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Three Ringgold restaurants celebrate perfect health scores

By Katie Ward June 8, 2016 4 min read

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Three Ringgold restaurants celebrate perfect health scores

The sampler platter is a top-seller at Cottage Treasures Tea Room and Gift Shop. "We are known for our chicken salad," said manager Bettye Ziegler. "We shred it. The chicken salad is homemade and made fresh daily. We make it by the pound. We make the quiche daily too. We do broccoli-cheddar quiche, quiche Lorraine and Southwest quiche."

Cottage Treasures Tea Room manager Bettye Ziegler sits in the dining room at the restaurant. Each room in the tea room has a Bible verse on the wall from Matthew 19:26 that reads: "With God, all things are possible."

Spencer B's BBQ is located next door to Sonic in Ringgold. The restaurant's standing daily lunch special, served until 3 p.m., gets you a Jumbo BBQ sandwich, chips and a drink for $5 or the Killer BBQ potato and drink for $6.

Farm to Fork serves fresh biscuits early in the morning.

Cottage Treasures Tea Room dining room manager/server Karen Smith, left, serves Alice Marcum some scones. According to manager Bettye Ziegler, the most popular order is the sampler platter which contains a chicken salad croissant, a slice of quiche Lorraine, a house salad, a garnish with fresh fruit and a strawberry frozen tart. Scones, made fresh daily, are served on the side.

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More than one reason to celebrateFarm to Fork, located in Remco Shops plaza, is also celebrating a perfect health score from the month of May.“We had to repair a server table and clean hood vents to get our score,” said owner Hugh Harris.But that’s not all the “Best of the Best” restaurant is celebrating. Farm to Fork recently expanded its offerings and hours to include breakfast.“It’s the best breakfast in town. Everything is homemade, nothing is frozen,” Harris said. “We serve fresh eggs, fresh hashbrowns, Thai tea and Thai coffee. We have big cathead biscuits and gravy. Our full breakfast platter, mini Dutch Boy Pancakes and eggs Benedict are best-sellers.”Along the “never frozen” guidelines, the restaurant strives to use local products, he added. For example, Farm to Fork serves sausage from Sequatchie Cove Farms and cheeses from Sequatchie Cove Creamery. Harris and his wife Lori even grow squash, tomatoes, okra, green beans, radishes, potatoes and peppers to supply the restaurant with farm-fresh produce.Farm to Fork hosts several weekly specials: Pasta Night on Wednesday and Taco Thursdays featuring mahi mahi, red snapper, beef or barbecue pork tacos.

Cottage Treasures Tea Room & Gift Shop is celebrating its sixth perfect health score in a row.

The lowest score the restaurant has achieved in its decade of existence was a 97, according to manager Bettye Ziegler. She attributes the voluntary ServSafe program for providing guidelines that “work” when it comes to keeping things clean and sanitary.

“We serve people and give them good food and let them know the Lord has blessed us for them to come,” Ziegler said, alluding to the other pillar the restaurant . “The main part of the gift shop was a parsonage for First Baptist Church of Ringgold. [Owner] Peggy [Williams] feels that the Lord led her here and this is where we need to be.”

Ziegler and owner Peggy Williams give all the credit to the Lord for the restaurant’s success, but Ziegler also recognized the efforts of dining room manager/server Karen Smith, kitchen manager/chef Gail Petty and her helpers, Alice Marcum and Diana Yarbar help, for the high health scores.