Six new restaurants are opening in Chattanooga and a beer license was approved for each of them at the Beer Board meeting Tuesday morning.
Wooden City will be located at 203 Broad St., previously the space occupied by Easy Bistro, across from the Aquarium. The restaurant is coming to Chattanooga after one of the owners visited the city from Washington state and decided it was the right fit for their next restaurant and the first one away from Washington state.
The two other locations are in Tacoma and Spokane.
Eddie Gulberg described the menu as “new American bistro.” The restaurant will be open from 4-5 p.m. until 10 p.m. during the week and until 11 on weekends. The name, he said, celebrates the history of Tacoma that was originally a logging town all built of wood that eventually burned down.
Whisky Cowgirl, at 1819 Broad St., Unit 111, is opening on Chattanooga’s Southside in the building that also holds Gordon Food Service. The new bar/restaurant backs up to Southside Social and is separated by a parking lot. This business will be a large bar/restaurant and a live country music venue selling both food and drinks. Southside Social and Whisky Cowgirl are both owned by John Wise. The location is a two-story building with a top-level deck and a pool. Josh Lang, the operations manager, also has managed The Southside Social for the past seven years and says he has learned a lot doing that.
Instead of using in-house security, the business will contract with J. Hall Security. Safety will be in the forefront with people who enter being patted down and scanned for ID and to keep track of the capacity. These safety checks will be done while customers are still outside and before a wristband is given. There is only one entrance to get in to keep track of the number of occupants inside but multiple exits.
Mr. Lang said both the hired security and the bar’s staff will be responsible for keeping eyes on what is happening. With the addition of water, he said the number of people in the pool will be kept manageable and if perceived it is too full, some will be removed. There will always be two people in bathing suits there, ready to jump in if a customer needs help; however, he said it is unlikely since the water is only three and a half feet deep. The bar is on two levels divided into three areas - the pool and outdoor seating, a billiards area and the VIP level that is upstairs which only holds around 15-20 people.
Amada, a tapas and wine restaurant, will also be coming to the Southside. This restaurant will have 30 small plates available with beer and wine. It is being opened by Amanda Trotter and her mother, Gayla Trotter, at 1413 Chestnut St.
Volcano Korean BBQ, 2011 Gunbarrel Road, is the former location of The Chop House restaurant. It is being opened by Xiu Feng Lin, who has a lot of experience with restaurants, having been in business in the area for 15 years and opening 10 other eateries. The newest one will be an all-you-can-eat restaurant.
Two other new restaurants both were described as Mexican-American fusion. El BBQ Mexique at 7655 East Brainerd Road will have Tex-Mex food with BBQ pork, beef and brisket. This restaurant is owned by Ryan Beagles, who also owns the Choo Choo BBQ restaurants. El BBQ Mexique will be a quick-order restaurant where both food and beer will be sold from the counter. It will primarily be a restaurant because there is a three-beer limit per person. Hours of business are from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Spanglish Modern Mexicano, at 5622 Highway 153, will be able to sell beer to serve with its “Mexican food that has an American twist,” said owner Bryan Ramirez.
The convenience store, Jay Food Mark at 860 Mountain Creek Road was also approved to sell beer with a carry-out license.
A temporary beer permit was given to the Chattanooga Breakfast Rotary Club’s special event “Brew Skis Beer & Wine Festival that will take place at 201 Power Alley/AT&T Field. The fundraiser will be on Sept. 10 from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. and all money raised will go toward projects that this club supports, including building an all-inclusive playground at Rivermont Elementary School. A ticket buys unlimited tastings from local, regional and international breweries and wineries at the Oktoberfest themed event and Ballpark food will be available to buy.
The Chattanooga Motorcar Festival will be held on October 14-15 at 1000 Riverfront Parkway, from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. Paul Smith, owner of Tap Truck Chattanooga, was approved for temporary beer permit for two tap trucks selling beer at each end of the Alstom parking lot. The race will take place in the parking lot where it will be contained. A donation of $1 for each beer sold will go to the CHI Memorial Neuroscience project.