Before we left Chattanooga and picked up our daughter, I wanted to stop by one of the restaurants that we’ve featured before at our blog and see how it was doing. We picked Good Dog, which we first visited in 2011 and Marie got to try a couple of years later because our son absolutely loves hot dogs and it was time to give him the treat of something special here.
Susan Paden’s restaurant has been packing in the crowds on Frazier Avenue, easily one of the most popular restaurants on the North Shore. It brings in everybody with its fun selection of house-made sausages and sauces. Whether you’d like something simple – our son only wants ketchup on his dog and nothing else – or you want to bury your hot dog in fun and silly toppings, there’s something for any guest here. You’ll definitely want to add a cone of fries to dip in the mayo fritesauce or seasoned ketchups, and eet smakelijk here.
Good Dog has a reputation for having long lines, but we lucked out. This was a rainy Sunday in the early evening and the restaurant was only about half full. Our boy loved the place and rolled around on the bench, happy with his dog. I ordered the Fred, named after Susan’s father, which only has chili, cheese, mustard, and onions. Considering that you can add anything from a homemade basil-walnut pesto to arugula to poached eggs to your dogs here, this is just about the living definition of keeping it simple. The prices can get a little high if you go the build-it-yourself route and smother your basic $3 dog with lots of toppings, but they have several varieties to choose from already, including their really popular pimento cheese and Chicago dogs, for under $6.
The rain kept us from getting any exercise in Coolidge Park, which we love, but we were happy to see that Winder Binder, which is a few doors down, is also open on Sundays. After McKay, that’s my favorite bookstore in town, among many. They also have an excellent, huge selection of records. We spent a while browsing, although we left without buying anything on this trip.
Unfortunately, our daughter was not able to join us at Good Dog because she’d been unexpectedly delayed by several hours. We instead picked her up at a Sonic on the west side of town, so that Marie could indulge in the guilty pleasure of her favorite grape slush. The girlchild settled on some ice cream there for dinner and we joined the long, long line of cars slowly struggling through town to get home. If we ever need to travel around Chattanooga after Thanksgiving again, we’ll try not to do it on the Sunday following it. I-24 becomes a complete parking lot, but I suppose that gave us more time to talk with our kid after her week away.
Other blog posts about Good Dog:
Chattavore (Apr. 19 2012)
Pig Out Spots (June 14 2012)
Nooga.com (Jan. 11 2013)
Bella Vivere (Feb. 28 2013)
Do you enjoy classic adventure TV? I’m reliving some great shows from my own childhood with my four year-old son. Come join the fun at Fire-Breathing Dimetrodon Time!
Marie, Let's Eat! 
There is a reason that we go over the river and through the woods to get to Atlanta every week and I-24 and I-75 (near Chattanooga) are two HUGE reasons. I have *never* known I-24 to be anything except a mess at all times. When we have to go that way to get to Atlanta we can count on our journey taking at least four hours rather than three. I’ll bet it’s going to be an absolute ZOO today with the weather rolling in!
We have good luck with I-24 nine times out of ten, but every few years, we hit it at the wrong, wrong time. Then again, we’re so used to Atlanta at its worst that I-24 has never felt as bad as top-end perimeter gridlock, either. 🙂