Lotus
Lotus4970 Summer Avenue682-1151Ok, I'll just say it. You can't take your kids to Lotus. Not unless they are at least 13. It's just too slow.And frankly, I'm not sure it is worth the wait.Now, I am sure someone out there is a big Lotus fan and is not going to like hearing this, but I'm sorry, it's true.Warren and I went to Lotus not too long ago--maybe a year or so--and we didn't have the kids. I used to go all the time in college, so I talked him into going. Well we sat down and no one ever took our order or said hello or anything. In fact, we never even saw anyone working there. So we left.My good friend,

The Local Taco (Nashville)
The Local Taco4501 Murphy RdNashville, TN(615) 891-3271After a lovely couple of days in Chattanooga, we headed back to Memphis. We planned to stop in Nashville for a quick run through Trader Joe's and for some dinner. I texted my friend Chip, who is a frequent visitor to Nashville, and asked him what the name of the taco place was that he told me about. He had presented it to me as a taco place along the lines of Las Tortugas that used mostly local ingredients. (Or at least that's how I remembered him telling me.) Anyway

Mellow Mushroom (Chattanooga)
Mellow Mushroom205 Broad StChattanooga, TN(423) 266-5564After a long day of walking around the awesome riverfront and across the pedestrian bridge, riding the carousel, and generally checking out everything Chattanooga had to offer, we were starved. "We" being Team Oster, our friend Catherine, and her son, Noah, age 2, who met up with us for the weekend. We needed something relatively fast since it was getting late, and something that everyone would like. I suggested the Mellow Mushroom since pizza is usually a crowd pleaser. (I was also a little nostalgic about eating there since Satchel's first b

Aretha Frankensteins
Aretha Frankensteins518 Tremont St. (Chattanooga)(423) 265-7685My Facebook friends who live in Chattanooga are always talking about a place called Aretha Frankensteins. There was no way I was leaving Chattanooga without eating there. Aretha's is located on the North side of Chattanooga, across the Tennessee River, where all of the hipsters live. It's one of those places that is super local and just can't be duplicated. It's like Brother Juniper's, but dare I say, cooler.Aretha's serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, and beer. It's open from 7am to midnight everyday. These facts alone make it awesome in my book. Wo

Prince’s Hot Chicken (Nashville)
Prince’s Hot Chicken123 Ewing DrNashville, TN(615) 226-9442As we headed toward Chattanooga a couple of S