NASH EATS on a Southern Road Trip - Would You Put Maple Syrup on CHICKEN? Eat Quail? What is Späetzle Anyway?

This week on Pack the Kids, we’re diving into what we ate on our spring break trip through Blue Ridge, Georgia, Helen, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee—and let’s just say… this was NOT your average road trip food.

From German food in a Bavarian-style town in Georgia to Appalachian-inspired fine dining, over-the-top brunch, and homemade meals while glamping, this episode covers the real-life food experiences of traveling with kids in the U.S.

We talk about:

•  Trying schnitzel, spätzle, and German comfort food in Helen, Georgia 
•  Ice cream chaos at a busy small-town creamery 
•  Cooking our own burgers and brownies while glamping 
•  A full Italian multi-course dining experience (with kids!)
•  Ordering quail for the first time (and actually liking it) 
•  A cozy Appalachian bistro with steak, oysters, and yucca fries 
•  The BEST biscuits and chicken and waffles we’ve ever had 

We also play a round of Truth or Trash featuring food history—from Southern desserts to Appalachian cooking—and learn something along the way.

If you’re planning a family trip to Chattanooga, Blue Ridge, or the Southeast U.S., or just want to know what kids will actually eat on vacation, this episode is packed with ideas, laughs, and real experiences.

📍 Places Mentioned (With Links)

🍽️ Chattanooga, Tennessee

• Elsie’s Daughter
  https://www.thehotelchalet.com/dining/elsies-daughter
  •  (Appalachian-inspired bistro with French/Belgian influence) 
• Click here to Stay at the Choo Choo Hotel - The Chalet, a remodeled Train Station with real trains to sleep in!

• Milk & Honey
  https://www.milkandhoneychattanooga.com/
  
  (Brunch spot known for biscuits, chicken & waffles, and breakfast dishes)
• Alleia https://alleiarestaurant.com/ 
  • (hand crafted Italian Food Using Local Ingredients)

🇩🇪 Helen, Georgia (German Food Experience)

• Bodensee Restaurant
  https://www.bodenseerestaurant.com/
  
  (Traditional German food including schnitzel, wurst, and spätzle) 

🍦 Blue Ridge, Georgia

• Blue Ridge Creamery
  https://www.blueridgecreamery.com/
  
  (Popular ice cream shop in a walkable downtown area)

Follow Us on Instagram! @MarnellFamilyRoadshow

Watch us on You Tube @PackTheKidsPodcast

Email us! packthekidspodcast@gmail.com

We want to hear about your adventures too and will choose a few to shout out on the show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Pack the Kids, an adventure podcast for kids and adults, by kids and adults. I'm Sarah, and these are my two travel buddies, Otis and Nash. Each week we will talk about the real stuff that happens when you explore the world with your family. From early wakeups to planning mishaps to stories that you'll be telling forever. So grab a snack, find your seat, and let's pack the kids.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

We are back! Just like we're back. And we actually did this like planning this time.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Like we actually did it truly a lot, like speaking of planning, I just told the boys, okay, let me do my intro like normal, and then we'll go on from there. And I was the only one who didn't talk. Yes, we are back. Episode two of our spring break trip to Blue Ridge, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta. And we're gonna talk about food this week. You know what's interesting? Our episode that we recorded on What We Ate in New Orleans is still our top episode. Can you believe that? People love that one, so maybe they'll like this one as well. Do you think?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

So people love that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

They do. It's our most, most famous one. Yep. Yay! Um, and we also want to welcome Ashburn, Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio, and Hanoi, Vietnam. Ohio! That's right. We're just gonna say, hi, new friends. Hey, hello!

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Guys, I went on a long journey to the food jungle. Oh no, it's the monster! It's time! Nash Eats is coming! No!

SPEAKER_01 1:35

No! We are back with Nash Eats, and even though some of us have a cold and may sound a little funny, we are still eating yummy food, right? So we went to back to the south, just like we did uh in New Orleans and had some yummy southern food, but we didn't only eat southern food. You know what I want to talk about first? The German food that we ate. It was in Helen, Georgia. It was that town that was made to look German or Bavarian where the roller coaster was. So at this German restaurant called, I'm gonna not pronounce this correctly, but it's Bodensee, the boys learned what Schnitzel was.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Wurst and Schletzler? Schmetzel? Yes. Oh, sorry, German friends.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

I think it's Spetzel. Schbetzel. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

German friends, if you'd like to email us on how to properly say it, we would love that. At packthekidspodcast at gmail.com. Please tell me how wrong I just pronounced that. So what did do you remember what both of you got at that restaurant? It was very German.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Yeah, I got the Schwezgorn with the side of the gravy stuff, what's called?

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yes, is Jaeger gravy.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Oh yeah, Jaeger gravy. Which I found it was Jagar gravy, which is Jaeger.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

It's Jaeger. And what was the protein that you got? It was the Schnitzel. The schnitzel is the pork or the chicken that's pounded very thin and fried. And um, sometimes it has gravy on it. So it's really good because it's like a really flat kind of chicken nugget. And you did have Schwitzel, which is do you remember what that one is? Schwezel, it's like a noodle. Does it really like look like a noodle, like an Italian food noodle? No, it no, it really doesn't look like a noodle. It kind of looks like a bunch of commas. Yeah, they're egg noodles, but they're kind of thick. Your plate.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Oh, I know what that oh yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

You remember? So it's really hardy. So I didn't so I didn't know that we were gonna have German food in in Georgia, but we did, and that was pretty cool, right? Very filling. Holy cow, so much food. Something that we also got in Georgia, which is a little more normal for us, is ice cream. But we got ice cream at the Blue Ridge Creamery that's right in Blue Ridge, super cute, walkable town. There's a lot of food and shops.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Even though it is really popular, it is also very stretchy because the menu is a screen that is basically just like turning to like another pop-up every probably five or three seconds. We only have like three seconds to record the menu, and the menu is massive.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

I can I fill in our listeners because uh Nash's thing is Nash's MO, which stands for mode of operation. Whenever there's an ice cream menu, it cannot be more than five flavors, or he will take a half an hour to figure out his ice cream flavor, which is okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

We don't mind. However, when there's a ton of people in line and the menu keeps flashing and it doesn't give us time to check, we almost collectively had a nervous breakdown. Would you agree? Yes. It was very stressful.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Dude, the little ice cream was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

So ice cream always a must for us. Love it. Just a parent tip if your kid can't choose between the ice cream flavors. There was a lot of choices at Blue Ridge Creamery, so maybe tell the menu beforehand and peruse. So, do you guys think we can count as a place that we ate when we made our own food when we were glamping? The boys helped me cook when we were glamping, which glamping stands for glamorous camping, which we will talk about in the next episode, which is about fun places that you can stay that are different than hotels, right? But they were on the grill, they made brownies, and I didn't even help. What'd you think about that?

SPEAKER_02 5:22

We we made brownies and we also made burgers.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

But like it was it was me and Nash that made the burgers. Right. And we like we keep going.

SPEAKER_00 5:33

Were does were you proud of it when it was done?

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Like nothing really.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

I I really didn't. Did it taste better when you made it yourself?

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yeah, it tasted a lot better when we made it by ourselves. Yeah, I agree, right? Because like, I also got a technique, so as once we use we use kind of like a spatula shaped like thing to like press down the patties. Oh, oh, for the burgers, yes, yes. And I and I kind of like used my knuckles to like press it on it. Eventually it got hot after a while, but it wasn't very hot.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Nashman, smash man burgers.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Oh, um, and I also put onion all over the grill so that way I could like season it. So that way I could flavor the grill.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Next up was fancy food time. We did have fancy food. I didn't expect Nash to eat what he ate at the Italian restaurant. The place was called, ooh, I think it's called Aleya. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Yeah, yeah, that's what it's called. Plus, I love Italian. No way I can forget Italian food because I love it and I know exactly what I order.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Except you learned that Italian food has names when it comes to the courses that you choose, right? So can you tell our listeners what eating in courses means?

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Yeah, usually like courses is where like you order one thing and then you eat it, and then they're gonna ask you to order if you want to order another thing from another course, which courses is just like multiple food.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Mm-hmm. And how long does that dinner take? Or lunch? It took us a long time. Yes. So we ordered coursers, coursers, courses at Aleya. We had an appetizer, and then do you remember what it was in Italian for the um for the for the main course? Do you remember what it was called?

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yeah, primo. And then there's secondo.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Yeah. So, real quick, Anipasto is your appetizer. Primo is usually a carb, like like a pasta or I don't know, a potato or something. Secondo is your meats. Yep, your protein. And then there's cantori, which is vegetables, it goes with the protein, and then there is insulada, which is what does that sound like? Insulata? Ensiladas? Close, it's a salad. Oh, salads. So yeah, in Italy or in France, the salad does not come first, actually. It comes more towards the end of the meal. We didn't get all of these courses, but we got a few, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yeah. But I ordered for wait, what did I order for appetite?

SPEAKER_01 8:05

I don't remember. Was it burrata?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Yeah, what's the stuff that was in ravioli? Ricotta, yeah. Yeah, ricotta. It's it's on uh bruscolte, um close brushchetta? Yeah, bruschetta, which is like kind of like a little toast. Like a mini, like a real small toast.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Mm-hmm. Yes. And on top was was ricotta cheese, which a lot of people don't like. They think it's kind of dry, but oh man, it had was it, it was, was it sweet or savory?

SPEAKER_02 8:35

It was sweet because there was honey in the I think there was also like a couple herbs. Oh, okay. Um, isn't the Sengandi, isn't that like the meat? Yes. Okay, so for the meats, I got Yes, Jarmore. I ordered quail. Who's quail? I've never even had quail. Yes, it's quail.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

I ordered quail. Do you think why you ordered it is because it was bacon wrapped? Do you think that had anything to do with it?

SPEAKER_02 9:06

No, I just thought it was anxious.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Okay, yep, he got quail. Not even sure. Oh, is it good?

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah, yeah. I honestly don't know. Honestly, I couldn't really tell apart from chicken, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Yeah, see, there you go, but it was cute. Would you recommend quail to anybody that wanted to try it?

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Yeah, yeah, quail's good. Okay. And also for the third course, pasta.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

You got pasta?

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Yeah, and I got ricotta as I love. I love ricotta. Wait. Oh, I meant ringatoni. I meant rigoty. Ringatoni! I meant ringatoni. Wow, I forgot this whole course. You got ringatoni as well. And it went it it had like a kick to it.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

A little kick, huh? Little arabiata.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

What I actually for a fact got was I got the angel hair with slim.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

Yes. Which sounds so tasty right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

It was real oh yeah, it was good.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Do you what what is angel hair?

SPEAKER_02 10:01

So it's it's kind of like straight.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Is it potato?

unknown 10:05

No.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

It's like straight.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

A noodle, right? It's a straight noodle. It's a straight noodle. And is it skinny or is it fat? It's it's it's really skinny. It's really skinny. Even skinnier than spaghetti. And then, oh my gosh, I don't know what we got for dessert. Do you do you guys remember? It's kind of like a chunk of ice cream, you know. Semi-fredo. Yes, it's a good one. Semi Freddo. Semi-fredo, it was. I knew it's strawberry. It was it's almost like it looks like ice cream in a bread pan that's sliced. However, it's not actually ice cream, it's like frozen whipped cream. I've always seen semi-fredo on a menu, and I never, it never seemed appetizing to me. I'm so glad you guys made me get it. I definitely recommend semifredo. Two thumbs up or what? One, two, three, go. Uh, you guys can't see, but there are six thumbs up over here. Okay, Lucy's daughter, we had something that we've had before, but they had them in a different way. You guys had oysters again, didn't you? Oh yeah. But this time, because you didn't quite like them last time, but this time they had crackers with them, salting crackers, which I think. Did you like did you like it with that in there? Yes. You split fish with dad, and dad didn't even get any.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

Do you remember what you got fish?

SPEAKER_01 11:20

He didn't, you ate it all.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

No, I didn't have fish.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Almost all of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

I wanted to scale off the fish.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

You were upset because it didn't come with a head. You got the steak.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Yes, I got the steak, the bistro steak. But it came with yucca fries. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

And you ever had yoga before? Big chunky fries. Potato like, and then it's like a fibrous kind of vegetable, but it's different than the potato, but it was so yummy. Yeah, so yummy.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

The steak was the steak of my life. So good. And the and and it had this sauce kind of which which looked exactly like the steak. And there was like a big chunk of it, and I thought it is the steak, but it was just the sauce. And strange enough, the sauce tastes like chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

So I just looked this up because I wanted to be sure, but Elsie's Daughter is an Appalachian style bistro. It says it merges local Appalachian flavors with French-Belgian cuisine and features an intimate, cozy setting. It sure did, didn't it?

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yeah, it was nice.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yes, oh, love it. So we definitely recommend Elsie's Daughter, and you don't have to stay at the hotel to go to the restaurant. You can go to the restaurant even if you are just visiting Chattanooga, right? Right. Yeah. What was the one thing that you wanted to eat when you were in the soft mash?

SPEAKER_02 12:41

Oh, chicken and waffles, chicken and waffles.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

It was at a breakfast brunch place called Milk and Honey. Uh, not gonna lie, the best biscuits I've ever had in my life. I am a professional biscuit eater. Holy moly. And this place gets popular. Do you think someone would think that bit that chicken and waffles is gross? No, it's like a big thing in the South. Otis got lox on toast with capers. Was it on a bagel or in toast? It was on a bagel! Otis is a big fan. Can you explain what lox is? It's the most classic salmon. It is smoked salmon that's thin, a little thicker than lunch meat, and Otis loves it.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

And if you don't know what capers are, they're like there's like little, like really tiny pickles.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Yes, they're um they're a berry, actually. They're a caper berry, and they're really, really, really small, like the size of your fingernail, if not smaller, your pinky nail.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

No, smaller.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Smaller than your pinky nail, if you're looking at your pinky nail, and it's salty like an olive or a pickle.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

It's actually a ring fickle.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Otis says your size of your ring finger.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

It's like it's so salty.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

It's so salty. I love it. We just want you to know as a family, if you ever get a chance to try fried chicken with a waffle, it is okay to put the butter and maple syrup on all of it. And it for some reason just makes sense, doesn't it, boys?

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Oh, and also for our Ohio friends, there's a place in Hudson called the Farmer's Row, which used to be a butcher shop, but now it turned into a restaurant. And you can order instead of chicken and waffles, it's fried chicken and French toast. Oh boy. Like, and and it's like it's good French toast. French toast. It's good. Oh, um. And it also comes with quote unquote hot honey. Which it's not really spicy, it's just more savory than it is.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

I didn't know it, but I seem to think that some of us are fried chicken and waffle and breakfast food um kind of source. Chip chicken and waffles. Can I get a quick dance party? Chicken and waffles with chicken. Chicken and waffles, chicken and waffles, y'all.

unknown 14:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Ooh, but guess what? Guess what it's time for?

unknown 15:03

Choo Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

You don't even know.

unknown 15:05

Choof or waff.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Okay, it's time for truth or trash. I'm going to give you three trivia questions, and you have to decide if I'm telling the truth or if I'm talking trash. Are you ready? Let's do it. Okay, there is no way you guys are going to get all this. The Spitzel got the Spitzel got its name because kids used to see how far they could spit them.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

So Spitzel is the noodle, right? Mm-hmm. Okay, I'm gonna guess true because that sounds very random.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

True.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Double true? Oh man, I already stamped you on number one. It is false. The word Spitzel comes from German word spitz, which means little sparrow, which is a small bird. The original hand cut noodles were small, irregular, and soft, resembling little birds, or bird-shaped. Interesting. Not spitzel.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

It just sounded it just sounded very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Well, I'm I'm random and interesting.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Truth or trash number two. Many classic southern desserts like pies and cobblers were created to use fruit before it's spoiled. Truth. Okay, I'm sorry, what before it before it went bad or molded.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Oh false, because they wouldn't be any good.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

False. Okay, ready? It is actually true. Without refrigeration, back when pies and cobblers were invented, people had to bake the fruit quickly so they preserved it in desserts. Does that make sense? If you're picking a bunch of peaches from a peach tree and you're like, oh shoot, how many peaches can I actually eat? So they started baking them in pies and things to make it last longer.

unknown 16:45

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

Yeah.

unknown 16:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Yeah, it does not, right? Truth of trash number three. Appalachian food is known historically to be complicated and fussy to make because of the region's access to many diverse ingredients. False. I'm just gonna say false. You mean trash? Yeah, trash. Truth of trash, what is chill. Interesting. You guys are tied. Nash it is trash. The region was actually pretty isolated, so people relied on homegrown vegetables, preserved meats, and foraging. They did not get a lot of ingredients shipped in. They had to use whatever they had on hand. So this led to food being really hearty and simple and resourceful.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Okay, so you're saying if we tie, doesn't that mean that you're keeping some kind of race?

SPEAKER_01 17:35

No, I have no idea. I just know in this particular time you got one that you got two and you got two. Wait. I got one and one. Alright, guys, listen, I don't do math.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Hey, you do, you do great math.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

I do great, just not in this particular inside.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Oh yeah, Nathan worse on math. Yeah, Nathan dad is awful at math. He's dad's awful at math. He's just not the best.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Not as good. Okay, guys, it is time for the Oh so!

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, it's it. Would you rather have a baby chicken or a baby bunny? Awww. Chickies.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Tickies. I would rather have a baby bunny, I think. I think they stay cuter longer, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

Oh, that's true. Right? That's true. Chicks chicks grow up every week. Then they become chickens. And they're still cute, but not as cute as bunnies, right? Yeah, I'm gonna get a baby bunny.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

What do you think, Nash? Anyway, stay in the car.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

Okay, yeah, I'm gonna do a baby bunny. So I have a friend and his favorite animal is bunnies. So if he listens to the podcast, his name is Milo. I think he would do bunnies.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

I think you're right. I think you're right.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Okay, girls, kids. If you're going to Chattanooga or Blue Way, don't forget to go to Elsie's daughter, eat chicken waffles, and don't forget to pack the kids.

unknown 19:07

Bam!

SPEAKER_01 19:08

Thanks for packing the kids and coming along. If you had fun, kindly leave us a review, send us an email, or just tell a friend. We'll be back with more places, more laughs, and probably more discussions about food. Am I right?

SPEAKER_02 19:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

A lot more.