Dessert at Main Street Meats was a Strawberry Hand Pie. / Photo from Main Street Meats
Tune in
The “Chattanooga Chew” episode of “Southern and Hungry” airs live on the Cooking Channel at the following times:› Saturday, Aug. 18: 2 p.m.› Wednesday, Aug. 22: 5 p.m.› Monday, Sept. 3: 9:30 p.m.› Tuesday, Sept. 4: 1:30 a.m.› Wednesday, Sept. 19: 5:30 p.m.› Saturday, Sept. 15: 2:30 p.m.
Where to see it
› Stream it live at http://watch.cookingchanneltv.com.› Download the app to watch on Apple TV, Roku or Fire TV, or with your iOS, Fire or Android device.› The Comcast Xfinity channel is 122.› The EPBFI channel is 120.
A road trip through the South for two Cooking Channel correspondents has netted three local restaurants national attention on "Southern and Hungry."
On the show, chef Damaris Phillips and NASCAR commentator Rutledge Wood aim to stop at restaurants with the most memorable dishes and down-home feel.
Chattanooga restaurants Main Street Meats on the Southside and Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe and Syrup and Eggs in St. Elmo made the cut.
Bruleed Grapefruit, as served at Syrup & Eggs in St. Elmo, is a grapefruit topped with brown sugar, brandy, rosemary and edible glitter. / Photo from Syrup & Eggs
Local managers and business owners anticipate benefiting from the exposure.
"I hope it brings in sales and shows what local food does for the community," says Brian Lindsay, front of the house manager at Main Street Meats. "Having local food in a local environment brings the community closer together."
The first of several episodes featuring the restaurants aired earlier this week. The next show is at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18. Showtimes are scheduled throughout September, with the last at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 19.
The segment is called "Chattanooga Chew."
The "Southern and Hungry" hosts dined on a Fried Bologna Burger at Main Street Meats. / Photo from Main Street Meats
Wood and Phillips visited the city for two days in May, says Tony Davis, who co-owns Purple Daisy with his wife, Lisa. The on-air personalities raved about the barbecue and the hash-brown casserole they sampled at the restaurant.
At Syrup and Eggs, they sampled the Blue Cornmeal "Taco" Pancakes made with poached egg, pickled peppers, crema, maple syrup and pico de gallo. They finished off their meal with a Bruleed Grapefruit made with brown sugar, brandy, rosemary and edible glitter. Phillips did everything but lick the plate. She also mentioned during the show that she has family in Chattanooga and had plenty of kind words about the city's transformation and the addition of many good restaurants.
At Main Street Meets, the hosts ordered the Fried Bologna Sandwich and Strawberry Hand Pie, giving both high marks. The restaurant has a rotating menu. It doesn't have the same bologna now, but it may reappear again this fall.
Lindsay wants the television exposure to showcase more of the meats at Main Street Meats, which is also a working butcher shop that provides fresh meat and makes its own sausages and dried steaks.
"We always say we have the best burger in Chattanooga," says Lindsay. "We know there are a lot of other places that have great burgers. But we just do one, and we do it very well."
Davis says people have been commenting about the show on the internet, but there hasn't been a big wave of new customers yet.
The segment showed Purple Daisy workers smoking meat, pulling it by hand and making barbecue sauce and the hash-brown casserole.
"Hopefully people will come in and give us a try when they come to town," Davis says. "Even locally a lot of people don't realize we specialize in barbecue. So we hope it gets out that we're not just a sandwich place, that we actually make our own sauces and we do our own barbecue."
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.