sandwich/burger/hot dog restaurants Archives - Page 8 of 11

Merv’s-June 5, 2013

June 9, 2013

Merv’s is a dive bar located in Red Bank, Tennessee that claims to serve the best burgers in Tennessee. Here’s what I thought.

Boy, I found out on Friday just how passionate people are about burgers. For starters, my “Chattanooga’s Top 5 Burgers According to Chattavore” post garnered me my biggest blog day thus far (and that’s in 2 years of writing this blog!). Second, I definitely stirred a few people up on Facebook. They did not agree with my opinion. That’s the beauty of blogging, though. I can write my opinion, you can write yours. Maybe I’ll change my mind, maybe not. No matter, really. Burgers are…a good thing.

The reason I start with that is because since I was student teaching in the fall of 2000 I have been hearing about the awesome burgers at Merv’s. My cooperating teacher was actually the first to tell me, and I have heard it from many, many since. The restaurant claims, in fact, to serve not just Chattanooga’s best burger but Tennessee’s best burger. As I mentioned in Friday’s post, Philip and I lived in an apartment complex on Mountain Creek Road for the first year that we were married and we never made it to Merv’s. That was a different time for me, though, and if I wanted a burger I probably went to the Burger King just a little bit farther down Mountain Creek. For shame.

My excuse for not going sometime between moving away from Mountain Creek Road in 2001 and now? I thought Merv’s was a bar and thus a smoky environment. I guess that at some point in the past this probably was the case, but (maybe because of the smoking ban that rendered the under-21 crowd unable to enter a smoking-allowed-establishment) Merv’s may be a “bar” (as in they serve beer and have darts and pool) but it is not a smoky joint. Look, they have a kids’ menu. You’re safe. I knew that if I was going to write about my opinion about Chattanooga’s top burgers, I was going to have to check out Merv’s first, so Philip and I invited one of his friends to have dinner with us at Merv’s.

First impressions? The parking lot kind of sucks. All of the spaces were full when we got there and there were actually two cars that had created their own spaces at the end. We could have made another space by the telephone pole but instead we parked kind of caddy-cornered across the street in the parking lot of the former Food Lion. I’m all about far-away parking. It’s exercise you don’t really have to think about. There are booths and tables inside, plus a bar (of course) and televisions playing various sports channels. It’s a pretty big place, sparsely decorated, with a jukebox and a crowd of people who are obviously regulars. I actually saw the servers hug a couple of people as they were leaving. One server took our drink order, but then she ended up behind the bar (and eventually in the kitchen, I think) and another very friendly girl whose name I regret I didn’t get brought our drinks out.

The menu consisted of several fried appetizers, several sandwiches (including a BLT with eight-that’s right, eight-strips of bacon), plate dinners, salads, and, of course, the burgers. I really wanted to try the fried pickles (which a friend had told me were good) but at $6.95 they cost as much as the burgers, so no…..There really was no question about what we were going to have. We went for burgers, and burgers we would have. We asked the server for recommendations about the burgers, and she recommended the bacon cheeseburger hands down. That’s what all three of us ordered (mine without onions, of course). We considered the onion rings, but since she told us that they were frozen, not homemade like the fries are, we decided to go with fries instead. She promised the large basket would be plenty for all three of us. Just as an aside…they also make homemade chips….but have bags of Lay’s and other packaged chips on a shelf behind the bar. Why someone would buy bagged chips when homemade are available is beyond me. Anyway….

It took maybe a little longer than we expected for the burgers to come out, but not really a long time. No big deal. They came out with a cup of ketchup on the side of each. The burgers were large but not the biggest I’ve seen and served on a standard sesame seed bun. Nothing fancy here. They were topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayo, mustard, and ketchup. The burgers were cooked through without being overdone, juicy and just verging on greasy but not overwhelmingly so. While I consider a Tubby’s burger a 10-napkin burger, this was more of a 4-napkin burger….but that’s not a bad thing, because sometimes it can get a little ridiculous. The bun was grilled, giving it a crunchy edge, which I liked but Philip thought that was the only problem (but he just doesn’t like grilled bread or buns)-so if you don’t like grilled bread/buns, be sure to ask them not to grill yours. She wasn’t lying about the basket of fries being large….it was a large basket of fries and between me and two grown men we still had at least one or two servings left in the basket when we were done. I liked the fries, which had the skin left on. They were cooked well but not overly crisp, which is just how I like my skin-on fries. I did not feel that they were very greasy. I did, however, think they could have used a little more salt.

Merv’s is a dive, but it’s not scary or shady at all. The burgers are great. I’d be interested to try some of their other menu items but I seriously doubt I could ever bring myself to order anything else. The prices are about average. The beer list leaves something to be desired if you aren’t into cheap beer…they did have Sam Adams, Yuengling, Killian’s, and Shock Top….but other than that it was your standards…Bud, High Life, etc. We split the fries with our friend and the total for Philip’s and my meal was around $17 before tip. Not a bad price, since we were just discussing the other day that unless we go to a fast food place we generally expect to pay at least $30 once the tip is factored in. If you are looking for a good burger and fries at a decent price in the Red Bank/Signal Mountain Road area, Merv’s is a great choice (and let’s be honest, if Sofa King wants their food to be competitive with Merv’s and Tubby’s that close by, they need to step up their game)!

Merv’s is located at 713 Mountain Creek Road, Chattanooga (Red Bank), TN 37405. You can call them at 423-877-0221. They have a website (which is really just a menu with contact info and a map): http://www.mervsofchatt.com/Mervs_Restaurant_Chattanooga_TN.html. There are links on the website to Facebook and Twitter, but the Facebook link just takes you to the homepage and they only have one tweet…so right now I would really bother with the social media.

Update 2/14: Merv’s flooded not too terribly long after this post went up last summer. They were closed for remodeling for a very long time, with rumors floating around that they were permanently closed (I saw this on Urbanspoon, of all places!). Good news! The rumors were false. As of last week, Merv’s is reopened for business!

Chattanooga’s Top Five Burgers (According to Chattavore)

June 7, 2013

While I’ve updated the list (see my new Top Ten), this is my original list of Chattanooga’s Top FIVE burgers – according to Chattavore, anyway!

*****Please note that this post has been edited since the original publishing. Based on the fact that Tremont Tavern started grinding their own beef for burgers after I ate there, I decided that I had not really tried one of their burgers. See below for details!*****

*****Also, while I couldn’t find a link, Tubby’s failed a restaurant inspection in late 2013 or early 2014. Again, I couldn’t find the link but apparently they passed a re-inspection with an 89? I told you it was a dive. Anyway, just didn’t want to catch any flak about this. UPDATE: Tubby’s closed in 2014 or 2015.*****

I’m not sure when it happened.

When I was younger, sure….I liked burgers. They weren’t something that made me want to turn cartwheels, though. At some point in my adult life, though…something changed.

If I had to choose my “top” food, burgers would definitely be in the running…along with popcorn. And maybe pasta with alfredo sauce (have I really not written about that yet?).

Anyway, last week’s jaunt to Sofa King Juicy Burger really got my readers talking about Chattanooga burgers. The consensus is definitely this: a good burger is not about hype. As Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation said, “It’s a hamburger made out of meat on a bun with nothing. Add ketchup if you want, I couldn’t care less.” A good burger doesn’t need a lot of frufru-ness. It just needs to be good. And here are my top five “goooooood” burgers (my requirements, by the way, were that (a) the burger must be beef; (b) the restaurant must be local; and (c) the burger must be on the menu every day, not a special).

5. Tubby’s Real Burgers

My husband likes to say that when you walk into Tubby’s you’re initially afraid that you’re going to get hepatitis. It might not be as bad as all that, but it’s definitely a dive, pretty run down, which is funny since this location was built to replace the tiny hole in the wall location where Tubby’s was when I first started eating at Tubby’s while working at Monkey Business on the North Shore in 1999.

I used to order the chicken fingers when I went there because Tubby’s honey mustard is awesome, but after Philip had their burger on our review visit, I started ordering either the cheeseburger or the bacon cheeseburger. This is a ten-napkin cheeseburger. It’s (a) gigantic; and (b) super, super drippy. No frills, just burger goodness. And since Philip and I can eat there for less that $15, it’s definitely a bargain.

Tubby’s Real Burgers is located at 710 Cherokee Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-265-0069.

4. Southern Burger Company

I’m not sure if Southern Burger was the first food truck in Chattanooga or if Famous Nater’s was….but Southern Burger was the first one that I heard about. Because I’d been hearing about the food truck trend for a while on some Food Network and Cooking Channel shows, I remember jumping up and down with excitement (well, at least inside my head) when I heard about it. You know what, though? I’ve never, never had a burger from the Southern Burger truck. I never went there until they opened their Warehouse Row food court location.

Southern Burger offers several specialty burgers or a build-your-own option. The burgers consist of a thin patty, cooked perfectly to obtain crispy edges but retaining just a slight bit of pinkness in the middle. Now that’s talent. They’re served on a slightly sweet Bread Basket bun, which I love because it seems like everyone else uses Niedlov’s (not that there’s anything wrong with that-I love Niedlov’s!). Philip likes to order the Jalapeño burger, with bacon jam and jalapeño slices, and I like the classic burger with cheddar subbed for American cheese and their stellar bacon jam added to it. Yum. This makes me want to go to Southern Burger right now and have a burger with bacon jam.

Southern Burger has two locations: Warehouse Row, 111o Market Street, FC-5, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (423-825-4919) and their new Ooltewah location at 9453 Bradmore Lane, Ooltewah, TN 37363. Follow the truck on Facebook and Twitter. You can also find their website at http://www.southernburgerco.com.

3. Merv’s

I first heard of Merv’s (review coming Sunday!) when I was student-teaching and my cooperating teacher told me that the best burger around was at Merv’s on Mountain Creek Road. Back then, it was a bar and I heard that it was a little bit shady. In fact, one of our friends told us that while he liked their burgers, he wouldn’t want his wife to go there without him. Philip and I lived on Mountain Creek Road for our first year of marriage and we never even considered going in there. We’d been thinking about it a lot lately but thought it was still a bar and thus we would have to dodge cigarette smoke…but it turns out that Merv’s has a kids’ menu so no cigarette smoke (you must be 21 or older to go to Merv’s after 9 p.m., though). We had to go to Merv’s before I could write this list since about a thousand people had told us they had the best burgers in town.

We went with a friend and each of us ordered a bacon cheeseburger (with American cheese). We shared a gigantic basket of fries, but you’ll get to hear more about that on Sunday. The burgers were large and, like the Tubby’s burger, very drippy, served on just a basic sesame seed bun. The bacon was crisp and everything was perfectly cooked. Obviously you can see by their spot on this list that Merv’s did not qualify as my top burger….but as soon as I took the first bite I knew they belonged somewhere on my top five list. It’s a great burger, and if it’s been a while since you’ve been in, the atmosphere is definitely not a scary bar atmosphere (though I’ve heard some say that they liked it better back then!).

Merv’s is located at 713 Mountain Creek Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-877-0221. Check out their website: http://www.mervsofchatt.com/Mervs_Restaurant_Chattanooga_TN.html.

2. The Terminal

I don’t think that it’s any secret that Terminal BrewHouse is probably my favorite restaurant. I love their pot roast nachos and their West by God salad with sliced steak and French fries….but my favorite is their burger. (A few commentors on Facebook have gotten a little torn up about me choosing the Terminal when I made the statement that they were my favorite restaurant….feeling like I was playing favorites. Let me clarify: the burger was definitely the menu item that solidified their status as my favorite…before Chattavore ever existed.)

The Terminal serves a bison burger, a black bean burger, and a “Philosopher’s burger” with ground lamb. Philip loves the bison burger, but I can’t bring myself to order anything but the plain old beef burger. Not that it’s plain old anything. I like mine with Gouda cheese and bacon, a half-pound of beef that I ask them to cook medium-well, served on a Niedlov’s bun with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion (that I have removed, of course), mayo, and mustard. Perfection. Drippy but not too much so, with a delicious grilled flavor. Love it love it love it.

The Terminal BrewHouse is located at No.6 14th Street, Chattanooga, TN 37408 (right next door to the Chattanooga Choo Choo). They can be contacted at 423-752-8090. Check out their website and their Facebook page.

1. Tremont Tavern

I knew that I had to try Tremont Tavern after a friend whose burger opinion I trust very much told me that they had one of his favorite burgers. While burgers are not the only item on the menu at Tremont, they are definitely the “specialty” of this tiny neighborhood haunt in North Chattanooga.

After considering a Chuck Fisher burger (with guacamole), I decided that my obsession with pimento cheese warranted a pimento burger, with homemade pimento cheese (one of my favorite things) and bread and butter pickles on a Niedlov’s bun. Philip decided on a jalapeno jack burger, with fresh jalapeno, bacon, ancho cilantro dressing, pepperjack cheese, green leaf lettuce, sliced tomato, and red onion. The ingredients were very fresh, the pimento cheese homemade, and the meat perfectly caramelized on the outside while not too done in the center (perfect temperature). The meat was juicy enough to make the bun bottom a little soggy, which is a very good thing. Since my review of Tremont, they have started cutting and grinding their own meat and hand-pattying their burgers fresh every morning. You had me at grinding your own meat, Tremont Tavern. I wonder if they would be number one on my list now, and I will be in very soon to check it out. I promise.

I returned to Tremont on 6/20/13. I was not disappointed. I will post a full rundown of this visit as my regular Sunday review (Tremont, you are one of the few restaurants that has gotten a “revisit review”!) but just to give you some detail, I tried the Gouda burger (on a friend’s recommendation), Philip got the Dirty Gomez (50% beef, 50% housemade chorizo), and our friend Brian (who also accompanied us to Merv’s) had the jalapeño Jack. We were all raving over our burgers and I had to go wash my hands when I finished my Gouda burger. That’s a sign of a good burger, folks. And yes, I ate the whole thing. I think it is disrespectful to a great burger to leave any on the plate….thank God I still have a quick metabolism! We talked to the owner, Dustin, for several minutes about the meat-grinding process. Basically they use a whole shoulder clod, cut away the nasty stuff that people don’t want to eat (which is one of the little details that really sets their meat apart….factory ground meat just has that stuff ground right on into it), grind the meat and the fat separately, and then weigh the meat and fat and make an 80/20 mix (80/20 is widely accepted as the best ratio for burgers). I think this really sets their burgers apart. The meat is so much fresher than most places, and it gives them a claim to fame that most other restaurants don’t have. I, for one, am sold.

Tremont Tavern is located at 1203 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can contact them at 423-266-1996. You can “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Some honorable mentions include the “This Bacon is the Jam Burger” from The Honest Pint, which I would love more if it was made with cheddar rather than blue cheese, and the Blue Ribbon Café burger, which was not eligible for the list because it’s a special, only available on Friday, and Dub’s Place in Red Bank. It should also be noted that I didn’t include Southern Star’s burger, which used to be a special but is now on the regular menu. I had it years ago and loved it….but I’ll have to try it again to make sure my feelings are still the same. I have also been told that a burger list from someone who has not tried a Zarzour’s burger is basically not valid. Perhaps I’ll have to do a “Top Ten” burgers list eventually!

In preparation for this list, I decided to poll Chattavore’s Twitter and Facebook followers on their favorites. Urban Stack won by one vote, with Tremont Tavern coming in second, and Terminal and Merv’s one vote behind Tremont for third. Also garnering multiple votes were Tubby’s, Blacksmith’s Bistro, and Kevin Brown’s Burgers in Ooltewah, which apparently I must try very soon.

I have to know, Chattanooga. What do you think are Chattanooga’s Top Five burgers?

Sofa King Juicy Burger-May 31, 2013

June 2, 2013

With its wacky, off-color name and serving burgers & gourmet shakes, Sofa King Juicy Burger has (quite literally) made a name for itself in Chattanooga & beyond.

While my mom and sister were sifting through the Black Friday sale ads on Thanksgiving, I noticed a headline in the business section of TFP (Chattanooga Times Free-Press, for you non-Chattanoogans) about a new burger joint coming to the Red Bank area-Sofa King Juicy Burger. As a big SNL fan (there’s a Sofa King sketch that used to air on SNL a few years ago), I immediately broke out into laughter and ran to show the paper to Philip, who had a similar reaction.

It didn’t take long for the reaction to begin. If you don’t get the joke yet….well, I’m not going to explain it to you. I, however, am not offended in the least by expletives, real or implied, so the publicity just made me laugh even more. Sofa King even made it to Huffington Post….and so the set-up began.

As soon as the place opened in March people started asking me if I’d been yet. We actually attempted to go the week after the place opened, but the parking lot was so full that we couldn’t find a space so we just drove on to somewhere else. I definitely heard lots of opinions on the place, though. The lines instantly became legendary, and they ran out of buns on the first day, forcing an early closure and prompting a hysterical YouTube video. The thing about me, though, is that no matter how hyped a new restaurant is, I’m not going to wait 30 minutes or an hour or whatever. That’s not my style. After the “no parking” situation we quickly decided that we were going to wait for a weekday, not-during-a-meal-rush opportunity to go there. Friday I tweeted the following and Philip suggested that we could check out Sofa King:

We definitely got there at a good time. There were plenty of parking spaces and, while there were quite a few people inside, there were only a couple in front of us. Of course, you instantly notice the decor….the walls are lined with sofas and there are lots of retro signs, ads, and pictures hanging everywhere. Of course, I had to post the logo on Instagram….

There are a few specialty burgers, including a “classic”, the Awesome burger with Boursin and strawberry jam, and the Nutty burger, with peanut butter and bacon (intriguing, but I’m not sold). I considered the Awesome Burger but ultimately decided to go with something basic so I could judge the burger based on its….”burgerness”, not on an interesting combo of ingredients. I just went with the “build your own” with a beef burger (there’s also a veggie burger, which is a grilled portobello) on a white poppy seed bun with classic sauce (more or less a Thousand Island-ish dressing), cheddar ($1.00), bacon ($1.00), lettuce, tomato, and pickle. Philip decided to go with the Classic Burger-a beef burger on a white bun with lettuce, tomato, and classic sauce. Since our burgers were basically the same….I’m not going to talk about them separately. Mine’s first with the cheese and bacon. The burgers are made with grass-fed beef, which is always a plus. Each burger is made with two thin patties, which allows for a bit of a crispy edge (which I really like). The buns were very fresh and everything had a good flavor. I liked the sauce a lot….I really like the mayo-ketchup-relish combo and often add it to my burgers at home. I would rate the burger as good, and I really appreciate the use of local, grass-fed beef….but I wouldn’t place it in my “top five” (that’s gotta be a Friday list soon).

We decided to split an order of onion rings, battered with Budweiser (not PBR? What’s up, hipsters? There was a huge stack of PBR cases in a little storage area in the back….more on the beer in a minute) and Aretha Frankenstein’s pancake batter (Sofa King shares an owner with Aretha’s and Crust Pizza) and a milkshake-we decided to go with the Cat Man Du-vanilla ice cream, Himalayan sea salt, cashews, and, on the cashier’s recommendation, we added caramel to it. The onion rings were pretty good…sweet, more crumbly than I was expecting from a ring coated with pancake batter (I guess I was expecting a more tempura-like consistency). I really liked the shake (which had more of a soft-serve consistency than a shake consistency and needed to be eaten with a spoon); Philip liked it okay but said he wouldn’t really want to order it again. I really liked the sweet/salty combo of it.

Okay, back to the beer. They have a sign outside that boasts $1.00 beers. What? Okay…that’s PBR, Budweiser, or High Life. There’s no drink fountain, and those three canned beers cost less than canned Coke products (at $1.50) and are the least expensive drinks on the menu (there’s also a craft beer list for “beer snobs”, which we did not view). “Gourmet” sodas like Blue Sky are $2.50 apiece, and a Steaz coconut water is $4.95. Hmmmm. That brings me to my final verdict…

Sofa King Juicy Burger has been hyped a lot. I’ve talked to a few people who said they loved it, and I’ve heard a lot of people express disappointment in the quality of the food, and honestly I think when a place is so overly hyped you are pretty much doomed to be disappointed. I try not to let the hype get me, and I wasn’t disappointed with the food. It didn’t blow me away. I’d eat there again, but probably only if someone else was paying or I was going with a group and that’s where everyone else wanted to go. My big problem? The price. For 2 pretty basic burgers, an order of onion rings, and a milkshake (or a “liquid nitrogen milkshake”, whatever that means) we paid $25.00. I kind of feel like Sofa King Juicy Burger is all hype and not a lot of substance, and there are definitely other places that deliver food-wise without the hefty price tag. So, I didn’t hate it, and I’m not going to tell you not to go there.

Try Sofa King Juicy Burger at least once and make up your own mind….but don’t expect too much or you might be let down.

Sofa King Juicy Burger is located at 1743 Dayton Boulevard, Chattanooga, TN 37405. You can call them at 423-490-SOFA. Check out their website: http://www.sofakingjuicyburger.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

Choo Choo Bar-B-Que Hixson-May 4, 2013

May 5, 2013

Choo Choo Bar-B-Que is a popular barbecue joint located on Hixson Pike in Hixson, Tennessee…less than five minutes from Publix.

May the 4th did not exactly turn out how I had hoped. I have had a craving for some sort of fish or shrimp dish all week long and had hoped to find a restaurant with a decent seafood menu and spend a little time perusing antiques at the Knitting Mill. Two problems with that, though: (1) UTC’s graduation happened yesterday morning, which meant that everything downtown was bound to be ridiculously crowded; and (b) it has been raining since early Saturday morning. Raining a lot. This weekend weather is really starting to get on my nerves, truth be told. It’s been in the 70s and 80s and generally sunny or at least dry most weekdays for the past several weeks, but it has been chilly every weekend and rainy for the past two…and rain (though not chill) is in the forecast for next weekend as well. Ugh.

So, like I said, May 4th did not turn out exactly how I had hoped. If I’m being honest, I would have preferred to not leave the house at all….but I needed a blog post and I needed a birthday present for my nephew Elias, who turned six on Friday and whose birthday party is today. We headed to Toys-R-Us to pick up some karaoke supplies and made a stop-off at Books-a-Mill because I wanted to take a look at a couple of cookbooks I’m considering (surprise, surprise), then we headed back toward home while trying to think of somewhere to eat.

We’ve eaten at just about every locally-owned restaurant in this area that has been recommended. There are a couple that I won’t go to, but one of the few remaining is Choo Choo Bar-B-Que in Hixson. There actually used to be two Hixson locations-one across from Wal-Mart on 153 and the one on Hixson Pike-but the 153 location closed; the building is now located behind the Hixson Krystal and it’s named something else. I have a funny Choo Choo Bar-B-Que story, actually. What I assume was the original location used to be located on Amnicola Highway, next to the emergency animal hospital. Philip and I used to always find that hilarious-a barbecue place next door to an emergency animal hospital? Seemed a little suspect to me, and we always joked that we should take a picture and send it to Jay Leno. Also, Philip used to work in the banquets department at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo….but my sister somehow thought that he worked at Choo Choo Bar-B-Que. Funny stuff. Or maybe just to me.

Anyway, we had two $15 credits to Choo Choo Bar-B-Que that we had purchased from Double-Take Deals so it just made sense to stop there. There was only one other table occupied in the restaurant so we had our choice of tables. The menus were on the table and the server quickly took our drink order. You know I couldn’t resist the fried pickles, though the killer potato skins, with cheese and pulled pork, sounded pretty tasty. The fried pickles came out quickly, very hot (the only, only problem I have with fried pickle spears is that I always burn my mouth on them). They had a cornmeal coating that looked like it had a lot of dill in it, though there wasn’t a strong dill flavor. They were served with ranch dressing, though you can order blue cheese if you’d prefer it. I’m pretty sure it was just Sysco ranch dressing, so pretty “meh”, but the pickles were good.

There were specials listed on the wall-fried catfish and chicken & dumplings (the specials change daily and the specials for each day are actually listed on the menu) but I wanted to try the smoked meat so I didn’t really give much consideration to them. I considered a pulled pork sandwich but I have decided that if a barbecue stuffed potato (aka a killer potato) is available I am basically unable to order anything else. I ordered a potato with pulled pork. The potato was, of course, large, cut into chunks and topped with melted cheddar cheese, sour cream, and pile of pulled pork. The sauce was on the table to be applied by the diner (regular and hot, which Philip said had a little spice but wasn’t really “hot”, though I don’t always trust his opinion on that….we have very different definitions of hot). I really liked the fact that the cheese was so melty….it added a lot to the texture of the whole meal. It wasn’t overly covered with sour cream and I liked that the sour cream was drizzled rather than scooped for maximum coverage. The meat didn’t have quite as strong of a smoky flavor as I would have liked but it was pretty good, and the sauce was nice, sweet but not too sweet.

Philip also ordered his usual barbecue joint order, a pulled pork plate without Texas toast (he hates Texas toast!) with sides of okra and coleslaw, though he did consider the baked beans. Like me, he liked the pulled pork he did say that it didn’t have the “chew” he was expecting-it was a little more moist (as in wet) than the smoked pork you generally find at a barbecue place but it was still good….it wasn’t soggy, not to worry. He thought the coleslaw was just okay….he really loves the slaw at Rib & Loin and honestly I don’t know if anyone else’s mayonnaise-based slaw will ever measure up. The okra was pretty good though I am guessing because of the thick “jacket” of coating it was probably frozen, which seems to be par for the course (and since this is the South that’s a little disappointing-what does everyone have against tossing some fresh okra in cornmeal, flour, and seasonings and giving it a quick fry like my Mama does?????). Pretty good but not eye-rolling good.

While the desserts (chocolate or coconut cake, banana pudding, and strawberry shortcake) sounded tempting, we were stuffed and decided to skip it this time. Our total before tip was $18 and some change. We only used one of our credits so we’ll be going back to use the other one. I’m interested in trying their special chicken salad sandwich-made with smoked chicken-or maybe one of their burgers or barbecue quesadillas. Scrolling through their Facebook page, some of their specials looked pretty tasty too-homemade soups, homemade chicken & dressing, and the chicken and dumplings all jumped out at me. I wouldn’t say that Choo Choo Bar-B-Que is my favorite barbecue place but it’s definitely one of the closest to my house and it was definitely good barbecue. I left smelling like smoked meat and in my opinion that’s never a bad thing.

Choo Choo Bar-B-Que is located at 6410 Hixson Pike, Hixson, TN 37343. You can call them at 423-843-9554. They do not have a website but you can find them on Facebook.

North Chatt Cat-April 20, 2013

April 21, 2013

North Chatt Cat was a dive restaurant/bar (now closed) that was formerly located on Chattanooga’s North Shore near Coolidge Park.

Do you guys have any idea how difficult it is to find a butter dish? When I wrote my biscuit post a few weeks ago I took a picture with my very utilitarian Snapware butter container in it and made the observation that I really needed to get something cuter. I’m thirty-four years old, y’all. I don’t do a lot of entertaining but a 34-year-old woman really should have a presentable butter dish. Anyway, we set out to Mia Cucina yesterday looking for a nice butter dish and came up with nothing. Seriously. In fact, the only one I saw yesterday at all was a crystal one from Belk. A crystal butter dish. A very large crystal butter dish. It looked more like a butter cloche. No thanks. Anyway, I think I’m going to order a Fiesta Ware butter dish. Did you know that Fiesta Ware is made in the USA? I’ve never been a huge fan, probably because I’m not really into the bright colors, but I think I’m going to start building a collection of black & white Fiesta Ware. It shouldn’t be too big of a surprise since we’re all about local food, but we are big on “made in the USA”….better quality and supporting the US economy and job market. I found this website yesterday: http://stillmadeinusa.com/. Fascinating.

Anyway, since we paid for parking downtown we decided that we should just go ahead and eat down there, and since Mia Cucina is right across the street from North Chatt Cat, which is about the only place on the North Shore that we haven’t visited from my “list” it seemed logical to go there. Plus, they have outdoor seating and the weather was glorious. We grabbed the last table on their patio after walking through their indoor seating area which smells like burgers (surprise, surprise, I know!).

There was one server working and she brought us a menu after we sat down. The menu is very simple: sandwiches, extras (like cheese & bacon), sides, non-alcoholic drinks (tea & fountain drinks), and beer. That’s it. There are two prices for each item: a price for those paying with cash and a price for those paying with credit. Cheap beer (PBR, High Life) abounds but they do have a few more, um, “upper crust” varieties like Yuengling and Sam Adams. As far as imports, I saw a guy drinking Red Stripe (which is Jamaican but produced in the U.S. so I guess technically is not an import) before we left, and I think I saw Corona on the menu but I’m not sure. They don’t have a website and the menu from Urbanspoon does not have the beer menu from the back page so I’m not positive.

There are quite a few sandwiches on the menu, including a veggie burger, a black bean burger, a Reuben, and a grilled cheese. There are also chicken fingers on the menu. There are several sandwiches with animal names, like the hound dog, which I am assuming is a hot dog (there’s no description) and the Tweety Bird, which is grilled chicken. Philip decided on the bison burger because if a restaurant has a bison burger he must order it. I decided on the Puddy Cat, a 1/3-lb burger, after considering the 1/2-lb Ally Cat but deciding I did not need to eat a 1/2-lb burger. I also contemplated a BLT but ultimately decided to try the burger. I asked for onion rings ($1.00 up-charge) but unfortunately the fryer was on the fritz. Our server told us we could have chips (chips,fries, or tots are included in the price of the sandwich) or she could take off the side and charge us $1.00 less. We opted for the chips. We each ordered cheese on our burger as well ($0.25 up-charge). (pictured below is the Puddy Cat)

Our burgers came out pretty quickly (within about 10 minutes). Nothing fancy about the presentation: a red burger basket with a piece of parchment. The buns were just a standard, out-of-the bag bun, with iceberg lettuce, a tomato slice, pickle chips, American cheese, mayo, & mustard. Philip also had onions. The chips were just plain old Lay’s…not much to say there. My burger was a fairly thin patty, cooked through and well-seasoned with that classic greasy spoon burger taste (not a bad thing). Not too much mayo or mustard, also a good thing….often places just drench the sandwiches in condiments but these had just the right amount. Philip’s bison burger was much more rare than mine, probably about medium, because bison meat dries out very easily so you cannot overcook it or it isn’t worth eating. (pictured below is the bison burger)

I wouldn’t call these burgers the best in Chattanooga but they were just good old greasy spoon burgers. This place is definitely a dive, but it’s been around for a long time (ten + years, I believe….I’m pretty sure they opened when I worked on the North Shore in college). The food is tasty but not unique. There were some older guys sitting next to us who were obviously regulars, and there were other diners young and old. It’s definitely a mainstay and worth checking out. If you can find a seat on the deck/patio, the views are awesome. We even saw a couple standing at the edge of the deck, looking toward the river, to drink their beers (there were no seats available on the deck, though there were several inside). By the way, our total was about $17.

North Chatt Cat closed in 2015 but has been replaced by another restaurant.

North Chatt Cat was located at 346 Frazier Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37405 (at the corner of Tremont & Frazier). You can call them at 423-266-9466. They do not have a website, but you can “like” them on Facebook.

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