Hillbilly's Grand OpeningHillbilly's restaurant is celebrating the opening of its 3514 Hixson Pike location all day Saturday with a flea market, inflatable play areas for kids and free hamburgers and hotdogs starting at 5 p.m.
Dana Burrows isn't your typical hillbilly.
No sitting on the front porch sipping moonshine for him. Burrows, owner of Hillbilly's on Hixson Pike, is in prepping the restaurant at 7:30 a.m. and doesn't leave until the cleaning's done, often hours after the place closes at 9 p.m.
"If it's been open, I've been there," he said. "Right now I wouldn't jeopardize it. I'll just continue doing it."
Life has been getting increasingly busy for Burrows. This week he's finishing up moving the business about a mile down the road to a former Huddle House with a couple more seats. He's adding a covered outdoor eating area to further increase the capacity and said he doesn't mind the work.
Unlike his old location, Burrows owns the new one, and spending money to fix up his own shop doesn't bother him.
"You don't care to spend a little money and fix something for it," he said.
He especially doesn't mind spending a bit extra considering the cost of the property.
A few years ago, the owner was asking $650,000 for the location. This year it was appraised at $500,000, and Burrows snagged it for $375,000 - a cost he calls more affordable than leasing space and fixing up his old restaurant.
"The payment isn't any higher than leasing," he said. "For us to come to work every day, it's a different atmosphere."
He hopes it will be a different atmosphere for everyone who walks into the Southern cooking joint. Throughout the moving and fixing up process, Burrows has focused on creating a friendly, open atmosphere.
Patty Sager, a Hillbilly's manager who works about the same amount as Burrows, said that goal is likely as oriented toward customers having a good time as it is toward Burrows enjoying himself.
"If you're a stranger he just comes right out and talks to you and talks to you and talks to you," she said. "He's just a cut-up. He's not afraid to be funny and be laughed at. He's just entertaining. You can't help but laugh."
That laughter is important - with the amount of bumps and bangs Sager's sustained helping with the move, it's one of the reasons she sticks around.
"You should see my legs," she said. "They're black and blue from my knee caps."
If all goes according to plan, this could only be round one of heavy lifting and fix ups.
Burrows hopes to expand sometime next year by opening a Signal Mountain location, but first the home cooking master will have to teach his ways to a new disciple.
"I don't have any recipes, I just pull out the pots and start cooking," he said. "I just pull out a big-old pan and throw in 20 pounds of meat."
Burrows has been cooking since he was tall enough to reach the kitchen counter by standing on a chair.
He specializes in butterfly fried boneless chicken breast and country fried steak, but the lifetime chef hasn't always been in the restaurant business.
For about 15 years, Burrows ran a trucking company and built houses, but as the economy started to crash, he needed to find a new way to make a living.
"I always try new things," he said. "I just thought, 'Everybody has to eat.'"