Calliope cooks modern Levantine food from Southern ingredients on MLK Boulevard in Chattanooga, a 2026 James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: Southeast.
Signature: Seasonal mezze, Levantine mains
Order: The seasonal mezze spread for the table before any main.
Tip: Chef Khaled Albanna's room lands on national lists; book table seating ahead on Tock, or take your chances at the walk-in bar.
Champy's Famous Fried Chicken fries chicken to order on MLK Boulevard in Chattanooga, with Delta hot tamales, cold beer and blues on the speakers.
Signature: Fried chicken, Mississippi Delta Homemade Hot Tamales
Order: Fried chicken with Delta hot tamales on the side.
Tip: Friday and Saturday the kitchen runs to midnight. Expect a wait after Lookouts games; the banana pudding travels well.
Calliope is Chattanooga fine dining at its most current: Levantine tasting plates from 2026 James Beard semifinalist Khaled Albanna on MLK Boulevard.
Order: The mezze course with whatever bread came off the fire.
Tip: The New York Times put Calliope on its 2025 Top 50 list; Tock reservations open ahead and Friday and Saturday sell out first.
White Duck Taco Shop serves globally-topped tacos counter-style on McCallie Avenue in Chattanooga, opened June 2025 with a huge outdoor patio and full bar.
Order: Two or three off-format tacos; the list changes often.
Tip: Owners Adam Lutz and Nelson Taylor spent six years building the site; a house brewery, Totality, is being added on the campus.
Uncle Larry's Restaurant fries whiting, tilapia and catfish to order on MLK Boulevard in Chattanooga, Larry Torrence's family fish house since 2013.
Order: The whiting sandwich, lemon-pepper style, with hot sauce.
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The MLK original is tiny; Brainerd Road and East Brainerd locations take the overflow.
Wally's Restaurant has served Chattanooga meat-and-three plates on McCallie Avenue since 1937, from drive-in burgers to today's homecooked vegetables.
Order: Meat-and-three with whatever vegetables came in that morning.
Tip: Breakfast from 06:00 on weekdays; Saturday closes at noon and Sunday is dark. Cash-friendly, counter-fast service.
Champy's Famous Fried Chicken is Chattanooga's juke-joint-styled bird specialist on MLK Boulevard, frying to order with Delta tamales and cold beer.
Order: Quarter dark fried chicken, hot tamales, banana pudding.
Tip: Friday and Saturday the kitchen runs to midnight. Expect a wait after Lookouts games; the banana pudding travels well.
Mad Priest Coffee Roasters roasts on McCallie Avenue in Chattanooga and staffs its cafes through refugee employment, coffee with a mission attached.
Tip: Daily 07:00 to 18:00 on McCallie; the roastery supplies wholesale beans across the city, so ask what is freshest.
How they serve: Espresso, Filter, Whole bean retail
The Bitter Alibi stacks three storeys of dive-bar comfort in an old house on Houston Street in Chattanooga, cocktails and late plates until midnight.
Signature drink: House cocktails and cheap pours
Food: Kitchen until late
Tip: The third floor hosts the Dilemma cocktail bar, Thursday to Sunday from 18:00; the porch is the best seat in the house.
JJ's Bohemia anchors Chattanooga's MLK corridor with indie, punk and hip-hop shows in a 150-capacity room where touring acts meet local bands.
Signature drink: Cheap cans between sets
Food: None
Tip: Check the calendar first; most nights are ticketed shows with doors around 20:00 and the room sells out for touring acts.
Alan Gold's Discotheque has run drag shows and dance floors on McCallie Avenue since the 1980s, Chattanooga's long-serving LGBTQ+ nightlife institution.
Signature drink: Well drinks before the midnight show
Food: None
Tip: Thursday to Saturday only, 20:00 to 02:45; drag showtimes post on the club's events page, and the floor peaks after midnight.
White Duck Taco Shop counters out inventive single tacos on McCallie Avenue in Chattanooga, ordered at the window and eaten on the sprawling patio.
Try: Globally-topped tacos
Tip: Owners Adam Lutz and Nelson Taylor opened in June 2025; the taco list rotates, so order two or three different ones.
Hutton & Smith Brewing Co names its beers for geology on MLK Boulevard in Chattanooga, an on-belay taproom pouring Igneous IPA to climbers off the crag.
Tip: Named for the fathers of modern geology; the Good Schist grapefruit ale is the session order after a Stringers Ridge ride.
Wally's Restaurant plates Chattanooga's honest meat-and-three on McCallie Avenue, a since-1937 counter where breakfast and lunch stay cheap.
Try: Meat-and-three plate
Tip: Breakfast from 06:00 on weekdays; Saturday closes at noon and Sunday is dark. Cash-friendly, counter-fast service.
Uncle Larry's Restaurant sells fried whiting sandwiches for pocket change on MLK Boulevard in Chattanooga, fish fried to order there since 2013.
Try: Whiting sandwich
Tip: Closed Sunday and Monday. The MLK original is tiny; Brainerd Road and East Brainerd locations take the overflow.
Champy's Famous Fried Chicken piles quarter-bird plates and Delta tamales on MLK Boulevard in Chattanooga, big portions that undercut its fame.
Try: Quarter fried chicken plate
Tip: Friday and Saturday the kitchen runs to midnight. Expect a wait after Lookouts games; the banana pudding travels well.
Champy's Famous Fried Chicken runs its MLK Boulevard fryers to midnight on Friday and Saturday, Chattanooga's late-night bird with cold beer.
Try: Fried chicken and hot tamales
Tip: Friday and Saturday the kitchen runs to midnight. Expect a wait after Lookouts games; the banana pudding travels well.
Alan Gold's Discotheque keeps Chattanooga dancing to 02:45 from Thursday to Saturday on McCallie Avenue, with drag shows at the centre of the night.
Try: Drinks only
Tip: Thursday to Saturday only, 20:00 to 02:45; drag showtimes post on the club's events page, and the floor peaks after midnight.
Alan Gold's Discotheque has been Chattanooga's LGBTQ+ anchor on McCallie Avenue since the 1980s, drag shows, dancing and a crowd that spans the decades.
Tip: Thursday to Saturday only, 20:00 to 02:45; drag showtimes post on the club's events page, and the floor peaks after midnight.
JJ's Bohemia packs touring indie, punk and hip-hop acts into a 150-capacity room on MLK Boulevard, Chattanooga's scrappiest and most essential venue.
Tip: Check the calendar first; most nights are ticketed shows with doors around 20:00 and the room sells out for touring acts.
Alan Gold's Discotheque has been Chattanooga's LGBTQ+ anchor on McCallie Avenue since the 1980s, drag shows, dancing and a crowd that spans the decades.
Tip: Thursday to Saturday only, 20:00 to 02:45; drag showtimes post on the club's events page, and the floor peaks after midnight.
The Bitter Alibi keeps three floors of house-party dive comfort going until midnight on Houston Street, Chattanooga's after-work clubhouse of choice.
Tip: The third floor hosts the Dilemma cocktail bar, Thursday to Sunday from 18:00; the porch is the best seat in the house.