This Chattanooga Restaurant's Giant Wall Of Daiquiri Machines Keeps Me Coming Back

When I moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from New Orleans, it was a jarring transition. I missed the historic, wrought-iron-embellished architecture and the must-try Louisiana dishes, like crawfish boils and bowls of gumbo. And I especially missed New Orleans daiquiri shops, with those whirring, churning, shiny machines all lined up in a row, their round, colorful centers exposed so the frozen elixir can peek through — it's like peering through a porthole to a sea of daiquiri beyond. After coming to Chattanooga, I figured my daiquiri days were over until, one happy night, I wandered into The Big Chill and Grill for dinner. After seeing that entire wall of daiquiri machines stretching back half the length of the restaurant, my life in Chattanooga changed forever.

I get very excited about frozen drinks. If you ask me, cocktails and weather are almost always better icy, and there's just something cool about a slushy. Every drink should be served frozen.

The Big Chill has a total of 15 daiquiri machines — 14 cranking out boozy slushies and one pouring a virgin option. Every machine holds 6 gallons of frozen cocktail, and they were purchased for $10,000 a piece when the place first opened (around $21,000 today). Daiquiris there come in more colors and flavors than a pack of Skittles, from basic strawberry to varieties like watermelon, sangria, and piña colada. Several of them have fun, catchy names (like Malibu Pearl, a freezing combination of melon and coconut flavors) and even catchier descriptors. The strawberry daiquiri, for example, is described on the menu as "sweet and simple ... unlike your ex." Big Chill also does a not-quite-daily rotating special, the Chill o' Day. Most recently I tried the daiquiri take on Disney's famous Dole Whip.

My go-to daiquiri is the Green-Eyed Monster, a sour apple flavor in a perfect shade of jade. But I get FOMO if I don't try another flavor, so I almost always mix my Monster with a splash of something like watermelon or Malibu Pearl. A trip to Big Chill feels like a fun chemistry experiment, a regular flavor adventure.

The Bushwacker is the best-selling daiquiri, says Angie Reese, Big Chill's manager for 28 of the 29 years it has been open. A creamy, tropical cocktail common in the Florida panhandle and nearby Gulf states such as Alabama, the Bushwacker is a Mudslide-esque blend of chocolate, coffee, coconut, and vanilla flavors.

Most Big Chill customers order a daiquiri, Reese says. Personally, I can't handle more than one. I learned the hard way, with my head pounding before 8 p.m., that several daiquiri flavors there contain pure grain alcohol (think Everclear, which, at 190 proof, is nearly the strongest alcohol you can drink). Big Chill's daiquiris are good but strong, like delicious frozen headaches in a cup (which could be caused by either the booze or the brain freeze).

In New Orleans, with some restrictions, it's legal to take your daiquiri to go or buy one from a drive-thru – but not in Chattanooga. Big Chill serves its daiquiris in charming souvenir plastic cups you can take home (I've collected several), but you should be bringing them home empty.

Chattanooga is home to the very first Coca-Cola bottling company anywhere. The late Jack Lupton, heir to big Coke money, philanthropist, and an important man around town, knew Scarlett "Scottie" Bowman early on in her restaurant career. When Bowman decided to go out on her own and open her first restaurant, it was Lupton who loaned her $280,000 to make it happen. "I had served him in two previous restaurants, and he believed in me when nobody else would," she explains. "It took me 12 years to pay him back, but I did it."

Bowman opened The Big Chill in 1997 in downtown Chattanooga. It was a small spot that couldn't fit more than 100 people at a time. "We packed it out every night," she says. The inspiration for the business came from those in New Orleans, but with a bit of a twist. "The recipes are a little different than your basic New Orleans daiquiri shop in that we use flavored liqueurs as well as the daiquiri flavors," Bowman says.

At the time of Big Chill's opening, martinis were shaking up the drink scene, so Bowman decided to focus on both martinis and daiquiris while also serving great food. According to manager Angie Reese, cosmos, frozen sangrias, and chicken salad melters helped Big Chill make a name for itself. Speaking of names, Bowman says it was the ice-cold cocktails and full menu that prompted her to call her place The Big Chill and Grill and inspired its slogan, "the coolest place in town." In 2014, Big Chill moved to a much bigger location across the river where it still is today, added more daiquiri machines and additional seating, and kept on chilling.

The Big Chill has become one of my regular hangouts. I've had three birthday celebrations there, and I used to be a regular at Tuesday night trivia (we even came in first once or twice). I've watched France win a World Cup match and enjoyed the Super Bowl ads on some of the restaurant's 16 giant televisions (and a massive projection screen). The decor is as vibrant as the daiquiri display, with colorful murals painted on the walls, and the staff goes all out for holidays — like with zombies hanging from the ceiling for Halloween. Plus, the service is top-notch (ask for Michael if he's available, but any of the servers will take good care of you).

There's always something fun happening at The Big Chill. Happy hour goes from 4 until 8 p.m. every day, when daiquiris are just $6 instead of the usual $9.50. On Monday nights, there's Drag Queen Bingo with Miss Veronica Day.

Although the daiquiris are always the main draw, the food is a close second. "The food pushes the daiquiris, and the daiquiris push the food," Reese says. Big Chill serves brunch, lunch, dinner, and late-night meals, with everything from salads, seafood, and sandwiches to chicken, steak, and burgers. A few of my favorites are the Blackened Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with mango salsa, the Black Bean Burger, and the Blackened Chicken Salad, and I always have to have steamed broccoli and deviled eggs on the side.