CLOSED restaurants Archives

Bones Smokehouse

November 2, 2016

Bones Smokehouse is a popular barbecue restaurant in East Brainerd that recently reopened after a lengthy hiatus due to road construction.

When Bones Smokehouse closed forever ago due to the road construction on East Brainerd Road, I thought they were closing for remodeling. Then one day I drove by and the building was gone. “Well, that’s one way to remodel,” I thought. I later learned that they had decided to close until they could find a different location, but when ages passed and they never resurfaced, I resigned myself to the fact that Bones Smokehouse was gone forever.

Then, something miraculous occurred. Back in August, it popped up in my newsfeed that Bones Smokehouse would be reopening in September. Taking up the space that used to be occupied by the oft-in-the-news Fanatics Sports Bar, Bones reopened to fill the space in East Brainerd’s heart that they’d left a good while back.

As I try to do, I waited a little bit before going…to let the initial crowds die down as well as to let them work out the kinks. We started to go there the weekend before, but they were encouraging people to come for the Tennessee-Alabama game and we were nervous of crowds…so we went to Teriyaki House instead. Finally, the next weekend I met Philip when he got off from work and we headed over.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, there were several tables occupied but the place was not crowded by a long shot. We were seated immediately and our server came over to get our drink orders. I didn’t even have to look at the menu to know that I wanted an order of their fried pickles ($4.95), which I consider to be among the best in Chattanooga (they’re in good company, as my other favorites are at Public House with the pimento cheese). The fried pickles came out quickly, served with tiger sauce, a mayo and horseradish based sauce that’s like Arby’s Horsey sauce but better. I love that they serve pickle chips, not spears (chips are much less dangerous to the roof of your mouth, and they hold together better since you eat them in one bite), and they are hand-breaded with cornmeal. They’re fried to a light crisp and not overly greasy. I’d missed them so.

It took me a while to decide what to order. I was torn between going classic (pulled pork sandwich) or a little off the beaten path (pulled pork tacos or enchiladas). I decided that since Philip had the tacos the first time we went to Bones Smokehouse (scroll down to see that review) that I would get something different. I never order chicken at barbecue joints, so I decided to be a little rebellious and do just that. I settled on the pulled smoked chicken with fried okra and french fries ($9.95), also served with a cornbread muffin (garlic toast was also an option). The sides were decent, though I’m fairly certain that both were just frozen standards. The cornbread muffin was pretty good, albeit sweet, which is not my preference. I was not thrilled with the whipped spread in place of butter (why why why do restaurants do this?). The chicken was nice and smoky, though (I did wish that they used dark meat or at least a combination of white and dark meat, since white meat gets dry so easily). I found myself wishing for pork, because it’s just better suited for smoking since it has more fat and stays more moist. I liked the chicken, though, and thought it would have been delicious as chicken salad. I liked all of the sauces (except for the hot, which I did not attempt); however, my favorite was the tiger sauce that was served with the pickles. It reminded me a lot of Alabama white sauce, which is customarily served with smoked chicken.

Philip decided to go for the special, which was a blackened prime rib sandwich ($8.95). Bones Smokehouse serves smoked prime rib every Friday night, so I suppose they had leftovers that they wanted to use up. It was served on a bun with lettuce and tomato, and our server also brought him a cup of tiger sauce. We were surprised to see a large slice of prime rib on the bun instead of more “shaved” slices, which is what we were expecting. Prime rib, you guys, is a perfect medium for smoking, texture wise (I am sure that some purists would turn their nose up at the idea of putting a prime side of beef in a smoker, but seriously, it works). The amount of fat in the cut makes it super tender and moist, and it was so flavorful and smoky. When I tried it, I was concerned that since it was a pretty thick slice of meat that it would be difficult to bite through, but it was extremely tender and easy to bite into. The tiger sauce was a perfect complement (we always eat our prime rib with a little prepared horseradish).

Pre-tip, our total (for my pulled chicken plate, Philip’s sandwich, fried pickles, and a craft beer) was $32.05. Maybe a little pricier than some people would expect for barbecue, but Bones Smokehouse has lots of items on their menu that you would expect at a barbecue restaurant. They know their way around a smoker, and they also know their way around some fried pickles.

I for one am glad that Bones Smokehouse is back in business!

Bones Smokehouse is now located at 7601 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. They are open Monday – Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. You can call Bones Smokehouse at (423) 710-3382. Bones Smokehouse does not have a website, but you can find more information on the Bones Smokehouse Facebook page.

Original Post:

Someone give me a cookie. I have managed to only throw in the towel and go out to eat ONE TIME on a weeknight since school started back last week! That’s an achievement, my friends. I wouldn’t have even done that if it hadn’t been for the fact that I HAD TO go to Hobby Lobby Monday night for teacher things….in this case, ribbon for my word wall. My tooth-achingly adorable word wall. But anyway, I’ll stop talking about teacher things and move on to Bones.

Needless to say, after two weeks of marathon kid-wrangling (I have a fantastic little class this year, by the way) I was way exhausted and last night I was really, really looking forward to having someone else cook for me (though Philip did make pizza for me the other night when I had open house!). I had to go to the School Box for this really fantastically life changing tape called “mauvelous” tape (teachers or anyone who wants to hang paper on a wall, check it out) so East Brainerd was an easy choice for today’s review, especially with the Southern Brewer’s Festival taking place downtown and rendering it a no-Chattavore zone because I canNOT risk getting caught in a crowd. There’s a Chinese place that Philip frequently visits with a friend who lives on that end of town, but it’s cash-only so I suggested that we ease on down the road a bit and visit Bones Smokehouse, since we never have cash and also a friend had mentioned to me that Bones Smokehouse had fantastic fried pickles.

A very friendly host greeted us at the door and immediately took us to a booth. Our server, Hilary, took our drink order and left us to check out the menu for a minute. It didn’t take us long to settle on our orders, but they do have an interesting menu for a barbecue restaurant. The appetizers section includes the standards (wings, queso, Brunswick stew, which is a must-have at a BBQ joint) but also a barbecue chicken pizza, a “smokehouse quesadilla”, and, of course, the fried pickles. They have the usual sandwiches but also some more interesting sandwich options like “The Big Pig” with sausage, pulled pork, and bacon, and an overloaded hot dog. The salad menu is definitely more expansive than most barbecue restaurants, and they offer a “favorites” menu that includes several things you probably wouldn’t expect to find in a barbecue restaurant: chicken pot pie, enchiladas, vegetable lasagna, and open-faced roast beef sandwich. They also offer catering options.

Obviously I had to try the fried pickles. It seems that most of the fried pickles that I encounter these days are spears, which I don’t mind from a flavor standpoint but from a mouth-burning standpoint they definitely hold the heat longer triggering more roof-of-the-mouth injuries. Chips are much safer and in the end you really do probably get more on your plate. These were lightly batter-coated, not to a point that they were “wearing a jacket”-you could still see the pickle. I have had some fried pickles that sent me into sodium overload. These were not among those. Yes, they were salty, because pickles are salty….but they obviously know to be shy with the salt on the coating to compensate. These were great, and the creamy horseradish sauce served on the side was a nice (only slightly spicy and a little bit sweet) departure from the usual ranch dressing dipping sauce. Hooray for fried pickles!

While I was intrigued by some of the menu items, I felt like I needed to order the pork-stuffed potato for comparison, since that’s pretty much my standard order at barbecue places. The stuffed potato comes with your choice of meat, cheese, sour cream, butter, bacon, and chives (though the chives were actually green onions….but I like both on my potatoes so I didn’t mind that). It was a salt-crusted potato cut open with the toppings sort of stuffed inside (stuffed potato, hmmmm) unlike that at many restaurants that lay their potatoes all the way open and drown them in ingredients. There’s no sauce…you add your own at the table from a choice of mild, hot, Carolina sweet, or a mustard-based sauce. I tasted the Carolina and the mustard-based sauce before deciding to stick with the standard thick red mild sauce. I found it to have a nice flavor but not overpowering. I would have liked a little more smoke flavor to my pork, but it had a good texture and taste. The potato was big enough to fill me up but not so huge that I couldn’t finish it. It was on par with the better pork stuffed potatoes I’ve had in town.

Philip decided to order the pork tacos: “tender mojo seasoned pulled pork in a soft flour tortilla with smoked corn salsa, jack & cheddar cheese, red pepper aioli, and shredded lettuce, served with red beans and rice. The menu is actually incorrect-the tortillas were not soft. They were freshly fried to a nice crispy texture, which I found to be an impressive touch. The pork had a great flavor and all of the elements really worked well together. The star of the plate from Philip’s perspective, though, were the red beans and rice, which contained (at least from my observation) onions, peppers, corn, and tomatoes. He was entranced by the smell and had me smell them too, prompting Hilary to check on us to make sure everything was okay, then he kept raving about how great they tasted. He said they “taste like Totino’s pizza, but in a good way”. Total compliment because we love Totino’s pizza (though we don’t eat them any more because sub-prime meat, ick). A very interesting menu item indeed and a hit for us.

We liked the atmosphere Bone’s Smokehouse…it felt like, well, a barbecue restaurant. Everything was wood, the ceilings weren’t too high, it was darkish but not gloomy. Hilary was amazingly friendly and I had to make sure to get her name so I could mention her here. She did a great job. The service was quick but not so much that we were concerned about how the food was being prepared. The prices were good-almost exactly $20 before tip. Since East Brainerd feels like the other side of the world to us, it is unlikely that we will ever become regulars, but we would like to go back sometime-perhaps to try the Friday night smoked prime rib advertised on the marquee-that sounds truly interesting. It’s kind of out of the way (for me, anyway) but it’s been around for a while (since 1999).

Check out Bones Smokehouse!

Note: Due to the road-widening project on East Brainerd Road, Bones Smokehouse closed and the building was torn down in the fall of 2014. Rumors have circulated that they were seeking another location, but this has not happened yet (updated July 2016).

Bones Smokehouse is located at 9012 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11-9 and Friday-Saturday, 11-10 (closed Sundays). You can call them at 423-894-2663. Check out their website, www.bonessmokehousechattanooga.com. You can like them on Facebook though it appears that page is not active and you will have more luck with this page, which is set up like a personal page (you have to send a friend request).

I also wanted to take a moment to address a comment that I received yesterday on my Elemental post from last week. The comment was in very clear violation of my comments policy (found on my disclosures/privacy policy-I’ll list the details below, though) so I deleted it; however, I figure it’s a good time to do a little recap of my review policies.

The reader basically stated (in a very crude way) that he did not respect my reviews because I only write positive reviews. I spent a lot of time in my earlier days as a blogger trying to decide if I wanted to include negative reviews. In the end, I decided that (a) I am a blogger, not a critic; (b) I don’t want to write anything that could potentially damage someone’s business; and (c) not everyone shares my tastes; it up to you guys to decide your feelings about a restaurant. If you are a regular reader of my restaurant posts, you know that I will point out if there is a problem with an experience but as long as my overall experience was positive I’ll still write about it and be nice. The weekends that you don’t see a post (that happens occasionally)? I probably had a bad experience. I’ve chosen quite a few times not to write about a restaurant. You can read more about my decision to be positive here.

Finally, my comments policy. My disclosures/privacy policy includes this statement:

“If you don’t agree with me about a restaurant review, feel free to share your opinion on Urbanspoon, Yelp!, or one of the many other travel and restaurant sites on the internet. However, any unnecessarily negative opinions posted in my comments section (I will accept constructive and nicely worded criticism) will be deleted (you can read more about my policy of positive-only reviews here). You are welcome to post your opinions on other posts, but if you attack other readers or myself, your comments will be removed. I reserve the right to decide what does and doesn’t belong on my blog.”

And you as readers reserve the right to disagree with me…and if you don’t like my blog overall, well, you reserve the right not to read it. But I certainly appreciate those of you who do!

Roy’s Grill (Rossville)

July 13, 2016

Roy’s Grill was an institution on Chickamauga Avenue, having been around since 1934 (with a few breaks along the way). Sadly, they closed just a few weeks after I published this post.

For many years, we really never went to Rossville Boulevard or beyond. There just wasn’t much to see there, as far as we were concerned. No dresses to be bought at the (now defunct) LaDean Shop or plasma to be donated at CSL. That area of town might as well have not existed; it never even entered our minds.

Then came Beverage World. I have no idea how long Beverage World has existed next to Big Lots in Fort Oglethorpe, but we’ve been going there for the last 3 years on Philip’s quest to try as many types of craft beer as possible. As we’ve driven down Rossville Boulevard so many times over the last few years, we’ve noticed Roy’s Grill, the cute little old-school diner right past where Rossville Blvd turns into Chickamauga Avenue, just over the state line, many times. Of course, it’s usually not open when we drive by.

Last week, Philip wanted to check for a specific beer at Beverage World, so we decided to try out Roy’s Grill. We arrived at around 11:45 on a Wednesday afternoon, parking in the lot for Roy’s Grill customers behind the restaurant. As we walked up, we could smell the tell-tale scent of burgers searing on a flat-top griddle, always a good sign. We entered through the back door, into the dining room, and were greeted by Anita, who told us we could sit anywhere we wanted, including downstairs at the bar. We decided to go for the bar.

Once we chose a couple of bar stools (we were the only folks down there at the moment), we were greeted by Anna Sue, who took our drink order. Philip ordered a chocolate malt ($3.75) and she quickly set to making that for him, right in front of us at the counter using a classic milkshake mixer. The malts and milkshakes are served in a footed glass with the mixing cup alongside it…plus two straws in case I wanted to drink some. I have to say, Anna Sue makes a pretty impressive malt. Chocolatey and bitter with malt, just the way we like it.

I had heard great things about the burgers at Roy’s Grill so I knew that I had to give one a try. Since I didn’t need a half-pound of meat on a super-sized bun (i.e. the Super Burger), I decided to go with the junior burger, a 1/4-pound patty on a soft bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and mustard ($4.75). I omitted the onion, of course, and added cheese ($.70) and bacon ($1.80). The burgers are served with house-made chips, or you can get crinkle cut fries or onion rings. I went with the chips, because you all know I love homemade chips, but saw another customer with some fantastic looking onion rings and decided I would try those next time.

The burger was the perfect size for my appetite, and it was topped perfectly. The condiments and vegetables were portioned well so they didn’t overwhelm the burger or make it difficult to eat. The cook on the burger was perfect – a nice crust on the outside but still tender and juicy on the inside – and the American cheese was lightly melted but not gooey. The chips were perfect – thinly cut, crispy brown, and perfectly seasoned. This was a fantastic, classic burger meal.

Philip contemplated getting the Reuben, but ultimately decided to go with the meatloaf special, which Anna Sue enthusiastically encouraged. I wish I had thought to take a picture of the menu board with the vegetable specials listed, but I didn’t think about it. The special comes with two or three vegetables, your choice. Philip decided to go with the white beans, mashed potatoes and gravy (made from scratch), and fried okra (hand breaded) ($10.45).

This was definitely a generous portion of food. The meatloaf was a little chunky with onions and green peppers, but not overly so, with a thick layer of ketchup on top (I prefer ketchup-topped meatloaf to tomato sauce or gravy-topped meatloaf). It was well-cooked – cooked through but still tender, not tough or overcooked. I didn’t try the white beans (I don’t eat them…a little too mushy for me), but Philip said they were very tasty. The mashed potatoes were creamy and kind of “mid-thick” – not stiff but not runny – with a nicely seasoned brown gravy. The fried okra was some of the best we’ve had in a restaurant. The breading was more of a batter, perfectly seasoned with what I thought was sort of a buttermilk flavor, and the okra is deep-fried to a perfect crisp. The meal was served with a square of cornbread, which is Southern-style (i.e. not sweet), soft but not too crumbly.

The thing that impressed me most about Roy’s Grill was the employees. Anna Sue (on the left) and April chatted with us and every other customer without being intrusive. They were so friendly and enthusiastic. As each customer came in, they were quickly greeted. Many were obviously regulars, as one of the ladies would hand them a drink without even needing to ask what they’d be having. The atmosphere at Roy’s Grill like a homey throwback to a different era. The prices were good too. Pre-tip, our total was $22.95 for a whole lot of food PLUS a malt.

Roy’s had been around since 1934 (though they were closed for several years during that time). When you walked in the door, you felt like you’d been transported back in time – in the best way. Sadly, in August of 2016, Roy’s Grill announced that they would be closing due to financial difficulties.

We would have loved to return to Roy’s Grill for some of their great food and atmosphere!

Roy’s Grill is located at 116 Chickamauga Avenue, Rossville, GA 30741. They are open Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can call them at 706-956-8317. You can learn more about Roy’s Grill (including their full menu) at www.roysgrill.us. You can find their daily specials listed on Roy’s Grill’s Facebook page.

Double Barrel BBQ (Signal Mountain)

September 28, 2015

If you’re looking for delicious barbecue on or near Signal Mountain, Double Barrel BBQ serves tasty barbecue (and great beer!) in a great atmosphere!

I recently discovered something called bullet journals and now I am obsessed (mine isn’t nearly as pretty as the one in that post, but I love the idea of keeping my calendar, notes, and lists organized as opposed to having random notebooks floating around and having to dig through them to figure out where things are. This weekend I updated my list of restaurants I need to try and posted the list on Facebook to see if anyone had anything to add. Turns out I have a lot of places to visit in Cleveland and North Georgia…those take some planning. We ended up at Double Barrel BBQ on Signal Mountain, which a friend suggested on my Facebook post (I have a handful of other places on Signal to try as well).

Double Barrel BBQ is on Taft Highway just a little past the Signal Mountain “business district” in the building that used to be Pepper Jack’s. Double Barrel started as a food truck and in August opened their static location. They are currently operating off of their food truck menu but will be expanding starting with their grand opening in October.

We were offered the options of being seated in the bar or the dining room and were seated immediately by a very friendly server. It’s a log cabin so the decor consists of lots of wood, but it’s not dark. They have lots of cool pendant lights hanging all over the dining room and interesting wall hangings. There are televisions in the dining room as well as the bar.

Our server, Tabitha, came pretty quickly to take our drink orders and brought a beer list at Philip’s request. They have a pretty impressive list of craft beers-both bottles and draft-at great prices, including some local brews from Chattanooga Brewing Company. Philip ordered a Straight to Ale Lily Flagg milk stout, which was listed on the list as a bottled beer for $2.50 but was actually on draft for $3.50 (still a pretty amazing price). He’s had that particular beer before and loved it. I, of course, stuck with water.

They have a pretty lengthy list of sides that come in a side-size portion or as an appetizer, and we decided to order some fried pickle chips, which the menu purported to be hand-bettered. We got the appetizer sized portion for $5.75…it was a pretty large portion and we probably should have stuck with the side-size portion for $2.50. Oh well. I never cry over more fried pickles. They were indeed hand-battered and were very tasty, well seasoned and with just enough batter to add crunch and flavor but not so much to mask the pickle flavor. They were served with ranch dressing which was just basic ranch dressing.

Right now the menu consists of a selection of meats and some hot dogs. I decided to get the 1/2 pound pulled pork plate for $9 (you can get a half-sized portion for half the price) with a side of fried squash, which the menu also said was hand-battered. I was a little less convinced about the squash being hand-battered than I was the pickles, since the coating was fairly thick. It tasted good, though, and was well-seasoned with Cajun seasoning. The meat was tender and smoky and was pulled and served on top of a couple of toasted dinner rolls. I had enough to bring home for lunch the next day.

Philip decided to order the 1/2 pound of brisket ($9.25), chopped (you can also order it sliced) with fried okra. The brisket was chopped into bite-size pieces and had a spicy rub on it (it was also served on top of toasted dinner rolls). The fried okra was lightly coated and was also seasoned with Cajun seasoning.

The sauces at Double Barrel are made in-house. I didn’t think to get a photo, but there was one called “Old Faithful” that was sweet and chunky…it was our least favorite. There was a molasses-based sauce that had a deep molasses flavor and a little bit of spice. The third sauce was a sweet and spicy blend, and it was very spicy.

Our total for this meal was $29.22 pre-tip, which included fried pickles, a beer, a pork plate, and a brisket plate. The service at Double Barrel BBQ was friendly and the food was tasty. I like the atmosphere in this restaurant, and it didn’t hurt that the mountain air was nice and cool and just made it nice to be up there (I love what I call “shorts and long sleeves weather”). I can’t wait to see what they unveil for their expanded menu. By the way, they also serve a breakfast buffet daily and offer growlers of beer to go. There are daily specials as well.

Double Barrel BBQ is located at 3720 Taft Highway, Signal Mountain, TN 37377. You can call them at 423-777-5491. They are open 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 7 a.m.-12 a.m. Friday-Sunday. You can check out their website, www.doublebarrel.me and like Double Barrel BBQ on Facebook.

Backyard Barbecue Closed

June 29, 2015

Backyard Barbecue was a BBQ restaurant in Soddy-Daisy near the lake. We enjoyed our meal there. Unfortunately, it closed just a couple of months after this review.

There’s a little spot near Soddy Lake that’s been a produce stand for as long as I can remember. I recall going there often as a little girl with my mom as she would buy tomatoes, squash, okra…of course, she knew the owners and they knew us. Small town connections. Anyway, a few years back half of that building was occupied by a restaurant. It’s been a couple of different places, but not all that long ago a BBQ joint, Backyard Barbecue, that had been in Daisy near Wal-Mart (in the old Delia’s location) moved in.

The owner of Backyard Barbecue contacted me a while back via the blog and invited me in. I had every intention of getting there before now, but I’ll be honest…I forget about it when I’m trying to think of somewhere to go. A friend texted me a few weeks ago to tell me that she had enjoyed her meal there, and my sister texted me the same thing this past week. I didn’t have anywhere else in mind for this weekend, so Philip and I decided to head over and get some barbecue.

There were no other patrons in Backyard Barbecue when we arrived around 12:30 or 1:00 on Saturday. The owners’ daughter took our order and promised us that we wouldn’t be disappointed with our meal. The joint is owned by a husband/wife pair; the man wasn’t there when we arrived but came in while we were eating. The lady heard us tell their daughter that we hadn’t been in before and brought us samples of the baked beans and potato salad, which she said were both recipes her husband had developed, to taste.

I didn’t take pictures of the potato salad or the beans; I guess I should have. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll tell you that I wasn’t too sure about the beans. They definitely don’t look like your run-of-the-mill baked beans…they are very dark in color, contain ground meat, and look more like chili than baked beans. I was a little suspicious but needn’t have been. They were delicious! They didn’t taste like run of the mill baked beans either, but I am not really a huge fan of baked beans so that was okay with me. They were sweet, tangy, and just a little bit spicy. The potato salad was actually very similar to the loaded baked potato salad I make (spoiler alert: I already have this recipe ready to post this Wednesday. Coincidence!) with red-skinned potatoes, bacon, and green onions. It was delicious as well. Neither of us ordered beans or potato salad to go with our meals, but we definitely will next time (and you should too!).

I considered getting a sandwich but decided instead to get a platter-meat, 2 sides, a roll, and sauce. I opted for brisket with fries and fried okra. They slice or shred the meat when it is ordered as opposed to having the meat already prepped ahead, allowing the meat to be served as fresh and moist as possible. The brisket was rubbed with a delicious, slightly spicy rub that I assume is made in-house and sliced thinly with the fat cap still intact. It was moist and delicious. Instead of drizzling the sauce on my meat, I decided to dip my meat into the sauce. The sauce was housemade…it was a thin sauce, not thick and tomatoey as you typically find around here. It was sweet and tangy and a little spicy, but not too much so. The fries were skin-on and appeared handcut; they were available seasoned or plain and I went for seasoned. The seasoning was a delicious rub. The fried okra was pretty standard for a barbecue joint-pretty sure it was frozen but it wasn’t bad. The roll was also pretty nondescript. I wish I had tried the honey cornbread that was listed as an available addition.

Philip decided to get the pork shoulder platter with slaw and fried okra. He was served a generous portion of pork shoulder that had been shredded. It had plenty of “bark” (the delicious dark bits from the outside of the smoked meat) mixed in and it was moist and flavorful. The slaw was a little sweeter than we would have liked. As I mentioned before, when we go back we will order potato salad and baked beans as our sides.

As I read reviews on Tomato (formerly known as Urbanspoon), as I typically do before visiting a restaurant, I noted that a few people said it was pricey. At $24 for two platters and two waters, it might be a little pricier than most barbecue joints in town but not too much so. Some also complained about the wait time. We didn’t have to wait long but there wasn’t anyone else in there while we were waiting. Since they prep everything as it is ordered, I could see how thing might be a little slower going on a busy night. If you are in a hurry, you might want to order ahead. The food was very tasty, though, and the people were very nice, so I’d encourage you to try Backyard Barbecue out for yourself!

Backyard Barbecue is located at 11210 Dayton Pike, Soddy-Daisy, TN, 37379. You can call them at (423) 457-9547. They are open from 11-8, Tuesday-Saturday. They do not have a website, but you can like Backyard Barbecue on Facebook.

Siren’s Seafood and Steak Market (***CLOSED)

December 22, 2014

Siren’s Seafood and Steak Market was a seafood & steak market and restaurant located on Signal Mountain. They are currently closed, though rumor has it they may relocate eventually.

I’ve been meaning to get to Siren’s for some time now. They opened several years back on Signal Mountain Boulevard and at some point…they moved up to Signal Mountain. I really have no idea when. I also have no idea if they always had a menu or if that is a more recent development since they moved up the mountain. The employees were very busy when we were in Saturday so I didn’t have a chance to ask them.

There were only a couple of people in the shop when we went in on Saturday afternoon, but several came and went making seafood and meat purchases or placing food orders while we were there. There is a dining room with several tables on one end of the building and the seafood/meat shop on the other end. There’s also lots of outdoor dining…but it was a little chilly for that.

When you walk in, there’s a counter at the end in the dining room where you can look at the menu and place your order when you’re ready. You pay at the counter and find a table in the dining room, then they bring your food out to you. The menu consists of appetizers (crab bites, oysters on the half shell, and sesame crusted tuna), gumbo, sandwiches, fried seafood, chicken, burgers, salads, blackened fish, boiled seafood, and a kids’ menu. They also had a menu of specials, which included crab cakes and shrimp and grits.

I decided to get the fried oyster po’ boy, which consisted of lightly breaded and fried oysters served on a length of soft but crusty bread with remoulade, lettuce, and tomato. The oysters were well cooked and there was a good amount of sauce-not too much, not too little. The best part is that the oysters are cleaned, shucked, and prepared right there, in house. Philip decided to get the catfish po’ boy, which was a nicely sized piece of catfish, lightly breaded and fried, served the same way as mine. It was well-seasoned and tasty. The sandwiches came with lightly dressed coleslaw, hush puppies, and crinkle-cut fries, which I have learned are always food-service fries. The menu here is about the seafood, though, so that’s okay. I had sweet tea to drink and Philip had a Founder’s All-Day IPA (they have a pretty decent beer list for such a small place). For our two meals and the beer, our total was $24.56.

In the seafood section, there were several varieties of fish available in addition to shrimp, clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops. The meat section had a variety of cuts of beef as well as duck breast and there were also whole ducks in the cooler. They also had crab cakes and some other house-made items for sale in the cooler. There were seasonings and other dry goods available as well. I really wanted to get some mussels but we weren’t going straight home, so we’ll be going back up soon to get some. Since I discovered that I like to eat mussels, now I want to learn to cook mussels.

Siren’s Seafood is definitely the place to go for seafood in Chattanooga, and they offer a nice meat variety as well.

Siren’s Seafood and Steak Market was located at 411 Wood Street, Signal Mountain, TN. They are currently closed. I have heard that they are planning to possibly relocate to downtown Chattanooga, but I have not heard definite plans for this. You can like Siren’s on Facebook and check out their website.