Our Story
From the Creole Kitchen at New Orleans' airport to an old bank building on Chattanooga's Southside.
“Hurricane Katrina was a nightmare, but Blue Orleans is a dream come true.”Chef Mike Adams, owner & executive chef
Owners Michael and Cherita Adams have created a lively atmosphere straight out of the Big Easy, with a menu of contemporary and traditional dishes inspired by second‑ and third‑generation family recipes.
From the Creole Kitchen at Louis Armstrong International
Before Chattanooga, the Adams family ran Mo’ Gumbo, a New Orleans food company that sold pint‑size containers of the city's most popular dishes from the Creole Kitchen inside Louis Armstrong International Airport. Mike had just been awarded that contract — a longtime career ambition — three days before Hurricane Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast in August 2005.
The family evacuated to Chattanooga to avoid the storm. When it passed, the food equipment, the catering business, a newly purchased home and their personal belongings were gone.
Blue Orleans is born
A year after Katrina, Blue Orleans Creole Restaurant opened in an industrial section of Chattanooga near the Tennessee River. Its flavorful dishes quickly became local favorites, introducing Chattanoogans to authentic Creole food that celebrated New Orleans' rich history — and giving other displaced New Orleanians a refuge where they could find the food, music and Southern‑style socializing they missed.
On October 7, 2007, Blue Orleans moved to its current home on the Southside of downtown: a refurbished old bank building at 1463 Market Street, festooned with New Orleans and Mardi Gras memorabilia, directly across from the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel.
The recipes
Mike's love for food began as a boy in New Orleans, watching his grandmother, mother and aunt toss fresh ingredients, spices, meats and seafood into a large gumbo pot, or make a Creole roux from scratch in a cast iron skillet. Even with all that talent around him, he says his late father, John Quincy “Q” Adams, was the family's master chef.
The dishes at Blue Orleans draw on the Sindos, Adams, Sansone, Paw Paw Clyde, Bloodwirth and Daste family kitchens, along with lessons from Mike's teacher and friend Chef Robert Irvine of Restaurant: Impossible. The result is Creole and Cajun cuisine with a contemporary twist — seafood gumbo, crawfish étouffée, Creole red beans and rice, po‑boys, crawfish fritters, gator bites and Chef Mike's bread pudding of the day.
Mike's stated goal is simple: to share the cuisine and see a Blue Orleans everywhere.
Recognized in Chattanooga
Blue Orleans was voted first place in the Chattanooga Times Free Press “Best of the Best” readers' poll in both 2012 and 2013, and is regularly counted among the city's top ten restaurants. Every year it continues to attract thousands of locals and tourists with dishes that bring a taste of New Orleans to the Scenic City.
The new Southside
Chattanooga's Southside is flourishing with restaurants designed to please any palate, alongside small businesses, galleries, entertainment and nightlife. Spanning the blocks between 12th and 20th streets, the district is anchored by the historic Choo Choo Hotel. Since 2007 Blue Orleans has been part of this urban neighborhood teeming with art, shopping, music, tours and culinary experiences unlike anything else in the city.
Our values are simple: food — true New Orleans flavor with the freshest ingredients; experience — every bite, every sip and every detail should bring you straight to the Big Easy; and family — this isn't your ordinary family‑owned restaurant, and “Who Dat” is our theme.
Book the venue or let us cater
Private parties, corporate luncheons, rehearsal dinners and off‑site catering — all cooked by Chef Mike. Email us with your date, time and group size.