Signal Mountain has a new source for Southern comfort food in Max's Restaurant, recently opened in Ashley Plaza in the old Pie Slingers space.
Max's is the new restaurant venture of Signal Mountain residents Greg and Charla Filter, who previously owned Urban Spoon, located on Frazier Avenue in North Chattanooga, from 2010-2013. Though that restaurant was doing well, running it along with their catering business of the same name proved to be too much, Charla Filter said.
Now they're ready to put their focus on another restaurant, and their hometown seemed a natural fit.
Max's menu is similar to Urban Spoon's, featuring dishes Charla Filter describes as "contemporary Southern." Specialties include fried chicken, meatloaf, MoonPie banana pudding, and "farmhouse mac and cheese," a variation on the classic featuring bacon, sausage and tomatoes.
"We want to be Southern, but not too simple," she said of the food. "It still has to have a personality."
The restaurant's décor has personality as well, featuring local art by Frankie Coffelt and Jim Sasse, and a collection of various secondhand finds. The Filters are self-described yard sale junkies. The tin and barn wood on the walls came from an old trading post on the Trail of Tears in Georgetown, Tenn., built in 1820. The tobacco sticks that run alongside the booths in the back of the restaurant came from an old tobacco barn in Tellico Plains, said Greg Filter, and the huge stick that hangs from the ceiling fell in their yard after a storm.
Max's is currently open for breakfast and lunch, but they plan to add dinner soon, he said. Beer will soon be served as well, as the restaurant recently acquired its license to do so, added Charla Filter.
The restaurant is named after Greg Filter's father, Maximo Yabes, a Medal of Honor recipient who died fighting in Vietnam in 1967, and his grandson, Max Filter, a 5-year-old who's soon to be a student at Nolan Elementary.
"He comes in like he owns the place," Charla Filter said of Max. "And he probably will one day."
Max's is at 1309 Taft Highway, Suite J, and can be reached at 682-8640.