The Zarzours: Tennessee Home Cooking, Lebanese-Syrian Style

The Zarzour family arrived in Chattanooga, Tennessee in the early 20th century as part of the first wave of Lebanese-Syrian immigration, and came to be as "all American" and "down home" Tennessee as any family in the city. They settled in the city, remained there, and flourished as small business owners.

At the time the first immigrants from Lebanon began to arrive in the United States in the mid 19th century, Lebanon was a part of the Ottoman Turkish province of Syria,.¹ One of the first Lebanese-Syrian immigrants to the United States was a man named Antonio Bishallany, a Christian missionary who arrived in New York in 1854.² The "first wave" of Lebanese immigration to the United States accelerated in the late 19th century and lasted until the 1920s, and Lebanese and Syrian immigrants were lumped together. These immigrants, like most immigrants from greater Syria during this period, tended to be overwhelming Christian.³ Push factors included a desire for more religious freedom than they experienced in the Turkish dominated Syria of the time, and the primary pull was the desire for more economic freedom. Most early Lebanese immigrants worked as peddlers or small shopkeepers, owning their own businesses.⁴

The Zarzours fit this pattern perfectly. Charles Abraham Zarzour, known to his family as "Charley," immigrated from Beirut to the US through New York in 1902 according to his citizenship declaration. He was described as "Asyrian" in ancestry, and born on 25 March 1881 (his obituary and death certificate list 1878).⁵ He married his wife, Nazara Abras, also an immigrant from Lebanon, after immigrating. After living briefly in Birmingham, Alabama, the family settled in Chattanooga ⁶ where they lived in 1910 on Main Street with two children, daughter Rose, age 5, born in Alabama, and son Abraham, born in Tennessee, who was just under two. The couple was listed in the US Census as born in "Turkey-Syria." At that time Charley operated a fruit stand. ⁷

The pivotal event in the family's life was the death of Nazara Zarzour in 1918. From "Labnan, Syria," according to her death certificate, she was the daughter of Albert Abras, and died as a result of complications from a miscarriage. She was buried in Mt. Olivet cemetery.⁸ The widowed Charley, left with five children, never remarried. He converted his home into a store, first selling beer and Coca Cola and hamburgers, then added beef stew and chili to the food menu as the business evolved into a small restaurant, Zarzour's Cafe, which is a good candidate, counting 1918 as its founding date, for the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Chattanooga.⁹ It might even be the second oldest restaurant operating in Tennessee, surpassed only by Nashville's legendary 1908 Varallo's Chile Parlor.

The business and family's residence was located at 258 East Main Street in 1918. He had moved his restaurant and home to its current location of 1627 Rossville Avenue by 1923.¹⁰ In 1930 Charley, age 49, was listed in the US census as the proprietor of a "confectionary," and lived with his five children: Rose, Abraham, Josephine, Louis, and George. Son Abraham, 21, was listed as a professional baseball player.¹¹ The term "confectionary" does not automatically imply he ran a candy store, rather the word can mean any small business selling food or retail items.¹²

Charley ran the restaurant until the 1950s, and lived at the restaurant's location of 1627 Rossville Avenue. He died on 6 February 1955, and was buried in Mt. Olivet cemetery. His son George was the informant for his death certificate. His birthplace was listed as Syria, his father was listed as Abraham, and his date of birth as 25 March 1878.He was reported to have lived in Chattanooga 47 years prior to his death, which put his arrival in the city about 1908. His obituary gave the year as 1907, and he first appeared in the Chattanooga city directories in 1909, residing at 264 East Main Street.¹³

According to Charley's granddaughter, Shirley Fuller, who was Abraham's daughter and the wife of longtime Chattanooga area political figure Floyd "Flop" Fuller, Charley was, despite the tragedy of losing his wife at a young age and raising his family alone nonetheless "a wonderful, happy man who loved everybody, and everybody loved him." ¹⁴ After Charley's death, his children George and Rose continued to run the restaurant until 1979.¹⁵ George died in November 1978, ¹⁶ and Rose in August 1979.¹⁷ Rose lived in the back of the restaurant until she died, and then gave it to her niece, Shirley. Shirley's daughter, Cindy, said Rose took her brother George's death very hard, "My Aunt Rose had raised him from the time he was two and took his death terribly. You have heard of Middle Eastern women wailing, that is what she did. She literally grieved herself to death almost nine months to the day after he passed."¹⁸

Although, by Shirley Fuller's admission, the family continued to prepare such traditional Middle Eastern dishes as stuffed cabbage rolls at home, the restaurant fare has been for decades decidedly traditional Southern "comfort" cooking, and is now a landmark in Chattanooga. In addition to Charley's old recipes for chili and beef stew, the daily menu, updated on facebook , includes such items as butter beans ("big old fashioned butter beans, not the little limas," according to Shirley), turnip greens, pinto beans, and cornbread homemade in cast iron skillets. ¹⁹ Shirley passed away in 2015, and the restaurant is now run by her son, Joe "Dixie" Fuller and daughter-in-law Shannon.

Reviewers and customers of Zarzour's Cafe (photo tour HERE) have referred to it by such terms as a "plate lunch treasure."²⁰ The restaurant is still in its long time location in Charley's converted "shotgun house" at 1627 Rossville Avenue (one block off of East Main Street). Despite its pretentious name, Main Street which runs from downtown Chattanooga on its south side to Missionary Ridge, is hardly what its name implies. The street, except for its western end near downtown which has gentrified in recent years with art galleries and upscale new fine dining eateries, is still characterized during its long run to the ridge by warehouses, small machine shops, and wholesale parts and industrial supply distributors. Zarzour's is a good and unpretentious remaining relic from Chattanooga's industrial working class past, and fits into this mixed use landscape well.

Comments on review sites like Tripadvisor and Yelp, both from regulars and travelers who stop in, fondly characterize the small "meat and three" eatery as a "hole in the wall" or a "dive" where "the waitress might give you some lip," and "your clothes will smell like the grill." A place with personality known for its southern "soul food" fare, it's equally famous for its hand-slapped and patted flattop grilled hamburgers. They are listed in Southern Living's 2016 "Bucket Burger List." George Motz, author of "Hamburger America" and the host of Travel Channel's "Burger Land" believes Zarzour's serves the best hamburger in Tennessee.

Charley's son, and Shirley's father, Abraham, known as "Abe," also ran his own luncheonette during the era before gentrification of the downtown "southside" in what was then the Hamilton (First Tennessee) Bank Building, formerly located at the corner of Main and Market Streets. Abe was a colorful personality known as the "Mayor of Main Street," (a title he claimed was given to him by legendary Chattanooga broadcaster and wrestling promoter Harry Thornton, and listed on his gravestone). According to daughter Shirley, he enthusiastically embraced American culture like all of his family. "Daddy was a baseball man. He played semi-pro baseball and scouted for some of the major league teams." ²¹ Hear Abe Zarzour's stories about his family, and their history in Chattanooga HERE.

Charley Zarzour become a citizen shortly before his death; he was naturalized on 13 November 1946. ²² His naturalization certificate, in both Arabic and English and including his photograph, his mounted prominently on the wall of the family restaurant,²³ as if to say, "here is where we come from, and we are proud of it, and here, where you eat, is what we have become, and we are proud of that too."

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SOURCES:

¹ "History of Lebanon," Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lebanon) : accessed 24 April 2011).
² Benson, Kathleen, Kayal, Phillip, "A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City," p. 46 (http://books.google.com : accessed 23 April 2011).
³ "Lebanese American," Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_American#cite_note-4) : accessed 23 April 2011); "Lebanese and Syrian Immigration," Genealogy Today (http://www.genealogytoday.com/family/syrian/part3.html : accessed 24 April 2011);
⁴ Benson, Kathleen, Kayal, Phillip, "A Community of Many Worlds," p. 48.
⁵ See notes 12 and 13 below; "Tennessee, Naturalization Records, 1888-1992," database, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 18 December 2016), declaration of intention, Charles Zarzour, 5 June 1941.
⁶ "Old Zarzour Family Film Has Early Chattanooga Scenes," The Chattanoogan.com, March 20, 2011 (http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_196883.asp : accessed 23 April 2011).
⁷ 1910 U.S. census, Hamilton Co., Tennessee, pop. sched., Chattanooga Ward 6, ED 62, sheet 6A, dwelling 8, family 8, Charley Zarzour; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 April 2011); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1503.
⁸ Tennessee, "Tennessee Death Records, 1914-1955," database, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 April 2011), death certificate no. 453, Nazaran Zarzour, 3 November1918.
⁹ Sauceman, Fred, "The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South," p. 225 (http://books.google.com : accessed 23 April 2011).
¹⁰ "World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 April 2011), Charlie Abraham Zarzour; citing United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, NARA microfilm publication M1509, roll 1852927; "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," database, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 18 December 2016), Chattanooga, Tennessee, City Directory, 1923, p. 1440 (text) 785 (database viewer).
¹¹ 1930 U.S. census, Hamilton Co., Tennessee, pop. sched., Chattanooga, ED 15, sheet 21B, dwelling 424, family 477, Charley Zarzour (erroneously indexed as Zaryorn); digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 April 2011); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 2250.
¹² "Confectionary," AudioEnglish.net (http://www.audioenglish.net/dictionary/confectionery.htm : accessed 24 April 2011).
¹³ Tennessee, "Tennessee Death Records, 1914-1955," database, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 24 April 2011), death certificate no. 55-02819, Charles Zarzour, 6 February 1955; "Charlie Zarzour obituary," Chattanooga Times, 7 February 1955, p. 7; "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," database, FamilySearch.org (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 18 December 2016), Chattanooga, Tennessee, City Directory, 1909, p.738 (text) 454 (database viewer).
¹⁴ "Old Zarzour Family Film Has Early Chattanooga Scenes," The Chattanoogan.com, March 20, 2011; Sauceman, Fred, The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South," p. 223.
¹⁵ Sauceman, Fred, "The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South," p. 223.
¹⁶ "Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 April 2011), George Zarzour, Issue State: Tennessee.
¹⁷ "Social Security Death Index," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 April 2011), Rose Zarzour, Issue State: Tennessee.
¹⁸ "Old Zarzour Family Film Has Early Chattanooga Scenes," The Chattanoogan.com, March 20, 2011.
¹⁹ Sauceman, Fred, "The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South," p. 223.
²⁰ "Zarzour's Cafe," Urbanspoon.com (http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/109/1496176/restaurant/Zarzours-Cafe-Chattanooga : accessed 22 March 2011).
²¹ Sauceman, Fred, "The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South," p. 224.
²² Charlie Abraham Zarzour, "U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project," database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 April 2011), citing Index to Naturalization Records of the U.S. District for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1888-1955, NARA microfilm publication M1611, roll 1.
²³ Sauceman, Fred, "The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South," p. 225.