Once again, just like the chopped wieners, just like chicken and dressing, there’s something that keeps popping up on menus at restaurants in Chattanooga that I’d never encountered in any other city I’ve lived in or even visited. That “something” is locally known and respected as the killer potato.
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Back in June, the first part of a headline I wrote asked, “What is barbecue in Chattanooga?“
I promise, it was really a genuine inquiry. I knew precisely what it was in Wilmington, North Carolina, where I grew up eating it: Apple cider vinegar-based whole hog barbecue in truest of eastern North Carolina tradition. But here in Chattanooga, I struggled to get a grip on its essence, which led to the second half of that headline: “It’s a little bit of everything.” At any given restaurant, you can get copy-cat versions of Kansas City-style ribs, brisket inspired by something you’d eat in Central Texas, smoked chicken covered in the white sauce Alabama made famous and more — much more. Chattanooga’s barbecue scene is all over the place, but the killer potato is ubiquitous enough here for me to consider it a staple.
