Vittles & Grits

After 25 years as a pharmacy tech, Erin Phillips walked away to chase a dream—opening a restaurant in the same Lawrenceville building where she used to walk with her baby boy for diner food. That boy is now 17, and Phillips spends 11 hours a day at the grill serving Appalachian comfort food from her eastern Tennessee childhood. Soup beans and cornbread, grits specials daily, biscuits and gravy, fried potatoes—and chocolate gravy, a regional specialty that's cocoa, flour, sugar, milk, and butter thickened into heaven for biscuits and pancakes. Grilled donuts and honey buns round out the menu. Matt Roppel runs the back of house. No frills, no pretense—just a 30-second commute from home and cooking that makes strangers feel like family.