Local Foods and Flavors

Fried Chicken: The Ultimate Southern Classic

Of all traditional Southern dishes, fried chicken might be the most iconic. Although fried chicken can be found in other culinary traditions such as Korean and Chinese cooking, when you say “fried chicken” you can’t help but think of the South. Even so, fried chicken is a wonderful example of how many different culinary histories met and blended here to create a new style of cooking. The dish has roots in both Scottish and West African kitchens, and was transformed with new ingredients like bacon fat and lard as it became a true part of the South. Like pimento cheese, fried chicken has enjoye...

Public House of Chattanooga is Proud To Serve Local Ingredients from Area Farms

A truly local restaurant is about more than where it sources its products—it's also about its involvement in and creation of community, and local entrepreneurship. Yet that's not to say that the ingredients don't matter. After all, local ingredients themselves create stronger communities. Like Catie Cummings Morris wrote for the Main Street Farmers Market blog, "Farming methods have a heavy impact on the quality of the air we breathe, and in turn the health of our community." Foods grown locally, sustainably, and as organically as possible make for better local environments and healthier prod...

What Does Local Really Mean? Local is Public House, and Public House is Chattanooga

The local food movement has definitely gone main stream, with more restaurants, markets, and groceries than you can count referring to their "fresh and local" fare. You can trace the local food movement's start back to the West Coast in the 1970s, but in reality it's always been around if you know where to look. Local food and emphasizing local business used to be how things were. In America, our parents and grandparents shopped at the local market, bought food from local farmers, and even grew some of their own fruits, vegetables, herbs, and more. The businesses in town were run by your neig...

Public House: Southern Comfort Food in Downtown Chattanooga

Public House is perhaps best known as a Southern restaurant, with a menu full of pimento cheese and fried chicken. But what exactly does “Southern cooking” mean in the New South? First and foremost, Southern cooking is comforting. It is also rooted in a sense of place. It is made from familiar ingredients that give anyone who eat them a deep connection to the land. It is about memory and history. It is about family and community. Nora Ephron wrote “What I love about cooking is that after a hard day, there is something comforting about the fact that if you melt butter and add flour and then ho...

It Doesn't Get More Southern Than Pimento Cheese

You can tell a lot about a person from how they make pimento cheese. No two Southern cooks make it the same, and everyone’s grandmother has her own special recipe. Some add extra mayonnaise, or are particular about the brand—the Hellman’s vs Duke’s debate has raged for decades. Others add in extra ingredients like jalapenos or pickles to give pep to the simpler pimentos, or use fancier cheeses than the traditional cheddar. The ratios vary, as does the mixing process. Some like their pimento cheese chunky, some prefer it creamy smooth and consistent. There are as many ways to make pimento chee...

Spring 2013 Menu Items and Ingredients

With spring comes all sorts of new and interesting flavors fresh from the earth. We wrote recently about the asparagus coming in, but that's not the only new taste on our tables. Some old favorites are back from last spring, like the beloved Chicken Tortellini Salad with sweet peppers, tomato, mixed greens, balsamic vinaigrette, and of course—fresh spring asparagus. Some perennial plates like the Pickett’s Ranch Trout and Grilled Beef Filet have new pairings. The Trout now comes with potatoes Lyonnaise. The 8oz Filet comes with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Grilled Bay of Fundy Salmon is now...

Shop Local Ingredients at Chattanooga Farmers Markets

We at Public House are proud to offer local ingredients from such great neighbors and farmers as Pickett's Ranch, Barton Creek Farms, Williams Island Farm, Barton Creek Farms, Lee & Gordon Greens, Signal Mtn. Farms, Walden Farms, and Bonnie Blue Farms. We know what a difference it makes to the local economy, heritage, and flavor of our recipes to source them in our own back yard. It can make just as big a difference in your own kitchen. There are plenty of great markets where you can buy produce, meat, dairy products, and more from some of the same farmers who supply Public House. If you are ...

What Is Southern Cooking?

"Southern is William Faulkner, "Intruder in the Dust." I met him in Café Nicholson. Upon our meeting, he wanted to know if I had studied cooking in Paris. Southern is a beautiful dish of fried chicken, cooked carefully in home-rendered lard and butter with pieces of country ham added, then served with a brown gravy spooned over spoon bread. Southern is Eugene Walter, deep in Alabama, a Renaissance man, a gourmet, always with a brilliant thought. Southern is Marie Rudisill, author of a cookbook that emulates the friends she grew up with, cooked with, and loved. Southern is all the unsung heroe...