Beast & Barrel | Eating Out in Chattanooga

The other day, we happened to find ourselves in downtown Chattanooga around Happy Hour.  As usual, I was starving.  I had just finished a photo shoot for Pamela Greer Photography (my photography business) at Coolidge Park and was looking for something close by.   We have eaten at Beast & Barrel before, but I didn’t take any notes and other than remembering that I really, really liked it, I decided I needed to revisit.

I love their happy hour menu, it is so simple and to the point.   There are $3, $4, $5, and $6 offerings.  You pick based on what you want to spend (and eat).  The first thing we settled on were the $5 classical cocktail offerings.  Hubs chose a negroni and I had a Pimm’s Cup.  Both were excellent and we thought the large round ice cubes were perfect – they kept the drink chilled, but melted slowly for less dilution.

Even though there were plenty of tasty options on the Happy Hour:  The Bill Brasky Marrow Plate, Cheesesteak Wit Wit, and Pulled Pork BBQ Sammy to name just a few, I had my heart set on The Big Katz.  I had the Big Katz before and just needed to make sure it was every bit as good as I remembered.

Along with my Big Katz, I wanted some Beast Fries.  Everything was just as wonderful as I remembered.  The sandwich is made with Beast Pastrami with has been marinated for 36 hours, smoked, steamed and hand cut.  It is served with house made kraut and onions, cheese and thousand island dressing on a marbled rye bread.   The bread was perfectly toasted, the meat tender and delicious, and the kraut was fantastic.  The Beast Fries made an excellent accompaniment and makes me think all fries should be topped with garlic, parsley and Parmesan Cheese.

We will definitely be back to try some of the Happy Hour options!!

On a weird side note, they have the worst napkins ever.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing as horrible napkins, but there are, and they have them.  I don’t know what they are made of (I’m guessing some sort of polyester), but they are so rough.   I ended up wiping my  mouth with the back of my hand rather than using their napkins.  Next time I will see if they have any paper cocktail napkins.