read several positive comments about the sushi on Urbanspoon. If you are in the area and you are craving some sort of Asian food, it’s worth a stop in.

The Rice Boxx is located at 3600 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37415. You can call them at 423-305-0855. You can also visit their website at http://www.riceboxchattanooga.com.

Chattavore “On the Road”-Smoky Mountain Brewery, Gatlinburg-June 4, 2012

June 8, 2012

Pretty sure I’ve mentioned before my love for Groupon and LivingSocial. This time, they provided us with a stellar deal at the Glenstone Lodge in Gatlinburg-a half-price room! Now, say what you want about Gatlinburg…I know it’s incredibly cheesy (we’ll call it “kitschy”) but (a) it’s close to home; (b) it’s familiar so there’s no trying to figure out where everything is, what there is to do, etc.; (c) we park our car at the hotel and walk everywhere except when we drive into Sevierville to go to the (d) Tanger outlet mall. Plus, we love all of the Copper Cellar restaurants up there, so it gives us the opportunity to eat there. Last time we went, I blogged about Calhoun’s, so this time we were actually planning to eat lunch at Cherokee Grill and do a blog post about it…until we got there and discovered that they don’t open until 4 p.m. Smoky Mountain Brewery it is!

Since it was a Monday and a little later in the afternoon (2ish) there was no crowd and we were seated immediately. Our server, whose name I didn’t catch (I hate it when I do that) was extremely friendly and quickly took our drink order. We perused the menu for a few minutes before I settled on the Philly Cheesesteak with fries. The bread for their sandwiches is baked daily, on the premises I assume since they have a wood-burning stove in which they cook pizza (I haven’t tried their pizzas but they look amazing). The cheesesteak was huge with thinly sliced strips of steak, sautéed onions, green peppers, and cheese sauce. The freshly baked sandwich roll was soft but at the same time crispy around the edges from having been placed on the grill. The juice from the meat soaked into the bread perfectly to create a little bit of sogginess, but not in a bad way….in certain sandwiches, this is actually a positive in my opinion, and this was definitely one of those cases. While the fries were decent, there was no real standout feature of them that made me jump up and down.

Philip decided on the Ole Smoky Burger, basically a bacon cheeseburger with barbecue sauce…only he had them take off the sauce. This actually cost less than if he had ordered the regular cheeseburger and had them add bacon. Of course, the burger came with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion, with mayo and mustard on request (they brought the bottles to the table). Again, the fries were fine but nothing to write home about, but the burger was great. The meat tasted very fresh and the grilled flavor was perfect. The burger has cheddar cheese on it, which is my personal favorite for burgers. This cheese was really sharp and paired nicely with the salty, smoky bacon…which, of course, makes everything better. The bread was fresh and soft. Highly recommend this one!

One of the true selling points of Smoky Mountain Brewery (and really all of the Copper Cellar restaurants by association) is, well…the brewery. They serve seven micro brewed beers year-round with a rotating selection of seasonal beers. I will be honest, I am not clear on whether or not there is actually a microbrewery in this location….the website expressly states that there are microbrewery operations inside the Turkey Creek (Knoxville) and Pigeon Forge locations. You can order the beers in a pint or 2-pint glass or try 5-ounce samples, and you can also purchase growlers and kegs. Their beers run the gamut from American-style lagers to porters to wheat beers, pale ales, and bocks. Just as I am a huge believer in small-batch bread, cheese, etc., I am a huge believer in micro brewed beers. Quality comes in small batches.

So…if you are ever in the Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Knoxville, or Maryville area and are looking for a great but quick sandwich or pizza (or even a larger meal, as they do serve steaks, chicken, etc.) or are looking for a great glass of micro brewed beer, I would say that Smoky Mountain Brewery is your place. The Gatlinburg store is located at 1004 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. You can call them at 865-436-4200. Check out their website at http://www.coppercellar.com/Restaurant-SmokyMountainBrewery.html. You can also like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Glen-Gene Deli Hixson-June 2, 2012

June 5, 2012

Glen-Gene Deli holds a special place in my heart. It’s been around forever, or at least as long as I can remember. Until several years back, it was located inside of Northgate Mall (and, if I am not mistaken, there was also a location in Eastgate Mall). Since there have never been a ton of places to eat at Northgate (which, despite Hamilton Place’s ability to boast about being the largest mall in Tennessee, is far and away my Chattanooga mall of choice-I avoid crowds and traffic like the plague), I ate at the Northgate location more times than I can count. I ate there with my mom and my grandmother as well as with my friends on many a mall excursion. It’s funny to remember those days…it was back before the days of the smoking ban in Tennessee, and inevitably the place reeked of smoke. We usually sat out in the seating area in the mall. The mall has changed, and Glen-Gene is no longer there, having moved to the Oak Park Town Center (by the Hixson Wal-Mart) in a freestanding location. The food, however, has not changed.

Philip and I went there together on Saturday for the first time ever. I am not kidding. Now, I’ve been there a million and one times in the thirteen years we’ve been together, but he never wanted to go. For some reason he didn’t care for the food and he referred to it as “girl food”. He used to say the same thing about Chick-fil-a, but he is a Chick-fil-a convert now. While we were eating at Glen-Gene, we were talking about the whole “girl food” opinion. He formed this opinion because “it always seemed like only girls wanted to go there”. My explanation for this was that it was, after all, in a mall-as was the only location of Chick-fil-a when we were growing up. Besides, he and his friends pretty much lived at Taco Bell, so of course they didn’t want to go to Glen-Gene (or Chick-fil-a, for that matter).

I remember that when I was a kid/teenager, I used to order different things. Usually a cheeseburger, I think, but I seem to recall some chicken fingers in there too. When I was around 17 or 18, I tried their teriyaki chicken sandwich….and I don’t think I’ve ordered anything else since. It kind of makes me laugh….this sandwich is on the “10 grams of fat or less” menu, but on this gigantic bun I am sure that it’s got a pretty hefty amount of calories. You know I don’t get too worked up over that sort of thing….I’ll make up for it later. It’s basically a butterflied chicken, boneless/skinless chicken breast half basted with teriyaki sauce and served on a sesame seed bun. It’s consistent and tasty, not dripping with sauce, and always tender and well cooked. You can dress your own sandwich at their bar (when I was a kid, this wasn’t an option, and I seem to recall that they chopped their onions up into little pieces so they were impossible to separate from the lettuce. Ugh.). Philip decided on the bacon cheeseburger. It too is gigantic, served on a sesame seed bun. It’s a fairly thin patty. After at least 13 1/2 years since eating here (because I know he hasn’t touched it since our first date in 1999), he was won over. I doubt it will become his favorite restaurant, but he’s willing to eat there now.

We shared an order of fries. The fries are pretty average. They’re skin-on, but I have no idea if they’re made there or if they are frozen. One thing that bugs me about them is that they are unsalted, or at least they taste unsalted. I always have to salt them at the table (because really, who wants to eat unsalted fries) and you know salt doesn’t stick as well to fries when they aren’t fresh from the fryer. They also have a little shaker of seasoned salt by the toppings bar that you can add to your fries.

Glen-Gene has a variety of deli sandwiches, burgers, chicken sandwiches, and veggies sandwiches. They also have a large selection of “pita sacks”, including steak, gyro, chicken…you get the picture. They have a handful of “dinners” like chicken fingers or fried shrimp and fries. They have a surprisingly varied menu of sides, including fries, chips, tots, fried mushrooms, and mozzarella sticks. They also have several dessert offerings. You can check out their entire menu at http://glengene.com/. I checked them on Urbanspoon, and they have a “77% like it” rating. Like I said, I order the same thing every time. I encourage you to give it a try and decide for yourself. Glen-Gene isn’t haute cuisine, but it’s a quick bite to eat when you’ve been out shopping and you want a break from the usual. They feature a reusable coupon every year in the Hamilton County Schools Kids First coupon book.

Glen-Gene Deli is located at 5748 Highway 153, Hixson, TN 37343 (they also have a location at 7025 Shallowford Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421). You can call the Hixson location at 423-877-9997. You can visit their website, http://glengene.com.

Public House-May 12, 2012

May 14, 2012

As the end of the school year draws near and I am becoming more and more absorbed in trying to get through the last month and a half of classes, meal planning has become somewhat of an issue for me. Tack on the fact that I was off Friday which meant I went into “vacation mode” and that Philip sang the national anthem at the roller derby bout for the Chattanooga Roller Girls Saturday and that’s a recipe for going out to eat. We considered Public House a few weeks ago but ended up at Hair of the Dog instead, so Public House it was.

As we were walking up, we had to rush to get in front of a large and very loud crowd of guys that I placed at college age. I heard one of them ask (I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was joking), “Where are the TVs?” The hostess looked a little frightened when we walked up….I think she thought we were with them. No, thank you…table for two. We decided to sit outside…it was a beautiful night, temperatures in the seventies. In a week or two I am sure we will not see the seventies for at least three months (except in the middle of the night-maybe). Our server, Shannon, immediately came out and poured us water from this cool bottle, which he left on our table. And, look at the mini salt and pepper shakers!

There was no question about whether we were going to order a starter or what said starter was going to be. I am sure that Philip would have liked to have tried the deviled eggs with candied bacon (heck, I’m sure I would have liked them too) but I had been dying to try the pimento cheese ever since I first saw a PH menu, at least two years ago. Two different foodie friends have told me it was a must-try, and if you’ve read more than two posts on my blog you know that I am pretty much pimento-cheese obsessed. Public House serves their pimento cheese with fried pickles and grilled sourdough. I was in the restroom when it came out, but Shannon shared the “rules” with Philip: you are supposed to spread the pimento cheese on the bread then top it with fried pickles. Now, I am also pretty obsessed with fried pickles, so this is pretty much the perfect appetizer for me. The bread was charred around the edges and cut not-too-thick and not-too-thin. The pimento cheese was creamy and spreadable, with small flecks (not large chunks) of pimento and a (tiny) hint of spice on the back end. The pickles were perfectly battered and hot but not mouth-searingly so, with a hint of spice to them as well. The sourness and heat of the pickles combined with the salty coolness of the cheese and the crunchy char on the bread equalled a starter that I would say is unmatched in my book.

Deciding on an entree was decidedly more difficult, for me anyway. I had heard wonderful things about the fried chicken, but it comes with hot sauce, and I just can’t handle it…and I feel like when a chef puts an item on their menu, it should be experienced the way they created it (unless it contains raw onions. Then take those mothers OFF!). A burger sounded tempting, but really? I didn’t want to say that my first time at this amazing restaurant I got a burger. I considered the iceberg wedge and petite filet combo in earnest…but my eyes kept coming back to the PH fried chicken salad: fried chicken, mixed greens, tomato, Benton’s bacon (!), Reggiano cheese (a nice change from the usual suspect, cheddar), and croutons with your choice of dressing (I chose green goddess, a creamy avocado based dressing with a nice herby hit). I rarely order a salad as an entree, but I really wanted to try the fried chicken, but I really wanted some good veggies, and this seemed like a good way to have both. I also ordered a side of potatoes Lyonnaise. The salad came with two gigantic pieces of fried, boneless chicken (the fried chicken entree is traditional bone-in, I believe) with crispy greens. I loved the Reggiano cheese in place of cheddar….the texture and deep, salty, nutty flavor adds a layer of sophistication to a salad that you might not expect that from. Add to that the chunks of wonderful bacon….and it was a delicious salad. I loved the cool, creamy dressing, and I had enough left over for lunch on Monday (which Shannon kindly boxed up for me). Potatoes Lyonnaise are a French dish, thinly sliced potatoes and onions, sauteed in butter. These had a little bit of bacon on them too, and they were skin-on and fried to a deep brown, yet not really crunchy. Delicious!

By the way, you’ll have to forgive me for the quality of these photos. Without the flash, you couldn’t see anything…but with, hello overexposure!

Like I said, the entree decision took some time for me. For Philip, not so much. You see, if shrimp & grits is on the menu, he’s probably going to get them, unless they aren’t in a cream-based sauce. Fried chicken was going to be his back up if the sauce wasn’t cream-based, but lucky for him, it was, so that’s what he got. Plus a Caesar salad. Plus a side of arugula and balsamic vinegar. I forgot to take a photo of his salad until he had eaten so much of it that the effort would have been for naught…but you’ve seen a Caesar salad before, right? There’s was good, with a good garlicky dressing, and it had red and white onions (the white ones appeared to be grilled) in it.

Philip is very particular about his shrimp and grits, and he had a bad experience at an otherwise delicious upscale local restaurant that served him shrimp and grits in a tomato-based sauce. Public House serves their shrimp and grits, um, “loose”, not in a grit cake. The grits had cream mixed in and they were topped with a sauce made from shrimp stock. There was atonof shrimp of the grits, which is pretty rare. There were also some pieces of red pepper on top. The grits were cooked perfectly, the shrimp tasted great, and I really like the shrimp-stock based sauce. Philip enjoyed PH’s shrimp and grits but did say that it wasn’t his favorite that he’s had….just because he prefers the fried grit cake. The arugula was very fresh and crisp, but he did say that he would have liked a little more balsamic vinegar on top of it.

We were pretty much stuffed when we finished our meals, but when we eyed the dessert menu we figured we’d find room at some point. I really wanted to try the apple fritters with bourbon semifreddo, but semifreddo is a frozen dessert similar to ice cream, so no go since we were taking it home. We usually order crème brûlée when it is available, but again, that’s not really something that translates well to a 25-minute trip home. However, when I saw molten chocolate cake with mint creme anglaise (a light pouring custard), my mouth started watering. The molten cakes are heated right before serving, so Shannon boxed it up for us and wrote heating instructions on the box. Philip is not quite as big of a mint fan as I am, but the mint in this creme anglaise was very finely chopped fresh mint, giving the creme a very fresh taste that wasn’t too strong or overpowering. It meshed perfectly with the oozy chocolate of the cake. I will be making these at home!

I’ve wanted to try Public House since it opened and I am not sure what took me so long. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was beautiful. The service was friendly and fantastic. The prices were a little upscale, but not outrageous, and the lunch prices are no more than your average casual dining restaurant. I will definitely be going back to Public House Chattanooga, and I recommend that you try it as well.

Public House Chattanooga is located at 1110 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (in Warehouse Row). You can reach them at 423-266-3366. You can also make reservations online. You can read more about them as well as check out their menu on their website, http://publichousechattanooga.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Fresh on Fridays, 5/11/12-Taco Sherpa, Famous Nater’s, Pure Sodaworks, and Monkey Town Donuts

May 12, 2012

Did you know that Chattanooga has a street food scene? If you said no, you’re not alone. If you said yes, you are probably either (a) like me and unnaturally absorbed in the Chattanooga food scene; or (b) someone who works downtown. Food trucks in Chattanooga don’t do a lot of venturing out of downtown Chattanooga at this time, and why would they? Their bread is definitely getting buttered by the downtown crowd, as they sell out of product regularly and are definitely thriving. Right now, the food trucks in Chattanooga are Southern Burger Co. (aka the best burger in Chattanooga), Taco Sherpa (Korean tacos & rice bowls), Famous Nater’s (sandwiches), and A Taste of Argentina (duh, Argentinian food). Supplement that with Monkey Town Donut Company’s donut cart and Pure Sodaworks’ handmade soda cart, and you’ve got a true street food scene.

I’ve been wanting to try all of the above for some time now, but since I both live and work in Hixson and we are not big on crowds (i.e. we don’t care too much for the Chattanooga Market), this amazingness has eluded me to this point. I had a personal day that needed ot be used up before the end of the school year, so I took yesterday off from work and went to Fresh on Fridays, a gathering of all the food trucks and carts plus several other vendors at Miller Plaza. Once summer break hits, I am sure that I will attend many more of these plus some Food Truck Tuesdays at Warehouse Row. Both of these events begin at 11 and end at 2.

We arrived a few minutes early and the only vendor that was open was Monkey Town Donut Co., so we waited a few minutes. I had already decided to eat at Taco Sherpa. They opened promptly at 11 and I walked up and introduced myself as Chattavore (I’m a big dork like that). Whit, the chef, and I had conversed a little bit on Twitter, and he shook my hand….and he knew my first name. And that I’m a teacher. I was quite impressed. That, my friends, is connecting with your consumers. Whit’s wife, Lindsey, gave me a bite of dak galbi (spicy chicken) to taste so I could make sure that it wasn’t too spicy, since I’m a pansy. It wasn’t. I ordered one dak galbi taco and one galbi (pork marinated in sweet & spicy soy-based sauce) taco plus chips and salsa as a side. They also offer Korean banchan (pickled/fermented vegetables) but as I mentioned, I’m a pansy and I was afraid of the kimchi. I’ll wait for Philip to order it at some point, because if my food’s too spicy, I can’t eat it. And nothing is more depressing to me than ordering food and not being able to eat it.

My tacos came out quickly. They are served on double corn tortillas with cucumber, radish, cabbage, cilantro, sesame seeds, and sherpa sauce. The chicken is cut into large chunks and coated with the sherpa sauce, which is just a little spicy…you taste the chiles more than the heat. I liked it….but I liked the pork more. The pork was shredded/pulled pork and you could just taste the slow-roastedness of it. The sauce was perfect and all of the veggies really completed the flavor. I love corn tortillas and the tacos were great on them. The chips and salsa were….chips and salsa. I want to try the banchan…and I will, eventually. Taco Sherpa is a fantastic addition to Chattanooga’s street food scene. Try it. TRY IT! They just opened last month, and they’re sure to be around for a long time. You can learn more about Taco Sherpa at their website, http://tacosherpa.com, their Facebook page, or on Twitter (@tacosherpa).

****Sadly, the Sherpa closed in early 2013 when White and Lindsay decided to move back to South Korea. I wish them well but they’ll be missed!

While Philip liked the idea of Korean tacos, he was sucked in by the promise of the Famous Nater’s BBQ pork sandwich: 12-hour roasted pork with truckmade barbecue sauce, bacon, and cabbage slaw on a Niedlov’s bun. Yep. Pork on pork. Since Philip loves pulled pork and bacon about equally, he was pretty much fixated and couldn’t take his mind off that pork sandwich. Nater’s was a little late opening, so he had to wait a few minutes longer than I did. He got the BBQ sandwich and a bag of Route 44 salt & vinegar chips (we got our drinks from Pure Sodaworks-more on that in a minute). As you can see, there were a few lightly pickled vegetables also included with the sandwich, along with the huge stack of pulled pork in sweet sauce and a thick layer of red cabbage slaw. The roasted pork was perfectly tender and the sauce was just right, although Philip commented that he couldn’t really taste the bacon very much….I guess it was overpowered by the barbecue sauce. Oh well. The sandwich was still great and the Niedlov’s bun pulled it all together…quite literally. Famous Nater’s has been around since early 2011 and landed very close to the top in a national food truck competition…in their first year! You can find out more about Famous Nater’s on their website, http://famousnaters.com, their Facebook page, or on Twitter (@famousnaters). You can also call them at 423-596-5457.

Like I said above, we got our drinks at Pure Sodaworks. I had no idea such a thing existed until last month when another local blog, Local Milk, started talking about it on the blog and on Twitter. Handmade soda? In Chattanooga? Yes please. Philip and I are soda lovers but soda is a treat for us, and we are always on the lookout for a great soda that doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup, and we’ve recently even tried our hand at making our own (good times!). Well, we have found the perfect one(s). Pure Sodaworks has a stationary location in Coolidge Park that just opened, and in addition to selling their drinks by the cup, they will start a bottling operation soon. They offer seasonal flavors-hooray-sweetened with natural cane sugar-hooray again! On this day, the offerings were root beer, ginger ale, hibiscus lemon, strawberry jalapeno, and lavender mint. I jumped at the lavender mint, and Philip decided on strawberry jalapeno. Both were heaven in a cup, a few squirts of syrup over pellet ice (rejoice!) and topped off with carbonated water. Mine was so fresh and herby tasting, not overwhelmingly minty or lavendery but a perfect balance of both. Philip’s was sweet and perfectly strawberry tasting with the peppery flavor of jalapeno and just a hint of spice…even my pansy tastebuds could handle it. He kept saying it was blowing his mind (in a good way) to taste sweet and jalapeno together. Perfection. Shawn, the soda jerk who was working the stand (I found out his name because I cyberstalked him on their website) carried our drinks to the table for me because I had my hands full of tacos and then he spent several minutes talking to us about their business before we left. I am so excited about Pure Sodaworks I can hardly take it! Get out of your Coca-Cola rut and give them a try! Pure Sodaworks is located at 181 River Street, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-299-3219. To learn more about them, check out their website, http://puresodaworks.com, their Facebook page, or Twitter (@puresodaworks).

Finally, as we left, we stopped by the Monkey Town Donut Company trailer. Monkey Town Donut Company is based in Dayton, Tennessee (get it? Monkey Town? As in the Scopes Monkey Trial?). Their donuts are tiny, one to two-bite donuts (one for Philip, two for me) coated with cinnamon and sugar. Oh, and they only have thirty calories each. Yep, 30 calories. Which means that a serving (six!) has less than 200 calories. Is that the perfect food or what? They were amazing hot, but we had a few left over (I think that he actually gave us a few more than a dozen-which only costs $4.00, by the way) which we ate cold with coffee after we got home, and they were pretty darn good too. I’m completely enamored and told Philip last night that I wished we had some more. I’ll definitely be getting them again! You can call Monkey Town Donuts at 423-902-6685 or check them out on Facebook.

Street food seems to be the new “thing” in the U.S. and I am glad that the trend has made it to Chattanooga. I hope that the trend will eventually bring our fantastic food trucks into Hixson from time to time, but lucky for me, I’m going to have a lot more free time over the next couple of months to support local street food. I’ve even kicked around the idea of starting my own food truck or cart one of these days-who knows? In the meantime, I’m happy to eat food from these amazing chefs, cooks, and creators who make this food fresh for us Chattanoogans. I encourage you to do the same!

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