Stay Full All Day

If you’ve never heard of Ooltewah, Tennessee you’re probably not alone. The tiny town of well less than 1,000 folks is somewhat a burg that time forgot. Once occupied by Union forces during the “Late, Great, Unpleasantness” it didn’t get it’s first restaurant until 1976. At one time it served as capital of the long ago bankrupted James County. The old courthouse is still there and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. 

If you have heard of Ooltewah, there’s a good chance you’ve been to Countryside Cafe. Owned and operated by Ponder and Marlene Geren it began life in 1990 and has had happy Chattanoogans (and many others) heading out into the country for some of the best Southern cooking in the area. Not too surprising to find a great respite at Countryside. The name Ooltewah is Native American for “Resting place.” Another story tells that it comes from the Muskogee word meaning “Town.” That said many residents will tell you it means “Owls nest.” Not so co-incidentally the local High School team is named the “Owls.”

Countryside Café sits at the corner of two country roads about a half hour outside Chattanooga. In what looks like a ranch style house. The parking lot is a large and just about always crammed to the point of busting. Not to worry though, the staff inside is quite efficient and wait times are usually short. Even for large crowds. Inside there’s obviously plenty of tables in the dining room. Another way to keep the line moving.

As usual at these great Meat n 3 places, they do pretty much everything from scratch in the kitchen. 

So let’s have a look at what’s coming out of that kitchen.

The corn bread was good and completely Mrs. Sippi style. Which is to say denser dry than what I prefer. There was nothing wrong with it, in fact it had a nice corn flavour. Great with butter naturally. I just like mine moister and with a crumb closer to cake. The dinner roll was fairly bland but that's how I wanted it. It was to be a vehicle to sop up the goodness left on my plate. In that it succeeded very well.

The Country Fried steak was very good. Nice and tender with a crunchy crust. The White Gravy could've had a bit more character but all in all it was good. The White Beans were only okay. There wasn't much seasoning in them and no pork so they had to carry the ball on their own. The fried okra was also only okay. I’m not a big fan so I’m not much of a judge. The carrots were of course carrots. So a good plate all around. The main of course being the star.

The Meatloaf was very nice. I was asked if I wanted gravy and of course I did. I was surprised to find that it had a tomato sauce baked onto it like you'd expect. Which would've alleviated the need for gravy. Oddly enough, the combination of the tomato sauce and gravy on the meatloaf made for quite a tasty bite. I don’t think that I’d opt for that again but for a surprise change, I think it was welcomed. The broccoli casserole was great. I'm trying to ween myself onto broccoli for health reasons and while I doubt it was healthy, it might help bridge the gap. The Hashbrown Caserole was your typical type and there's nothing wrong with that. Just a good ole work horse starch. The Black Eyed Peas were fabulous. I don't know how they did them since there wasn't any pork to be found but they had that good earthiness they are known for and some depth as well.

The Coconut Cake was excellent. This is what I refer to as new style. It's a single layer cake with frosting and coconut. A traditional coconut cake takes hours to make if you do it from scratch. Most places just won't dedicate the time anymore. This particular cake as you can see used a yellow cake and had the traditional 7 minute frosting sprinkled with grated coconut. Basically, if you made 2 and piled them on top of each other you'd have the old school version. Also, this one wasn't round.

The Hot Fudge Cake was very good but I honestly think it didn't taste as good as it looked. I just don't think it did the picture justice. Don't get me wrong, this was a very good dessert. The cake (buried under all that whipped and ice cream) was a bit of a cross between a cake and a brownie. It had a mild chocolate taste. Not a rich, knee buckling smack from the Dark Lord. The whipped cream was very light and tasty but the ice cream was only okay. The hot fudge sauce did have that blast of chocolate that you want. The best part was where everything had melted in the bottom. Scoop some of that up with a piece of cake and it was fantastic. The bottom line is, it just wasn't decadent.

So there you have it folks. Some terrific country cooking in a nice country setting.

You can find Countryside Café at 8223 County Hwy 1124 (Mahan Gap Road) Ooltewah, Tn.

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You can also find them on the web.



Well that’s all for now folks, see ya next time in the food court.

 Davwud

"Real Food, Real People and Real Atmosphere"

These are the main ingredients at Puckett's Grocery, or so says their website. They don't however give you an idea of what an eclectic mix Puckett's really offers. While it may seem like a crisis of identity, it's one part general store, one part country kitchen, one part bar and grill. It has miss matched tables and chairs and a miss matched clientele. While all this diversity seems a bit much there is one unifying theme that ties it all together. Great food.

Located on 4th Avenue in historic Franklin, Tennessee, Puckett's is a place where farmers and business leaders, struggling musicians and country music legends, road weary travelers and locals can share music, fried chicken, BBQ, prime rib and nachos.

Having left Dayton, Ohio in a snow storm 7 hours earlier a good home cooked meal was in order. Unfortunately it was past dinner time and what we would call home for the next week was still 2 hours away. Puckett's would be the perfect substitute. This choice was made even better upon arrival when I noticed the specials board advertising Mac & Cheese as the "Vegetable of the day." My doctor did say I need to eat more veggies.

I ordered the fried chicken and Mrs. Sippi ordered the fried catfish. Both mains came with your choice of two sides and a corn cake or dinner roll. We both opted for the corn cake. I chose the a fore mentioned mac and cheese and the squash casserole with my dinner. Mrs Sippi also chose the squash casserole but went for the collard greens instead.

The mac and cheese was fine. It wasn't the best I'd had but it was a solid side to the fantastic chicken. Lightly seasoned and breaded, the chicken was dribble down your chin juicy. Tender and crispy it is served up golden brown and delicious.

Mrs. Sippi's catfish was also outstanding. The fish its self was milder than the catfish I'm used to in Toronto. This perhaps because it would seem to be a younger fish (it was a smaller fillet) than we get in TO. It too was lightly breaded and crispy, golden brown and delicious. Her greens were also very good with the requite few shots of pepper sauce.

The corn cake or "Johnny cake" as it is sometimes known is a cornbread batter ladled onto a skillet and cooked like a pancake. The first bite revealed a nice surprise. It was studded with chile peppers and tasted great. Especially with a healthy slathering of butter.

Now, I'm not a big squash fan. I've had it in many incarnations with only a good butternut squash soup as something I'd seek out. However the squash casserole is worth the drive from Dayton. I don't know what magic they work in the kitchen on this dish but it is purely, simply, unbelievably delicious.


As if all that wasn't enough, the desert of the day was buttermilk chess pie. "What is chess pie" you may ask much like I did. Well, it's a custard like pie. It's uncertain where the name comes from but some people feel that it came from the pie chest that people had "Back in the day." Others will say that the evolved from the cheese pie in England. The best answer it seems is it's a result of what can only be described as a game of broken telephone. What started out as "Just pie" as in, "What's for desert?" "Just pie" has morphed over the years to "Jus' pie", "Jess pie" and on to become "Chess pie." One thing for certain, it has nothing to do with the game of chess.

This became one of those "Oh my god, how have I never had this before moments." It was caramel-ly, vanilla-y and very sweet. Much like a custard but somehow just slightly cakey. The crust reminded me very much of short bread.

On a more recent trip I decided the shrimp and grits were just too good to pass up. Grits for those who don't know are basically the southern version of polenta. It's just cornmeal. "No self respecting southerner makes instant grits" was the line in My Cousin Vinny and rest assured these weren't instant. They had a great corn taste that would suggest they were probably stone ground. The sauce and shrimp was a perfect counter. Rich, spicy (but not hot) and full of shimp flavour.

 This time I went with chocolate chess pie which was every bit as good as it's regular sibling.

I've had a few of their cobblers in the past and Mrs. Sippi's peach version is just about as good as any of them. It's one of those "You can't go wrong ordering it" deserts.

For you Civil War buffs, the Battle of Franklin was fought in and around the town. The near by Carter house still has shot and cannon fire marks on the exterior and not far away is the beautiful Carnton Plantation and the largest private Confederate cemetery.

You can visit Puckett's at 120 Fourth Avenue South, Franklin, TN.
 

Well that's all from the food court for today. Y'all come back now ya hear!!

Davwud