Enjoying a thoughtful breakfast and lunch on the Southside
For the past 11 years, Kenny Burnap has been in charge of giving the chefs of St. John’s Restaurant and St. John’s Meeting Place the culinary raw materials to wow the palates of local Chattanoogans.
As the daytime butcher of St. John’s and Meeting Place, Burnap also made sausage, cured meats and served as the liaison between the restaurant and local farms. All of this experience helped lead him to where he is today.
Kenny is now running a restaurant across the street from St John’s in the former Porker’s space at 1251 Market Street. His new restaurant Kenny’s is a collaboration with St. John’s owner—Josh Carter.
“There are a number of established breakfast restaurants and also a few locally owned sandwich shops in Chattanooga, but we felt that we were bringing something new and thoughtful to the Chattanooga culinary landscape,” says Burnap.
“We wanted to bring a casual breakfast and lunch restaurant concept that focused on locally grown produce and in-house finished meats. We want to offer recognizable food with more depth of flavor.”
If you look through the breakfast and lunch menus, you will see a plethora of meats cured or made by Burnap. For the Muffuletta he makes several different cuts of meat including city ham, cappicola and pastrami.
The most popular menu item is the Brisket Rueben. Kenny seasons and then smokes the brisket for 10 hours, until its perfect. It is served on marble rye from Neidlov’s bakery, with a mustard slaw, pastrami and Kenny’s own version of Russian Dressing.
Other popular lunch sandwiches are the Pork Belly Bahn Mi, the Meatball Sub, the Turkey Sandwich served with Dancing Fern Cheese from Sequatchie Cove Creamery. If sandwiches aren’t your thing, Kenny’s also serves a local heirloom tomato salad with parmesan soufflé and an arugula salad with smoked trout and avocado.
The breakfast menu is a little different than your average Chattanooga breakfast stop. There is a duck confit biscuit, a pork belly sandwich and a fried chicken biscuit served with hot sauce and apple butter.
If more traditional fare is your thing, there are a variety of breakfast sandwiches served on house-made biscuits or English muffins. These can be simple but delicious, featuring Kenny’s house-made sausage and house-cured bacon. Traditional egg and potato plates are also available.
On the lighter side, they have yogurt, house made granola and fresh fruit and often have meat free and gluten free options. Saturday features an all day brunch menu, with specials of shrimp and grits and smoked trout on an English Muffin.
Kenny’s serves a focused beer menu, with only Tennessee breweries on tap. Wine by the glass is coming soon. There is outdoor seating available and they deliver in close proximity to the restaurant or for large events.
Because the restaurant is closed in the evenings it is available for private bookings and parties after 3 p.m. Call (423) 498-5888 for call ahead ordering. For simple online ordering, go to their website kennyssandwiches.com
Kenny's Southside Sandwiches
11251 Market St.
(423) 498-5888
Mon-Sat: 7am-3pm
Closed Sunday
kennyssandwiches.com