News from Our Restaurant

For Erik Niel, chef and owner of Easy Bistro & Bar and Main Street Meats in Chattanooga, Tennessee, there’s no better place to kick back and relax than Alys Beach. Niel’s parents, Bren Niel and Bill Sudderth are currently building a home in Alys Beach, but he’s been able to enjoy vacations there for years.

Read More

Alys Gazette

Equal parts butcher shop and casual eatery, the specialty here – the owners are Erik and Amanda Niel, the duo behind another local hot spot, Easy Bistro – is, as the name implies, all things meaty. The lip-smacking charcuterie makes for a terrific starter, but it’s the simple, yet sublime sandwiches that really are a knockout. The MSM Pastrami Reuben, for example, combines salty meat, sour cabbage and pickles, and subtly sweet Russian dressing for a deeply satisfying and addictive effect.

Read More

Forbes

When you’re a small city two hours from Nashville and Atlanta, it can be hard to get the attention you deserve. Chattanooga flies under the radar but keeps a lot of aces up its sleeve -- it's outdoorsy, affordable, and a damned delicious place to spend a weekend. Start with back-to-back meals at restaurants by James Beard semifinalist Erik Niel. His charcuterie is aged in-house at Main Street Meats, and he sources cheeses and beef from Tennessee farms. Then, it’s on to Easy Bistro & Bar for a Southern style brunch -- order the bacon omelet, tomato pie, and buttermilk biscuits.

Read More

Thrill...

Owned by two-time James Beard Award semifinalist Erik and his wife, Amanda, Main Street Meats is the Niels’ latest venture in the city (if you want to know more about Niel, check out his thoughts on Big Green Eggs here). Functioning as both a restaurant and butcher shop, Main Street Meats works as with local purveyors to offer delicious, sustainable meats. You can expect a deliciously-meat heavy menu featuring famous meat dishes with a Southern twist.

Read More

The Manual

“We make a lovely Mortadella (fancy bologna) at Main Street Meats with lots of peanuts, black peppercorn and chunks of pork fatback, and then stuff it in beef bungs to poach it sous vide. Thick-sliced and griddled on the flat top then served on multi-grain with mayo, mustard, and chow-chow. It’s pretty boss—I put it on the menu because it’s fun and people love it. Plus, who doesn’t love a hot bologna sandwich?”

Read More

Food and Wine

Chattanooga's downtown is definitely see-worthy, but if you're looking for the local cool crowd, the Southside District, centered along Main Street, is always a good bet, and right now, you can't do much better than this butcher shop and restaurant, right at the heart of the action. House made brats, a killer burger (with great pickles, bacon and gruyere), steaks (oh, why not, go ahead), it's all in play. Make sure to order the pork rinds to start—they're delicate, pretty, perfectly seasoned—even if you don't think you like pork rinds, these might just bring you around.

Read More

Food and Wine...

Main Street Meats knows its way around proteins: The 40-seat bistro grew out of a butcher shop and charcuterie and, since opening two years ago, has not strayed from its roots. The staff grinds the meat, cures the bacon, ages the beef and salami-fies the salami on the premises. Former assistant manager Kevin Combs says the burger, which comes with house pickles, caramelized onions, bacon and Gruyere, “is becoming a rite of passage.” Toast your initiation properly with the Homegrown, a madcap mix of Chattanooga whiskey reserve, Mexican coke and salted peanuts.

Read More

The Washington Post

What do you do with a building that once housed a Coca-Cola bottling plant? If you’re Erik and Amanda Niel, you convert it into one of the most highly regarded restaurants in town. The Niels opened Easy in 2012; since then, Erik, who helms the kitchen, has been a James Beard Award semifinalist twice. It’s easy to see why with his careful attention to detail and high-level execution in everything from the artful charcuterie boards to the beef short rib with beets, figs, beech mushrooms and black garlic.

Read More

Tasting Table

Main Street Meats, a former butcher shop, serves up one of the best burgers in the southeast, plenty of surprisingly good veggie options, and killer lemon-lavender cake. 

Read More

Men's Journal