by Cynthia Y. Thompson

Arriving in Chattanooga recently to speak at a #SHRMChattanooga luncheon meeting, we lucked upon a the cutest little diner I have ever seen. It was quite cold and damp and were in search of a comforting bowl of soup and a good glass of wine when we spotted a wonderful nostalgic neon sign flashing Welcome to@City Cafe Diner.

City Cafe Diner in Chattanooga

What a charming and welcoming sign! Love neon signs – such a blast from the past! I was expecting a quaint little burger joint, which was fine as long as they had a warm bowl of vegetable beef soup. What a surprise to find a quite sophisticated menu and an in-house bakery that is the most fascinating I have seen in this decade. Imagine my delight to find Manhattan Clam Chowder on the menu in this little Southern diner.

Fabulous cakes at City Cafe Diner.

Not only did I love the chowder, but I also enjoyed the ambiance of this wonderful little Chattanooga surprise. How often do you find a Southern restaurant that serves Manhattan Clam Chowder? There is a full bakery showcase full of the most beautiful cakes and pastries I have ever seen. What a wonderful idea! An excellent diner with a lovely bakery in house.

The place is a visual delight complete with charming little red leather booths and soda fountain stools. We lingered there much longer than we should have and enjoyed watching all the locals pour in and taking it all the sights and sounds. I expected the “Fonz” to walk in any minute.

Charming red leather booths – a blast from the past.

Can’t wait to go back to Chattanooga and visit the @CityCafeDiner again when I can stay longer. I was not surprised to see the City Scope Readers Choice Dining Award for Best Late Night Bite on the wall – well deserved! This is truly one of Chattanooga’s best kept secrets. You will find it at the corner of 901 Carter Street and M. L. King Blvd. Enjoy!

by Cynthia Y. Thompson

Monday night was my husband’s birthday and there is no better way to celebrate important events in Memphis than having dinner at Paulette’s Restaurant. Paulette’s moved to Harbor Town in March of 2012. We were at the restaurant for their farewell dinner at Overton Square. Many fond memories were made at Paulette’s. They used to be known for their crepes and Hungarian menu. Since I am a huge fan of Julia Child and especially her crepe recipes, Paulette’s was always a favorite spot to dine for me. Now it is the anchor restaurant for the River Inn on Mud Island with the rolling Mississippi River as a back drop.

Vichyssoise

The Monday night menu is a special treat since it’s a three course dinner for only $19.95. The menu includes your choice of soup or salad, with three lovely entrees to select from and two desserts. Fortunately, we were celebrating my husband’s birthday with another couple, so we were able to sample almost every dish on the menu. Our first choice was a salad or soup. I cannot remember the salad that was offered because no one in our party selected it. The soup was vichyssoise, a chilled potato soup made of pureed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and chicken stock. The unexpected lagniappe, (something obtained gratuitously) for me was the drizzle of pesto olive oil. The flavor was fantastic and made the soup unique.

Seafood Risotto

We each had a nice sample of each of the entrees offered on this particular Monday night.The birthday boy chose the Seafood Risotto, which he loved. It had that wonderful creamy risotto texture, which is what I love about risotto, and included shrimp and scallops. However, it appeared to have a bit of tomato sauce or tomato paste incorporated into it since it was a reddish pink color. It tasted fantastic. But I was glad that I did not choose this one.

Pork tenderloin with pureed sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus and sliced fresh peaches.

For my entree, I selected the pork tenderloin with pureed sweet potatoes and roasted asparagus. I attribute my selection to the Memphis BBQ judge in me. It’s hard to resist pork tenderloin, and I adore sweet potatoes. However, the chef chose to add a couple of slices of fresh peaches and drizzle peach juice over this dish. I would  prefer this dish sans peaches. To me the mushy sweet potato puree and the mushy peaches were just too much. The peaches just made the dish too sweet. The sweet potato puree would have been just right. I just have to say there was something about the presentation that turned me off. What do you think? (see photo above)

Winner – Winner – Chicken Dinner!!

Chicken with Beurre Blanc

My girlfriend chose the chicken entree, which was by far the most beautifully presented. I love the way the chicken breast was served, cut in half and sort of geometrically placed atop the rice and covered with a nice beurre blanc and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. The chicken was cooked to perfection and was very juicy. Evidently, they didn’t mention the sauce on the menu because I’m a sucker for anything covered in beurre blanc. Or maybe I was just biased by the idea of pork tenderloin. . .

Doesn’t the chicken with beurre blanc look luscious??

Peach Crepe

It was finally time for dessert! Since it was a birthday celebration, the dessert was a very important part of the celebration.The choices were a peach creme brulee (it was peach night) or a chocolate mousse dessert. Would you believe that all four of us chose the peach creme brulee?? We could not wait for it to arrive! This is one of my favorite desserts to serve at my dinner parties. However, I had never made peach creme brulee, and could not wait to taste it. Imagine my disappointment when the server delivered the news that they were all out!! What a blow! They substituted another dessert for the peach creme brulee – you guessed it – another peach dessert. They substituted a fresh peach crepe with whipped cream topping, which sounded divine. However, it was served cold. We were expecting it to be warm with a dollop of cool whipped cream. It was very nice, but could have been so much better had it been served warm.

Paulette’s Famous Popovers

Paulette’s signature popovers and strawberry butter

Overall, it was a lovely evening and the dinner was excellent. We enjoyed a nice bottle of Chardonnay, Sterling Central Coast, 2009, which was very reasonably priced and complimented all three entrees. I have to tell you the best thing we ate at Paulette’s was the signature popovers served piping hot with strawberry butter! No matter what else was served, they would still be our favorite item on the menu, as always. We had two each!

Please note, in case you are planning to go to Paulettes’ for lunch, they do not serve popovers at lunch. Sad face, right? We recently took my Mom for lunch following a doctor’s appointment. She was quite surprised and disappointed that we were unable to get the popovers for lunch. I think they should be available at lunch and dinner. I guess that is a draw for dinner customers.

I highly recommend Paulette’s for any celebration or just for Saturday night dinner. Sunday Brunch is also excellent. My birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I cannot wait to go back for my birthday celebration. I’m hoping for the chicken dinner. I will let you know what’s on the menu!

Contact me on Twitter @MfsFoodie

Paulette’s Restaurant, 50 Harbor Town Square (901-260-3333)

As I mentioned in a previous post, Lexington, KY is one of my all time favorite places to visit. It’s the second largest city in Kentucky and is the horse capital of the world. For a foodie like me, this town is a perfect example of what gracious entertaining means. Last week, three of my girlfriends decided it was time to start an exercise regimen. Kudos to them! In addition, they decided the exercise of choice would be water aerobics at the clubhouse pool in the gorgeous condo golfing community of Griffin Gate. Now here in Memphis, I’m pretty comfortable declaring that most of us in Memphis would head to the nearest Backyard Burgers following our workout for a healthy turkey burger on a wheat bun with french fried sweet potatoes (yum!). However, that’s not how it works in Lexington. The exercise date is just another excuse, as if they need one, to cook something elegant and decadent to celebrate the beginning of a new regimen.

Keeneland Entertains, Traditional Bluegrass Hospitality and Favorite Recipes by Fran Taylor

“Kentuckians don’t have a lock on hospitality and favorite recipes, but perhaps as one of the most northern of the southern states, they just might try harder when it comes to exhibiting the best traits of Southern hospitality . . .” So following the water aerobics class, the ladies headed back to the condo for a heavenly lunch of Spring Celebration Salad and Peach Cobbler from Keeneland Entertains, Traditional Hospitality and Favorite Recipes, validating the quote from the Cookbook. (I am the proud recipient of my very own signed copy that adorns my coffee table.)

Spring Celebration Salad, page 185, is a delicious light lunch and makes a fantastic entree. It is perfect to prepare right before heading off to the races (or water aerobics.) The recipe is based on a popular Swedish dish, which has a lot of ingredients and requires some advance preparation, but is simple to put together. Serve it with a crusty french bread and a good white wine. The ladies enjoyed, Louis Latour Ardeche Chardonnay. A perfect choice! This chardonnay is an elegant pale yellow with pleasant flecks of green. The aroma is fresh almonds and florals. AAAhhh.

Colorful Spring Celebration Salad

This beautiful salad contains Swedish deveined shrimp, crabmeat, mushrooms, petite sweet peas, chilled asparagus, green onions, red onion, capers, boiled eggs, and garnished with basil. Isn’t it lovely??

You are probably thinking, what a delicious and filling little lunch. Who needs dessert? Well think again. The graciousness continues with a lovely Summertime Fresh Peach

Summertime Fresh Peach Cobbler served in french souffle dishes.

Cobbler from page 233. This cobbler is so gorgeous and comes out of the oven resembling a fluffy french souffle. Do you agree? Tradition has it that this wonderful recipe is enjoyed on hot evenings in Lexington following the Keeneland summer sales. It’s a great way to enjoy the abundance of the season – fresh peaches!

I must close this post now and prepare for my morning ritual of 30 minutes on the elliptical machine followed by 15 minutes of free weights at our local YMCA. I can’t imagine having having this fabulous lunch waiting when I return . . .maybe I should try the water aerobics class . . .