Start Restaurant, Thrive, Repeat

In my 7 months living in Chattanooga, I have almost rounded out a food conglomerate. Milk & Honey, Taco Mamacita, Community Pie, Urban Stack, and Clyde's on Main are all owned by the Monen family. My previous post was about Taco Mamacita and Milk & Honey (both of which I've eaten at MANY TIMES), so this post is about the others I have visited.

I went to Urban Stack and Community Pie (on different days - I'm not quite that gluttonous!) with my friend Dell. Now that Dell isn't busy educating the children of tomorrow, she has more time to spend with me trying out different restaurants!

Urban Stack (www.urbanstack.com) is located downtown in what used to be the Southern Railway Baggage Building. The site is really cool - lots of exposed brick, cool modern updates - all right next to train tracks. The menu is full of many different kinds of upscale burgers. They also have an extensive drink menu. I had a hard time choosing what I wanted but I had the waiter's help. I was trying to decide between the New Yorker (imagine a Reuben ON TOP of a burger) and the N. Carolina Chili Cheeseburger. He recommended the chili so that's what I chose. It wasn't bad but it wasn't my favorite. 

 I don't like pickles so I didn't eat those. The slaw came on the side but I felt it was better ON the burger. The chili wasn't bad but it was kind of bland. The whole burger itself ended up being just a "meat-fest". Honestly, that sounds kind of appetizing but somehow it wasn't. I would've liked a bit more flavor, a bit more texture. I think the pickles would have added to it but they're just not my thing. The fries were really good and the bun is local (from Niedlov's) but it overall wasn't that satisfying. I only ate about half. Interestingly enough, better as leftovers....
I would definitely be up for trying Urban Stack again, but next time I'm going for the Reuben. Dell had a regular cheeseburger with regular fries and I think she enjoyed it pretty well - just not super exciting.

Next time, maybe we'll both be a little more adventurous! Urban Stack DOES offer Milk & Honey Gelato but only in the form of milkshakes. :(

Let's move on to Community Pie. Community Pie (www.communitypie.com) offers traditional New York Style and authentic Neopolitan pizza. They use special "deck ovens" to bake the pizzas. One great thing about this restaurant? There's a mini Milk & Honey right inside!! I ordered the "Drunk Pig" but the waiter suggested the "Vodka Pie" which was made Neopolitan Style. I decided to trust him and I was rewarded.

The Vodka Pie has vodka sauce (duh), ricotta, homemade fennel sausage, mozzarella, parmesan, and red pepper (I nixed the red pepper). It was delicious. The "burnt" areas of the crust - I'm sure they're called something fancy but I don't know what - added a nice taste to the pizza. The vodka sauce was wonderful and I especially loved the ricotta. This pizza has a nice thin crust (my favorite!). I ate about half the pizza and took the rest home...where I then finished it on the same night. Add to the delicious pizza a dessert of Milk & Honey served in a cute little glass bowl? You've got yourself a winner! I will definitely be going back. 

Now I just have to check out Clyde's....

Scenic City

Welcome to Chattanooga, Tennessee! Since I can't find a list of the top 100 dishes in my new city, I may just have to make my own. The first would have to be at a local favorite - Taco Mamacita (www.tacomamacita.com). This restaurant is owned with a few others in the area including Milk & Honey, Urban Stack, and Community Pie, all of which I will be visiting at some point.

I went to Taco Mamacita with my friend Dell from college. This was not our first trip. She's a Chattanooga native and, even though I'm new here, this would mark probably the 4th (?) time I've eaten there. What I love about TM (which is what I'm going to call it now because I'm tired of writing it out) is the taco "combo" where you can get 2 tacos and a side for less than $10 - and it will fill you up. TM is more of a tex-mex restaurant in my opinion and they have a large selection of drinks, entrees, and even sides. I love the tacos menu - where else can you find tacos with sloppy joes, korean bbq, and jerk chicken? The sides include a corn and black bean salad, sweet potato fries, and (my favorite) Mexican street corn. The Mexican street corn is available on or off the cob.

I've tried several different tacos here but on this particular visit, I found the one I love - the Korean BBQ - my Top 100 dish. All the tacos are served on flour tortillas. This one has "red pickled onion, Korean BBQ sauce, braised beef short rib, Sriracha cream sauce, cabbage, and radish". Being the slightly picky eater that I am, I opted for no radish but I did keep the pickled onion. The sweetness of the BBQ and the sharpness of the pickled onions worked so well together....I wish I'd gotten 2 of them! My other selection was the Oy Vey ("slow-cooked chipotle beef brisket topped with Mama's Ranchero Sauce, crispy lettuce, pico de gallo, monterey jack cheese, guacamole, and fresh escabeche"), which was a little bland but possibly because I nixed the guacamole and pico de gallo. I can also wholeheartedly recommend the Sloppy Jose, which is their version of a Sloppy Joe (it has fritos on it, people!) Ahhh, I love this place.

After dinner, we traveled across the parking lot to Milk & Honey (http://milkandhoneychattanooga.com/) for some gelato. I first tried M&H (I know - I'm being lazy) when I was with my friends Lena and Shelly at The Chattanooga Market and it was wonderful. What I like about them is that their standard cup includes THREE flavors of gelato. No need to pick a favorite. Their gelato is made fresh daily and includes local ingredients. On this wonderful evening, I chose the Lemon Buttermilk, Peanut Butter & Oreo, and Coffee & Cream. Dell and I sat down in a comfy booth and discussed my upcoming trip to Disney World. It was heaven. All 3 flavors were so smooth and creamy and perfectly balanced. The lemon wasn't too tart, the coffee wasn't too overpowering, and...how could you mess up peanut butter and Oreos? 

Do yourself a favor and try these great places. Taco Mamacita also has locations in Nashville and Sullivan's Island, SC. Milk & Honey is just local (good for Chattanooga!).

Guess Who's Back....

So I'm honestly surprised my blog hasn't been cancelled because apparently it's been almost TWO YEARS since I've had a post! I really decreased my foodie restaurant visits and that's something I definitely regret. I'm going to try to get started again.

I moved from Charlotte to Chattanooga in September and so I have a whole new city of restaurants to conquer! Before I left, I visited Fran's (of course) one more time and ate the bread pudding (also of course):

My favorite

The last restaurant on my list to be completed was Good Food on Montford. I went with Natalie, a friend from church. Good Food has a number of small plates that you share instead of larger entrees with sides and all that jazz. The dish listed on the 100 best list was the steamed pork bun:

Deliciousness between 2 pillows

This dish is more Asian-inspired. The pork belly is spiced with Asian spices and served with pickled vegetables on a steamed bun. I would have honestly been happy to just eat a bunch of those and nothing else (although everything else was good). The bun was so soft but not doughy, and the pork was spiced so well. The vegetables added a little crunch. I guess serving a smaller portion just leaves you with a really good experience and you can't get tired of it.....

And thus concludes my dinners in Charlotte (insert sad face here). My plan for Chattanooga is to visit as many great restaurants as I can (as money and time allow) and maybe make my OWN Top 100 list.

Until next time!!

Stonecrest - land of love

I started my first week at my new job & I now have 5 opportunities a week to eat at a multitude of restaurants in the Stonecrest shopping center. My first pick was Qdoba & I ate there about 1 1/2 weeks ago. That was my first experience at a Qdoba - I know - surprising but true.

I ordered the chicken burrito with quest & this thing was HUGE. I know Moe's was all the rage when I was in vet school but I never liked such big burritos. I still feel that way today but the corn salsa they had was quite delicious & I got 2 meals from that burrito!

Today I went to Smashburger. Oh...my....goodness. So delicious. I had a regular burger with American cheese, an egg bun, lettuce, & mustard + sweet potato fries. That was one of the best burgers I've had in a long time - so full of flavor! The fries were equally delicious. I almost went with a Nutter Butter shake but I have to work this afternoon, not lay around basking in postprandial comfort.

My next place? So many choices......

And now for a new year...

So I know it's been a new year for awhile now but I have been slow to post. To multi-task, I'm going to post on two restaurants in one blog - I know - I'm so talented!

The first restaurant was Lang Van on Shamrock Drive. I went there with my frequent dining buddy Shelly for the Bi Cuon. This restaurant was a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place that had a pretty traditional menu. The Bi Cuon is a rice paper wrap filled with cabbage & carrots that comes with a dipping sauce. I am pretty much fine with any sort of spring roll thing so I was a little taken aback when the waitress said something along the lines of "You don't want that. It's not good" & recommended a different appetizer. Now this was a first! I wasn't quite sure what to do - I mean, that's what I was there for! I read the description again & figured I would be fine. I was. I don't think I would ever be interested in paying for that again because I'm more of a fan of deep-fried rolls but you know....

For my entree I had the pho with well-cooked beef. I've always had pho with chicken but this was really good l. The portion was huge so I had some leftovers. 

The 2nd restaurant barely requires mentioning. Shelly, Anna, & I went to Davidson one day for lunch & shopping. If you haven't been there before, you should go. We chose the Flatiron Kitchen & Taphouse for lunch & I was super excited because they have Reuben that's on the list. Well guess what, they don't have it anymore. They haven't had it in a long time. I'm taking way too long to finish this list - Places are going out of business and dishes are disappearing. Our lunch there was okay but not that great. I don't even think I would recommend it. Slightly disappointing, but the trip to Davidson was nice.... And of course I always have fun with my friends!

Until next time…

The Prodigal Eater Returns

I was talking about my blog to a coworker and I realized it's been FOREVER since I posted. This is likely due to the fact that I haven't eaten at any more Top 100 restaurants for several reasons. The 2 biggest reasons are money and time - eating out is expensive and most of the restaurants left are in Uptown. If you've read any of my previous posts, you know I don't like Uptown. However, since discovering the light rail is actually pretty easy, I'm hoping to sample a few more dishes once I add some more eating-out-money into my budget. This evening, I am posting about the Fish Market in Fort Mill, SC. This restaurant is not on the Top 100 list and I don't have any personal pictures to go with my post, but I'm trying to steal some from the website.

I went to the Fish Market with my cousins and my aunt the other night and it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. I ate so much that my jeans felt super tight when I left, but I never regretted it one second. This restaurant has been around for awhile but I honestly never even knew it was a restaurant - I thought it was some sort of meeting house in Baxter Village. Boy, was I mistaken!

For my appetizer, I had a cup of the she-crab soup. I've always been hesitant to eat she-crab soup because it talks about sherry. I've never even had sherry, but I thought it would be some sort of sweet, alcohol-tasting soup. This is, of course, a ridiculous idea but one I've clung to nonetheless. For Father's Day, my dad had some she-crab soup when we all went out to lunch and it was pretty awesome so I was up for trying some at the Fish Market. My cousin Mary said it was the best she's had outside of Charleston. Oh...my....goodness.....It's not often I do this, but every single bite of that soup I took, I said "mmmm" under my breath. It was so wonderful - perfectly creamy and warm with a hint of black cracked pepper. I wanted to lick the bowl clean.

For dinner, I had the wedge salad and the appetizer lobster mac and cheese. The wedge salad was, of course, a huge wedge of lettuce that came with bleu cheese dressing, bits of real bacon, and pecans. I wasn't quite sure what the pecans were doing there because they didn't add too much to it (maybe if they were flavored?) but the salad itself was wonderful. It wasn't even that complicated - just really fresh and super good. My lobster mac and cheese was fabulous. It could have MAYBE had a bit more cheese on it, but that's just because I love super creamy mac and cheese. But seriously - I'm not complaining. This meal was so perfect. The only part that I didn't like? I had no room for dessert. I will most certainly be going back there for another meal. Dinner is pretty pricey but lunch is really reasonable. For lunch, they have offerings like fish tacos, crab cake sandwiches, and a lobster wrap. For dinner, I'm definitely going to have to try the oven-roasted grouper with mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and black truffle cream sauce....or maybe the market fish and chips - fried in tempura batter....or maybe the shrimp and grits....oh my gosh, I have to stop. My mouth is watering!

Pictures (stolen) from www.fishmarketbarandgrill.com

Front of restaurant



Chilean sea bass

Looking for Luce

Ahhh, Uptown...the bane of my existence. I have lived in Rock Hill for 4 years now, traveling fairly consistently to Charlotte, and I still can't get the hang of Uptown. Every time I go, I end up frustrated, with sore feet, and sweaty from getting lost and walking so much. That being said, there may not be too many dishes coming from Uptown for awhile. However, this blog is way overdue so maybe I'm close to attempting it again.....sometime.....

Anyhoo, Shelly, Anna, and I traveled to the evil Uptown to eat at Luce. This little restaurant is set WAY back in a plaza and has no signs to let you know it's back there (can you sense my frustration?). After I calmed down and had some water, I enjoyed the free bread and the calamari appetizer my dining companions were kind enough to order as I was getting lost on the street. The calamari was breaded and served with a spicy marinara sauce, delicious and light enough to make you think you could eay way more than you should. I love calamari, but when they put the little ones on there that really LOOK like little squid creatures, I have to pass and stick to the other options on the plate.

For my main dish I ordered the Tagliatelle. Now I had a hard time finding where to get this dish because it was originally served at Coco Osteria, which is no longer in business. Thankfully, Luce still serves some of Coco's favorites, this dish included. One hundred dishes are hard to get through and, unfortunately, some of the restaurants are no more, making it difficult to complete my task! The tagliatelle is described as "spinach tagliatelle, porcini mushrooms, prosciutto, parmesan cream sauce."




Salty, creamy goodness

I used to be an Italian food lover, but it's usually so heavy that I really stopped liking it. However, doing this 100 dish thing, I've realized a couple of things - When it's made well, Italian food is FABULOUS and you can always get a to-go box!

The tagliatelle is pretty similar to fettucini and this one was made with spinach, so it was full of flavor. The cream sauce was pretty heavy, but there wasn't too much on the dish so it evened out. The prosciutto added a salty flavor that balanced well with the pasta and sauce. They also added fresh cheese on the top, which gave it a tangy flavor. I don't really like onions in certain dishes, so I really didn't eat these. I guess if you like onions, they would have been good, but I wouldn't know. Overall, this was a really good salty, creamy dish with perfectly cooked pasta. I am still a HUGE fan of Vivace's pasta, but Luce comes pretty close.

For dessert, of course, I had the tiramisu. I am still looking for tiramisu as good as it was in Boston.

This would not be it. It was served, as you can see, in a cup - not as the piece that I'm used to. It was good, as tiramisu usually always is, but it is definitely not up to the quality of Mike's Pastry Shop in Boston.

As far as the rest of Luce, we sat outside because it was beautiful weather. Their patio is really nice and it's fun to see all the business people coming out of the buildings. The wait staff was very attentive, given the fact I have no idea exactly how much water I drank because they kept filling it up. If only they had a little sign at the entrance to the plaza......