Hixson restaurants Archives - Page 2 of 7

Armando’s Chester Frost

September 28, 2016

Armando’s Chester Frost is a popular spot in Hixson for burgers, fries, and just about every sort of sandwich you can imagine.

Can you guys believe I’ve been writing this blog for 5 1/2 years now? When you write a blog for that long, sometimes you need to write about things more than once. This is the case particularly when you realize that you wrote some restaurant posts and didn’t even include pictures, like I neglected to do when I wrote my original Armando’s Chester Frost post. So…once a month, I’ll be writing a “revisit” post to update you all on a restaurant that I wrote about many moons ago.

With the “gas shortage” last week, Philip and I were trying to conserve gas and stay in Hixson. I drive a lot for work, and if I ran out of gas and wasn’t able to get more (as most of the gas stations in our area did run out at some point), then I was going to have to stay parked in one spot, which makes being itinerant a bit of a challenge. We decided to head just a few miles down the road and eat at Armando’s Chester Frost – the final decision to go there instead of Biba’s or El Metate being made because of the lack of pictures.

Armando’s Chester Frost has been around for as long as I can remember (my family never went there when I was a kid, but I remember going there with a friend when I was probably 9 or 10). It hasn’t changed much, though – still teeny inside, dark with wood paneling. The menu board is pretty retro with those push-pin black and red letters. I am sure they’ve made additions to their menu over the years, but all the classics are still there.

I’m usually a burger girl when I go to Armando’s Chester Frost, but since I knew that Philip would order a burger I decided to get my second favorite, the deluxe grilled cheese. This is a monster grilled cheese – a triple decker. Between the first two slices of bread are bits of ham, bacon, and roast beef and melty Swiss, American, and Cheddar cheese. Between the middle slice and the top slice lies lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayo. I, of course, opted to forego the onion. The deluxe grilled cheese is not for the faint of heart or the dainty eaters…it’s challenging to take a bite, to say the least. I don’t care about getting a little messy, though, as long as the food is delicious, and this grilled cheese did not disappoint. The bread was crunchy and buttery and all the fillings make a perfect savory, melty, gooey treat. We opted to split an order of onion rings. I’m not convinced that the onion rings at Armando’s Chester Frost are homemade, but they’re good – battered instead of breaded, and a little bit sweet. I do highly recommend the fripps (homemade chips).

As I predicted, Philip went for the cheeseburger all the way. It’s a pretty classic cheeseburger – hand-formed patty with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, ketchup, mayo, and mustard on a soft bun. I have never been disappointed by a burger from Armando’s Chester Frost. This one was no exception – Philip remarked that it was exceptionally juicy. He decided to order a chocolate malt as well. The malts and shakes are handmade by the girls who wait the tables and run the register. The malt was creamy and chocolatey, and personally I thought it was pretty malty, but Philip would have liked to have had more malt.

Armando’s Chester Frost is a neighborhood favorite around here.

I don’t think they’re going anywhere soon – why would they when they’re always overflowing at lunch and dinner with customers dining in or picking up t0-go orders? With their menu of classic homemade fast food favorites and their friendly staff, it’s easy to see why they’re so popular.

Armando’s Chester Frost is located at 7330 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343, for dine-in and drive-thru. Call in your orders at 423-842-0479. While the Facebook page for Armando’s Chester Frost lists a website, the website is not currently functional.

Original Post:

So, this was the night that I realized that, aside from a Lean Cuisine that I ate alone on my couch one night before logging in for my online class, every meal that I had eaten for a solid week (aside from my yogurt or smoothie breakfasts) had been from a restaurant. Even lunches had been leftovers. I had offered to cook at my parents’ house, but my mom didn’t have anything specific planned to cook, so she suggested Armando’s. I love Armando’s but I actually called her back and asked if she wanted to come to my house….I had all the ingredients to make spaghetti carbonara and thought for sure that I might implode if I ate one more restaurant meal. Alas, she had already asked my brother to meet us….so on I went.

Armando’s at Chester Frost Park has been around for years and years. I can remember the first time I went there with a friend in elementary school. My family lives in deep Soddy, so this wasn’t somewhere we came (we were more JJ’s type people….but JJ’s doesn’t exist anymore!). Interestingly, Philip and I have lived in the Dallas Bay area for nine years now, and I think we have only gone to Armando’s once. Why? Because it’s hit or miss with the crowd. You can go there and get your food immediately, or you can go there when they are packed out with a long line at their drive-thru and wait, wait, wait. This is certainly not a bad reflection on them. They must be doing something right! We just aren’t much on crowds or waiting (Philip especially).

This night, however, I don’t know if we just got there at a good time or if we just got lucky, but there were maybe four or five tables taken in the restaurant (of course, it’s tiny, so there are probably only about 10 tables altogether) and a car or two in the drive-thru. We walked right up and ordered, and our food was out within 10 minutes. My mom and I ordered a cheeseburger and fries to split, and my brother ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and tater tots.

Armando’s food is your basic hamburger stand kind of food….burgers, fries, onion rings, tots, chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, now salads, and so on. I’m pretty sure they have milkshakes, too. I loved that there was a note on their menu board that said something along the lines of: “Don’t see what you want? Ask us. Maybe we can make it.” Now that’s keeping the people happy! It’s family-owned, and there are several Armando’s locations around the Chattanooga area but they are all owned by different people and have variations on their menus.

The cheeseburger that my mom and I split was huge and half was plenty for me. It was just basic with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, pickle. I, of course, took the onion off because raw onions are the worst in my opinion. The fries….they are probably frozen, I don’t know, but Armando’s doesn’t really claim to be 100% superfresh and I’m not judging. They were hot and pretty tasty, although fries at places like that never seem salty enough to me so I always salt them a little. I also ate a couple of tots out of my brother’s basket, and they were pretty good too, although I’m really not so much of a tots kind of girl. He felt like there was a little too much mayo on his grilled chicken sandwich, but I probably would have been fine with the amount of mayo. That’s just a personal preference kind of thing.

I really like the food at Armando’s. It’s not likely that I’m ever going to become a regular due to the reasons stated above, but it’s definitely a place to go to get a tasty burger or sandwich. They don’t have a website but you can find them at 7330 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343, for dine-in and drive-thru. Call in your orders at 423-842-0479.

Lakeshore Grille

September 21, 2016

Lakeshore Grille, located near the Chickamauga Dam, is out of the way & easily overlooked, but they serve good food with great views of the Tennessee River!

I love it when you guys suggest recipes for me to make and restaurants for me to check out. Have I mentioned that before? I’m pretty sure I have. Yeah, I’ve definitely mentioned that before.

A few weeks ago a reader emailed me to let me know that her favorite burger in town was at Lakeshore Grille. To be honest, Lakeshore Grille wasn’t even on my list – or even my radar. I knew that it existed, but that’s about it. Tucked away far from any main roads, Lakeshore Grille never even crossed my mind.

As per usual these days, since Philip doesn’t get home from work on Saturdays until 3 or 3:30, we arrived at Lakeshore Grille around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. There were a few patrons inside, but it was pretty empty. We contemplated sitting outside (they have ample outdoor seating) but it was pretty hot so we decided to sit inside by one of their huge windows instead. Our water glasses were filled and Philip set to checking out their beer list. He ended up ordering the Sam Adams Octoberfest, which he was pretty happy about.

The happy hour menu was set out on the table and spinach Gouda dip was calling my name. I rarely order it because it’s so easy to make at home for much cheaper than you can get it in a restaurant, but at only $4 for happy hour the price was right. I wouldn’t have ordered it, though, if I’d realized that a complementary basket of house-made potato chips drizzled with a just slightly spicy white sauce and sprinkled with chopped chives would be delivered to our table. We made quick work of the chips (because we hadn’t eaten since breakfast at 8:30). They were warm, crunchy, and well-seasoned, and the creamy sauce was a delicious addition. The spinach Gouda dip was a small portion, served with crisp baguette slices for dipping. It was tasty but not really anything mind-blowing.

Jane and Ken (the readers who emailed me) highly recommended the “Laney” burger ($12), with smoked Gouda cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, and roasted red pepper aioli on a kaiser roll. The burger was well-cooked with a nice grilled flavor. The onions were just a little bit crunchy…I like for my caramelized onions to be super-soft and syrupy, but they still tasted good. Smoked Gouda is always a welcome addition to just about any savory dish. I would have liked for the burger to have more red pepper aioli; I couldn’t really taste it. I thought that the lettuce and tomato on the side were unnecessary – with bacon and caramelized onions, you really don’t need cold toppings. The fries were pretty standard – frozen, good but nothing special.

Philip considered the shrimp and grits ($16), but their shrimp and grits were not the cream-based style that he likes best. He ended up deciding between the sausage and shrimp penne ($14) and the catfish and fries. Eventually, he settled on the catfish and fries ($13). Typically, I think of fried catfish as being breaded in cornmeal before frying, but this was dipped in a peppery batter. It was well-seasoned and crispy, drizzled with a chipotle aioli that made it just a little spicy. Like me, he thought the fries were pretty good.

The decor in Lakeshore Grille was minimal (there was a cute little Chattanooga-specific display right when you walk in) but the place appeared clean and well-kept. The view of the marina and the river was really all we needed to keep us entertained, especially as we watched a family come into the marina with their very excited dog on the boat. The staff was friendly and our service was good. The total pre-tip was $36.05, so comparable to similar restaurants. I would definitely go back.

Lakeshore Grille has good food at decent prices with a great view!

Lakeshore Grille is located at 5600 Lake Resort Terrace, Suite 300, Chattanooga, TN 37415. They are open Tuesday – Thursday 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 5 p.m. to 12 a.m., Saturday 3 p.m. to 12 a.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can call them at (423) 710-2057. You can read more about them on their website, lakeshoregrille.com and on their Facebook page.

Taco Town (Hixson)

September 14, 2016

Taco Town in Hixson, Tennessee is definitely a “dive”, but it’s clean and friendly and the tacos that they serve are so good you really don’t care anyway.

Choosing a place to eat on Saturdays has become infinitely more complicated now that Philip is working on the weekends. He gets off at 2:30, sometimes a little later. By the time he gets home from his job in East Brainerd, we’re both pretty much ravenous (in fact, sometimes I have to break out a snack). If I don’t already have a place in mind, choosing a restaurant can be pretty stressful, and driving a long distance can cause extreme “hanger” (hunger + anger). Plus, it seems that lately every place I think of closes early on Saturdays. WHY????

Forgive me for my rabbit trail. Last week, Taco Town was on my short list, as was Bob’s Brick Oven (a pizza joint in North Georgia) and Ceniza (I will get to both of those places soon, I promise). We ended up deciding on Taco Town for no other reason than we were hungry and it was close. It was basically dead when we arrived at 4:00 p.m. We chose a seat by the window and were given menus to peruse. We both ordered waters and Philip also ordered a horchata (a spiced and sweetened rice milk drink) which was delicious and made in house, but I didn’t get a photo.

Chips and salsa were delivered to our table, as it should be in a Mexican restaurant. The chips were fresh, thin and crispy and the salsa a little chunkier than typical for a Mexican restaurant and just barely spicy. We also decided to spring for an order of queso. The queso was different than the thin, white cheese sauce with just a hint of pickled jalapeño that is typically served at Mexican restaurants. It had plenty of red and green peppers in it, so it was quite a bit spicier than the typical queso…and quite a bit more flavorful as well.

While the quesadillas, tortas, and other menu items all sounded delicious, the name of the place IS Taco Town so I felt that I had a duty to order tacos, and lot of them. After much deliberation I settled on carnitas (slow cooked shredded pork), barbacoa (slow cooked shredded beef), and al pastor (chunks of pork marinated in chilies, spices, and pineapple). Taco Town tacos are served street taco style, each in two soft flour tortillas with the meat and lots of chopped onion and cilantro – nothing else except a wedge of lime to squeeze over each taco. Somehow, even though I typically hate raw onion, I can eat it in street tacos without giving it a second though (until after we left and I realized that I was out of the mints that I usually carry). Both the carnitas and the barbacoa were unbelievably tender and well-seasoned. The al pastor was cooked perfectly and was very flavorful.

Philip was disappointed that lingua (beef tongue) tacos were not on the menu – he loves them. Don’t judge…as Andrew Zimmern once said on Bizarre Foods, tongue is like the best pot roast you’ve ever had. It’s super tender and beefy flavored. But I digress…we are not talking about tongue today. Philip ended up deciding on tacos as well and ordered one chicharron (fried pork skin), one with chicharron, chorizo, and asada (grilled steak) called campechanos, and one with just chorizo. He loved all three. He noted that the chorizo was not very greasy at all (sometimes they just drip with grease) but that it was not as spicy as the chorizo in some spots around town (he likes the spice). We were a little apprehensive about fried pork skins in tacos, since they tend to be crunchy and we wondered if that would make them difficult to eat. However, the pork skin was not crunchy, just cooked through and delicious. The carne asada was tender to the bite and flavorful.

Taco Town is a bit “dive-y” but not in an unclean or scary way. The staff was friendly (the male server who started us off seemed a little confused, but he was still nice and managed to deliver all the right items to our table). At $18.58 for a specialty drink ($2.00), queso dip $2.99), and 6 tacos ($1.99 each), the price was definitely on the money (ugh, sorry, that was a terrible pun). Since it’s not the closest, we probably won’t make a lot of trips to Taco Town, but we would definitely go back if we were in the area looking for some great tacos!

If you’re in Hixson and craving tacos, give Taco Town a try!

Taco Town is located at 4812 Hixson Pike, Suite 110, Hixson, TN 37343 (in one of the strip malls near Krystal). They are open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. You can call Taco Town at (423) 870-0909. They do not have a website or Facebook page at this time.

2 Crazy Greeks

February 5, 2016

2 Crazy Greeks is bringing delicious and casual Greek dining to Hixson!

As we were driving home from our “meh” Chinese dining experience the weekend before last, we drove past 2 Crazy Greeks on Hixson Pike (next to Krystal) and I was all, “Dang! We should have gone there!” I’ve been craving Mediterranean food ravenously for the last couple of weeks for whatever reason. Suddenly, I knew that I had to have Greek food ASAP.

I rarely get office hours in my job but one day last week I had a few glorious hours to work on a PowerPoint for a presentation that I needed to do. Since I was going to be in Hixson, I asked Philip to come eat lunch with me at my office. We never get to eat lunch together, so that was a nice change of pace…and it was also nice to eat lunch at my desk rather than in my car.

Philip called in our order to 2 Crazy Greeks and I stopped by and picked it up. They told him that it would take ten minutes, which was definitely quicker than I expected…but we ordered right when they opened. It’s good to be on the ball. Now…in case you didn’t know, 2 Crazy Greeks is a food stand, not a restaurant…i.e. there’s no seating. There was a lady there placing an order when I arrived but they took my name and quickly got my order for me. The lady who waited on me was very friendly…I paid, took my order, and got to the office.

I like that the menu is small…I always think that when menus are kept small that restaurants can focus on the few items on the menu. I decided on the falafel. In case you aren’t familiar with falafel, it’s fried patties made from chickpeas and herbs. They are served on a pita with lettuce, tomato, and onion (which I promptly removed, of course) and tzatziki sauce, which is a sauce made with yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and dill. The sandwich was nice and warm and the falafel patties were very hot, a perfect foil for the cool vegetables and the tzatziki. Guys, this sandwich was amazing…very flavorful. The only thing that I would have changed (besides ordering it without onions next time) would be to have the tzatziki on the side so I could put it on myself and make it a little less messy to eat.

Philip decided to get the gyro. The traditional beef and lamb gyro is made with ground beef and ground lamb mixed with herbs and spices, spit-roasted, and shaved. Like my falafel, it was also served with lettuce, tomato, onion, and tzatziki on a pita. The meat was tender and delicious, very well-seasoned…and there was a huge portion of meat on the sandwich. In fact, Philip wasn’t able to finish it because it was so large (don’t worry…I finished mine). He did say that he thought it probably could have used a little less tzatziki…but I think again that serving it on the side would fix the problem, which was basically that all the tzatziki was at the top of the sandwich so it made it very messy to eat.

We split an order of feta fries. They were hand-cut fries with herbed feta cheese (oregano was a very prominent flavor in the cheese) and drizzled with olive oil. As is typical with hand-cut fries, they weren’t super-crispy…and that’s okay with me. I love hand-cut fries and everything about them. They were salted perfectly and, despite the olive oil drizzle, not greasy. Because of the feta cheese, these fries were best eaten with a fork.

One thing that I read in one of the reviews on Facebook or Yelp was that it was pricy for the amount of food that you get. My falafel ($6), Philip’s gyro ($6.75), and the feta fries ($4.75) cost a total of $19.12 including tax. I felt that the portions were very generous, certainly plenty for us, and I didn’t think it was pricy at all considering the quality and flavor of the food. I wouldn’t bat an eye at paying that at a full-service restaurant. I thought it was worth it! If you’re a fan of Greek food, you definitely need to check out 2 Crazy Greeks!

2 Crazy Greeks is located at 4848 Hixson Pike, Hixson, Tennessee, 37343. They are open Sunday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. You can call them at 423-710-2829. They do not have a website, but you can “like” 2 Crazy Greeks on Facebook.

Las Morelianas

January 21, 2016

If you don’t know that Las Morelianas is there, you might miss it. They serve great Mexican food in Hixson!

I love getting restaurant recommendations from readers. Love it! Keep them coming, you guys. It might take me a little while to get to them, but I promise that I listen when people tell me to go somewhere. A few months back, a reader sent me a message on Facebook and told me that I needed to get to Las Morelianas. When I asked him where it was, I was surprised to find out that it was in Hixson. Turns out it’s contained within the Mexican grocery store on Highway 153, near Wal-mart.

We finally made it in there this past weekend. If I hadn’t done a little reading on Yelp, I would have had no idea where to find the restaurant. If you walk in the door on the left side of the building, take a left by the cash register, then take a right, you’ll end up in the restaurant. A very friendly man greeted us and brought us menus and drinks.

The menu that I had seen online had an extremely limited selection, but the menus we were given had several pages. There are several appetizers, lunch specials, and a couple of burritos. There are a wide variety of tacos and some sandwiches (aka tortas), quesadillas, and some homemade specialties. The menu features quite a few seafood dishes and some specials, like chilaquiles and fajitas. There are also several specials listed above the counter that come with just chicken or beef and include a 16-ounce drink.

We ordered some chips and salsa, of course. How do you go to a Mexican restaurant and not eat chips and salsa? And how many of you can relate to the sentiment below? Origins of this meme unknown. The chips were very good, obviously freshly fried because there were a couple with soft spots in them. I didn’t mind that because I knew they were made there. The salsa was extremely tasty, with lots of cilantro, lime, and salt balanced with onion and garlic and tomatoes that weren’t too chunky but not too smooth either. We were also served several different smooth salsas with our meal (the orangey one was automatically brought to our table, but our server told us about the green salsa and the red, which is habanero). All three of those were too spicy for me…I am a lightweight (you guys know that) but Philip liked them all and said they were delicious.

I teetered on the edge of ordering a Milaneza torta, chicken or steak pounded thin, breaded, and fried, served on a torta roll (a special bun) ? with lettuce, tomato, onion, jalapeño, and avocado plus a side of fries. I decided ultimately that my first visit called for tacos ?, though, so I went for the carnitas (seasoned, shredded pork) and pescado (fish). The tacos are served traditional-style…two corn tortillas, chopped onions, and cilantro, plus lime wedges. Oddly, this is the only way that I can eat raw onions without feeling like I’m going to burst into tears. The carnitas were amazing…very tender, perfectly seasoned, and finely shredded. The fish was also delicious, seasoned well and shredded, topped with some tomato in addition to the onion and cilantro and served with a chipotle for drizzling.

Philip took one look at the menu and knew exactly what he was going to order: lengua tacos. Yes, that’s tongue. If you read my Taqueria Jalisco post, you know that not only is he not afraid to eat things that make other people shudder, he loves beef tongue. Honestly, while it does freak me out just a little too much to actually order it in a restaurant, I have tasted his and it really is quite good…like a very tender pot roast. He said that it was very good…I didn’t taste these so I’ll just have to take his word for it!

We also ordered some beans and rice. It was a generous portion of each, enough for us to share. The beans were well-seasoned and were mashed but not pureed to a smooth consistency like some of the refried beans that you might end up with at a Mexican restaurant. They were very good. The rice had lots of vegetables and was also well-seasoned and a nice texture. I am a weirdo, I know, but I thought the little crocks they served them in were cute as well.

After we finished eating (by the way, our pre-tip total was $16 and some change…not bad at all!), we perused the grocery store for a few minutes. There are tons of hard to find products, like dried chilies, tamarind pods, and other spices used in traditional Mexican cooking. I almost bought a bag of limon y sal (salt and lime) Fritos, after hearing Matthew and Molly talk about them on the Spilled Milk podcast, but decided to hold off until I need Fritos to go with chili or something like that since I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay out of the bag once it was opened. And…I finally found a place to get locally made tortillas and sorta rolls!

So, if you never knew that Las Morelianas existed, now you know. It’s definitely not fancy but it sure is delicious. Obviously I am not one to speak to authenticity of a Mexican joint but there were quite a few Hispanic folks dining in there so I am guessing it’s pretty legit….but they definitely have some options for the more timid gringos too. Go check it out!

Las Morelianas is located at 5622 Highway 153, Hixson, Tennessee, 37343. You can call them at (423) 877-7115. They are open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., though I am not sure if those hours are for both the grocery store and the restaurant. If anyone knows, please let me know! They do not have a website or an “official” Facebook page, but you can “like” this page on Facebook to see others’ reviews and check-ins. By the way, Las Morelianas has a 5-star rating on Yelp out of quite a few reviews.

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