You’d be hard-pressed to find a list of Tennessee’s top chefs without Erik Niel’s name on it. For two decades, he and his wife, Amanda, have showcased the food of the Tennessee River Valley at their Chattanooga restaurants.
They first opened Easy Bistro & Bar in 2005. Ten years later, they added Main Street Meats, a whole-animal butcher shop and restaurant. Their most recent addition, Little Coyote, channels Erik’s fondness for the smoked meats and flavors of Texas, where he was born and later returned for high school and college. In between, the family moved to Mandeville, Louisiana, just north of New Orleans. And like most people raised near the Gulf, he’s got a lot of opinions about shrimp.
His favorites are what he calls Gulf brown hoppers—brown shrimp that he says are especially delicious when the catch comes in off the Louisiana and Alabama coasts around July. “They’re so sweet, and they have a bounce. Nothing against whites, but the texture of the browns makes all the difference.”
One way he loves to enjoy them is in aguachile (or “chile water”), a dish with roots in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. After “cooking” the raw shrimp in lime juice, Niel adds a thin sauce of jalapeño, vinegar, and a touch of agave, finishing with a shower of cucumber slices, shaved sweet onion, and chopped herbs. At the meat-centric Little Coyote, he serves aguachile with small corn tortillas hot off the press. The shrimp are terrific with a simple bowl of tortilla chips, too. “This is a great counterpoint to fatty, smoky brisket,” he says.
For a dish in which the shrimp aren’t heated, it’s important to source the freshest catch you can from a reliable fishmonger. Shrimp that are flash frozen can also work. “I’m totally okay with frozen,” Niel says. “I would really rather have good frozen shrimp than fresh shrimp that have been hanging around too long.” Look for “IQF” on the label, which stands for “individually quick frozen.” He prefers Gulf shrimp, but at a minimum, he says, make sure the shrimp is sold with the words “USA” or “wild caught.” “Unfortunately, sometimes you have to dig deep on the label to know what you’re getting.”
Of course, nothing tops the shrimp his family used to buy for two dollars a pound straight from the shrimpers. “We had a guy show up in the backyard and say, ‘How many do you want?’” Niel recalls. These days, you can expect to pay a good bit more for fresh brown hoppers, but seeking them out—or fresh whites, if that’s your preference—is worth it. “People so overlook shrimp as a luxury item.”
MEET THE CHEF: Erik Niel
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Favorite snack to take when fishing: “I love Cheez-Its. I’m not gonna lie.” (In particular, the extra-toasty version.)
How to tell if a restaurant is going to be good: Look at the faces of the bartenders and servers. “If they’re sour or they seem depressed or don’t make eye contact, it’s not going to be a good experience.”
Post-shift tipple: “A pour of whatever bourbon I’m excited about at the end of the night.”
