Chattanooga Food Friday: Alleia

As the resident foodie, I make most of our dining choices. 99% of the time I'm totally OK with this position, but occasionally it's nice to sit back and have someone else do the research and make the hard choices. A few weekends ago when we went to Chattanooga, I let Steve do all of the organization, and honestly, that was the best gift. When we arrived at the surprise dinner location, I was very impressed. Steve did good, and Alleia was beautiful.

The design of the space is outstanding. Dark wooden furniture, private high-walled booths with low lights and candles really pump up the romantic feel. You could feel all the effort that went into making this place gorgeous. I was a sucker for the large candelabra display on the back wall that was allowed to drip and form a beautiful cascade of wax. It reminded me of what you might see in a vampire's foyer.

For a cocktail I ordered the coco tesoro which contained coconut ciroc, honey lavender syrup and lemon juice. The presentation of the cocktail was lovely and the yellow color glowed in the candlelight. You could really taste the honey and lemon, but overall it was light on the coconut taste. This drink was very sweet, but I quite liked it. Steve went for the vecchio amico that contained crown royal, campari, dry vermouth and orange. This was a manly drink, but it was also slightly bitter. While Steve liked this, it was too bitter for me.

The menu at Alleia has lots of options making it really good for ordering a bunch of things and sharing. We were told that the pizzas were big enough for one person so we figured we would order one and share it as an appetizer. What we got was a massive pizza that could easily feed two people for dinner, and since we already ordered a few other things, we had leftovers! I'm a smitten kitten when it comes to figs so we went for the fig, gorgonzola and prosciutto pizza with arugula on top. The crust itself was thin and crisp, and the dough was folded in an interesting way so that the crust had ridges in it, yet it was hollow on the inside. As expected, the fig jam was nice and sweet and mixed well with the tang of the gorgonzola. I only wished they added a bit more of the prosciutto to the pie. More of the smokey animal fat flavor would have been a welcome complement to the sweet fig.

For the pasta course we chose the gnocchi with pork belly, ramps and peas. This dish smelled so good that I just wanted to put my face in the plate and breathe it all in. I must note that the staff was nice enough to split the plates for us, so we each got even portions of our dishes. The gnocchi was soft and pillow-like and the butter-esque sauce in which they were sitting was heavenly. The pork belly had good flavor and was fork-tender. For me, this cut of meat could have been fattier. Personally, I always enjoy a nice juicy layer of fat on my pork. Despite the lack of fat, the pork and the gnocchi made a perfect mouthful, so that when eaten together they were reminiscent of steak and potatoes.

For our final plate we ordered the pork meatballs in a salsa verde with a side of grilled cabbage and roasted potatoes. The cabbage and potatoes were my favorite part of this dish. The cabbage had a nice smokey flavor to it. The potatoes were well seasoned and crisp on the outside. The meatballs didn't really knock my socks off, as I found them a little hard and dense overall. I would suggest that if you serve a sturdier meatball, you have a more "liquid" sauce to add some juice. The salsa verde was very sparse and didn't help to add liquid back into the meat. This just proves that the meatballs at City House are hard to beat.

The service that we had was excellent. Our server was knowledgeable and attentive without being overbearing. The manager even stopped by to see how we were doing, which is a nice touch. I especially appreciated how they removed all plates and silverware at the end of each course and brought fresh ones. I don't understand why more restaurants don't implement this simple practice to up the class factor. Also, the ladies room was really REALLY pretty. Bonus.

I think Alleia is a nice choice for Chattanooga dining. The ambiance is romantic, the food is prepared well and the service is high-end. If you are looking for a fancy take on Italian in Chatt-town, Alleia is your place.

Chattanooga Food Friday: Chato Brasserie for Brunch

This past weekend Steve and I went to Chattanooga for a mini-vacation. I always enjoy traveling to new places, especially if that means trying out new restaurants. For some reason it's been a while since I've gone out for brunch. But what better way to splurge than when on vacation? After consulting the Internet gods, we ended up at Chato Brasserie to try their eggs Benedict.

Chato, on Chattanooga's north shore, is located in a relatively a new condo building. The space itself is modern and open, and the floor to ceiling windows let in large amounts of natural light. The color palate consisted of warm earth tones and dark wood furniture. We arrived at 11, the moment that they opened for Sunday brunch, and were able to sneak a table without a reservation. But judging by how quick the place filled up, I would recommend calling ahead and reserving a table.

Chato has a wide variety of morning libations available. We chose the Sunday Bellini, which was made with passionfruit puree and champagne. At only $3 a glass, this was a really good deal. I enjoyed the Bellini; you can taste the fresh fruit and see tiny bits of pulp floating around. Also, the drink wasn't overly sweetened, allowing the natural taste of the fruit and the crispness of the champagne to dominate. 

Chato offers a fair amount of variations on the traditional eggs Benedict. The New Yorker in me went for the house cured sockeye salmon with a cream cheese & chive hollandaise. I have to say this dish let me down. 

When we ordered our dishes, our waitress (who was very polite) asked us how we wanted our eggs, and suggested over-easy. I said no, it's eggs Benedict and I want my eggs poached. In return, she said yes it's poached, but asked how much I wanted it cooked. I was very emphatic about how golden runny egg yolks is the only real way to eat a poached egg and the liquid yolk greatly enhances the dining experience. I was very clear that I wanted my eggs as runny as possible. What I got was a semi-solid yolk with no "ooze" factor.

Since the egg is the primary focus of an eggs Benedict, I didn't love this dish. This was really sad because everything else about it was spot-on. The salmon was lovely and had that salty lox flavor that you can conjure up just thinking about it. Their hollandaise was solid, and the addition of the cream cheese added a nice tangy note to the rich sauce. The roasted potatoes were crisp and not overly salted. It's such a bummer that something with so much potential was disappointing.

Steve went for the more adventurous creole Benedict, with andouille sausage, crawfish hollandaise and a biscuit instead of the traditional English muffin. Since Steve holds the same egg beliefs as me, he also asked for a runny yolk, and also got a solid golden nugget. It appears that they generally overcook all the eggs here. The sausage had a nice spice to it and the plump crawfish mixed with the buttery hollandaise was a great treat. This dish was so good flavor-wise, but the eggs were holding it back from being awesome.

I'm generally not one to complain, but I like being honest. When the waitress asked me how our meals were I told her that the eggs were overcooked. She was apologetic and they offered us beignets on the house. This was nice of them, and I always appreciate places that try to make things right. The beignets were not my favorite, their small size made them fairly hard and dense. I also know that beignets always come with more powdered sugar that I could possibly want, so there was a lot of shaking to get the excess off. They were much better once we dipped them in coffee.   

Overall, Chato for brunch was fairly hit or miss. Our service was great and the management apologized and was gracious overall. Our cocktails were really good and very budget friendly. The eggs Benedict was really well thought out, they only messed up the egg. If I lived in Chattanooga I would give them another shot since they could've just been having a bad egg day in the kitchen. 

Food Friday Chattanooga Edition: Public House

Last weekend Steve and I went on a trip to Chattanooga to see Neutral Milk Hotel. We made a vacation of it by visiting Rock City, staying in an awesome Bed & Breakfast (Stone Fort Inn) and going out to eat. I did a bunch of Yelp searching for a dinner spot that was both close to our hotel and the venue, reasonably priced, and had a good selection of yummies. Public House met all my criteria, and the fact that we were able to get a reservation at the time we wanted didn't hurt either.

Located in the cool rehabbed buildings of Warehouse Row, Public House looks inviting. The decor involves a lot of light wood and white curtains. The place was much bigger on the inside than I expected and it's connected to the bar next door, The Social, which provides a greater bar atmosphere with a snack-heavy bar menu.

We ordered our drinks off the Social's cocktail menu. I had the Alex Eile which is vodka, grapefruit, elderflower and some champagne. This drink was very girly and pink. I liked its sweet and refreshing effervescence and I'm always a sucker for the little glasses. Steve ordered the gigantic which had whiskey, ginger beer, smoked cider and apple butter. Yes, you heard it right, they put a giant dollop of apple butter on top of the drink. When you mixed it all up it tasted like apple pie. This was not my cup of tea, but Steve really enjoyed the cinnamon flavor.

For an appetizer we started out with the pickle plate. It came with pickled green beans, pickled onions and chow chow. We both agreed that we did not enjoy the green beans. I thought they were too crunchy and not pickled enough, and Steve found them too sour. Our favorite was the pickled onions; they were tangy and sweet, and went nicely with the toasted crackers.

For dinner I chose the shrimp and grits because people said it was good in online reviews, and a friendly person had recommended it to me. I wasn't impressed with this dish and felt that it just fell flat. There were tons of red bell peppers, which I'm not used to seeing in shrimp and grits (I'm also not the biggest fan of red peppers overall- except in moderation). The whole dish tasted like roasted red peppers and not much else. This made me miss the wonderful shrimp and grits I had at Silo.

Steve ordred what I assumed he would order when picking Public House, the pimento cheese and bacon burger. Steve really enjoyed this hearty sandwich and I agree that he picked wiser. The cheese itself had a nice flavor and was very creamy. The burger was served on a hearty poppyseed bun that held up under all the toppings. My favorite part was the side of shoestring fries. They were tiny and crisp and the fresh chives they put on top made them all the more addicting.

Overall I would say that Public House was just kind of average. I wasn't really impressed by anything here; it was all pretty standard. The place is lovely, the staff was friendly, and the menu does offer a wide variety of southern food favorites for those that like the classics. I guess if I go back I'll try something other than the shrimp and grits.

Food Friday Chattanooga Edition: The Honest Pint

Last weekend Steve and I headed to Chattanooga to visit the Tennessee Aquarium. Soon enough it was dinner time and we were very hungry. Lucky for me, Steve visited the 'noog not to long ago on tour and had a burger at The Honest Pint that he loved. So we went back there for dinner before we headed back home. Also, much love to Chattanooga for having a free electric trolly system downtown.

Via honestpint.com

I was kind of surprised how many of Chattanooga's eating establishments still are full smoking or have a smoking section. Maybe it's the New Yorker in me, but I haven't been in a eating establishment where you can also smoke for a very long time. As much as I dislike this, the Honest Pint had a smoke free room that was separated by doors so you really couldn't smell anything. Also, we were the only people in the room. Private Party.

We started out with a couple beers. Walking around and looking at fish all day works up a thirst. They didn't have anything I wanted on tap so I ordered an old favorite, Left Hand Milk Stout. Steve wanted to try a local brew so he ordered the house beer. It was a Irish Red made especially for them by Terminal Brewhouse. Steve liked it but it was too hoppy for me. The beer menu isn't as extensive as I would like a large bar to be, but they had enough bottles to keep me happy.

They had one of my all time favorites on the menu, scotch eggs. If you've never had them, they are hard boiled eggs, covered in bacon, battered and fried. I had these when I lived in Scotland and I don't think I'd had them since. Steve had never tried them before and I think he was really pleased with our decision. Everything is better with bacon.

Even though Steve recommended the burger, I was intrigued by the Boxty on the menu. They are basically an Irish pancake-based sandwich. I can't say I've ever had one before this, but I'm a fan. I ordered the Smoked Sausage, slaw and BBQ Boxty. It was like a really amazing version of bratwurst inside a pancake. This is possibly one of the best bar foods I have ever had. Also, I ordered mashed potatoes as a side and they were very delicious, probably because they contained massive amounts of butter.

Steve ordered the pulled pork, pimento cheese, wing sauce and BBQ boxty. For the first time ever, we actually split our sandwiches down the middle. I really liked this boxy also, but I preferred the sausage version. The pork was very tender, but I feel that the spiciness of the wing sauce overpowered the meat and the delicate flavor of pimento cheese. Steve was trying to be healthy and ordered the Hericot Verts, all of which he ate quickly.

I really enjoyed The Honest Pint. The staff was friendly and attentive and the food was good. It wasn't very crowded when we were there, so I'm not quite sure what the "nightlife" vibe of this place is if you are looking for a party bar. But there is a stage in the main room and they seemed to have a fairly busy concert calendar. But one things is for sure: for dinner, it's a slam dunk.