ROSECOMB

This past Friday for Happy Hour, my wife and I visited a new restaurant in Chattanooga.  Chattanooga has become one of the most diverse cities in the south as far as dining choices.   We’ve got, American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Mongolian, German, Cajun, Portuguese, Mexican, TexMex, soul food, Irish, Greek, Middle-Eastern, and as many fast-food restaurants as you can name.  There are also probably some I have altogether forgotten.  This is because Chattanooga “eats out” and I mean somewhat constantly.

Rosecomb is a fairly new restaurant located right off Hixson Pike on the North Shore.  The facility remined both of us of a small Italian buca.   It is a neighborhood pub built inside of a 1920’s cottage in the historic Riverview neighborhood of Chattanooga. The space is small and intimate, best for date nights with your favorite person.   One very interesting fact, they only serve a twenty-one (21) plus cliental.  That means no babies, teens, tweens, or anything in between.  My wife and I arrived at four P.M. so we were the very first ones to dine that day.  We always eat early to avoid the crowd.

HISTORY:

Chloe Wright grew up in rural Tennessee surrounded by farmland and chickens, so when it came time to name the restaurant and bar she owns with her husband Ryan Smith, Rosecomb seemed the perfect name. It describes a certain type of bantam chicken, one of the oldest of the breeds dating back to 14th century Britain, and also the comb found on many chickens.

“I had a lot of chickens growing up and have just always loved them,” she said.

The couple’s new restaurant on Barton Avenue is located in an older house near the Riverview Park and is a testament to the couple’s love of food and drink. Her father, Rick Wright, recently retired as food and beverage director at the University of the South, and Smith, who is from Oxford, Mississippi, spent almost a decade opening new bars and eateries in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

His sister Ginny Smith Kelly talked him into moving to Chattanooga to help her and husband Tim redo Chattanooga Brewing about four years ago, where he would eventually meet and marry Wright.

She said the couple lives in the neighborhood on the Northshore and they look forward to collaborating with other businesses nearby on special events.

“We are very excited about being here,” she said.

The restaurant specializes in updated versions of classic Southern dishes, she added.

“Our menu is inspired by our childhood. Things like cornbread and marrow butter. Deviled eggs and fried okra. We use long-cut okra and cornmeal. Plus, our chicken sandwiches are really good.”

She said her husband has also come up with some specialty drinks including The Rosecomb, which is made with gin, watermelon and hibiscus, and the Luz Verde with spicy grapefruit, tequila, pamplemouse and serrano pepper.  Ms. Wright indicated the restaurant has about thirteen hundred (1,300)-square-feet inside and an equal space outside. Both areas can seat about forty-five (45) people. The patio is absolutely beautiful and a delightful place to sit.  I did not get a digital of the patio. 

It will be open from 4 p.m. to midnight during the week and a little later on Friday and Saturday.

THE RESTAURANT:

As you enter the door, you see a very well-stocked bar.  That bar is show below.  Many people come in after work, enjoy a drink and order one of the many tappas available. 

As mentioned above, this is a somewhat smaller restaurant and very intimate.  One of the dining rooms is shown below.  This table is set for six (6) people and is one of the largest tables in the facility. 

The second largest room is shown below.  Notice the fireplace, the mantel, and the small two-person table in the foreground. 

OK, now to the food.  Our order, shown below consisted of Southern cornbread, pimento cheese and deviled eggs, and the best store-bought cheese sandwich I have ever eaten.   It was my dish and was truly magnificent.  I had wine and my wife had a delicious cocktail.

The menu is somewhat limited but what they do have is extraordinarily good and filling.  The staff is very at attentive and we never had to wait longer that a few minutes for additional service.  Excellent service. 

THE MENU:

CONCLUSIONS:   Another GREAT restaurant in Chattanooga to check out next time you visit.  Better plan on spending some time in “river city” because you will not run out of interesting places to dine.  We can definitely recommend Rosecomb.

HELLO MONTY

Chattanooga is one city on the move and that move is upward.  We are seeing a great number of condos, apartments, and single-family dwellings under construction.  The reason is more and more people are discovering what a wonderful place this is to live and raise a family.  Great weather, scenic attractions, wonderful people, an outdoor, welcoming city. 

The metro area population of Chattanooga in 2021 was 423,000, which is an increase of zero-point forty-eight percent (0.48%) from 2020. The population of Chattanooga in 2020 was 421,000, a zero-point seventy-two percent (0.72%) increase from 2019.  We have experienced population growth over the past five years at least.  Now, with that being the case, the services and infrastructure must grow to meet the needs of the populate—that includes food services; i.e., restaurants. 

THE STORY:

That brings us to one of the newest restaurants—HELLO MONTY.

In the mid-1800s, one of Southside Chattanooga’s earliest boosters was a man named B. Rush Montgomery—Monty to friends. Historians say Monty had the voice of an orator, the enthusiasm of a pioneer, and a great love for our city.

Legend also has it that Monty, while standing on Montgomery Avenue—Main Street today—boldly declared that Chattanooga would grow to one (1) million inhabitants and one day be the center of the universe. Well, hello Monty!

Rob Gentry and his brother Clay, both Southside residents and Chattanooga natives, are the team behind Hello Monty. Rob created and ran The Blue Plate for fifteen (15) years, opened ROBAR in 2015, and co-founded Big River Grille & Brewing Works before that (1993). Clay Gentry has been a brewer for twenty-seven (27) years, managing brewing operations and designing breweries for Big River restaurants across the country since the 90s. The pair have an impressive pedigree: Rob was the first commercial brewer in Chattanooga since Prohibition and Clay has brewed professionally longer than anyone else in the city.

Rob and Clay’s enthusiasm for Chattanooga and love of Southern hospitality is rivaled only by Monty’s.

This past Friday, my wife and I visited Hello Monty to see what they had to offer.  We heard the food was wonderful and the service top-notch.  Earlier in the day, my wife called to make a reservation because we understood reservations were absolutely necessary. The only “slot” available was 4:15 P.M.  A little early for us but we modified our eating habits making sure we were ready to eat that early.  When we arrived, the place was packed although we were shown to our table with no waiting. Good call on the reservations:

THE FACILITIES:

You walk into the bar first thing.  The digital picture does not really capture the full length but I wanted to capture the stainless-steel tanks needed for the brewery.  The bar extends further to the left of the picture and wraps around the bartenders behind the counter.

The number of seats in the Hello Monty’s is limited and the place reminded us of an Italian bucca.   The seating capacity is at least doubled due to patio dining outside.  In this case, the tables were put together to accommodate a large group of very happy diners.  That picture is shown below.

My wife ordered the dish shown below, VEG MIDDLINS—is a combination of grits and roasted vegetables. (After all, we do live in the south.)  I’m not a big fan of grits but she indicated the concoction was wonderful.  It was served very hot which was impressive.  Just from the kitchen.

I had the blackened salmon shown below.  I did not have a side dish and this may not seem like much food even for late afternoon or very early evening but the cut was ample. The NAAN bread we had as an appetizer was certainly enough food for both of us.  The sauce was a very tasty and a tangy brew that made the experience even better.

THE MENU: I realize the menu may be difficult to read but I decided to show you what they offer. Hopefully you can get a feel for the type of food offered and chose to go there when you are in town.   The dinner and brunch menus are given as follows:

CONCLUSIONS:  I can definitely recommend HELLO MONTY to.  It’s one of the more appealing small restaurants in Chattanooga and as mentioned above, locally owned.  Hello Monty is located at 306 W Main St, Chattanooga, TN 37408. Really, if I had to name all of the locally owned restaurants in Chattanooga that provide not only great food but a good experience, I could produce a long list. Hello Monty would be close to the top of the list. 

HONEST PINT

Chattanooga is very fortunate to have a great number of locally-owned truly wonderful restaurants.  One of the most unique is the HONEST PINT.   It is located at 35 Patten Pkwy in downtown Chattanooga.  You walk through the front door and you are in the heart of Dublin.

 

My family and I spent a week and one-half in Ireland several years ago and visited many pubs in Dublin and several other cities in the country.  The Honest Pint is definitely in line with the atmosphere we became accustomed to with most pubs in Ireland. Starting with the front door as given below, the interior design is absolutely striking.

Attention to detail is amazing and the woodwork was obviously produced and provided by craftsmen.

The first thing you see as you enter is the bar, shown below.

Then you notice the dining areas,

The picture above does not do the dining area justice.  You really need a wide-angle lens to capture the mahogany, oak and maple architectural designs of the woodwork and the overall layout.  The next two digital pictures will give you some idea as to the interior.

 

Well, you go there for the food and not so much the environment—we all know that.  On this one occasion, my wife had the pimento cheese sandwich and I had the shepherd’s pie. Both are shown below and again; the pictures do not really do justice to the appearance itself.  The food-delicious.  Over several visits I have had, bangers and mash, fish and chips, the Ruben, chicken tenders and their hamburger.  All were excellent.

Everyone has an opinion. You just heard mine so I thought I would give you several others, as follows:

 

For my wife and I this has always been a very good choice resulting is an excellent experience.  I would invite you to look at other reviews and form your own opinion.