Aretha Frankensteins

I have been holding on to this restaurant review for awhile even though it is one that I talk about a lot. It was on our last day of our vacation on our last stop in Chattanooga. The place is called Aretha Frankensteins and the reason we went is because Urbanspoon had it ranked as the best place breakfast place to go to in Chattanooga. And after eating there, I can see why it is ranked number one.

While driving to try and find it, I was worried that our Garmin was lost again. We ended up in a little neighborhood with houses that reminded me of being in a college town, with older houses with great character. We had "reached our destination" and we were still on the same small street. But low and behold, we looked over and there it was, just another one of the small houses with character, but with a sign saying Aretha's and people relaxing on the front porch and down below on a concrete patio.



We parked on the street and walked over to the "house" with our two young kids and tried to figure out if we should seat ourselves or wait to be seated. Since no one was coming to our rescue, I asked a local and they told us we can sit where ever, the only problem was that there wasn't a 4 person table anywhere. There were bar stools around the bar inside and all along the wrap around front porch, but our baby would have had a hard time balancing himself on the stool, so we decided to wait. We got there at the worst time, there was no line, but there was just enough people there that we were the odd men out. Finally when people left, about 3 tables became available at the same time, so we chose our best option and sat down.



We had been looking over the menu already and knew what we wanted to get. I got the sausage, egg and cheese biscuit and home fries while Joanna and the kids got some french toast and bacon to share. I actually think Joanna got something else too, but I cannot remember what it was.

My biscuit sandwich was very good and very big. The biscuit itself was amazing and having them cover the entire thing with melted cheese just took it over the top. The home fries didn't really stand out in my mind, but they were still good.



But what makes me want to go back and visit Chattanooga was the French Toast. It was soooo good. I have never even been a fan of french toast because it is usually just really soggy and not that good, but that was not the case here. At Aretha's you could really taste the cinnamon and it was almost cake like. It was not mushy and stayed together even after dousing it with syrup even though you didn't need any. It is hard to explain it, you'll just have to make a trip down there to try it, you won't regret the 5 hour trip. While you're down there, head to The Terminal Brewhouse the night before and wake up for Aretha's the next morning, and request the bed at the Sheraton :D


I had already cut up the french toast for Grace, so I don't have a picture of it in full form.

The only downfalls of this place is the service, it was hard to find much since there seemed to only be about 2 or 3 people working. The wait they couldn't do much about, but it did take awhile to get our food, but it might have seemed even longer because we had two young, whiny kids that just wanted to get home. I would have not minded relaxing and waiting for my food if it was just Joanna and me. And that is exactly what a lot of the over night nurses were doing, some with beer in hand.

I would love to take a trip back down to Chattanooga with a small group of friends, I think it would be a blast. Let me know if you ever go down there and try this place out.

Sugar 'N Spice

We headed out on another road trip to try a new place for lunch. One of my co-workers said that we had to try a new place that he stumbled upon called Sugar 'N Spice. It is only about 10 minutes from downtown on Reading Road. From the outside it looked like a nice hole in the wall diner, and when we walked in, sure enough it was a hole in the wall diner. The first thing that hit me was the amazing smell of fresh cooked breakfast. It reminded me a lot of the smell of Frisches or Price Hill Chili.

those mints were 3 for 5 cents, I thought that was awesome.


I loved all the artwork on the walls.


I knew going in, since my co-worker told me, that their Whispy Thin Pancakes were their signature item. So of course I had to get them. I got those and a side of hash browns, which I thought were going to be diced potatoes, but found out those were the home fries and the hash browns were the thin straws of potatoes. None the less, they were still good. The pancakes were very good, but nothing too special. I think I would have enjoyed a fluffier pancake, maybe the banana pancake which I have never had, or even their belgian waffle.




Obviously there is a lot to try and I bet it is all good. BUT when I go back, I will definitely be trying one of their insanely, huge omelettes. It looked like the size of a Chipotle burrito! I may not be able to eat breakfast that morning if I am going to attempt to finish it by myself. I saw the waitress bringing it out for someone else and I thought it might have been rude to go up to him and ask him if I could take a picture of the masterpiece. I guess you'll just have to go there to see it for yourself, or wait until I go back and take a picture of the one I order.

This type of a place is a place that I wish I lived within walking distance to. They just really make you feel like you aren't an outsider and that it isn't your first time being there. It would be a perfect hangover spot to go to after a long night of drinking and you just want some delicious home cooked breakfast food to heal the wound.

This was their register, it only goes up to $49 hahaha


All in all it was a great experience and if it was closer, I would go there all the time. We will hopefully go back somewhere down the road so I can try one of those omelettes.