Hillbilly Willy’s was already several years old before I discovered them. George Foster started his business in a tiny little shack in Ooltewah, on the other side of Chattanooga from his present location, about eleven years ago, doing carry-out and catering. Around the same time that he was growing and thriving and looking for a larger space, I was stopping at a Bi-Lo just off I-24 on my way to Nashville for occasional twelve-packs of Double Cola. In time, the Bi-Lo closed, the shopping center’s owners lowered the rent on the smaller spaces to attract business to the mall as it lacked an anchor, and Foster moved in, setting up billboards letting people know about his great barbecue on the west side of town. Continue reading “Hillbilly Willy’s Bar-B-Q, Chattanooga TN”
Tag: chattanooga
Julie Darling Donuts, Chattanooga TN
Two weeks ago, we got on the road again for our third trip out of town in three weeks. This time, our destination was the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, about which more in the next chapter, with secondary stops in Chattanooga that I will come back to next week. The most direct route to Scottsboro from Marietta is through Rome and across Lookout and Sand Mountains, but I decided to make this as much of an interstate trip as we could so that we might get there and back quicker. We even thought that we might be home before sundown. Heh. I heard a radio spot at a restaurant in the morning that said, “From Soddy-Daisy to Sand Mountain…” and darned if that wasn’t precisely the range that we covered on this trip. Continue reading “Julie Darling Donuts, Chattanooga TN”
Dixie Freeze, South Pittsburg TN
For many, many years, I have told myself that one of these days, I was going to go visit Nashville and take US-41 to get there. Last weekend, Marie and I finally did this, taking the baby and the teenage girlchild along for a very, very long trek up to Nashville that let us see some amazing scenery and lovely places. I had it in mind to stop at every single barbecue joint along the way, expecting to find a few. In the end, we only saw three, all in the Nashville suburbs, thereby putting a crimp in my plan to scale the Urbanspoon Tennessee rankings. More about that in tomorrow’s chapter. Continue reading “Dixie Freeze, South Pittsburg TN”
The Purple Daisy and The Hickory Pit, Chattanooga TN
Earlier this month, David and I took our every-other-month trek up to Chattanooga and McKay. We’d hoped to have David’s old friend Stephen join us, but he ended up having to work. It was a disagreeably long trip. When we go, we’re on a bit of a time budget to get back in time to pick up my son from day care before he hits the “you’ve been here too many hours!” alarm. Between missing the exit for our first meal destination, necessitating a lengthy detour, the unhurried service at that place, and the agonizing wait for McKay to price the gigantic stack of CDs that David brought to sell – two hours!! – we found little time to relax at the two restaurants where we visited, and no real chance to talk with staff or owners to learn much about them. This, sadly, was a case of eating and running. Continue reading “The Purple Daisy and The Hickory Pit, Chattanooga TN”
Kevin Brown’s Burgers, Ooltewah TN
Kevin Brown told me a sad, but positive story about his tiny little burger joint a few weeks ago. After we finished a terrific meal here, I stopped in the gents’ and was surprised and impressed by a huge biker mural on the wall. I asked Brown about it and he explained that he took over the building, which was once a bike shop, after that business’s owner was killed in a crash a mile or so up the road on a notoriously dangerous hairpin curve. He left the mural, among other things, up around the property in his memory. Continue reading “Kevin Brown’s Burgers, Ooltewah TN”
English Rose, Chattanooga TN (CLOSED)
You may have noticed that I am not the most spontaneous fellow around. I plan most of my out-of-town eating way in advance. Everybody should do this. Between the Roadfood.com message board and Urbanspoon and all the other fun blogs and forums out there, nobody should ever, ever have to just pull off the interstate and fuel up at some fast food joint, ever. Plan ahead and you might not be disappointed. Continue reading “English Rose, Chattanooga TN (CLOSED)”
Taco Roc, Chattanooga TN
I’ve mentioned before that the main draw that persuades some of my local friends to visit Chattanooga with me is McKay, a frankly remarkable used bookstore that deals in the consumption of mass quantities of books, DVDs and CDs. There are three stores in Tennessee and the scale of this place is just eye-popping. It is always crowded and books are constantly moving. They made the decision years ago to treat the guests coming to sell or trade books as suppliers and not act like customers are bringing them a burden by asking them to look through a box. You know that heavy sigh you almost always get before the guy at the used record store tells you that they probably won’t be able to sell most of what you brought in, but they’ll take about a third of it for pennies in store credit? That doesn’t happen at McKay. McKay’s not doing you a favor by taking some of this off your hands; you are doing them a favor by selling them your books, and the staff acts like it. No, they don’t take everything, but they take a darn good chunk of it and give you a fair price. Cash, too. No wonder we keep seeing Cobb and Fulton license plates in their parking lot. McKay is undercutting the bejezus out of every similar store in Atlanta. Continue reading “Taco Roc, Chattanooga TN”
Marie, Let's Eat! 