Down-home dining, affordable splurges in Chattanooga
— -- Cost-conscious travelers can enjoy bountiful pleasure at mealtime if they choose their itinerary carefully and order smartly. To help with the planning, USA TODAY's Jerry Shriver offers a menu of suggestions.
Down-home dining: Profiles of cheap-eats classics
Sugar's Ribs 2450 15th Ave.; 423-826-1199 sugarsribs.comWhen the quality of a barbeque joint's meats is very good but not ethereal, as is the case here, it helps to have a compensating factor or two to keep folks coming through the door. At Sugar's, the saving grace is the above-the-norm side dishes ($1.50-$2.25), which include two excellent takes on cole slaw (spicy vinegar or mayo-based), flash-grilled raw onions, grilled okra and chili. They elevate the generous plates ($7.95-$23.95) of brisket, chicken and pork, which are smoked over red oak and hickory and can be squirted with a variety of sauces at the table. The other bonuses: beautiful views from a ridge-top setting, and an adorable goat herd that grazes on the hill outside.
•Top treat:Brisket plate with spicy vinegar slaw and dill potato salad, $9.95.
Zarzour's Cafe 1627 Rossville, Ave.; 423-266-0424 Multiple generations of working stiffs have sought sustenance at this bare-bones, lunch-only eatery since the end of the war — as in World War I. The Lebanese-immigrant Zarzour family opened the place in 1918 and today the founders' descendants still serve a compact menu of timeless Southern diner fare (entrees with two vegetables, cornbread and tea are $7.35-$9.50), highlighted by hand-formed hamburgers and meatloaf, slow-cooked turnip greens, creamed potatoes and cream pies. Everyone at the four-stool counter and in the two tiny dining rooms knows one another, but visitors are quickly welcomed.
•Top treat:Millionaire pie (cream cheese with nuts and fruit), $3.50.
Nikki's Drive Inn 899 Cherokee Blvd.; 423-265-9015Compared with 91-year-old Zarzour's Café across town, Nikki's is a neophyte, dating to the early 1940s. It used to be a three-meals-a-day drive-in specializing in hamburgers and simple sandwiches ($2.40-$5.15), but over the years the curb service has disappeared and platters of deep-fried seafood such as catfish, shrimp and white perch ($6.75-$23.65) and steaks and chops ($7.75-$13.35) now get equal billing. The thick-cut onion rings still rule the roost, and it's nice to see a traditional Southern pimento cheese sandwich can be had, and for just $2.90.
