Chattanooga Cheap Eats?

Even if you're determined to eat at Country Life, your Friday lunch will have include a visit to Zarzour. It's the one that got into Gourmet magazine. However, it's at the furthest reaches of the southern end of downtown, away from anything really.

The cheap eats in downtown, like those above, are for the mon-fri business lunch crowd. The ones closer to the Aquarium are open later and on weekends, but most are expensive and the cheap ones are franchises, such as Genghis Grill (just under 10 without a drink or tip), Panera's and Qdobas. There's a new hot dog place, Chazz dogs or something, but I haven't eaten there yet. UTC has University Pizza and Deli, and includes middle eastern food, rare for downtown. It's up the hill, on Vine St. Thai Smile 3 in the Chattanoogapulse.com dining guide says it's $$, so not quite cheap as I thought it would be. Couldn't hurt to look at it. Blue Plate is new, kind of a post modern diner, but with stuff like ahi tuna instead tuna melts. My grilled cheese to go was cheap and good, but the atmosphere is so not Chattanooga. Unlike Hair of the Dog, Pickle barrel is smoke free, but if you do entrees and not appetizers, you may go past your $10 rule.

November 10 is Greenlife's big opening on the northside of the river. So you'd better head over there on Saturday. The Hixson Pike store had tables and chairs, so you could by soup or whatever and microwave it and eat right past the cashiers. I just assume the same for the new site. Plenty of veggies and organic food. On the northside, open on weekends, River Street Deli is my favorite lunch place, and of course, the Stone Cup.

Sportsman BBQ is supposed to be the place for barbeque, it's on Signal Mountain Road, just beyond downtown

Thanks for the tip, anyone else ever been to Chat. and have some good ideas?