seafood restaurants Archives

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.

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga

October 6, 2014

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga recently won the Times Free Press Best of the Best award for best seafood restaurant for the 7th year in a row.

Let me start this by saying that Chattavore always has been and always will be a blog focused primarily on promoting local restaurants. That said, decided to try an experiment. I am actually invited fairly regularly to attend openings and other events at chain restaurants. I have always kindly declined the invites, but last month I decided to accept an offer, even if I only do it once, just to see how I would approach a dining review (a) when my meal is complementary; and/or (b) at a chain restaurant.

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a PR representative for Bonefish Grill. Bonefish Grill Chattanooga was just voted best seafood restaurant in Chattanooga in the Times-Free Press “Best of the Best” readers poll for the seventh year in a row and has recently unveiled a new menu with the hashtag #hellonewmenu. They wanted to invite me in to try out the restaurant. We hadn’t been in many years, so I decided to take them up on the offer. I will let you know up front that I was given a dining voucher and quite a few “extras”, though we did pay a small portion of our tab as well as tax and tip. Because of this I am going to take a more objective “just the facts” approach to the review than I normally do. However, anything positive that I say is my own opinion!

Since we attend church on the East Brainerd side of town, we decided to dine at Bonefish Grill Chattanooga for Sunday lunch. We were actually unaware until we arrived that Bonefish Grill serves brunch on Sundays (perhaps Saturday as well, but I’m not sure). Brunch offerings include a selection of omelets, “Brunch favorites” including French toast, a burger, and oatmeal, and a variety of eggs Benedict dishes. For $20.90, you can order one of their brunch items plus endless bellinis, mimosas, or blackberry sangria. We were not in the mood to go all out with brunch, but they did bring us some French toast to sample. The French toast was bruleed (which was a nice touch) and served with pancake syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, and mint, and bacon. Since we were also getting Bang Bang shrimp we should have left more on the plate…but it’s a sin to waste bacon, right?

Angela, our server, brought us a couple of drinks, including the blackberry smash, which was literally smashed blackberries, coconut water, mint, and soda water, and a house lemonade, which is made with lemongrass syrup and house made lemonade base. It’s served in a sugar-rimmed glass and is quite possibly the tarted lemonade I’ve ever had in my life, which is not a bad thing. I particularly liked the blackberry smash, though…the mint was a wonderful touch (I’m a little obsessed with mint. And know I’m thinking that I need to recreate this…but perhaps include some lavender as well). She also brought us a plate of warm bread with pesto dipping oil.

The brunch menu offers a smaller selection of “Signatures starters” and “Starters + Sharing” menu items than the lunch or dinner menus, but the Bang Bang shrimp is always available. I had never tried the Bang Bang shrimp but have heard a great deal about it and wanted to try. Bang Bang shrimp is fried shrimp tossed in a creamy, spicy sauce. It was a decent but not huge portion. We enjoyed the Bang Bang shrimp a great deal…it was just a little spicy but not too much. I’d like to recreate this in a baked version at home. The ahi tuna sashimi (seared and sliced tuna) is another popular appetizer (we ordered it on a previous trip and liked it a great deal. We also each decided to try a salad. I had the house salad, which was an unusual play on the traditional house salad with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, pumpkin seeds, and hearts of palm, dressed with a citrus-herb vinaigrette. I decided to add Danish blue cheese for $1.50. The salad was fresh and well dressed. Philip chose the Caesar salad, fresh romaine lettuce with a light, not super creamy Caesar dressing, garlic croutons, and Parmesan cheese. During dinner service they also offer a wedge salad and a couple of entree salads (Cobb, cilantro-lime shrimp salad).

One of the changes that Bonefish Grill recently made to their menu was to begin offering “hand-helds”. Don, the managing partner, told us that this was to make Bonefish Grill more accessible to those who just wanted an easy, casual dinner out. The hand-helds include a burger, fish tacos, Bang Bang shrimp tacos, and fish & chips. They also offer a lobster grilled cheese during lunch and dinner service. I decided on the Baja fish tacos, which Don told us are sometimes made with tilapia but are current being made with pollock. The fish was blackened and the tacos were served with shredded lettuce, a fresh mango salsa, and lime creme on slightly crisped-up flour tortillas. Hand-helds are served with your choice of a green salad or house-cut chips, and you guys know what I chose (I cannot pass up a house-cut chip). The chips were warm, fresh, and well-seasoned and the fish tacos were nicely seasoned and tasty.

The menu also includes a selection of wood-grilled fish and sautéed and baked entrees. The dinner menu also offers wood-grilled steaks and chops and a selection of bowls, like a spicy tuna bowl and a shrimp pad Thai bowl. They also offer a seasonal specials menu, and Philip decided to order the swordfish with pumpkin ravioli with crispy sage, shallot brown butter, and feta cheese, which Don told us was a concept imagined by the founder of Bonefish Grill to bring in Fall. The dish was served with a succotash made with corn, edamame, and sausage. Philip really enjoyed the salmon, which was well-cooked and seasoned, and the ravioli. He liked the succotash but didn’t love it as much as the other items on the plate. The portion was sizable but not huge and the ravioli was filled well and nicely seasoned. Other specials included a Vintner’s burger and Atlantic salmon with bacon jam butter.

Don insisted on bringing us some desserts and I was honestly expecting a small sample of a few of the dessert menu items. I was quite surprised when we were served a full-size portion of each dessert! The desserts include a very dark, rich flourless macadamia nut brownie (not for the faint of heart-this was one of the most chocolatey things I’ve ever eaten), served with ice cream and raspberry sauce and friendly for the gluten-free set, a sangria flatbread-brioche flatbread with berry sangria preserves and mascarpone cheese, topped with pecans and wine custard sauce (we liked it but didn’t love it), coconut pie-a creamy coconut custard topped with Myer’s rum sauce (pie good, sauce excellent), key lime pie (fresh, light, and a great balance of tart and sweet), and pumpkin creme brûlée, which is a seasonal dessert (and tastes just like someone mixed pumpkin pie with creme brûlée…which cannot be a bad thing). We couldn’t take more than a few bites of any of them! We were 100% stuffed.

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga is striving to be an elevated chain restaurant.

Their goal is to provide a menu, service, and atmosphere that are a step above other chain restaurants (and that isn’t a knock to chain restaurants, because, as I said before, I do eat in chains). Their changing menu is meant to meet the needs of their customers whether they want to have a quick dinner on the way home from shopping or an experience meal and they are working to follow the trends of the culinary world. You can find their full brunch menu here and the dinner menu here. By the way, they also offer a Saturday lunch menu with more casual combo items (like soups/salads) and a gluten free menu.

Bonefish Grill Chattanooga is located at 2115 Gunbarrel Road, Chattanooga, TN 37421. They are open Sunday 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday 4:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m., Friday 4:30 p.m.-11:30 p.m., and Saturday 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. You can call them at 423-892-3175. You can check out the website at http://www.bonefishgrill.com.

Bluewater Grille-May 11, 2013

May 12, 2013

Bluewater Grille is a seafood restaurant located in downtown Chattanooga, within walking distance of the Tennessee Aquarium.

Let me start this by saying that this post is pushing it a little bit. Bluewater Grille is not a totally local restaurant. They are owned by the CraftWorks Restaurant & Brewery Group, which owns quite a few other restaurants around the U.S., including Big River Grille & Brewing Works. I am a little conflicted but since Chattanooga is the only location of Bluewater Grille I decided to go ahead with the post.

I’ve been wanting to go to Bluewater Grille for a couple of weeks now. The week before last I was struck with the urge for some sort of fish or shrimp dish, but as I mentioned in my Choo-Choo Barbecue post last week, we didn’t really want to risk downtown in the pouring rain on UTC graduation day….so we didn’t. Bluewater Grille opened in Chattanooga in 2006, and 2006 or 2007 was probably the last time that I’ve been (we’ve only been once). I recall liking the food when I went, but for whatever reason we just never went back.

When we walked up, we noticed that the patio seating was full up and we were a little concerned that we were not going to be seated quickly even at almost 2:00 p.m. on a Saturday. We needn’t have worried….I guess a lot of people were just eager to sit outside. We were offered the options of sitting in the cocktail area (where a Bloody Mary bar was set up….sorry if you’re an aficionado, but bleh) or in the dining area….we decided on the dining area and were seated at a table in the corner of the dining area. It was nice and quiet, a little away from everyone else, with fairly decent light for taking photos (I’m so tired of taking cell phone photos and trying to find a solution to this problem that doesn’t require me whipping out my gigantic DSLR at the table). We were given a regular menu and a brunch menu and Krystal, our server, took our drink order.

The brunch menu had some interesting items, including Grand Marnier (an orange-flavored liqueur) French toast, which sounded lovely, and shrimp Benedict, with grilled shrimp, poached eggs, and Hollandaise on an English muffin, as well as some more exotic items like crab cakes Benedict. I briefly considered getting the shrimp Benedict but then Philip said, “Eh. I’ve already had breakfast today,” and jolted me back into the reality that it was afternoon, I indeed did already have breakfast (biscuits & gravy!), and was really more in the mood for a lunch item. The menu included soups & salads, features (like Cajun fish tacos, grouper piccata, and sesame tuna), chicken & pasta, sandwiches (such as a crab BLT and a blackened Mahi Mahi sandwich), and lunch specialties. I managed to narrow my choices down to the lunch specialties, between the coconut shrimp & a wedge salad (iceberg wedge with blue cheese dressing, crumbled blue cheese, and bacon) and the fish & chips, served with malt vinegar mayonnaise. I asked Krystal if she would recommend one over the other and she said that she would order the fish & chips.

I decided to take her advice because more than once this week I was chomping at the bit to go to Hair of the Dog or Honest Pint for some fish & chips. It was a pretty straightforward dish, as fish & chips tends to be: three pieces of cod, battered (dipped in a liquidy batter before frying as opposed to being rolled in a bread crumb coating) as it should be, with hand-cut, skin on fries sprinkled with coarse salt. The fish was not greasy, which to me is the true hallmark of good battered fish. The fries might have been just a tad bit salty but that didn’t stop me from eating two-thirds of them. The malt vinegar mayonnaise was an interesting touch…a creamy dipping sauce with that smelly-foot tang that malt vinegar lends to everything it touches. I am not knocking malt vinegar…nay nay, I think that malt vinegar is essential to fish & chips and my BFF used to make fun of me as I doused my fish with it on our frequent trips to Captain D’s back in the day (I was a different person back then. Don’t judge me.). Fish & chips aren’t fish & chips without a potent splash of malt vinegar, and while this mayo definitely wasn’t traditional, it was strong and it was tasty. A nice touch.

Philip veered off the seafood path and decided to order the Kobe sliders with a house salad (with balsamic vinaigrette dressing). The sliders were pretty tiny, which made me laugh. They were pretty basic on what the menu touted as a “housemade bun”, no cheese, a mustard sauce, and pickles…though only one of Philip’s had a pickle. They were cooked nicely and had a good flavor. There was a pretty good portion of salad, which had mixed greens, tomato, cucumber (which Philip asked them to leave off), pepper jack & cheddar cheeses, bacon, and spiced candied pecans. The salad wasn’t drowned in dressing but everything was nicely coated and Philip didn’t feel that it had an overpowering flavor.

Our total was about $25 before tip. Krystal provided good service, checking back on us and keeping our water glasses filled. The atmosphere is nice, not too dark but not glaringly bright, with lots of wood and lovely light fixtures. I like that you can see what is going on in the kitchen. By the way, Bluewater offers a space for private parties and apparently has a pretty good happy hour (something I wouldn’t know anything about). We’ll try not to wait another six or seven years to go back….

Bluewater Grille is definitely a great place to go for seafood in the Chattanooga area.

Bluewater Grille is located at 224 Broad Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-266-4200. You can check out their website, http://bluewaterchattanooga.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar-March 17, 2012

March 17, 2012

When we headed out on this sunny and warm Saturday, we had no real plans for where we were going to eat. We’d had a breakfast of waffles, bacon, and eggs at home, so it was a while before we were hungry. We knew we wanted to have a late lunch, but when we started feeling the hunger pangs, we couldn’t think of anywhere to go…and then it hit me. I’d been thinking about the Boathouse lately, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Two o’clock on a Saturday afternoon is generally a great time to visit restaurants and avoid the crowds, and I figured that a restaurant located on Amnicola Highway-possibly one of the most obscure locations I can think of in the urban part of Chattanooga-would be no exception. Boy, was I surprised! The parking lot was nearly full, and when we walked up there were multiple parties waiting to be seated. The hostess told us that if we wanted to eat indoors, we could be seated immediately, but if we wanted to sit outside, there would be a wait. We chose not to wait (surprise!). Still, we couldn’t believe that the large outdoor seating area was full at two o’clock on a Saturday afternoon but I guess that riverside view is pretty alluring on a 75+ degree afternoon in mid-March.

Our server, Tammy, quickly brought us a carafe of water and told us that since it was happy hour, there were appetizer specials (all “mini” sandwiches and tacos) and that regular appetizers were $2.50 off. We decided on the queso dip with roasted tomato salsa. The queso turned out to be the standard white American cheese dip served with a small cup of a very delicious, slightly spicy salsa and freshly fried chips. We mixed the salsa into our queso. It tasted very fresh and had a strong cheesy flavor, and I really loved the chips. Besides the chips on the plate, they also brought us a basket of additional chips.

According to the menu, the Boathouse specializes in “foods from the Gulf,” including several different seafood offerings (including a raw bar), rotisserie roasted chicken, and brisket. Tammy helped me decide between the wood-spit roasted 1/2 chicken with margarita sauce and the roasted chicken sandwich (she recommended the sandwich). The sandwich was French bread with a large slice of roasted chicken breast, pickle, onions (which I promptly removed), tomato, arugula, Swiss cheese, and mayo. It was served with olive oil fried French fries (called olive fries on the menu) and a very simple slaw-just shredded cabbage with a very light sesame oil dressing. The chicken on the sandwich was incredibly tender, and I loved the bitter note that the arugula added to the sandwich (I am crazy about arugula!). The fries were skin-on, and boy, am I a sucker for skin-on fries. I loved this meal! I really wanted to try the fries on this trip, but next time I go, I want to try the Lotta Lotta Garlic chicken, one of the Boathouse’s specialties, with black beans, rice, arugula, pineapple, tomatoes, avocado and feta. Sounds delicious!

Philip also had a little trouble deciding what to order. He knew that he wanted something with the rotisserie brisket, but didn’t want to order the brisket entree, so he asked Tammy to help him decide between the “You Don’t Have to Go to Texas” brisket sandwich with barbecue sauce and the “Texas Dip” brisket sandwich with Swiss, onions, and au jus for dipping. Tammy recommended the dip, since it is a pressed sandwich and a little more “interesting” than the other, which was pretty much just a brisket sandwich with barbecue sauce. Good call, Tammy! The Texas dip was pressed on French bread, with extremely tender slices of brisket. The au jus really set off the flavor. Perfect!

We were pretty much stuffed after we finished our meal, but if we had room for dessert, we would have ordered the tres leches cake. I’m dying to make one-I’ve never tried it-so my interested was definitely piqued.

Another thing I’d like to note about the Boathouse is that I just really like the atmosphere. The decor is interesting and I love the “open-ness” of the dining room with its high ceilings. I also love the color scheme and the large scenes of local scenery (Ruby Falls, etc.) on the wall.

Let me go ahead and address the elephant in the room. If you’ve been to the Boathouse, you either love it or you hate it. If you’ve never been, chances are you’ve heard from people who love it or hate it. The Boathouse has had some bad press in the past, and people definitely seem to have strong feelings one way or the other. Obviously, I am in the former group-I have been twice and have had great food and great service on both occasions. If you are in the latter group, I’m sorry for your experience and just want to remind you that Chattavore is a negativity-free zone! If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to go and decide for yourself. I have heard several pieces of conflicting information regarding their check-splitting policy: (1) They don’t split checks; (2) They don’t split checks in the outside seating area, or they only split checks equally and not by individual orders; and (3) No problem with splitting checks. The third was in a comment left on this post (scroll down) and I am assuming that the person who left this comment works at the Boathouse. He (Charles) says, “Splitting Checks at Boathouse, inside or outside, No Problem, Come and eat!!” So, if this has been an issue for you in the past, I am assuming that this is a policy that has been updated.

Negative press aside, I really like the Boathouse. Their food has exceeded my expectations on both of my visits, and the service has been great on both visits as well. I am excited to go back and try another menu item!

Boathouse Rotisserie and Raw Bar is located at 1459 Riverside Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37406. You can reach them at 423-622-0122. Check out their website, http://boathousechattanooga.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

By the way, Boathouse shares owners with Sugar’s Ribs and Canyon Grille….both of which need to be reviewed by Chattavore…..hmmmm.