Geek Food Critic

I’m a bit late to trying Kern’s Food Hall on Chapman Highway. When it opened up, they charged for parking, and as much as some of the food shops there sounded interesting, there are too many places to eat in town that don’t charge for parking for me to pay a fee to pull into a parking lot to spend money inside.

Still, last week I was on my own for several days with my wife visiting a friend and our son at camp. After work I asked a coworker for recommendations for dinner on that end of town and one of his suggestions was Kern’s. When I told him I was morally opposed to paying to park to eat, he said that had stopped a while ago. So I drove over to check it out.

While multiple shops looked good, I was in the mood for a burger, so I went to T. Ralph’s Burgers first. I got the Farmhand and, at the recommendation of the employee taking my order, tried the sweet potato fries. The burger was pretty good, with the cheese, pickles, sweet onions and whatever “git down sauce” is making for tasty toppings. The sweet potato fries were excellent, and, as recommended, I ordered a side of Maple Dijon Sriracha. The combination was fantastic.

Before leaving, I tried Irvey’s Ice Cream Co. I order a couple scoops, and I think one of them had cheesecake in the name and the other may have been just chocolate. I’ve never had bad ice cream, and this ice cream didn’t break that rule. It was fine. I have to say, though, the next time I make this particular journey, either on my own or with my family, after eating dinner at Kern’s, I’ll drive a little further down Chapman Highway and get ice cream at Sugar Queen Creamery, as their ice cream is amazing.

My wife and I stopped in Sweetwater, Tennessee for dinner at a place called The Lazy Beagle. It got great reviews on Google and I’d say we were quite pleased with some of it and would make different choices next time for sandwiches or entrees, and overall it was a good stop.

We started with the Spicy Honey Cheese Bites and they were the star of this meal. Balls of cheese rolled in crushed pretzels, fried, and drizzled in spicy honey. They were delicious. In hindsight, we would’ve been happier getting a second order of these and perhaps the Spinach Artichoke Dip instead of the sandwiches we ordered.

I ordered the Brisket Grilled Cheese because I love brisket and I love grilled cheese sandwiches. I was disappointed in both. The brisket was fine but not great. The grilled cheese didn’t have nearly enough butter on the bread, so it wasn’t moist and crispy the way a good grilled cheese should be. And I would swear it was made using a single slice of cheese. More like a brisket sandwich with cheese.

A friend of mine used to run a cafe with 30+ grilled cheese sandwiches on the menu, so yes, I’m a grilled cheese snob.

I ordered the Sweet Potato Fries - small upcharge. A Google review said they were the best that person had ever had. They were good, but not great.

My wife ordered the Chicken Philly sandwich and she was equally disappointed in it. Her fries were quite good tho.

For dessert I ordered the Bread Pudding. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but it was good. Our server, who was quite nice, but young, kept telling me how she was surprised that the texture wasn’t what she expected from pudding. The texture was what I expected from bread pudding. 😀

My wife had the Chocolate Lava cake. I didn’t try it but she said it was good.

Would we return? Yes - mainly for the cheese bites and to try other items.