#13  TENNESSEE – Chattanooga Chew Chew

 

Lord preserve us and protect us,
We’ve been drinking whiskey ‘fore breakfast.

-             - Chorus from the traditional bluegrass song Whiskey Before Breakfast.

We asked a number of local Chattanoogans where they would recommend  having breakfast and they were unanimous in naming this restaurant located in the newly revitalized South Side neighborhood:

   

The Bluegrass Grill
Chattanooga, Tennessee

AMBIENCE:  The Bluegrass Grill is owned by a retired orthodox minister who opened it in 2007. Previously, he had owned restaurants in Memphis and Charlottesville VA.( I believe the current owner of the restaurant in C-Ville has kept the Bluegrass name.)

A large number of Yelp reviewers warned about the inevitability of standing in line for a good amount of time to eat breakfast at The Bluegrass Grill. They all added that it was worth it. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky because we were seated right away. Maybe this good fortune was due to it being a Tuesday morning and the sun hadn’t risen yet. 

The place is in a refurbished early 20th century brick building with its original wooden floor.  There are perhaps only about ten tables and five stools at a counter. Although there are few tables, the space seemed roomy because of the high ceiling and a magnificent mural of the Appalachians behind the counter. Bluegrass music played softly in the background.

The clientele seemed mostly made up of people catching breakfast before going off to work. I did not see anyone who appeared to have had whiskey before breakfast.

I felt very comfortable here. I could have lingered but there was a line starting to form and we had a long drive to Oxford, Mississippi ahead of us.

5 out of 5 stars.

FOOD:  I ordered the Denver Omelet, along with a biscuit and grits.

The omelet was very tasty; the ingredients very fresh. By the way, I learned that the Denver omelet didn’t originate in Denver CO nor was it named for Bob Denver. According to James Beard, it was a dish eaten by cowboys and Chinese immigrants and originally called a Western omelet. Beard said that when the railroads reached Denver it was then renamed for public relations purposes. 

The word grits comes from the Old English grytt meaning coarse meal. Many people think it comes from New English and means “particles of sand” which is appropriate to the taste.

When I saw my grits arrive at the table in a bowl, I had a terrible flashback of me as a young lad gagging on the taste of Cream of Wheat. Grits are not made from wheat but from corn. These grits were pretty good – creamy with a slight corn taste but still on the bland side. The Bluegrass Grill offered me three different house made hot sauces to add some pizzazz to those grits. I went with the tongue-numbing Garlic Habanero Sauce.  Mission accomplished.

The Healthy One ordered the Mediterranean Frittata, biscuit, and chose fruit over grits. I’m not sure, but I think frittata is Italian for “eggs mixed with a lot of other stuff”. She thought it was delicious. Both of us agreed that the biscuits were excellent.

5 out of 5 stars

COFFEE:  What’s up with the weak coffee that we have had in the South? This tasted almost as bad as instant coffee. Maybe this is why Southerners speak slowly - not enough caffeine. I am also a little perturbed about the coffee cup they gave me. Was this intentional or random?

1 1/2 stars out of 5

SERVICE: Service was friendly and efficient. Only two people were working both the room and the counter which made them very busy. Nevertheless, they seemed to know how to handle the demands. The food came out quickly and we were offered coffee refills often. A half point deduction for giving me the “old person” coffee cup.

   

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

COST: $26.72 with tax and tip.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT CHATTANOOGA:

Chattanooga is the fourth largest city in Tennessee with a population of about 175,000. It may turn out to be the largest city visited on the Breakfast Across America tour. The meaning of the city’s name depends upon who you ask. It could either be the Cherokee word for “hawk’s nest” or the Creek Indian word for “rock rising to a point” (referring to Lookout Mountain). In 1969 Chattanooga was named America’s most polluted city. Since then it has cleaned its air, rebuilt its waterfront on the Tennessee River, added a world renowned aquarium, and became a hub for the arts in the southern Appalachians. It is also known as Gig City because it has one of the fastest publically owned fiber-optic networks in the world. Data is transferred at one gigabyte per second which is 50 times faster than the average household network provides. To put this in terms most of us can understand, it takes 33 seconds to download a two-hour, high-definition movie in Chattanooga, compared with 25 minutes for those with an average high-speed broadband connection in the rest of the country. On top of all this, Outside Magazine has named Chattanooga Best Town in America twice (most recently in 2015) bolstering its growing reputation as a haven for numerous outdoor activities.

We spent two days in and around Chattanooga starting with a very impressive farmer’s market that attracted a couple thousand people.  Because the weather was so nice, we felt the need to be outside rather than inside the infamous aquarium watching fish swim in circles so we spent most of our time just walking around the city. We especially enjoyed the public art which is pervasive across the city but seems especially prominent in the up and coming South Side. This is a copper sculpture we liked called “Party Dress” which was located right outside the Bluegrass Grill.

This breakfast appropriate mural was just around the corner.

BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:

-           - Took a six mile walk through the city including crossing the beautiful Walnut St. Walking Bridge over the Tennessee River.

-           - Walked at the Chickamauga Battlefield where the Rebs kicked our butt and then did an extensive hike up and down Lookout Mountain where the Yanks had grabbed an impressive victory.

October 25, 2016

NEXT UP: Mississippi