So, last Saturday Mr. Grey and I were getting ready to drive downtown to check out some new place to eat, then we saw the weather report. Showers. Thunderstorms. I hate thunderstorms. I really don’t like to stray too far from home when bad weather is forecasted. We sat and lamented the lack of anything new and exciting in Hixson. I perused the dining guide from the newspaper that I had saved and saw The Fresh Pot Cafe off of 153. We had never heard of it!
We arrived early on a Saturday evening (around 5:30) and we were the only ones in the restaurant. The restaurant is small, long and lean, a typical set up for a restaurant in a strip mall type setting. It was painted with bright jewel tones. We were told to sit anywhere and the waitress/hostess followed us to our booth. She asked if we had been there before and we said no, she explained that they were Ecuadorian and she recommended the Ecuadorian Fried Pork special. Never turning down “Fried Pork” we both chose that with sweet tea to drink. Well, Mr. Grey gets half sweet/half unsweet. My tea was gloriously sweet, just how I like it!
As we sat talking, we began to catch whiffs of our dinner being cooked. It smelled fantastic! When she brought it out, it was everything that I had hoped it would be! The big chunks of pork were cooked perfectly, tender on the inside and lightly crispy on the outside. The corn was fresh and sweet. The potato cake was creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The plantain complemented everything with it’s sweetness. The only thing I didn’t really care for was the mote (large corn), which was just as well because this was a lot of food. I especially loved the pico de gallo – normally I don’t care much for it because I don’t like raw onions, but these onions were not strong at all. I’m guessing that they were pickled or allowed to sit in the dressing for a while to take the edge off. The cilantro flavor was fresh and green and went great with the potato cake.
We loved it and will definitely be back! There are several things on the menu that I would like to try – especially the Shrimp with Crispy Grits and I’ve heard the bread pudding is awesome!
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