upscale restaurants Archives - Page 2 of 2

Back Inn Café-September 21, 2012

September 24, 2012

Wow. The last few weeks have been incredibly stressful. I can’t even describe it…you’ll just have to take my word for it. Anyway, I have vascillated between being so tired that I can’t move off the couch and needing a change of scenery. I have had seven crazy (in good ways and bad) weeks at work. I have had an on-the-job injury. I’ve had a change-of-season cold that lasted an entire week. I’ve added an hour to my commute (that’s both ways, not an hour each way). Some days feel like I’m in a tailspin.

Friday was one of those days. By 10 a.m. I was utterly exhausted. I got a text from my best friend during my “planning time” (ha! Most of my planning has been happening after school. Nature of the beast sometimes in preschool, unfortunately.) asking if I wanted to go to dinner with her and another friend. My initial response was no….I needed to go home and crash. By the time I got home Friday afternoon, though, I had changed my mind, deciding that something out of the ordinary was just what I needed. I met them at 6:30 and we set to deciding where to go, which consisted of driving to downtown and looking around. Finally we decided on Back Inn Café, as one of my friends had never been there.

I’ve been to Back Inn a few times, but not since I started Chattavore. We’ve always enjoyed it. Usually, we make a reservation because you never know when seating is going to be limited. My philosophy is that if a restaurant takes reservations, make a reservation. It’s definitely an easy way to avoid the waiting game, especially on a Friday or Saturday evening. Woe to the diner who goes to a chain casual dining spot at 6:30 or 7 p.m. on a Friday. Ugh. Luckily, we walked right up and got seated (there were people waiting on the benches across the parking lot at Tony’s). The hostess poured our waters and gave us our menus, including the regular menu, the gluten-free menu, and a drink menu. Our server came to introduce himself shortly thereafter.

Back Inn’s menu is not static, but unlike some other “fine dining” restaurants in Chattanooga, it doesn’t change constantly either. There are several items that have been on the menu for a matter of years. I have had their New York strip (crusted with Rembrandt’s coffee) and thought that it was delicious. I also enjoyed their grilled chicken salad (with Granny Smith apples) very much. They have several appetizers like Southern-fried frog legs, shrimp flatbread, and a volcano roll (tempura fried California roll). There are three salads: baby lettuce, Caesar, and wedge. We skipped the appetizers and salads, though, and went straight for the entrées (I do usually order a salad, though, and always really enjoy it). The hostess brought out a wedge of house sundried tomato foccacia for each of us with a small cup of white bean dip, and I have to admit….I could make my entire meal from this. It’s a perfect balance of salty cheese crusted on top and a slightly sweet tang from the sundried tomato. Delicious.

(Sorry for the horrible photo quality, by the way. It was dark outside and the restaurant was dimly lit. And I hate flash.)

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted. Steaks are always good, and the chicken stuffed with spinach mousseline cream was tempting as well. However, my decision came down to two entrées: the Jack Daniels maple glazed pork chop, a 12 ounce “cowboy cut” pork chop served with haricot verts (French green beans, not to be confused with French cut green beans) and sweet potato cakes, or the seafood gratin (and that is pronounced “gra-tehn”, not “grahtin”) with spinach ravioli, mahi-mahi, salmon, shrimp, bay (small) scallops, tomatoes, four cheeses, and mornay sauce. Ultimately I decided on the gratin, basically because it’s different from what I would normally choose. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I couldn’t really remember what mornay sauce was. Turns out it’s Béchamel sauce with grated cheese mixed in. Quite tasty. It was similar to a cheesy alfredo, and I really enjoyed it…although I thought the dish could have been slightly less sauced. That’s okay, though…I mean, it wasn’t like I was obligated to drink the sauce from the bowl, so I just ate what came out with the other items. The spinach ravioli was delicious and no doubt made on the premises, and I loved the shrimp and scallops. The fish was fine, but it just turned out I wasn’t really “in the mood” for fish. That’s okay. Those things happen.

My friends were both checking out the Martin House steak, an 8 ounce filet with lump crab meat stuffing, sour cream mashed potatoes, asparagus, compound butter (butter with herbs mixed in), sweet pepper pomace (basically pulp), and chive oil. The problem was that neither of them wanted the crab. When they asked our server how the crab was served, he directed their attention to the gluten-free menu, which none of us had even bothered to look at. For $2.00 less, you can actually order a “filet of beef” from the GF menu without the crab, so they both did that, one medium, one medium-well (you know me, I prefer medium-rare, but oh well!). The filets were pretty crispy on the outside, no doubt from the sear, and the insides cooked just as they requested them. I should have requested a bite, but I didn’t. Judging from the fact that they both finished their plates, I’d say it was pretty tasty. They both said that they enjoyed the steaks and one friend also commented that the asparagus was good. They also really enjoyed the potatoes; one friend said the potatoes were her favorite part and that the pomace really added to the flavor. I do wish that I had at least asked for the dessert menu so I could see what was available, but I didn’t. Shoulda coulda woulda.

Back Inn Café is not my favorite restaurant in Chattanooga, but it also is not a waste of time. It’s a pretty good restaurant, and the prices for most items are not outrageous for an “upscale” restaurant. The atmosphere can be casual or formal, whatever you need it to be. I’ve never had anything that I didn’t like here, and it holds a special place in my memories because Philip and I went there on one of our first dates many, many (well, almost 14) years ago. If you are looking for a restaurant that offers consistency and longevity, give it a try.

Back Inn Café is located at 412 E. 2nd Street, Chattanooga, TN 37403. You can call for reservations at 423-265-5033 or 800-725-8338. Check out their website and menus at http://bluffviewartdistrict.com/subpage.php?pageId=139.

Meeting Place-August 18, 2012

August 19, 2012

So…..Friday was my birthday. I am officially in the realm of “mid-thirties”. Ouch. Philip didn’t get home till 7:30, though, so we ended up going to Zaxby’s for dinner. It happens (sadly). I hadn’t really planned on going out for my “birthday dinner” on Friday night, though (I’d actually planned on cooking, but it was pretty late, I was incredibly tired, and I needed to get out anyway to make a grocery store stop). Restaurants are always so crowded on Fridays and I am always soooooo tired. In fact, when Philip texted me to let me know he was on his way home, I was more or less asleep. And I didn’t even have kids in my class on Friday! The first week of school truly wore me out.

When Philip and I were trying to decide where to go for our anniversary back in July, Meeting Place (aka St. John’s Meeting Place) was on the short list, but we ended up deciding on Alleia, which coincidentally shares a chef/owner (Daniel Lindley) with St. John’s Restaurant and Meeting Place. So, as I was reviewing the list of downtown restaurants that we still needed to visit, Meeting Place jumped out as the place to go for my birthday. Philip made a reservation for 6:15 and we were on our way.

We visited St. John’s many, many years back (we’ll make our way back for the blog one of these days) and found the food to be fantastic but the service to be a little more stiff than what we were accustomed to (by the way, we were-obviously-much younger then and probably a little shell-shocked by the experience….we might feel a bit differently about it these days). Meeting Place is much more casual, and we were immediately greeted by a very friendly hostess. She led us to our table near the front window. A server brought us water and we briefly perused the menu and checked out the decor while waiting for our server, Jill, to come to our table. I loved the decor….dark (grey walls, black furniture) but not depressing. That takes a true professional. It was beautiful, with nice lighting that wasn’t too bright and at the same time wasn’t too dark (although it was still very bright outside so sun was still pouring into the large window in the front…I’d love to see the mood lighting in the dark).

Jill quickly came and explained the menu to us. There is, not surprisingly, an extensive drink menu which, also not surprisingly, we barely even glanced at. The menu is divided into “small plates” and “large plates”. The way that Jill explained this to us is that small plates are half-entrée sized portions, perfect for sharing, and large plates are full-entrée sized portions. Several things on the small plates menu caught my eye, especially the hot chicken biscuit and the sweet potato chips with gorgonzola custard and Benton’s bacon jam. You know I was all about the latter, so we decided to order this to share as a starter. Let me tell you…it was amazing. Gorgonzola is a very strong, pungent bleu cheese, but this custard was bleu cheesy without being overpowering. The bacon jam was perfect, alternately sweet and savory, and paired perfectly with the salty gorgonzola custard. The chips were wonderfully crispy and there were also some lovely toasts provided. This was a delicious small plate that I would most definitely recommend. I almost forgot to mention…we were also brought a small portion of house-baked potato bread with sorghum butter….delicious. Again, I loved the sweet/salty combo of the butter and the bread had a perfect texture. Wonderful.

For my entrée I decided on the Niman Ranch pork with fried rice and egg and sesame aioli (after very earnestly considering the Sequatchie Cove Cumberland cheese fries with braised beef cheeks. Oh my.). Guess what? The menu doesn’t mention that this dish comes with a strip of crispy pork belly on the side. Now, if you are not familiar with what pork belly is, it may sound a little suspicious to you…but bacon is made from pork belly, so don’t be scared. This was a flawless combination of crispy and fatty, and inwardly I was laughing about how there is just something about a good restaurant that makes me feel okay about eating copious amounts of pork fat. The square of pork shoulder was fork-tender and tossed with a light hoisin (basically, Chinese barbecue sauce) glaze. I don’t typically enjoy hoisin sauce but this was not off-putting at all. It was just right and delicious. The fried basmati rice was delicious and the fried egg was done just right…..crisp around the edges with a runny yolk just right for dipping forkfuls of pork and rice into. Yesssssss.

Philip decided on the duck confit with a Johnny cake (basically a cornmeal pancake), maple, and blueberries. The Johnny cake was stuffed with a maple-flavored duck confit (a dish of French origin made of salt-cured duck leg poached in duck fat) and there was also a piece of fried duck leg on the side, and there was a blueberry compote of sorts (I really don’t know if that is the best word for it, but it’s the best one I can come up with at the moment) drizzled over the Johnny cake and the plate. The duck was tender, just slightly sweet, delicious, and the Johnny cake was also perfectly sweet (not too much so) with a wonderful texture. The blueberries were a nice complement. Before he ordered I was concerned that a small plate may not be enough food for him but honestly I think he had almost as much food as I did.

There were many tempting items on the dessert menu. I would have loved to try the carrot cake soufflé, but Philip is not a huge fan of carrot cake so I refrained (we always share dessert….it’s just not necessary to eat an entire dessert in a restaurant). They had housemade ice creams and sorbets and of course a molten chocolate cake (with caramel ice cream) as well as a cheesecake…but our decision was between the vanilla bean crème brûlée and the Wildwood Farm blueberry trifle. We had to consult Jill for assistance, and she strongly recommended the crème brûlée, much to Philip’s delight (it’s absolutely his favorite dessert ever). It was a fairly large portion with a beautifully brûléed (go figure!) crust of sugar on top of the creamy vanilla custard, replete with tiny vanilla beans at the bottom of the bowl. I love the contrast in temperatures in crème brûlée, a little warm, a little cold, and how the caramelization of the sugar topping makes it just a little bitter. Amazing. I heard the couple that was seated next to us discussing that they might look at the dessert menu but that there was also Ben & Jerry’s and Cold Stone Creamery to consider (they were tourists). You better believe I was looking at them like, “Whaaaaat?” This dessert menu shouldn’t be passed up.

If you hadn’t figured this out before know, I would highly recommend Meeting Place. It’s a fine dining restaurant with a casual feel (although we saw a few people come in looking like they were dressed for a cocktail party…there were others in shorts, though) and the price is not over the top-our total before tip was about $48 (for two small plates, a large plate, and dessert)-much less than Meeting Place’s more formal sister restaurant.

Meeting Place is located at 1278 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402. You can call them at 423-266-4400. You can also make reservations online. They are open Monday-Thursday, 5:00-9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5:00-10:00 p.m. You can read more about the restaurant and the menu on their website. You can also “like” them on Facebook.

Alleia Restaurant-July 14, 2012

July 14, 2012

Choosing a restaurant at which to eat for our anniversary (number eleven!) was somewhat of a challenge this year. Initially I wanted to go to The Meeting Place, the more casual sister of St. John’s, but as the date got closer I began to add more and more restaurants to the list. Saturday morning there were five restaurants. I had talked to Philip’s sister on Friday and she highly recommended Alleia, then Saturday morning Philip talked to her as well and again she emphasized how wonderful the food was. Why not? We booked a reservation for 6 p.m. and headed to Main Street.

It’s funny, because I was always a little foggy about exactly where Alleia (pronounced a-LEE-a) was located. Turns out, I drive past it every Wednesday as I head to the farmers market. It’s on Main, right after you turn from Market, in the building right before The Soho. A large metal sculpture serves as something of a landmark. The huge wood door with the large metal ring handle is quite impressive. We walked in and were quickly seated by a hostess who told us that we did not look old enough to have been married eleven years (stop it! You flatter.). We were indeed hardly more than children when we wed, but it has worked out well for us!

We were seated at a booth, a very private booth with walls on three sides. While we were perusing the menu, we took in the ambiance….slightly dimly lit, but not dark (although I do need to apologize for the poor lighting of the photos….nicer restaurants rarely have lighting conducive to great photography), with beautiful worn looking walls. We were seated near a large lighting feature of candles with wax forming a mantel of sorts as well as a base on the floor; very unique and interesting. Also interesting was the heavy wool blanket decorating the wall; light grey plaid, it looked and felt like a horse blanket. The kitchen was open, and I enjoyed watching the guys work (although I wished that I could stand at the counter and really watch them work….but I suppose I would had missed out on my anniversary meal with my husband then, wouldn’t I?

The menu at Alleia is divided into six parts: antipasti (appetizers), insalate (salad), primi (first courses-all pasta dishes), secondi (main courses-meat-based entrées), pizzas, and contorni (side dishes). There was also a specials list, with one or two specials for each menu section, and a Vino (wine) menu. We had a difficult time choosing our antipasti…the bruschettas (one with ricotta and honey, the other with cannellini beans and roasted peppers) sounded wonderful, and I was very interested in the arancini (basically breaded and fried rice balls) with mozzarella and meat sauce…but the dates wrapped in Benton’s bacon with a balsamic and olive oil drizzle sounded wonderful, and that is what we finally decided to order. It arrived about the same time as our bread, a portion of a fresh Italian loaf (made in-house) with lots of olive oil and garlic on top. We were not disappointed in our choice. Just the scent from the dates was enough to send us over the edge….smoky and sweet. Both the dates and the bacon were tender enough to cut through easily, and the savory/sweet combination was perfect. Our server, Arturo, even encouraged us to sop the olive oil and vinegar with our bread.

The Bob Jones salad (with Bob Jones lettuce, gorgonzola, and strawberries), sounded lovely, as did the Caesar salad with romaine lettuce and shaved grana padano cheese, but I could not resist the insalate special for the day, a caprese salad. They divided the salad between two plates for us; it was a combination of sliced heirloom tomatoes and wedged tomatoes, with a chunk of mozzarella, a basil chiffonade, and again, a balsamic and olive oil drizzle. Delicious. The tomatoes were in that perfectly ripe stage, so juicy and drippy, and the cheese was fresh and amazing. Again, I sopped up the wonderful juices with the bread. Perfect. I kept waxing on and on about how the most amazing food is usually the most simple. Philip is surely a patient man to listen to all this food jargon all the time….but then again, he certainly has benefitted from it over the years.

I was so tempted to order a pizza. All of the topping combinations sounded impressive (especially proscuitto, arugula, and smoked mozzarella), and they are all neopolitan-style pizzas (thin, crispy….perfect) cooked in a 750 degree wood-fired oven. Shut your mouth, Arturo. However, I guess my desire to try the handmade pasta was stronger, so I asked Arturo to make a recommendation between the ricotta ravioli with zucchini and cremini mushrooms and the angel hair pasta with Gulf shrimp and cherry tomatoes. Rather than really make a “recommendation”, he gave me a very detailed description of each dish. Finally, I decided on the ravioli. Filled with ricotta lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, the ravioli is served in an herbed butter and white wine sauce with quartered cremini (baby portobello) mushrooms, very thinly sliced (almost shaved) zucchini, and red and yellow tomatoes with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. My. Word. This was, without question, the best ravioli I had ever had. Ever. The sauce was perfectly seasoned, the pasta so tender and the ricotta so fresh tasting. Amazing.

While the secondi menu had a variety of tempting options, like Maple Leaf Farm duck breast and the secondi special pork osso buco (which I briefly considered before deciding I must order pasta) Philip took one look and knew immediately what he would order: wood-fired pork shoulder with grilled peaches. All of the dishes on the secondi menu are served with perfectly roasted red potatoes and red cabbage. First of all, pork shoulder is not something that you often see on a menu at an upscale restaurant, so I was very interested to see the execution. It was served in a cohesive chunk (sorry, that word is so unappetizing, but I couldn’t think of a better one!) but was amazingly tender. Philip was able to simply use his fork to pull bites of meat from it. He definitely had one of those eyes-rolling-into-your-head moments when he first took a bite of it…the tenderness, the smoky flavor from the wood-fired oven, the seasoning…everything worked together fabulously. The red potatoes were also delicious, perfectly browned and with a wonderful grilled flavor. I didn’t taste the cabbage, but Philip said it was very good. The peaches were delicious, with a perfect grilled flavor. I love grilled peaches. We both could have finished our entrees, but we needed to save room for dessert, so Arturo boxed up our leftovers (and our bread!) for us.

We were sincerely hoping for the dessert special, summer fruit cobbler with basil gelato (!), but apparently we should have made our reservation for when they opened at 5 p.m. rather than waiting until 6. They were all out by the time we ordered! The dessert menu consisted of a handful of specialty desserts (tiramisu, panna cotta, and a flourless chocolate cake) and several flavors of gelato (Italian ice cream, more dense with less air than American ice cream). We decided to order the flourless chocolate cake, served with strawberries, fresh whipped cream, and cinnamon gelato, made with cinnamon sticks, not packaged ground cinnamon. The cake was dark, rich, dense….the whipped cream light, barely sweetened, and the gelato had a wonderful texture with a strong cinnamon flavor. By the way….I will be making basil gelato soon. I have to, it’s a must.

Alleia is owned by Daniel Lindley, the renowned chef who also owns St. John’s and The Meeting Place (he was nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2009, 2010, and 2012). This is certainly another hit for Lindley….amazing, simple, perfect food, much of it sourced locally. Basically everything that can be purchased locally, is, and other ingredients are imported from Italy, adding to the authenticity. Let me say…it was not inexpensive. Certainly this is a special occasion dining spot, but worth saving up for. Besides, think of all of the local business you support when you dine here-not just Alleia, but all of the local farms and producers from which they obtain ingredients. The atmosphere was beautiful, and the execution of service and cuisine spot on.

Alleia is located at 25 East Main Street, Chattanooga, TN 37408. You can call them at 423-305-6990. You can learn more at their website, http://alleiarestaurant.com/. They also have a Facebook page.

Public House-May 12, 2012

May 14, 2012

As the end of the school year draws near and I am becoming more and more absorbed in trying to get through the last month and a half of classes, meal planning has become somewhat of an issue for me. Tack on the fact that I was off Friday which meant I went into “vacation mode” and that Philip sang the national anthem at the roller derby bout for the Chattanooga Roller Girls Saturday and that’s a recipe for going out to eat. We considered Public House a few weeks ago but ended up at Hair of the Dog instead, so Public House it was.

As we were walking up, we had to rush to get in front of a large and very loud crowd of guys that I placed at college age. I heard one of them ask (I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he was joking), “Where are the TVs?” The hostess looked a little frightened when we walked up….I think she thought we were with them. No, thank you…table for two. We decided to sit outside…it was a beautiful night, temperatures in the seventies. In a week or two I am sure we will not see the seventies for at least three months (except in the middle of the night-maybe). Our server, Shannon, immediately came out and poured us water from this cool bottle, which he left on our table. And, look at the mini salt and pepper shakers!

There was no question about whether we were going to order a starter or what said starter was going to be. I am sure that Philip would have liked to have tried the deviled eggs with candied bacon (heck, I’m sure I would have liked them too) but I had been dying to try the pimento cheese ever since I first saw a PH menu, at least two years ago. Two different foodie friends have told me it was a must-try, and if you’ve read more than two posts on my blog you know that I am pretty much pimento-cheese obsessed. Public House serves their pimento cheese with fried pickles and grilled sourdough. I was in the restroom when it came out, but Shannon shared the “rules” with Philip: you are supposed to spread the pimento cheese on the bread then top it with fried pickles. Now, I am also pretty obsessed with fried pickles, so this is pretty much the perfect appetizer for me. The bread was charred around the edges and cut not-too-thick and not-too-thin. The pimento cheese was creamy and spreadable, with small flecks (not large chunks) of pimento and a (tiny) hint of spice on the back end. The pickles were perfectly battered and hot but not mouth-searingly so, with a hint of spice to them as well. The sourness and heat of the pickles combined with the salty coolness of the cheese and the crunchy char on the bread equalled a starter that I would say is unmatched in my book.

Deciding on an entree was decidedly more difficult, for me anyway. I had heard wonderful things about the fried chicken, but it comes with hot sauce, and I just can’t handle it…and I feel like when a chef puts an item on their menu, it should be experienced the way they created it (unless it contains raw onions. Then take those mothers OFF!). A burger sounded tempting, but really? I didn’t want to say that my first time at this amazing restaurant I got a burger. I considered the iceberg wedge and petite filet combo in earnest…but my eyes kept coming back to the PH fried chicken salad: fried chicken, mixed greens, tomato, Benton’s bacon (!), Reggiano cheese (a nice change from the usual suspect, cheddar), and croutons with your choice of dressing (I chose green goddess, a creamy avocado based dressing with a nice herby hit). I rarely order a salad as an entree, but I really wanted to try the fried chicken, but I really wanted some good veggies, and this seemed like a good way to have both. I also ordered a side of potatoes Lyonnaise. The salad came with two gigantic pieces of fried, boneless chicken (the fried chicken entree is traditional bone-in, I believe) with crispy greens. I loved the Reggiano cheese in place of cheddar….the texture and deep, salty, nutty flavor adds a layer of sophistication to a salad that you might not expect that from. Add to that the chunks of wonderful bacon….and it was a delicious salad. I loved the cool, creamy dressing, and I had enough left over for lunch on Monday (which Shannon kindly boxed up for me). Potatoes Lyonnaise are a French dish, thinly sliced potatoes and onions, sauteed in butter. These had a little bit of bacon on them too, and they were skin-on and fried to a deep brown, yet not really crunchy. Delicious!

By the way, you’ll have to forgive me for the quality of these photos. Without the flash, you couldn’t see anything…but with, hello overexposure!

Like I said, the entree decision took some time for me. For Philip, not so much. You see, if shrimp & grits is on the menu, he’s probably going to get them, unless they aren’t in a cream-based sauce. Fried chicken was going to be his back up if the sauce wasn’t cream-based, but lucky for him, it was, so that’s what he got. Plus a Caesar salad. Plus a side of arugula and balsamic vinegar. I forgot to take a photo of his salad until he had eaten so much of it that the effort would have been for naught…but you’ve seen a Caesar salad before, right? There’s was good, with a good garlicky dressing, and it had red and white onions (the white ones appeared to be grilled) in it.

Philip is very particular about his shrimp and grits, and he had a bad experience at an otherwise delicious upscale local restaurant that served him shrimp and grits in a tomato-based sauce. Public House serves their shrimp and grits, um, “loose”, not in a grit cake. The grits had cream mixed in and they were topped with a sauce made from shrimp stock. There was atonof shrimp of the grits, which is pretty rare. There were also some pieces of red pepper on top. The grits were cooked perfectly, the shrimp tasted great, and I really like the shrimp-stock based sauce. Philip enjoyed PH’s shrimp and grits but did say that it wasn’t his favorite that he’s had….just because he prefers the fried grit cake. The arugula was very fresh and crisp, but he did say that he would have liked a little more balsamic vinegar on top of it.

We were pretty much stuffed when we finished our meals, but when we eyed the dessert menu we figured we’d find room at some point. I really wanted to try the apple fritters with bourbon semifreddo, but semifreddo is a frozen dessert similar to ice cream, so no go since we were taking it home. We usually order crème brûlée when it is available, but again, that’s not really something that translates well to a 25-minute trip home. However, when I saw molten chocolate cake with mint creme anglaise (a light pouring custard), my mouth started watering. The molten cakes are heated right before serving, so Shannon boxed it up for us and wrote heating instructions on the box. Philip is not quite as big of a mint fan as I am, but the mint in this creme anglaise was very finely chopped fresh mint, giving the creme a very fresh taste that wasn’t too strong or overpowering. It meshed perfectly with the oozy chocolate of the cake. I will be making these at home!

I’ve wanted to try Public House since it opened and I am not sure what took me so long. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was beautiful. The service was friendly and fantastic. The prices were a little upscale, but not outrageous, and the lunch prices are no more than your average casual dining restaurant. I will definitely be going back to Public House Chattanooga, and I recommend that you try it as well.

Public House Chattanooga is located at 1110 Market Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402 (in Warehouse Row). You can reach them at 423-266-3366. You can also make reservations online. You can read more about them as well as check out their menu on their website, http://publichousechattanooga.com. You can also “like” them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

Riverside Food Works-July 14, 2011

July 16, 2011

July 14 was mine and Philip’s 10th wedding anniversary! To celebrate, we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Food Works. It crossed my mind that maybe we should try a restaurant we hadn’t been to, but then there’s always the chance that you’re going to get a dud and be disappointed. Stick with what you know for special occasions! Here’s a picture that our server took of us:Anyway…enough with the shameless celebrating our 10 years of marital bliss! Let’s get down to business.

Food Works is a restaurant that many love, and some loathe. As for the loathers, I don’t really understand. I will say that I have ordered a couple of dishes that I did not like, but the ones that I did overshadowed those that I didn’t. Perhaps if my first experience had been a bad one, I would feel differently. I, for example, would not recommend the roasted red pepper alfredo with chicken added….but I have learned that I never like pasta dishes in restaurants that have chicken added. The chicken always tastes to me like it just came out of the freezer, so I just avoid them. I have, however, heard others say they like this dish, so to each his own. So, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, on to the experience of the night.

Food Works takes reservations as well as walk-ups. We always make reservations just in case we happen to go on a night that the city decided to come out in droves before 7 p.m. You never know. For this night, we decided to go at 5:30. I guess we were feeling particularly elderly (remember that commercial a few years ago-it’s fun to eat at 4:30 p.m.! Anyway….). Lucky we did! From 4-6 p.m., an early bird special is available. With the early bird, each diner gets a starter, entree, and dessert for $20 per person. Not all menu items are included on the early bird menu, but there was a good selection, and we both found what we had in mind.

Philip ordered the Caesar salad (which is his standard salad order, except at Food Works-more on that in a minute) and shrimp and grits. While I generally try to change up my order when we come here, Philip ordered shrimp and grits on our first visit, and he loved it so much he has never ordered anything else. And he won’t order shrimp and grits anywhere else, for fear of being disappointed if/when they do not measure up. The shrimp and grits is sauced with a creamy, slightly spicy sauce that contains small bits of Tasso ham, and rather than spoonable grits, the grits are a cheesy, fried grit cake. I have tasted it, and it is wonderful. I won’t even attempt this at home, because I know I’ll never make the cut. The Caesar salad is good-very peppery, with ciabatta croutons cooked in butter (!) over whole leaves from romaine hearts. Once our salads came, though, Philip remembered that he usually orders the house salad, because even though the Caesar is good, the house is better.

Hearts of Romaine, House Caesar Dressing, Parmesan, Cracked Pepper, and House-Made Croutons

Sauteed Gulf Shrimp, Tomatoes, and Green Onions over a Smoked Cheddar Grit Cake served with a Tasso Scampi Cream Sauce

So, now, let me tell you about my order. I ordered the house salad and the Food Works burger, medium, with cheddar cheese (if I trust my source, I always order my burgers medium. Steaks medium-rare. Mmmmmm.). The house salad here is to die for, and I always order it, even though it’s pretty expensive at $6 and I would never pay that price anywhere else. It’s mixed greens, sliced Roma tomatoes, candied pecans, and bacon with a honey-balsamic vinaigrette, and it is so good. That’s all I can say about it. I’ve never had a salad this good anywhere else. Their burger is fantastic as well, one of my favorites in town, although I was slightly disappointed that mine was more medium-well than medium, but it still tasted great, and the sky was looking pretty ominous so I wasn’t going to hang out to wait on another one. I was still happy. The bun was grilled, slightly charred even, and I thought that really added to the flavor and texture of the burger. The onions were grilled as well, or else they would have been instantly removed from my burger. The fries were nothing special-skin-on, seasoned-but very good all the same.

Fresh Greens, Tomatoes, Smoked Bacon, and Candied Pecans Tossed in a House Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

8 Oz Angus Burger Grilled to Order with Green Leaf Lettuce, Grilled Red Onions, Tomatoes, Kosher Pickles, & Aioli on a Kaiser Roll with Fries

For dessert, Philip was torn between the creme brulee (he loves creme brulee) and the coffee bread pudding, but chose the bread pudding after (a) I reminded him that I would be making it in a couple of weeks when my aunt visits; and (b) our server recommended it over everything else on the menu. He was not disappointed. It was a GIGANTIC hunk of “Heath Bar” bread pudding (he actually brought about half of it home), warm with coffee-flavored creme anglaise (basically a custard sauce). I tasted it, and it really was delicious.

House made Heath Bar Bread Pudding with Coffee Creme Anglaise

I decided on the strawberry shortcake. It was decidedly simple, basically just a biscuit with strawberries and whipped cream. The strawberries were macerated (a fancy word for marinated, maceration kind of breaks the strawberries down a little, softens them, draws out some of the juice and creates a syrup) in Grand Marnier (an orange-flavored liqueur). I could taste the orange; it wasn’t overpowering but added to the overall flavor. The biscuit was warm, which added a nice temperature contrast to the cold strawberries. The biscuits tasted good, but I’m gonna toot my own horn here for just a second and tell you that my homemade biscuits are better.

The strawberry shortcake is not listed in the current online menu, so unfortunately, I have no "menu description" to provide here! See the preceding paragraph for details.

With our early bird special, we got two (usually very expensive) salads, two entrees, and two desserts (we almost always drink water wherever we go) for $40+tax+a 15% tip that was automatically added, presumably because it was the early bird special. That’s never happened before, and we did find that a little bizarre, especially since there was no line for an additional tip when the server brought the ticket back for Philip to sign. Luckily, we had some cash (a rare occurrence) so we were able to leave an appropriate tip for our server, Geoff, who did an excellent job. He was friendly and attentive without being overbearing, and he was very knowledgeable about the food. I was very impressed at the questions that he asked about specific components of each item that we ordered. Plus, he took our picture! I feel very strongly that great servers should get a tip that matches their level of service.

I meant to take some pictures of the interior. Food Works is located in the old knitting mill on Manufacturer’s Road, and I really love the atmosphere. If no one in your party has trouble with stairs, I recommend that you ask to be seated upstairs; it really does make a difference in the ambiance.

Riverside Food Works is located in the Signal Knitting Mill at 205 Manufacturer’s Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405. For reservations, call 423-752-7487. They open at 11 a.m. daily, serving lunch and dinner, as well as brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. You can read about them and view their menu on their website; they also have a Facebook page.

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