downtown Chattanooga restaurants Archives - Page 6 of 20

Hennen’s (Downtown Chattanooga)

July 20, 2015

Hennen’s is a great upscale but not stuffy restaurant in downtown Chattanooga. We decided to go there for our 14-year anniversary!

Who are these infants? July 2001

So, last Tuesday (7/14) was Philip’s and my 14th anniversary-one of the few times a year that we spend a little more money on dinner (also one of the few times a year we go out on a weeknight). We put a lot of thought into where to go and got lots of great suggestions from my Facebook followers (all added to the list, thanks guys!). We decided in the end to go to Hennen’s…we’d been there before but it was long before my blogging days.

We made our reservations for 6 p.m….then watched a storm roll in at about 5:15. We managed to get ahead of the storm, so it hadn’t started raining when we got there, but even if it had, we would have been okay because Hennen’s has a great set-up where you can park in the garage in the same building, come down on the elevator, and enter the restaurant without having to get out from under cover (and if you remember to take your garage ticket with you, you can pay at a machine before you leave).

We were basically starving when we arrived, so we decided to order an appetizer. We were trying to choose between white bean hummus (with marinated tomatoes and warm flatbread) and poached pear and blue cheese flatbread. We ended up deciding on the latter. It was a good decision. It had a great crust with lots of pears that had been poached in what I assumed was port, which was reduced and drizzled on top, and a good amount of gooey blue cheese. I puffy heart love blue cheese. If you don’t, don’t order this flatbread.

I couldn’t decide between the PEI (Prince Edward Island) mussels and the braised short ribs with herb mashed potatoes and green beans. Our server, Abby, highly recommended the mussels. I have a rule that I always take recommendations (if I ask for them, that is). The mussels were served in a bacon-jalapeño broth with wedges of grilled Niedlov’s bread and I decided to get some fries to go with them, because I always make fries to go with mussels. The fries were pretty average, nothing to write home about but not bad. The mussels were delicious, though. The bacon was diced into pretty tiny chunks and I swear there was an entire jalapeño sliced up in there. It was definitely a 3+ alarm broth, which kind of caught me off guard (I was surprised by how much heat the broth lent to the mussels themselves) but boy was it good. Additionally, the mussels were well-cleaned (i.e. no grit; nothing ruins a meal for me quicker than grit of any kind) and the bread was nicely grilled and perfect dipped in the broth.

Philip decided on the tagliatelle pasta with grilled chicken, shrimp, Andouille sausage, caramelized onions, and peppers in a cream sauce. It was a very large portion (he brought half home). The pasta was well cooked, as were the chicken and shrimp. The sausage was very spicy and added a lot of flavor to the dish (even Philip, who is pretty immune to a lot of things that I find unbearably hot, said it was “lighting him up”). I tasted the pasta with a little bit of the shrimp; the cream sauce was light, a little garlicky, and delicious. He also had a Caesar salad, which was very fresh, with a slightly spicy and very garlicky creamy dressing and housemade croutons.

Just a note…there are a lot of steaks on the menu. While we obviously didn’t order them, we saw a few go by while we were eating. They smelled absolutely fantastic. It doesn’t seem like there are a lot of upscale restaurants that specialize in steak anymore, so it’s nice to see that they do.

When it came time for dessert, we had a bit of a dilemma. We always share a dessert, but Philip is pretty much a crème brûlée addict and essentially unable to order anything else if it’s on the menu. I, however, really wanted to try the beignets (French doughnuts) after seeing a friend eat them the last time we were there. So…we decided to live dangerously and order both (I know. Who ARE we?). The crème brûlée was tasty but not the best we’ve had (I like for the custard to be super-cold and this was maybe a slight bit warmer than I prefer, so not as thick as it could have been) but gah, those beignets! They were served with powdered sugar (of course!) and mocha creme. They were still hot, they were a little yeasty, and they were just amazing. And we didn’t have to pay for them! Abby gave them to us as an anniversary gift (thanks Abby!)!

The best part was that by the time we were finished with our dinner, the storm (which came hard and heavy while we were eating and threatened to knock out the power a few times) had blown over. Our total was about $61 pre-tip. The service was very good and the food was delicious…and Philip even got lunch for the next day.

We would definitely recommend Hennen’s!

Hennen’s is located at 193 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-634-5160 and you can also visit their website, hennens.net, to make reservations. You can also like Hennen’s on Facebook.

Zarzour’s Café (Downtown Chattanooga)

May 30, 2015

Zarzour’s Café is a Chattanooga classic. It’s been around since 1918 and serves delicious burgers plus meat and three and desserts!

I have been meaning to go to Zarzour’s Café since I wrote my first burger list in 2013 and a commenter declared my list invalid since I had not tried Zarzour’s, which is the oldest restaurant in Chattanooga, having opened in 1918. The problem is, they are not open on the weekend and they are only open 11-3 on weekdays. Plus, I wasn’t sure if they took credit cards (they do not) and I never have cash so I knew that visiting would take some planning ahead so I wouldn’t get caught without a way to pay. Since I’m off from work right now (woohoo summer break!) this gave me the perfect opportunity to plan ahead. We grabbed some cash and headed downtown.

We got there around 12:45 or 1 and were able to easily find parking on the street (there is a small lot next to the restaurant as well). The place is small (and smells like burgers-that is, glorious-and it was fairly crowded but there were still several tables open. We seated ourselves and perused the menu that was on the table, even though we really didn’t need to. There are a handful of items that are on the menu all the time-burgers and fries and a couple of salads-plus rotating daily specials and desserts. The specials come with two vegetables and tea or you can add a soda for an additional charge.

A server took our drink order then when she returned with our waters she took our order-two cheeseburgers, one all the way and one with no onions, plus fries. A lady (who turned out to be the owner, Shannon) was manning the flat-top griddle and the fryer behind the counter while joking around with customers and dropping a few curse words (so beware-and maybe sit in the back room-if you have ears that are sensitive to that sort of thing…I do not), and it appeared that the two servers were getting the other items from a stove in a small room in the back. Most of the people that came in while we were there ordered burgers but a few did get specials. There were several people that left while we were there who were obviously regulars and were on a first name basis with the staff. I also saw a server helping a man with a cane carry an order to his car. That’s service, guys.

Our orders came out fairly quickly, especially considering that one person was preparing all the burgers and fries. I’ll get the fries out of the way first…they were standard frozen crinkle-cut fries. Pretty good but nothing special as fries go. It doesn’t matter, though, because it’s all about the burger here. One bite and I was hooked….the meat had that crispy quality to it from being browned on the griddle, but the inside was juicy and the whole thing was perfectly seasoned…I’ll give the meat a 4 since it was cooked perfectly but I assume that it is just regular, nothing special about it ground beef. The bread gets a 5…it was a Niedlov’s bun and GAH. It was cooked to a perfect crisp on the flat-top. Toppings are a 3.5 …just the right amount of condiments (mayonnaise and mustard) so it was not dripping and the pickles, lettuce, and tomato were fine. Cheese also a 4-American cheese is just the best for melting but others contribute more to the flavor. As for structural integrity, I’ve got to give it a 5…it was darn greasy but it held together perfectly all the way to the last bite. Size is also a 5…it was not huge and I didn’t feel stuffed after eating it but I was not hungry for several hours after. Overall, this burger gets a 4.4. I feel like it needs a bonus, though, and I’m going to hold onto that for later because this burger was just so darn good (and that crispy bread tho!) that even though a lot of its components were nothing special everything together just worked so perfectly.

So I can’t tell you much about Zarzour’s other than that it’s a popular place with a salty-mouthed owner manning the griddle (which I found hilarious). And it serves amazing burgers.

I’ll have to go back to try out the specials and the desserts because those desserts sounded pretty delicious. But I know that restaurants don’t stick around for nearly 100 years if they aren’t fantastic, so they are definitely doing something right. By the way, our total was $18 even pre-tip (you put your tip in a jar on the counter). So go there!

Zarzour’s Café is located at 1627 Rossville Avenue (not Rossville Blvd.), Chattanooga, TN 37408. They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. You can call them at (423) 266-0424. They do not have a website, but you can like Zarzour’s Café on Facebook.

Maple Street Biscuit Company

May 18, 2015

Maple Street Biscuit Company is a popular Downtown Chattanooga breakfast and lunch spot that serves biscuits with a variety of interesting topping options.
Maple Street Biscuit Company has been around for several months (since last summer, maybe?) and several people have mentioned that we needed to go there. I love a good biscuit, so I was definitely game. The problem is that the place closes at 2 on weekdays and is closed on Sundays, and since I almost always make biscuits for breakfast on Saturday we usually aren’t in the mood for biscuits on Saturday afternoon. We decided to have pancakes this weekend instead so that we would be in a biscuit state of mind for our late lunch.

We headed to Maple Street Biscuit Company around 12:30 or 1:00. It’s located on Broad Street near Five Guys and Top It Off, so parking is limited. We parked in a Unum lot and walked down. It was still pretty busy, with the patio still full, lots of tables occupied, and a fairly long line. The first thing that we noticed was that the place was loud.

You stand in the line and give your order to the cashier, who asks you a question and your answer is what they call out to indicate that your order is ready (today it was “If you could take a road trip anywhere, where would you go?”). You get your own silverware, drinks at the fountain, etc., then find a table. When your food is up, someone stands at the counter and essentially screams your answer then you go to retrieve it. When the place is really busy (like it was while we were there) they are screaming out constantly and it is a little unnerving. One guy’s voice actually made me jump. I was not wild about this process.

The menu at Maple Street Biscuit Company includes, naturally, a wide variety of biscuit sandwiches-most, but not all, including fried chicken breast. There are biscuits with sausage gravy and also a few vegetarian options. Sides include fried green tomatoes, collard greens, five-cheese macaroni and cheese, and sweet potato fries.

As for how we liked the food…well, I made the statement that since biscuits are my specialty I was a little concerned about how this was going to go. I decided to order the Reinhold ($6), with fried chicken breast, honey mustard, and crunchy dill pickles. The honey mustard was not the creamy kind, just the honey + mustard kind (most of the sauces are made in-house), and the pickles were thickly sliced. I decided to take the top off of my biscuit and eat it on its own while eating the bottom half with a knife and fork. I thought that the bottom part, with the chicken, honey mustard, and pickles on the biscuit, was pretty tasty; the chicken was crispy and well-cooked. The biscuit had a good texture, too. However…I thought it had a bit of a doughy flavor. I think it was maybe made with shortening and I am used to an all-butter biscuit, so that may have been the flavor that I was picking up. Philip got the Sticky Maple ($7) with fried chicken, pecan wood smoked bacon, and maple syrup (real maple syrup, not maple-flavored pancake syrup) and liked it pretty well also.

As a side, we shared an order of fried green tomatoes with ranch dressing (blue cheese dressing is available as well) for $4. The basket was 4 fried green tomato slices with a cup of dressing for dipping. The tomatoes were battered in a heavily peppered batter and fried till crisp and golden brown. They were pretty tasty with a heavy spice from the pepper. The ranch dressing was just average ranch dressing but pretty good with the tomatoes.

So…did I love the place? Nah. I didn’t hate it, either, but I’m going to be honest, the screaming killed it for me; I guess we should have sat outside, but the patio was packed out when we got there. At $18.57, it was not an expensive lunch but I did think about how much less it would cost for me to make it at home (but let’s be honest, that’s the case with just about everything). The food was pretty good, so if you don’t mind a loud atmosphere, then give it a try. If loud is not your style, go when there’s open seating on the patio (a Facebook follower also said that if you sit in the back you don’t hear the loudness. It was very crowded when we were in so this was not an option for us. Others said that when you go at less busy times-such as Friday or Saturday evenings-it is not as loud.). I will say that the staff seemed very helpful and I saw one cashier leave her station to help a couple with visual impairments get their drinks and find a table.

Maple Street Biscuit Company is located at 407 Broad Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at (423) 362-5380. They are open Monday-Thursday, 7-2, and Friday-Saturday 7-2 and 5-9. You can check out their website: Maple Street Biscuit Company and like Maple Street Biscuit Company on Facebook.

Purple Daisy Picnic Café (Revisit)

April 6, 2015

Purple Daisy Picnic Café is a popular restaurant near downtown Chattanooga & Lookout Mountain (St. Elmo) that serves great BBQ, Southern food, & burgers!

So, this was not supposed to be a Purple Daisy revisit post. We were actually planning to go to Zarzour’s since I’ve been told that a Chattanooga burger list is invalid if Zarzour’s is not a consideration. I tried to call them to see if they take credit cards (does anyone know the answer to this?) and got no answer…so they either were too busy to answer or they were closed for Good Friday. We decided not to take the chance and instead went to Purple Daisy. I’ve been before, but want to try the burger and the barbecue (I always order the rainbow sandwich).

The place was pretty busy right at noon but we were immediately seated at a table outside. The server took our drink order and I decided to deviate from my usual water and have fruit tea instead. The fruit tea is a blend of tea, juices, and spices. It tastes mostly like tea and pineapple juice…it’s a little tart and a little sweet and very delicious.

Since a burger was my mission, I didn’t have to think about my order at all. I decided on the single ($4.95…there’s a double for $7.95) with Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo, mustard, and ketchup. I decided to get hash brown casserole instead of the chips that come with the burger, because has brown casserole is a non-negotiable when I go to the Purple Daisy. It’s creamy, cheesy, and very flavorful, just like my mom makes it. The burger is charcoal grilled. It was well-cooked and tasted like a burger you’d get at a cookout. I’d rate it a 3 for meat-well-seasoned, cooked through just right, and with a nice grilled flavor. For bread, I’ll give it a 3-standard soft bun like you’d get in the bread aisle of a grocery store. For cheese, a 4…a decent amount of Cheddar, melted on top; for toppings, a 3-just the standard toppings, maybe a little too heavy on the condiments. For structural integrity, I’ll give it a 3 as well. It held together pretty well until I got to the middle, when the ample condiments started sliding around on the lettuce and tomato and it pretty much fell apart. Size? A 4.5…it was a good-sized burger, not so huge that I felt stuffed but definitely not small. Overall burger score: 3.4.

Philip decided to get the pork barbecue tacos with a side of hot slaw (extra-they don’t come with a side). The tacos came on flour tortillas with cheddar cheese, iceberg lettuce, and a little bit of original barbecue sauce plus a small cup of sour cream. The barbecue here is very good-fresh tasting, shredded (not chopped), smoky, and moist. They offer three sauces: original, sweet, and hot. Philip didn’t care for the sweet much but liked the hot and the original. The tacos overall were very tasty, simple enough to allow the flavor of the pork to shine through. The slaw? HOT. Philip isn’t very sensitive to spicy foods and he found the hot slaw very hot, seasoned with cayenne and with chopped jalapeños mixed in. Again, very fresh, very flavorful, but don’t plan on eating all of it unless you are used to eating very spicy food.

I love The Purple Daisy Picnic Café, and apparently a lot of other people do too. The place was full the whole time that we were there and people were coming in and out the whole time. The food at The Purple Daisy is very consistent. The menu is fairly limited-barbecue, burgers, deli sandwiches, hot dogs, salads, and a few other items, plus sides and a couple of desserts (Oreo dirt cake and banana pudding)-allowing them to focus on serving flavorful and fresh food. I highly recommend The Purple Daisy! By the way, our pre-tip total for one drink, a burger, pork tacos, and 2 sides was just under $20.

I highly recommend The Purple Daisy!

The Purple Daisy Picnic Café is located at 4001 St. Elmo Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37409. They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. You can call them at 423-822-6477. Check out The Purple Daisy Picnic Café website and like The Purple Daisy Picnic Café on Facebook. You can also follow The Purple Daisy on Twitter.

The Blue Plate Revisit

March 23, 2015

The Blue Plate is a great downtown Chattanooga restaurant near the Tennessee Aquarium that serves great, fresh local food!

I love spring more than words can say. Not quite as much as I love summer, when I live in shorts and tank tops and flip flops and get to pretend that I’m a full-time blogger…but spring is when I feel like I am coming back to life after the winter cold (I despise winter as much as I love summer). It’s been so rainy around here lately, which has put a bit of a damper on my excitement about the warming trend, especially since I spend such a large portion of my day driving.

Anyway, this past Saturday was gorgeous, sunny, not exactly warm, per se, but warm enough that I could wear just a cardigan over my t-shirt and not feel like I was going to freeze. To celebrate, we headed down to the Chattanooga Riverfront. That’s the other thing I love about spring-my city is beautiful all year, but when the warmth returns, it springs into its full glory (Bradford pear trees excluded….my sinuses are killing me. Plus I hate those things after the one that we used to have in our front yard broke in half and fell on top of our house. The damage was minimal but we promptly removed it and replaced it with a perky dwarf magnolia).

We decided to go sit on the patio at The Blue Plate, which I first wrote about in 2012. You guys! That was when Chattavore was still a baby blog. I decided that we needed to go back so I could check out their burger as I get ready to revamp my burger list. You guys might be seeing a lot of burgers and revisits for a while, but normal blog activities will resume once I do my list update. I think I owe a lot of places a second visit anyway…it’s kind of fun to go back and see if things have changed and if so, how!

There wasn’t much thought that went into my order. Double-stack cheeseburger, with two house-blended beef patties, American cheese, toasted local (ahem, Niedlov’s) bun, house spread, and pickles, served with hand cut chips. The chips were good, albeit a little under seasoned. The burger was surprisingly (I’m not sure why surprisingly) delicious. It was a very simple, classic, diner style burger that tasted like it was cooked on a flat-top…a little crusty from the cook on the outside and still very juicy. The American cheese was simple, perfectly melted. I’d give it a 4 for meat (well cooked, well seasoned, very flavorful), a 5 for bread, a 4 for cheese (American wouldn’t be my first choice but works great here), a 4 for toppings (minimal, which I have decided is pretty ideal because it lets the meat shine through; the house spread was a little bit sweet and a little spicy-delicious), a 5 for structural integrity (i.e. because of the minimal toppings, the burger held together very well and the bread didn’t slide around at all), and a 3.5 for size (a little on the small side, but I really didn’t mind because I didn’t feel bad about eating the whole thing!) . Overall, a 4.25 out of 5. Impressive!

Philip decided to get the famous fried chicken wrap, with the Blue Plate’s famous buttermilk fried chicken, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, mixed cheese, house cheese sauce and all wrapped in a flour tortilla. It was gigantic and had a good balance of ingredients. That fried chicken-wow! It’s delicious. Philip really enjoyed this wrap, which also came with chips.

Since I’ve never really heard anything about Blue Plate’s burger, I didn’t really think of it as a contender for top burger, but I was really amazed by how great the burger was!

The Blue Plate serves really great, high quality food with as much local food as possible. And they don’t have a microwave in the building, which makes me happy.

We really enjoyed our meal and our first opportunity to dine outside in 2015. I’m looking forward to more opportunities like this…and more burgers! By the way, our bill was just under $20 before tip.

The Blue Plate is located at 191 Chestnut Street Unit B, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (across from Ross’s Landing and the Tennessee Aquarium). They are open Tuesday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 8 a.m.-9 p.m. You can call them at 423-648-6767. Check out their website, theblueplate.info and their menu. You can like The Blue Plate on Facebook.

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