ONE OF OUR TOP TEN
I can still taste the potato cracklins next to the Eggs Betty a full day after we sat down to lunch at Tupelo Honey. Over fifteen years ago Tupelo Honey finished writing out their first menu for a new restaurant in Ashville, North Carolina. The menu was definitely original to the restaurant industry but layered in Southern cuisine tradition...with a twist. Since it's opening in 2000 the restaurant has branched out into over a dozen locations throughout the South.
One of those is located in Warehouse Row in Chattanooga, Tennessee. With relatives living throughout the Chattanooga metropolitan area Chattanooga is an obligatory destination for us at least once a year. Christmas time this year found us once again boarding a plane and flying down to a place where the language includes words and syntax like "might could" "fixin" and "Y'all". Bless their hearts.
Once our feet touched the ground the topic of conversation with the extended family went directly to food. With our Southern family the topic of the next meal always begins well before the current one has finished.
I have to admit I can easily pass on the ever-present and calorie laden biscuits and gravy and you won't catch me stopping in at a Waffle Houses even if its 24/7 policy might make it the only place to get something to eat on Christmas eve.
What I won't go without is at least one meal at Tupelo Honey. Slide into a booth, set the table and wait for the wait staff to set down a plate of warm biscuits and their signature blueberry jam. Get out your knife and slice into that biscuit, let the aromatic steam fill your nostrils, then dip into the pot of blueberry nectar and slather it on. The warmth of the biscuit softens the jam so that there's always a little bead of jam dropping on your chin. This is part of the joy I call mountain comfort food. I wasn't born anywhere near here but in Tupelo Honey I'm a hillbilly in heaven.
From there I'm only able to cut down the number of possibilities from the brunch menu to around four. There was avocado toast and eggs served with farmer's cheese and a siracha honey drizzle, but then there was Shoo Mercy shrimp and grits served with chorizo, sautéed kale, a fried egg and blistered tomatoes. Then if I went that way I'd be ignoring my sweet tooth and I'd have to pass on the pecan pie French toast. We settled on Eggs Betty plated with buttermilk biscuits, smoked ham and those potato cracklins I mentioned before.
Now for the part of the story that goes well beyond the food. Our waitress was a spunky little girl with an array of tattoos and a smile as big as the nonstop chatter that filled our booth. In between her none stop questions and personal history Rick was able to squeeze in a question about the two books published about Tupelo Honey that set on a hutch by the reception desk along with their famous honey and coffee.
"Darlin' let me getcha a couple of copies to look at while Y'all figure out whatcha want to order"
Seconds later along with some iced tea she returned with the books and her order pad. We ordered Eggs Betty and immediately started salivating over the books.
As we were flipping through page by mouth-watering page of amazing recipes, the manager of the Chattanooga location stopped by our booth. He came with bag of their #brunchsohard coffee in hand and out of the blue told us he'd like us to have this as a gift. He then got down on his knees at the edge of our booth and began a conversation as if we were friends from way back. I started searching the restaurant for some indication of "why us?" The restaurant was full. I didn't see anyone else with a bag of free coffee on their table. I was a little tongue tied but Rick in the way he's been so gifted with chatted on and on about god knows what. But the godsmack moment was yet to come.
When he finally got up off his knees he told us he'd like us to keep both copies of the books as well. Celebrity status? It had to be more than the way we were dressed. Gay aging hipster was a beyond our diner mates. I've been mistaken for Stan Lee on several occasions but he's dead. I still have no reason for why. At this point I almost expected them to comp our meal.
I can't guarantee you'll end up with same service we received but the food at Tupelo Honey is a real reward no matter how you swallow iT.
THE GALLERY
Two Brothers at a Coal Mine, Hopkins Co., KY, 1976
Bill Burke, photographer
Represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery
