By Brooke Hamilton and Kevin Erpenbeck

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UK students have new off-campus dining options with the addition of local restaurants on the streets around campus.

Chatham’s Southern Comfort Foods has taken over the location of the original Ramsey’s Diner on East High Street.

With local street signs decorating the walls, Chatham’s evokes a feeling of southern comfort.

The restaurant offers  “comfort” food like meatloaf, pork chops,  shrimp and grits.

“We do everything from high end to fast food,” owner Charles Patterson said. “We cater to everybody. You can come in here and get a burger or you can get a steak.”

Patterson grew up in Lexington, he said, then moved south and began working in the restaurant business. He’s had restaurants in South Carolina and lived in Charleston for 25 years.

His movements influenced the comfort food he now serves to the Lexington community.

“We stuck with the roots that I grew up with around here, like my mom’s meatloaf,” Patterson said. “I also brought some stuff up here from South Carolina, like shrimp and grits and she-crab soup. My goal is to serve people good meals made fresh, and not pre-made bulk food.”

Patterson considered campus customers in creating a late-night condensed menu for college students. The menu is open from 10 to 12:30 p.m., Patterson said.

“Our menu has fewer choices than in the day, but they will still get the quality style of food they would expect to find back home,” Patterson said.

Tori Hickey, a biology sophomore who works at Chatham’s, recommended the menu’s hotbrown to Kentucky natives.

“It’s a really fun atmosphere,” Hickey said. “It’s just really an inviting place to be at that reminds you of a southern home. The meals are like the ones your grandmother would serve to you.”

Another emerging restaurant, Cook-Out, serves up grilled hamburgers and hotdogs in Broadway Park.

Located across from Newtown Crossing Apartments, Cook-Out is a privately-owned fast-food restaurant chain that has expanded from North Carolina into Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and now, Kentucky, according to Kirt Norman, who traveled for Cook-Out from Greensboro, North Carolina to open the new Lexington location.

“We built new locations in Florida and North Carolina, and they did well,” Norman said. “So they put us up here.”

Third-year medical student Grant Burkeen said Cook-Out’s affordability and location should prove popular with college students.

“It’s a great place to come to after the game to grab like a milkshake and a burger,” Burkeen said. “As long as it’s cheap, I’m sure students will come.”

Since opening, the restaurant has seen plenty of customers, Norman said.

“We opened last Friday and we already have regulars,” he said. “The store has been open for less than a week and has constantly been busy.”