Hot Dish Review

After a busy week of work and travel a casual dinner close to home was just what the doctor ordered. It had been a coon’s age since I’d eaten at Two Urban Licks. With so many new trendy spots opening each month, revisiting old favorites often ends up on the back burner.

LC and I walked into the dimly lit restaurant, which is cozy despite its cavernous interior, and took up residence at the first bar. We lucked out, as a cool little band was playing in the corner. The huge rotating rotisserie remains the focal point of the space, centrally located in the open kitchen.

Two is where chef Scott Serpas sharpened his skills prior to opening Serpas, one of Atlanta’s best restaurants. In fact, his signature salmon chips and lamb lollipops remain menu favorites.

I started off with a glass of red wine poured from one of their 42 stainless steel barrels, an ingenious one-of-a-kind gravity flow system. We proceeded to order several appetizers to share….the salmon chips, shaved calamari, black bean soup, and tacos.

The first dish to arrive was the salmon chips, four big potato chips each topped with short smoked salmon, chipotle cream cheese, capers, and red onions. I’ve eaten these many times and remember them being much better. On this visit, an overabundance of salmon, which tasted fishy, made the chips soggy. None of the other ingredients stood out resulting in a disappointing start.

The shaved calamari followed. A respectable yet standard fried version drizzled with a sweet a spicy sauce and wasabi cream. Black bean soup, garnished with a bit of cotija cheese, cilantro and jalalpeno creme fraiche was soothing and flavorful, but not very photogenic.

However, my favorite small plate was the tacos filled with tender Korean BBQ beef, crunchy kimchi, jack cheese, and cilantro. Only complaint is they sat in a puddle of juice, causing the crispy shells to become instantly soggy.

A few small plates leaves room for dessert! I couldn’t pass up the bread pudding, although it is described as “white chocolate cranberry”. I have no love for white chocolate, an oxymoron for a product made from cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids, and vanilla, lacking the part of the cocoa bean called the nib that gives chocolate its flavor. So it is not chocolate.

However, I had it on good authority that the stuff was undetectable in this dessert. The bread pudding was luscious and perfectly paired with excellent brown sugar ice cream that sat upon a mound of chocolate cookie crumbs for a textural extravaganza of crunchy, creamy, chewy deliciousness. We licked the plate.

820 Ralph McGill Blvd. 404-522-4622

You know how much I love the burbs. Working on the weekend in Kennesaw? Double the fun.

After a few hours of setting up a trade show display at a school on a recent Sunday, LC and I stopped by Keegan’s Public House for a bite and a brew before heading to (I kid you not) the office for more work.

Pubs are usually also sports bars, so LC’s alterior motive was to watch the end of the Falcons game. But their TV’s were placed where they were hard to see from the booths, and the bar was full of patrons.

We sat in a booth anyway and ordered two Irish car bombs, shots of Baileys and Jameson’s that are dropped into half pints of Guinness draft, then quickly consumed. My unfortunate introduction to this concoction (5 of them) resulted in my car keys being locked in my office on Christmas Eve some years ago, but that’s another story.

Today, just one car bomb would erase the last few hours and smooth out our jangled nerves. But our break time was short and food was in order. LC and I often share things, so we tried the appetizer sampler, heart disease on a platter, including 2 beef sliders, 5 hot wings, and 2 Irish Spring rolls. I tried to counteract the cholesterol with their spinach salad topped with Granny Smith apples, candied walnuts, and blue cheese, but the dressing was pure bacon grease.

Wings and blue cheese were not extraordinary….we would have liked them spicier, but it was the meager serving of celery that baffled me. Isn’t celery cheap? Can I have more than 2 tiny slivers? The fatty beef sliders were topped with melted cheese and grilled onions….delicious. I thought the Irish Spring rolls were clever, made with corned beef, cabbage, and Swiss cheese wrapped in wontons and fried, of course. Thousand island dipping sauce added to the caloric nightmare.

Other selections were standard Irish fare….shepherd’s pie, bangers and mash, fish ‘n’ chips. Another Guinness for me before we hit the road, our bellies full.

1625 Ridenhour Blvd, Kennesaw 678-213-2461

LC likes martinis, or shall I say, he likes vodka shaken with olive juice served in a martini glass, because we all know a real martini is made with gin.

I like real martinis. Bombay Sapphire, dry, straight up, with 3 olives. Either way, the only place in town that serves a martini properly is The Highland Tap, a subterranean man-cave in the Virginia Highlands. They chill the glass with ice, fill a cognac glass with ice and seltzer, then shake up a double and pour a small amount into the chilled glass, the rest of it into a tiny carafe, which is then placed into the icy seltzer so it remains ice cold while you sip it. Classy.

A martini craving is what generally draws me to The Highland Tap. I wanted to introduce LC to the perfect martini, but we were hungry too, so we decided to snag a booth and share some appetizers and a thick, juicy steak.

We started off with an appetizer of two roasted scallops served over candied collards….just enough to whet our appetites.

Fried calamari or spinach artichoke dip? Both are menu staples throughout the U.S. since the early ’90′s, neither intrigues me. When presented with the choice, however, I went with the calamari. Flash fried with onions and peppers and drizzled with a generic “spicy” Asian glaze, Highland Tap’s plate of squid was neither greasy nor chewy despite its ubiquitous appeal.

LC and I chose a petite filet, medium-rare, with a side of truffled mac ‘n’ cheese. Lately, we’ve been addicted to mac ‘n’ cheese, including the childishly pedestrian microwaveable Kraft variety. But the homemade kind is always preferable, baked until the cheese is slightly browned with crispy breadcrumbs on top. Highland Tap serves a solid rendition, I’m assuming with a drizzle of truffle oil…good stuff.

But first our server delivered a side salad and bread. The Highland Tap has served the same dark brown mini loaves of bread since I can remember. Warm and soft…sounds better than it tastes. I’d prefer crusty white ciabatta any day. Salad was fresh and lively, jazzed up with a citrusy vinaigrette.

Our steak was well-seasoned and perfectly cooked. Sections of sweet caramelized onion accompanied the meat. A second martini was the perfect dessert….straight up.

1026 N. Highland Avenue 404-875-3673

Football season always makes me crave ‘em!
Oh yeah, baby. It’s sausage balls…..almost like the ones I loved back in the day, when my diet was mostly beer, popcorn, and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

My first experience with sausage balls was at WP’s Mom’s house in Dora, AL during a Thanksgiving visit. She was a master of Southern style cholesterol-laden goodies like pimento cheese, deviled eggs, and sausage balls.

Perfect sausage balls have only three ingredients: pork sausage, shredded cheddar cheese, and Bisquick. You can alter the flavor by choosing either hot or mild sausage, sharp or mild cheddar, and you can alter the texture by adding more or less of the Bisquick. That’s all the tinkering one can do, legally.

Despite the obvious simplicity of this recipe I still found it necessary to call his sister SP every time I made them. It’s a mixture that must be kneaded by hand….a nasty task to be sure. There’s nothing like trying to get raw pork from under your nails! (Here’s a recipe I found online with great photos, including the mixing-by-hand part, although 2 cups sounds like too much Bisquick).

That was twenty years ago. A few years back I was elated to discover Jimmy Dean now sells pre-made sausage balls, in the freezer section of the supermarket. You know I snatched ‘em up, excited to see if they were sorta like the homemade ones. Although smaller in diameter, the flavor was the same. Then they introduced jalapeno flavor….awesome.

Things have certainly changed since my first taste of sausage balls. WP is gone. Now I’m a food writer, not a fashion designer. I’ve traded in the macaroni and cheese for sensible things like fish and salad. I workout five days a week and take vitamins. Recently I found the original flavor made with turkey sausage, lower in fat, so naturally I had to give them a try.

The turkey variety is drier and doesn’t brown quite as nicely as the fattier pork balls. But something was missing other than the fat. They lacked heart.

In fact, they made me a little sad. How I wish I could have the original homemade kind again, back in Dora, AL with WP. Those were the best balls ever.

During her visit, AD and I packed a year’s worth of drama in a week. Before taking her to the airport, we decided to find a restaurant nearby with a patio so we could enjoy the sunny day with a touch of Fall in the air, and enjoy a casual lunch while rehashing the events of her visit.

We decided on Cafe 640, formerly Cafe di Sol, who’s quaint patio faces a colorful section of N. Highland Avenue in the Poncey Highlands. The trees, flowers and tiny lights strung all around make guests feel like they are in a small town, but the sirens and occassional passing vagrant remind them otherwise! We chose one of the small tables near the street with the uncomfortable wooden slat chairs.

Should we have wine? Silly question. A glass of riesling for me, pinot noir for her. The three most expensive appetizers ($29 all together) sounded like an awesome clusterf*ck of flavor, perfect for sharing.

Delivered first were the panko crusted fried green tomatoes with New Orleans style BBQ shrimp. You know how I feel about fried green tomatoes. I rarely have a positive reaction to them, but often order them just to see how badly the kitchen can screw ‘em up. Of course the tomatoes were too heavily breaded, but they were not greasy. We could actually taste the tartness of the tomatoes, which was a great match to the sweet, plump shrimp.

A huge bowl of mussels and leeks in a red curry broth came out along with the “ropa vieja”, a dish of slow braised shredded flank steak on tortilla chips, then topped with a little melted aged white cheddar, fresh jalapeno slices, and drizzled with cilantro sour cream. In effect, Spanish nachos. Having just spent her last month abroad in San Sabastian, AD was interested to see how authentic this dish would taste.

The mussels were well-prepared, although I couldn’t detect much curry in the broth. That didn’t stop me from sopping up every last drop with the grilled slices of bread that were served with them.

In between slurping up shellfish, we tried the tortillas, each topped with copious amounts of tender shredded beef. The fresh, not pickled, jalapenos were fiery hot. We both loved it!

Not so pleased with the dryness of my riesling, I chose a malbec for my second glass, as did AD.

We enjoyed our lunch so much that I suggested LC and I dine there for an impromptu dinner the following week. Naturally, we had to order the ropa vieja. I knew LC would love the spicy nachos! To mix it up a bit we tried a house salad with a fantastic housemade balsamic, a stack of perfectly crispy onion rings, and a side of truffle mac ‘n’ cheese, bubbly and browned on top. A martini and a Guinness draft washed it all down.

But LC was still hungry, so we order the panna cotta to go. Needless to say, it didn’t even make it to the car. Sublime, light, and topped with fresh blueberries, we polished off the dessert in seconds.

640 N. Highland Avenue 404-724-0711

Last night, a group of food bloggers descended on four Midtown restaurants that will be dishing up samples at the 10th annual Taste of Atlanta, October 22nd and 23rd.

When I was contacted by event founder, Dale DeSena, I was excited, not only to be invited to participate, but also because my company, Cooper Global Transportation, was chosen to provide the luxurious chauffeured transportation to drive us eaters around town!

Our group of 25 bloggers, Brave PR staffers and Dale herself, started at JCT Kitchen, welcomed with a couple of signature cocktails that captured the essence of Autumn. The scarecrow was made with pumpkin ale, spiced rum, brown sugar chai and orange. Myself, and a few others, found it heavy on the cloves. But everyone seemed to enjoy their signature martini the JCTea, a mix of tea infused gin, Grand Marnier, lemon, Fee Brothers orange bitters.

Two big platters of delectable morsels were placed on the communal tables, photographed like starlets by the hungry (literally) blogger paparazzi, as Chef de Cuisine Brian Horn described the selections. Then we each grabbed a plate and a bite of each….the pork belly appetizer I was hoping to try and a taste of pasta from their entree selections. Crispy chunks of pork belly sat upon fried slices of banana and frissee, dressed with peanut sauce. Amazing! Even better was the sweet onion and fontina agnolotti, dressed with crumbles of Humboldt Fog and shitake mushrooms, wittily described as “expensive” on the menu. A great start to the TOA Tweet-Up!

On to our second restaurant, Ri Ra, an Irish pub in Midtown. The enormous space is striking, constructed with pub salvage from County Wicklow near Dublin, including ornate crystal chandeliers and intricate woodwork.

Our server took drink orders, so I tried a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout. Platters of beer battered fish with two dipping sauces were placed on each table. After a few photos we were ready to dig in but the platters were inexplicably taken away to another table for serving. It was curious that they served us fish without the chips. One of the bloggers’ companions….not even a food writer, mind you….noted that there was no seasoning on the fish. Indeed, it was apparent in the first bite that salt was omitted. The sauces did little to perk up the flavor.

We boarded the Cooper minibus and made our way to Tuk Tuk Thai Loft, owned by Dee Dee Niyomkul, who’s family owns Nan Thai and Tamarind Seed. The space is gorgeous. Inspired by the street food her grandmother used to sell in Bangkok, Dee Dee recreates these dishes with great success. Our group was served lychee mojitos, which I skipped but heard was great.

Servers appeared with platters of tastes, many of them disappearing before we could get our cameras out. Chicken satay and Thai vegetable samosas to start, then a platter of miniature spinach leaf wraps filled with minced chicken, peanuts, onions, and ginger. My personal favorite was the Thai beef jerky with sticky rice and cilantro. Chef DeeDee came out to chat with us after we had sampled many delectable dishes, making for a memorable visit.

Everyone was feelin’ good, and having a great time getting to know each other! Our last stop was The Barrelhouse, a new gastropub on 5th street. Tennessee barn wood covered the walls, making for a warm and casual atmosphere. A cocktail called fruit cup was offered, made with vodka, simple syrup, cherries, pineapple, mint, and soda.

A tiny hot dog bun was delivered, filled with meltingly tender beef short ribs. It was a little dry, but the flavor was fantastic. I gave my little cup of banana pudding to a fellow blogger, anticipating a sweeter dessert as I texted LC, who was arriving from Texas via the Marta station nearby. Perfect timing!

Don’t miss this year’s Taste of Atlanta on the streets around Tech Square….with more than 80 restaurants participating you won’t leave hungry!

Hard to believe my only visit to ESS was for lunch shortly after it opened. Having gained notoriety in Athens, Georgia, Hugh Acheson’s Atlanta baby was born about the same time as a multitude of similarly styled restaurants, all boasting their locally inspired, organic, farm to table philosophy…blahblahblah.

Yes, we love Miller Union, and 4th & Swift, and all the little cousins with a Southern drawl, but after a while, the mere mention of a farm sent me squealing like a stuck pig. However, good food is…well, it’s just good!

So when AD said we were meeting friends there for dinner, I was excited to return. After nineteen months of travelling the world, she is back in the states, visiting friends and generally causing mayhem.

BG and his wife AR, AD’s former colleague BK, me and LC were all late, finally being seated around 8:45pm, each of us ravenous. But first, we needed something to calm our frazzled nerves….a bottle of Cote du Rhone perhaps? Vodka martinis for the guys were in miniature glasses that looked more appropriate for after dinner cordials….I guess that’s why they ended up having five each by the end of the night!

Not as evident in Executive Chef Ryan Smith’s lunch menu, what sets ESS apart from its Southern counterparts is the intensely creative, if not somewhat bizarre pairings. Shrimp with Benton’s ham, okra, crowder peas, and bourbon sour cherries?

BG suggested we start with the steak tartare, a perfect choice since it is AD’s favorite. Not usually a fan of raw beef, I chimed in with the pork belly starter to share. A plate of bread and rolls were served with fig butter that was grainy and utterly flavorless, a sad condiment for the fantastic crusty artisan bread.

The two appetizers arrived, promptly attacked by twelve hungry hands. Crisp pork belly was served atop a generous helping of creamed kimchi rice grits. A sprinkling of peanuts and pickled daikon completed the unexpected, yet perfectly balanced composition. And it was awesome, but not nearly as awesome as the steak tartare.

With an equally weird description containing preserved lemon-caper emulsion, crisp egg (what is that?) and cheese puffs (Frito Lay?), I found myself wishing we had ordered six of these and nothing else. Turns out the “cheese puff” was a white crispy thing that resembled chiccarones. The “crisp egg” was a breaded and deep fried quail egg that oozed its lovely golden goodness over the creamy, sensuous steak. Raw meat is kinda sexy.

In a remarkable twist of fate, (almost) each of us ordered a different entree….trout for AD and BG, chicken and dumplings for AR, prime New York strip for LC. It was a difficult choice for me….duck or pork? Since BK chose the duck and promised to let me try it, I went for the Riverview Farms pork loin.

We coerced the last drop of wine out of its bottle and proceeded to reds by the glass, carefully selected by award winning sommelier Steven Grubbs, which could have contributed to the blurriness of the entree photos, but I can’t be certain.

All meat dishes were presented thinly sliced, like my pork loin with its eggplant puree. I didn’t notice any butterbeans or maitake mushrooms….perhaps they added heft and flavor to the puree, which I don’t remember at all. I do recall the pork’s smoky flavor, paired perfectly with a sweet chow chow made with burgundy wine.

I sampled two other entrees. LC’s steak was underwhelming, mainly due to the flavorless parslied farroto that was served with it. However, the pickled ramp jam that reminded me of delicious caramelized onions redeemed the dish. The best plate of the evening was BK’s duck, wisely paired with apricot mostarda, celery root puree, pak choi, and the unusual hominy….again, cooking outside the box.

We went to Vanquish for liquid dessert, drama and debauchery.

999 Peachtree 404-541-1105

A long overdue visit to Serpas immediately reminded me of what sets apart a good restaurant from a great one.

There are only a couple of foods that I would categorize as disgusting….chicken livers and cucumbers. Then there are a few that I can eat, but generally choose not to, such as tuna, broccoli, and beets.

It is a rare restaurant that can make me want to eat tuna. Top Flr is one, Serpas is the other.

My first experience with Scott Serpas’ tuna tartar was at the opening media dinner. I would not have ordered it, however, our big table of food writers received a chef’s tasting of practically half the menu.

Many of the tastes were fantastic, but I was particularly enthralled with the chef’s tuna tartar, its tiny cubes of fresh ahi tossed with diced onion and green apple in a sweet and spicy sesame dressing. He served housemade potato chips alongside for scooping up the tartar, providing a slightly salty crunch that complimented the silky sweet tuna.

On a subsequent visit with B and our sad excuse for boyfriends at the time, we ordered several appetizers to share before our entrees. That is when I met the Serpas house salad. Butter lettuce, candied pecans, goat cheese, and his signature blistered grape vinaigrette. It’s just a salad, right? Not quite. Like the dressing on his tuna tartar, Serpas has a knack for sauces and such that is unrivaled. This salad makes me salivate.

A few other appetizers remain on the menu from those opening months like the delicious eggplant hushpuppies and savory crispy duck rolls. The chef’s Louisiana heritage is evident in dishes like chicken-andouille gumbo and flash fried oysters, both dishes he introduced during his long stint at Two Urban Licks. It is easy to make a meal of starters at Serpas.

After being snowed in for days, LC and I ventured out for a meal of modern comfort food. Chef Serpas’ approach remains unpretentious, stearing clear of silly trends, although I did see he added an appetizer of pork rillette.

The space is industrial chic with a dose of Southern charm. A mural that looks like billowing orange clouds at first glance is actually a photo of cotton. An open kitchen allows diners to see Serpas in action. There is a marked lack of chaos as he expedites orders.

Both of us were having a hard time deciding on drinks so we ended up trying a specialty cocktail made with tequila, pear compote and bitters. I considered a temperanillo or pinot noir but ended up ordering a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout. Well, they were out of the beer so my next choice was another specialty cocktail with gin and fig jam, a better choice than his. LC tried a Dixie ale later that he really enjoyed.

Thankfully, LC likes to share so we started out with the tried and true tuna tartar and the fried green tomato and crab stack. The tuna was as amazing as ever with just a hint of sweetness and a dose of heat that creeps up on your palate.

My history with fried green tomatoes is lengthy, having grown up in the South eating my Grandma’s, sliced thin with a scant cornmeal and flour coating. I often have issues with fried green tomatoes being served as an appetizer since they are really just like any other vegetable side, to be eaten with your protein. No matter, here they were, as an appetizer, all gussied up with crab and avocado, both of which I love. I had to have it.

The stack was comprised of two slices of fried green tomatoes layered with crab salad. One of the tomato slices was perfectly thin and tender, although a bit heavy on the breading, while the other was sliced too thick and therefore hard to cut. I didn’t find the avocado until the end, when a bit of it made an appearance, perhaps going unnoticed due to its hue being identical to that of the tomatoes, or it could be that the kitchen accidently went light on it. That’s a shame because I love avocado and it might have swayed my overall opinion of the dish. It was good, not great.

We decided to split the duck breast for our main course, along with the house salad. Again, I can’t even explain how perfect that salad is. The duck, cooked to medium, was stuffed with pecans and cranberries, then rolled and wrapped in bacon. Good Lord! Three pieces were placed on a creamy bed of pureed sweet potatoes with a hint of chili. I swear, there couldn’t be a dish with more bells and whistles for me than this one. It didn’t just sound or look pretty, it tasted gorgeous. And that’s coming from a chick that likes a crispy skin on her duck breast. I didn’t miss it.

Despite the duck being an obvious choice for me, I still had difficulty not ordering the jumbo sea scallops with Serpas’ rich and fragrant panang curry. LC considered the braised beef short ribs before I trumped him with the duck. A diner seated next to us had the gigantic veal porterhouse….I swear it must have weighed five pounds!

In an unexpected turn of events, we skipped dessert. On our way out I said hello to Scott. He’s such a genuinely great guy and knows by best friend B quite well. My next visit will undoubtedly be with her for brunch.

Three out of four dishes were stellar. Days later, I am still reliving the salad, the duck, the tuna. So, if I didn’t mention it before, that is what sets the good apart from the great and why Serpas is in my Top Ten list of Atlanta restaurants!

659 Auburn Avenue, suite 501 404-688-0040

The end of Summer makes me depressed….and desperate. I’ll do anything to eat, drink, and otherwise fornicate outdoors while the weather permits! Last weekend I was determined to get my ass on a patio somewhere, drinking something.

But plans tend to change at a moment’s notice when LC is involved. He had invited his buddy JH to join us for a drink and a bite to eat, which would inevitably turn into a late night out.

JH was in charge of the PGA Championship last month at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, so he got to know everyone in the neighborhood, including the owner of Grace 17.20 located at the Forum in Norcross. So he suggested we give their patio a whirl.

Great idea! Patios in the burbs are spacious. This one sported a fireplace, decorative plants and strings of lights. Everyone there was seated outside, where the tables were covered with white linens and service was gracious.

The elegant yet casual atmosphere had me thinking wine, but the guys ordered vodka martinis, so I joined in but got the real thing made with Bombay Sapphire, dry, straight up.

Perfect weather provided an excellent backdrop for dinner. We started with two appetizers, the bleu cheese and caramelized onion melt and spicy chopped chicken and sweet slaw spring rolls. The latter were chock full of chicken, but it wasn’t spicy and I couldn’t detect any of the jalapeno jack cheese listed among the ingredients. I would not have been disappointed had I not read the description, but I did, and that led to expectations. And I know full well the taste of dashed expectations.

But it was the luscious combination of sweet caramelized onions and browned bleu cheese that had me and LC swooning. We cleaned the dish with the toasted pita triangles provided.

Meanwhile, round two of martinis were ordered. Our entrees were a seafood smorgasbord; scallops with corn risotto for LC, the seafood cobb salad for me, and the lobster special served with fettucini marinara for JH.

The three enormous scallops were perfectly cooked, but I didn’t love the risotto. Lobster was evidently delicious as JH cleaned his plate, but I didn’t give it a try. I would have ordered it but the combination of fish of any kind and tomatoes makes me cringe.

Although the colors were vibrant, I was somewhat disappointed with the blandness of my cobb salad. The seafood that was described as “lightly seared” seemed to be boiled with no seasoning. My sweet and spicy chili vinaigrette was neither sweet nor spicy, tasting only of the seasoning used in chili. Bacon and avocado were likewise inexplicably flavorless. I made do with fresh black pepper for some zing. However, the more gin I drank, the better the salad got.

The boys licked their plates and ordered a third martini. I took in a deep breath of the waning Summer air for dessert. Sweet. Amen.

5155 Peachtree Parkway #320 678-421-1720

This is my Summer for roadtrips. From Orlando to Louisville to Pigeon Forge, we’ve put some serious miles on the Hotdishmobile, making several interesting stops along the way. One such stop was in Knoxville, driving back from Dollywood.

LC had lived there briefly and was familiar with the city, especially the area around the University of Tennessee, who’s campus is near the river. Although he had not been there in years, he still recalled a great restaurant along the boardwalk called Calhoun’s, so we exited the highway and made our way toward the water.

Finding the restaurant on the Tennessee River only took about 15 minutes. We made our way to the spacious patio and ordered margaritas made with fresh lime (no sour), and a few appetizers to share. Time was tight since we had to get back on the road to Atlanta. Luckily, service was swift so we had a smorgasbord of snacks lickity split. And I do mean lickity. Calhoun’s specialty is ribs, so LC ordered their hickory smoked “ribatizer” with crispy fries, all finger-lickin’ good.

Our weird combo also included a skewer of decent char-grilled shrimp, a gooey side of mac ‘n’ cheese, a rich dish called spinach Maria, and a bowl of Calhoun’s signature white chili made with chicken, white beans, cilantro, and topped with crispy tortilla strips. The chili was good but I would have loved it if it had some heat.

We cleaned our plates and hit the road for a few more hours of driving bliss.

400 Neyland Drive, Knoxville 865-673-3355