Charlie's Quick Stop, once a convenience store and gas station that had been vacant for the past nine years on East Main Street, has reopened as a barbecue restaurant and catering service offering smoked meats, peach cobbler and a host of Southern favorites.
But the new owners of the 24-seat eatery have tried to preserve the character of the former convenience store by converting an old cooler into a front counter, using cooler door windows to separate the kitchen from the dining room and displaying a variety of old records, car parts and other vintage store collections to give the new restaurant a 1950s southern decor.
The menu features a variety of fresh meats veteran cook Wes Agee smokes every day, along with baked desserts and other southern favorites.
Agee, a 35-year veteran in the restaurant industry, opened the new barbecue restaurant last week along with his fiancee Elizabeth St. Clair and the other co-owner Stacey Anderson after the three sold their previous restaurant - Pappy's Country Cookin' in Manchester, Tennessee - six months ago.
"I have a daughter who goes to UTC and we just fell in love with Chattanooga and we were eager for a change," said St. Clair, noting the 160-seat Manchester restaurant required 30 employees and kept the owners working 80 to 90 hours a week. "We saw this site online and could see the structure and character of the building is wonderful for what we wanted to open."
The new restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 7 a.m. Monday trough Saturday and is closed Sunday.
Agee, who began his career at age 15 at Opryland and was formerly the food and beverage manager at the amusement park before its closing, was later a regional manager for Shoney's and operated another barbecue restaurant with his brother in the past in Nashville. But he says he still loves to cook and smoke meats.
Agee says he offers barbecue meats with all of the sauces on the side ("we didn't see that anywhere else in town," he says) at prices he says are affordable for lunch and dinner.
Sandwich plates are priced around $6 and dinner deals are priced $16.99 to $18.99.
About half of the business is expected to eventually come from catering, Agee said.
"We're trying to offer affordable, great southern barbecue in an authentic atmosphere," Agee said.
Charlie's Quick Stop will soon begin offering delivery through the Waitr food delivery app.
St. Clair said the new owners are now temporarily living in a bed and breakfast, but now that the new restaurant has opened, they are looking to buy a home close to their new eatery,
"This neighborhood does not have a great reputation," St. Clair said, noting that the former convenience and beer store operated by Charlie Manis was robbed nine times in the past. "But we are genuinely trying to make a difference in that reputation and we think this is an improving area with a lot of promise."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfree press.com or at 757-6340