Restaurants in Chattanooga

[BeeZee]

@Katie Meadow, glad you enjoyed your dinner and more importantly the wedding!

[kayb]

3 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Thank you for the tip. We did indeed go to St Johns MP and were very happy with our dinner. They had an app that was smoked corn on the cob with a harissa crema Mexican street style that was really yummy. And I agree about the sorghum butter; in fact I asked for bit to take away for our breakfast the next day at our airbnb. Excellent on toast! I can't imagine it would be hard to approximate. You could probably do a shortcut by simply buttering toast and then swirling on a little sorghum syrup if you were too lazy to whip anything.

 

We didn't really eat anywhere else, since our time in town was cut short by torrential rains. So much for Chattanooga. The main event of the trip was my daughter's wedding in north GA in the foothills, which was spectacular and with perfect weather. 

 

Congrats to your daughter.

 

Re: Sorghum butter: Put a couple of tablespoons of softened butter on a plate. Pour a couple of tablespoons of sorghum over it. Mash it together with the blade of a table knife, which can then be used to slather it onto your biscuit. Done and done.

 

[Katie Meadow]

Went for the quick version on toast this morning, just slathering first butter, then sorghum. Next up will be to mash up a nice mixture that I can keep in the fridge. Have to adjust the ratio carefully to see what I prefer. Usually I eat my grits savory, like with shrimp and some kind of salsa or tomato base, but breakfast grits might be awful tasty with sorghum butter.

 

Back to the topic of food in the Chattanooga / North GA area:. This being green tomato season (as far as I know). fried green tomatoes were offered in every little place we ate. My favorite way to eat them by far is in a Fried Green Tomato BLT. But there's a cautionary tale here: fried green tomatoes are an art, and it isn't easy to find them done right with a crispy but light batter that doesn't overwhelm. 

[kayb]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Went for the quick version on toast this morning, just slathering first butter, then sorghum. Next up will be to mash up a nice mixture that I can keep in the fridge. Have to adjust the ratio carefully to see what I prefer. Usually I eat my grits savory, like with shrimp and some kind of salsa or tomato base, but breakfast grits might be awful tasty with sorghum butter.

 

Back to the topic of food in the Chattanooga / North GA area:. This being green tomato season (as far as I know). fried green tomatoes were offered in every little place we ate. My favorite way to eat them by far is in a Fried Green Tomato BLT. But there's a cautionary tale here: fried green tomatoes are an art, and it isn't easy to find them done right with a crispy but light batter that doesn't overwhelm. 

I dip mine in an egg-and-milk wash, then dredge in cornmeal mix, which is about half-and-half flour and cornmeal, to which I've added salt and pepper. Just about right. Same stuff I use on okra, just without the egg wash, as okra produces its own "slime" to help the meal and flour adhere.

 

And while you have them all summer, they're especially big now, with the tomato plants about to give up the ghost for the season. 'Tis the season to make green tomato relish and so on! A friend has given me a recipe she says will work to can sliced green tomatoes that can then be drained and fried through the winter, but I've yet to try it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Is the Chattanooga Choo Choo still in operation?  I stayed there with my son on a business trip circa 1980.  Had an acceptably nice dinner, don't remember what.  But with the fancy drinks we ordered we got to keep the glassware.  His is still my little boy's favorite glass.

 

[kayb]

@Katie Meadow -- you mentioned your daughter's wedding was in north GA, in the mountains. I recall having one of the best lunches of my life in a small restaurant located in what had once been a house, on the highway between two sections of Chickamauga National Military Park.

 

Fried okra as light and ethereal as it can be fried. Creamed Silver Queen corn. Field peas. Plates of thick-sliced ripe tomato. Potato cakes with chunks of stewed potato in them. I think there may have been meat -- maybe fried chicken, maybe pork chops -- but those were the best vegetables I have ever consumed. 

[Katie Meadow]

Kayb, now you tell me! You had me at fried okra. The wedding was near Ellijay, GA. We had a number of meals in little diners and local places, only one memorably good one at a little "farm to table" place in Jasper called 61 Main St. Several other breakfasts and lunches were either memorably bad or already forgotten. When there's butter available for breakfast I call it a success. Most places have the same pretend spread only. I did make one discovery: Smuckers grape jelly in little packets can cover, if not a multitude of sins, at least a couple.

 

Sunday brunch after the wedding with just my own small side of the family in Ellijay was hilarious. The place was packed, every table taken. Sorry, hon, we're out of grits. Sorry, hon, no ice tea. (Now there's a shocker!) Sorry hon, no fritters or dumplings today even though they are on the menu. Sorry, hon, we don't have any butter. And so it went. Blue ribbon for worst biscuit in the South. Because I was with my five favorite people on earth it was the best brunch ever.

 

What is silver queen corn? I will give credit where credit is due. Wandering about Ellijay we came on a "gourmet" store with some fresh veggies out front. I bought a load of local corn, bi-color, and cooked it for my new in-laws for dinner that night. It turned out to be some of the best corn ever. They must have a later season than we do in the Bay Area. It was swoon-worthy.

 

Edited October 6, 2018 by Katie Meadow (log)

[kayb]

@Katie Meadow

I have no clue if the place is still there; this was at least 20 years ago.  Damn, though, it was fine.

 

Silver Queen is a variety of white sweet corn. Not quite as sweet as most yellow corn or the bicolors, but a very "corny" flavor. It was the corn we raised when I was a kid, and I love it dearly. 

 

That and Kentucky Wonder pole beans. Both are hard to find around here.

 

[RWood]

On 10/5/2018 at 12:46 AM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Is the Chattanooga Choo Choo still in operation?  I stayed there with my son on a business trip circa 1980.  Had an acceptably nice dinner, don't remember what.  But with the fancy drinks we ordered we got to keep the glassware.  His is still my little boy's favorite glass.

 

Really old thread, but I was looking through the Southeast section.  

The Choo Choo has been remodeled recently, and it's still in progress.  It's been taken over by a hotel and the boxcars are all being redone.  It's looking really nice.  But, the prices are going along with it.  We stayed at the hotel while it was being worked on.  A music venue called the Signal moved in and its a nice place for concerts.

They have added some good restaurants. Nic & Norman's and Stir are two that have nice brunches on Sunday with $2 double Champagne and Mimosa's.  That area has changed quite a bit. Really good places to eat, nice coffee shops, Chattanooga Distillery is across the street.  And a great bakery (Neidlov's) and Italian restaurant (Alleia) are right behind it.  

I wish they would spiff up the Choo Choo sign though.  It still looks pretty ragged.