Peace, love and hot wings have come to town with the first new restaurant of the Jefferson’s Restaurant chain. Specializing in wings, burgers and oysters, Jefferson’s is a spacious haunt located outside of the UTC campus, allowing for those students of age to knock back a brew, sports fans to catch the draft on the multiple screens above their table, and families to enjoy a meal and free balloons for their children.
Jefferson’s, located across from the old courthouse on Georgia Avenue, is also loud and proud of it. If quiet dining with a soft serenade in the background is what you are searching for, Jefferson’s doesn’t have it. Instead, they have toe tapping tunes playing, multiple flat screen televisions on and groups of friends socializing in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Jefferson’s restaurant offers a wide variety of juicy burgers, sauce slathered wings and seafood varieties that are not just for the college kids. As a die-hard fried pickle fan, I had to try the huge appetizer basket of fried pickle slices with a cool, creamy side of ranch. They also offer chips n’ salsa, fried mushrooms, corn nuggets, ultimate fries, shrimp jammers and many more options including the celery plate to help out the health food fans.
Jefferson’s boasts that their food is fresh and never frozen, which is quite a task with the selection of seafood, burgers and wings they bring. Their wing sauces range from mild to turbo and come in the varieties of lemon pepper, BBQ, teriyaki and double dipped.
They’ve got those striving to stay healthy in mind again with the salad selection, which includes the chicken finger salad, BBQ salad and Oriental salad. Their sandwiches come with a pickle spear and delicious crinkle cut fries that don’t need any special sauce treatment. I tried the Jefferson Burger house specialty that featured a thick and juicy patty topped with American cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce.
I have to say it’s one of the best burgers I’ve had in awhile. Although the bun is almost overwhelming to cover the thick cut of meat, the tomato, lettuce and toppings of this well-cooked meat made this a wonderful dinner selection.
I recommend trying one of their sandwiches such as the chiliburger, spicy chicken sandwich, Philly cheese steak, or fried oyster poboy out on the front patio while watching the sun set behind the Fireman’s Memorial Fountain on Georgia Avenue.
If you are looking for a bigger mouthful, there are the platters that feature chicken parmesan, Jefferson chicken, grilled chicken, BBQ, and hamburger steak. The baskets are also a winning combination with hushpuppies and coleslaw mixed in with catfish, fried oysters, fried shrimp, or fish n’ chips.
The oyster selection also comes in a variety such as raw, baked (topped with parmesan cheese, butter and pepper), Santa Fe baked (with tangy BBQ sauce and cheese), Jefferson baked (topped with parmesan cheese, hot sauce, and jalapenos) and steamed. Add some peel n’ eat shrimp or steamed shrimp, and you have a seafood buffet.
The original Jefferson’s Res-taurant opened in Jacksonville, Ala., on September 15, 1991. Owner Jeff (Jefferson) Webb had graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1990 and thought that the college desperately needed a local hangout.
After a year of not putting his degree in use, he decided the time was right, begged his parents for a loan and sold his treasured baseball card collection for the financing. The restaurant finally opened with a tiny menu in 1991. Jefferson’s was an immediate hit. People loved the huge juicy burgers, fresh gulf oysters and delicious wings.
Over the next eight years they expanded the menu and developed a dedicated “cult” like following. In 1999, Webb partnered up with long time employee and friend Sean McCooey to expand the Jefferson’s brand.
Jefferson’s also has an interesting thing going on with their “money wall.” The right wall of Jefferson’s is dedicated to dollar bills.
The story is that the Jefferson’s crew asked a patron to sign the first dollar Jefferson’s made, but his friend wanted to sign and decorate a dollar too. Then the next couple that visited wanted to decorate a dollar and so on until the wall was covered in decorated dollars. The Jefferson’s in Chattanooga is growing its own dollar wall with doodled dollars featuring the Tennessee and Georgia football team rivalry, sorority and fraternity symbols, and well wishes from those who have enjoyed Jefferson’s fare.
Jefferson’s is extremely family friendly with a kids menu and a separate room that features arcade racing games, a pinball machine and a Ms. Pac-Man. good food, good atmosphere, clean and lively restaurant, Jefferson’s has a winning combination to stick around and satisfy hungry college students, families, and everyone else in-between.
Email Erica Tuggle at reporter@hamiltoncountyherald.com.