In Texas, when Lawton built his first restaurant in the 70’s, the concept was to grill seafood over natural wood. This was the original wood grilling restaurant. He built a typical fire brick pit with a grill on top, similar to the open barbeque pits. The pit style grill created enormous problems with heat control and led Lawton to develop a new type of grill that could control the heat, start the fire and ash control. Soon other restaurants ordered grills from him and his designs and patents pioneered the cooking style now common in thousands of restaurants, not only in the USA but internationally as well. Although being a restaurateur is his first love, he still tinkers with new ideas in the wood grills. He has been recognized by USA Today, Time magazine and numerous other publications for his work in wood grilling cooking techniques.Chattanooga, Tenn. – Mesquite grilling is a practiced in restaurants and backyard barbeques across the United States, but it is a technique that was pioneered and perfected in Texas. So it is appropriate that the first mesquite woodburning grill was developed by entrepreneur and restaurateur Lawton Haygood when he was operating a restaurant in Dallas.

Haygood, who now owns and operates the Boathouse Rotisserie &Raw Bar in Chattanooga and the Canyon Grill in nearby Lookout Mountain with his wife Karen, created the grill in the late 1970s when he served mesquite-grilled seafood at Turtle Cove.

“The traditional grill tends to burn hot in one spot and cool in another, which isn’t ideal when you’re cooking a high volume of orders,” Haygood explained. “I kept waiting for someone to come up with something, but nobody did, so I decided to invent my own grill.”

Haygood’s solution was to create a grill that operates on the principal of the convection oven. It produces even heat and a lower surface temperature, which cooks food faster and more evenly, he said. The mesquite wood smoke intensifies the flavor of the food, Haygood added.

After designing the grill, Haygood was featured in Time Magazine, called a pioneer in mesquite grilling and received numerous calls from restaurateurs nationwide who asked him to make a grill for them. He soon found himself building and installing grills in restaurant chains like J. Alexander’s and Grady’s. Before selling his interest in the manufacturing company he and a partner formed, Haygood worked with some of the country’s most renowned chefs, including Wolfgang Puck. He has since created a second-generation model, the Tuff Grill that prepares the cuisine at Canyon Grill and the Boathouse.

“Since the grill is air cooled and does not depend on insulation, it is more durable,” Haygood explained. “And, since the heat is not reflected into the kitchen, restaurants save money on air conditioning, and the kitchen is a more comfortable work environment since it is not so hot.”

Though they have distinct differences – Canyon Grill is only open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday while the Boathouse, which specializes in Gulf of Mexico cuisine, is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week – both restaurants feature menu items prepared with mesquite grilling techniques pioneered by Haygood.

The location of Canyon Grill (www.cangrill.com), the couple’s first restaurant in the Chattanooga area, is so remote that most guests drive at least a half-hour along a scenic road on the back side of Lookout Mountain. First-timers are told to recognize the building from the cars in the gravel parking lot and its proximity to the adjacent New Salem Mountain Market, an old-time corner grocer. Still, Canyon Grill is packed, mostly with out-of-towners, on a nightly basis with guests savoring choices like Slash n’ Burn Catfish, Ground Mignon, Whole Rainbow Trout, Alaskan Red King Salmon and Rack of Lamb.

The Boathouse (www.boathousechattanooga.com), situated along the bustling Riverwalk not far from revitalized downtown Chattanooga, was opened in 2002. Boasting a serene riverfront view and a menu composed of the Haygoods favorite selections from their travels around the Gulf of Mexico, the Boathouse is much easier to find. Amid a décor of palm trees, nostalgic Rock City and Ruby Falls post cards, and a new mural that depicts where the restaurant’s menu items originate from, the Boathouse features favorites like Lotta Lotta Garlic Chicken, Matagorda Fire-Roasted Oysters, El Scorcho Shellfish Stew and Fried Tilapia.