I asked Marie to pick a place for our last stop on the trip, and she came up with a great one. It’s the oddly-named Fresh Pot Cafe, whose name reminds me that a straight-edge friend of mine was at a charity auction with me last month and was assigned bidder number 420. Har-de-har!
Usually, when we visit a restaurant that four or more other hobbyists have written about, I like to include a little “other blog posts about” section toward the bottom, and if you’ve read many of our previous reports from the Chattanooga area, then you’ve certainly seen several links to Chattavore, the runaway # 1 food blog in the Scenic City, because she’s eaten at a pretty solid majority of the places in town that we’ve tried. Her posts are always worth reading, and her story from last August about Fresh Pot especially so. I was really looking forward to trying the Louisiana crispy fish sandwich after her glowing report.
There are not very many restaurants quite like this one. Fresh Pot Cafe is owned by a family from Ecuador, and the menu is their take on what you might find at a casual American lunch or dinner spot, with a few neat specials like they might have made at home, like rich soups, beef stews, and plantains.
The crispy whitefish sandwich did not disappoint. I really can’t better Chattavore’s description of it; I agree with every letter. She might have had better tomatoes than I did, however, since she went in the summer and they may have come more fresh. Marie had the spicy shrimp sandwich, however, and it was even better. The shrimp, grilled and tossed with some cayenne and black pepper, were very tasty, and the sandwich came with lettuce, tomato, avocado, and just a little smear of a really wonderful chipotle mayo. It was a great mix of flavors.
Fresh Pot Cafe is in the town of Hixson, on the other side of the Chickamauga Dam from the Chattanooga city limits. It’s not a bad drive, and the place seems to be doing good business, with friendly service and pretty good prices for dinner entrees. I can certainly recommend either of the sandwiches that we tried.
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Marie, Let's Eat! 