Dinner In Chattanooga - Hennen's Restaurant
It'd been a few years since The Husband and I traveled to Chattanooga. The first time was for my birthday, just a nice getaway and we had a ton of fun just relaxing and hanging out. It was also the first time we watched Takeshi's Castle. Actually, we watched it in the American dubbed version, Most Extreme Ellimination Challenge but it was still really hilarious. Good times.
A few weekends ago, we decided it was time to revisit Chattanooga and to celebrate another birthday by going to the TN Aquarium. Little trips like this are a good way for us to get away because both of our jobs never end, even on weekends so physically removing ourseives from our regular environment motivates us to just step away from our computers for a while. We were excited about the trip and I'd surveyed my friends on Twitter for some restaurant recommendations (there were many!) because no trip would be complete without some good, local food!
Hennen's came as a recommendation from a couple of friends. The restaurant is at the bottom of a condo building that also provides public parking. That's one thing we noticed about downtown Chattanooga - lots of parking that was easy to find and most attractions were concentrated around the aquarium. If you park in the garage, Hennen's will validate your ticket but the restaurant's also within walking distance of a lot of the hotels if you'd rather take a stroll. We stayed at the Sheraton, which wasn't terribly close so We drove.
Ambience wise, Hennen's decor reminded me of J.Alexanders but with a menu boasting local ingredients and I didn't feel like I was about to order a club sandwich for way too much money.
To start, we ordered the appetizer special - Grilled Georgia Peaches with Bleu Cheese Wrapped in Prosciutto.
Holy crap. It took every ounce of manners I possessed not to scarf the entire piece down whole. Just thinking of it now makes me salivate. The peaches' slightly tart and sweet flavor was a delicious complement to the prosciutto and the lovely, mild bleu cheese. Dinner was off to a good start.
Sorry! Used my iPhone!
The Husband also ordered the seafood chowder which was alright, a little watery for chowder but tasty for sure. He went the classic route with his entree and got a delicious, juicy, perfectly medium-rare NY Strip. I ordered the fish special - Grouper with Oven Roasted Rhubarb/Potato Mash, Sweet Tea Compressed Peach and Strawberry Water.
Yep, strawberry water. I will admit, it sounded kind of gross and I wasn't sure what to think but I gave it a go and poured it on. Wouldn't you know it, everything tasted great together. Maybe this is some culinary thing that you might have heard of but this was my first fruit water experience and it really worked! I'm not bothered by "fishy" fish and while the grouper wasn't fishy, the strawberry water cut any saltiness/richness to where everything tasted light and still flavorful.
Not bad for our first night in Chattanooga! Stay tuned, I'll share my recap of our dinner from the next day in a few. And if you're headed there soon, give Hennen's a try! We'd go back for sure.
