By Anne P. Braly

Staff Writer

The renaissance of Main Street is well under way, and the opening of Bluegrass Grill will help fuel the growth, some Chattanoogans say.

The Rev. Jonas Worsham and his wife, Joan Marie, came to Chattanooga four years ago to pastor a small mission group of the St. Tikhon Eastern Orthodox Church.

However, the restaurant business was nothing new to them. Wherever they have lived, they've opened a restaurant, and each has become favorites in the cities in which they've lived.

Staff Photo by Brett Clark

Darnell Bice, left, reaches across the table as he and Eddie Moorefield, center, and Dylan Terney of Collier Construction look through the blueprints for Bluegrass Grill, a restaurant planned at 55 E. Main St.

It started in Memphis with the opening of Brother Juniper's near the University of Memphis campus. It was a full-service eatery serving breakfast and lunch, and was soon voted "Best Breakfast in Memphis," by the Memphis Restaurant Association's reader's restaurant poll, Father Worsham said. When the couple moved to Kodiak, Alaska, to start a school for young men, they sold the restaurant and opened another one on the school campus.

Their next move was to Charlottesville, Va., where they opened their first Bluegrass Grill.

"It was a block from the downtown mall and across the street from the Farmer's Market," Mr. Worsham said. "We were busy from day one."

The menu was one that served a variation of breakfast and lunch dishes, from homemade biscuits, pancakes and Mediterranean fare to vegan, soups, sandwiches with homebaked breads and more.

The menu at the new Bluegrass Grill on Main Street will be a variation of the same "because it worked," the pastor said. "And I think it will here, too, because people are looking for a good breakfast restaurant."

Before moving to Chattanooga, they sold Bluegrass Grill to a friend in Charlottesville and put the restaurant life behind them.

"We said we'd never do this again," Mrs. Worsham said. "But this is what we do best."

And the Main Street neighborhood had the right fit for the kind of restaurant they wanted to open.

"It felt right," Mrs. Worsham said. "It's critical for us to be in a relationship with the community we're in, and this seems like the right kind of neighborhood to build one. We were intrigued by what was being developed in this area and felt like we could be a real asset to what's going on."

The restaurant is in a 1904-era building, one of several historic structures that have undergone renovation.

When work on the interior of the restaurant is complete, the Worsham's will have about $75,000 invested in the property.

Bluegrass Grill, at 55 E. Main St., will open for breakfast and lunch starting at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday beginning in early October.

The Lyndhurst Foundation assisted the couple with a grant to help with the build-out of the eatery.

"The Worshams are wonderful people, and we are thrilled that they will add the Bluegrass Grill to the eating and drinking establishments that are clustering in the very creative Main Street district," said Sarah Morgan, Lyndhurst's program officer. "They will be a fabulous addition."

The building is owned by Rick Wood, Neeld Messler and John Santero, who together form the Chattanooga Loft Co. Mr. Wood said the restaurant will "add a lot of value to the street and invite a lot of people to be a part of the community."

He said the Worsham's plan is to integrate themselves into the neighborhood setting as much as possible.

"We think Bluegrass Grill will be a wonderful addition to our development, but more importantly, to the neighborhood," Mr. Wood said.

E-mail Anne Braly at abraly@timesfreepress.com

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