Your Thursday at a glance:
Weather: High of 86, partly cloudy
On Campus: Greek Life resumes early at UTC
Prep Standouts: Check out the Chattanooga area’s top performances of the week
What’s new: Chattanooga-area business openings and developments in August 2025
_______________________
Good Morning, Chattanooga.
We’ve reached that awkward, albeit pleasant, point in the calendar where it doesn’t really feel like summer anymore, but it certainly isn’t fall yet.
Food writer Lyric Lewin came up with a wonderful word to characterize the couple of weeks before fall officially hits. She calls it “sumnall,” and she was elated by its inclusion in her recent piece not once, but thrice!
She christened Cesario’s Pizzeria as the ideal restaurant to dine at during sumnall. On a recent afternoon, Lyric drove out to the Rossville pizzeria and ordered a pizza “covered in fig jam, goat cheese and copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil. The salty prosciutto ribboned its way through peppery arugula greens, and the balsamic glaze crisscrossed the pizza like lines on a map.”
The restaurant is owned by Charlie Eich, who also owns River Drifters along with his wife, Renee Eich.
Cesario’s fare is inspired by Charlie Eich’s Italian ancestry. The meatballs, for example, are made from his grandma’s recipe.
There’s pasta, cannolis and, of course, pasta. Lyric highlighted the skillet-baked tortellini and chicken.
“Anytime pasta is served to me in a skillet and covered with an additional layer of cheese, my faith in humanity is restored,” she wrote.
Read the full story here.
_______________________
Now for some more recent stories:
WEEKEND PLANNER (calendar emoji): This weekend, the Lookouts are playing their final regular-season games at AT&T Field. Ever.
The second annual Nosh-a-Nooga is also happening Sunday, where attendees can sample kugel, falafel and challah.
Also Sunday, The Comedy Catch is celebrating 40 years. Here are a few more things to look forward to this weekend:
— Lantern Tour: Ghost Walk Edition will start at 9:15 p.m. Sunday at Ruby Falls, 1720 S. Scenic Highway. Lantern tours happen regularly at the attraction. This special edition features ghost stories from the history of Ruby Falls and of Chattanooga legends. More are scheduled through Halloween. Tickets are $42 and must be purchased online. rubyfalls.com
— Food Truck Friday Concert Series returns for a fall run 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday at Red Bank City Park, 3817 Redding Road. The gatherings are scheduled for the first and third Fridays in September and October, plus a bonus on Halloween. redbanktn.gov
— Paws for Freebies, a Chattanooga Pet Sitter giveaway of gently used pet supplies, is scheduled 1-3 p.m. Saturday, rain or shine, at the Harrison Center, 5637 Highway 58. chattanoogapetsitter.com
Read up on all the events this weekend here.
ALL ORANGE (football emoji): On Saturday, my beloved Syracuse Orange received a shellacking at the hands of Tennessee. I was down in the dumps for about 15 minutes and then remembered, this is what was supposed to happen. Tennessee fans, though, may have a quarterback they can rely on. Joey Aguilar completed 16 of 28 passes (57.1%) for 247 yards with three touchdowns and also rushed eight times for 34 yards.
“What I liked about him is that he did everything we were working on throughout the brief offseason that we had,” Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said. “We worked on his left shoulder tracking his targets and getting out to his throws, especially to his right. He didn’t revert back to old habits when it was live fire.
“He was the same guy, because he’s got that same calm heartbeat,” Halzle continued. “That’s what I love about this guy.”
Aguilar transferred from UCLA to Tennessee in the spring after former Vols starter Nico Iamaleava left for … UCLA. Aguilar had a busy offseason, going from Appalachian State, where he had been a two-year starter, to UCLA for a few months and then Knoxville after Iamaleava shocked the college football world with his move.
Read more about Tennessee’s offense here.
— Cameron McKeon, cmckeon@timesfreepress.com
P.S. We can’t do this work without the support of our subscribers. You can join our Times Free Press community and subscribe here today.
TRIVIA: When did Lookout Mountain’s Ruby Falls open?
A) 1930
B) 1957
C) 1978
D) 1997
Find the answer at the bottom of this newsletter!
_______________________
Photo of the Day
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / On Sept. 2, 2025, Toby Quinton with the Tennessee Aquarium cleans algae patches from the Passage water feature in downtown Chattanooga. The water feature runs through September.
Trivia Answer: A) 1930.
If you want to support this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this email has been forwarded to you, and you wish to subscribe, click here to sign up.
Have a good day, Chattanooga!
Staff File Photo / Moody Molavi will be among the comedians paying tribute Sept. 7, 2025, as The Comedy Catch marks 40 years as a Chattanooga entertainment destination.
AP photo by Mike Stewart / Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar prepares to pass under pressure from Syracuse defensive lineman Dion Wilson Jr. on Aug. 30, 2025, during the Aflac Kickoff Classic in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / On Sept. 2, 2025, Toby Quinton with the Tennessee Aquarium cleans algae patches from the Passage water feature in downtown Chattanooga. The water feature runs through September.
Dining and Cooking