Geek Food Critic

Every now and then I feel really lucky to write this blog, usually because it gives me a reason to try new restaurants when I hear about them, and, very rarely, because I discover a true gem in doing so. I was recently invited to be a guest at Primo Ristorante Italiano, and I can’t wait to return.

Before I write about our experience, I’d like to direct you to another write-up on Primo, if for no other reason than all of the awesome pictures of the restaurant and its staff. I snap pictures of my food mainly as a quick reference, but in this blog post you’ll see just how elegant Primo is. I’ll admit that, as parents of a 4 year-old with no family in town, we don’t often eat at restaurants like Chef Bruce Bogartz’s new establishment, but after the meal we enjoyed the other night, I’m thinking we need to find a sitter more often.

Location, Location, Location

Please do click through to see the pictures in the write-up I mention above - I’ll wait. Now I’ll admit something that may come as a shock: I’ve lived in Knoxville since 1993 and the first time I stepped foot in the Sun Sphere was last week in March of 2016. I’ve walked by it and around it numerous times, but never had a reason to enter it. The view from our table was beautiful, especially as the even progressed and night fell.

The Chef

I’d never had the pleasure of meeting Chef Bruce Bogartz until last week. He’s a great guy - obviously passionate about what he does and proud of what he, or his family (more on that later) creates. He was very nice to us and I observed him stopping by each table as diners arrived for the evening. Conversing with the owners of some of the restaurants is a common thing for us, but this is the first time I got to do that with a chef at such an elegant establishment.

The Star of the Show

We started off with some delightful biscuits - both fluffy and crispy in all the right places. The house-made pesto they were served with was outstanding.

For our appetizer, we selected the Truffle Fundata. We might have been a bit more adventerous if it had just been my wife and I, but with a four year-old to share with, we decided on something we could present to him as similar to other appetizers he’s had. The fundata was delicious, and it complimented the bread, broccoli, and chips.

Chef Bruce wanted us to try a variety of food, so he whipped up some D’oro Patata Gnocchi for us. This was delicious in such a decadant way that, had I been by myself and not worried about what anyone might think of me, I would have asked for another bowl of it. The pears were firm and sweet and the gorgonzola cream, especially with the walnuts, made me think I had skipped to dessert. Everything I had that night was wonderful, but this little dish is the one thing I’ll keep coming back to.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted, but I knew I wanted to at least try one of the pasta dishes. Chef Bruce explained that the pasta was offered in a small or large portion, which made the choice easier for me as it meant I could also try another dish that piqued my interest. I selected the Cannelloni Piccolo, and I’m glad I did. My wife and I shared it, and for it to be the small version, it was a good amount of food. This was a thought we had repeatedly throughout the meal, that the portions weren’t what we’re used to at upscale restaurants - tasty but too small.

The duck confit in the Cennelloni was delicious, and while this isn’t the sort of dish I’d normally order, I was so glad to have tried it. I told Chef Bruce that night that I could eat it every day, and I could.

For my entree, I ordered the Pork Chop Vesuvio. The pork chop itself was enormous and very tender. I shared a goodly-sized slice of it with my wife, and as I reached my last couple of bites, I felt a tiny pang of regret at my generosity. The pork chop alone would have been great, but it was covered with house-made sausge that itself was incredible, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Served on top of polenta, it was a symphony of tastes and textures.

My wife ordered the Chicken Nona for herself and to share with our son. She liked it, he liked it, and to the extent that I was given a couple of small bites to try, I really enjoyed it as well. The carmelized onion and lemon combined to the tender juciness of the chicken itself.

 

Keeping it in the Family

For our first dessert, we had the Cannoli Cake. Chef Bruce told us how his fifteen year-old daughter had learned to make it and came by the restaurant three days a week to prepare it. The pride in his face and voice were moving, especially to the father in me, and that pride was backed up by the outstanding dessert we were served. Our son loved it, and we both deeply enjoyed it as well, at least as much of it as he was willing to share with us. I’m not normally a huge fan of chocolate, but I’d make an exception for this any day.

Our second dessert was Rice Pudding with amaretto and apricots. This was more my speed and after letting my wife try it, I kept the rest of to myself. And no, I’m not a bad father - my boy is just too young to turn away from chocolate to anything else!

A Truly Delightful Experience

Before dinner, as we were early and needed to encourage our son to work out some of his limitless supply of energy, we parked across the street by the convention center. When we return to Primo for a romantic dinner in the near future, we’ll take advantage of the valet parking, especially since the maitre d’ pointed out that, had we done that on this visit, they’d have the car waiting for us after our meal.

I look forward to our next visit to Primo Ristorante Italiano. If you’re looking for a new place to have an awesome meal, I can whole-heartedly recommend it.

I love discovering new (to me) restaurants - especially when I do so via personal recommendations. Last week I took action based on independent recommendations my wife and I had received from coworkers to try Quality Turkish Market, and let me tell you, I am so glad I did.

Round One - Great First Impression

I stopped by on Tuesday afternoon on my way to an evening class I’m taking right now, planning to scope the place out in anticipation of brining my wife and son by for dinner in the future. I had a great chat with the owner and really enjoyed the food, knowing I would be back soon.

I ordered the Hummus to start. Once I saw how large my entree was, I knew I didn’t need all this food, but I soldiered through eating it all so I could report back to you, my readers, that it was awesome. The hummus was simple and tasted great.

For my entree I ordered the #1, the Döner Kabab platter. It was outstanding, and even better than the meal by the same name I’ve had at Grujo’s twice in the last few weeks. Everything about this dish worked for me. The pita was warm and fresh. The vegetables were crisp and juicy. The rice (pilav) was light and accentuated the döner meat perfectly. I really liked the döner meat - I could eat some of this every day. It’s shaved thinly and full of flavor.

Something that impressed me about the owner, AJ, was that when I mentioned that I had come at the recommendation of a coworker, he remembered exactly who she was and described her precisely to me even though she must have been one of many customers he’d seen in the last week. I told him I’d be back with my wife and son soon, and I made good on that promise just two nights later.

Round Two - An Instant Favorite

Our first family visit to Quality Turkish Market was very enjoyable. My wife and I both ordered the Döner Kabab platter and she liked it every bit as much as I did. We also split the Hummus, and in fact we picked up a couple extra pitas to take with us for lunch the next day since we couldn’t finish it all. Our now 4 year-old boy loved the pita and tried everything else, which was a victory in and of itself.

We had a really comfortable time and learned a lot about the history of the market from AJ, who was happy to discuss it. One of the things I like most about writing this blog is getting to know so many hard-working small business owners who run their own restaurants.

Baklava - Out of this World

I remember the first time I ever tried baklava. I was a freshman at Rhodes College in 1988, away from home for the first time. To this day, that baklava stands out as one of the best-tasting things I’ve ever put in my mouth - at least it did until I tried the two different types of baklava at Quality Turkish Market.

 

The one on the left is made with walnuts and the one on the right with pistachios. Both were outstanding, so light, fresh, and obviously homemade. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the pistachio.

A Call to Action - Support Local Eateries

I can whole-heartedly recommend Quality Turkish Market. The food is outstanding, the prices are more than reasonable, and, just as importantly, it’s a family-owned business run by somebody serving up great food to happy customers.

I’m going to be doing a lot of traveling for work over the next year, and more often than not those one or two day trips don’t leave a lot of time for research into local restaurants. I can promise you that, for every meal I’m forced by time and circumstances to eat at a Wendy’s or Cracker Barrel, I’m going to balance it out once I get home with a visit to a place like this.

We were returning to Knoxville last week from Johnson City, so my wife and I decided to look for something new on the East side of town for dinner. We asked for recommendations on Facebook but ended up finding something interesting-looking via Trip Advisor. Grujo’s bills itself as German Fast Food - German Beer. I can’t speak to the quality of the beer, but we were thrilled with the food and everything else about this little gem.

Family Friendly

We read in some of the reviews online that Grujo’s was family friendly, but had gotten the impression that was primarily because the kid’s meals come with some German chocolate. That would’ve been nice by itself, but we discovered something else as soon as we settled into the restaurant and reviewed the menu before ordering. The restrooms at Grujo’s, both men’s and women’s, are the most family friendly restrooms I’ve seen. Each restroom had a stool for smaller children to stand on while using the sink - not common at all and very much appreciated. Each restroom also had a detachable toilet seat for young children to use, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen that in a restaurant. My wife told me to be sure to mention this in the review because it would be very important to parents - so here it is. I was impressed, and combined with the friendliness of the owner’s mom, I’d call this the most family friendly restaurant we’ve encountered.

Great Food - Hard Choices

We ordered the Small Bratwurst plate for our almost 4 year-old son. To him it was a tasty hot dog and fries, along with a creme-filled piece of German chocolate.

My wife ordered the Bratwurst. We thought about getting the Jaeger Fries, but weren’t sure if we’d like the mushroom gravy. May try them next time. She was torn between ordering this and something else, but really liked the Bratwurst.

I wasn’t torn at all about ordering - I knew I wanted the Bratwurst and the item listed as their #1 seller, the Döner Kebab, so I ordered the Kraut Platter and the Döner Kebab and shared some of the Kebab with my wife. I ordered one each of the two different kinds of sausages, red and white. I liked them both, but if I had to pick one, I’d go with the white.

Here was the real star of the meal. If you thought of this as a German (actually Turkish) Gyro, you might be kinda right, I guess. I was told the meat is a combination of beef and lamb, and it is shaved off a big chunk like a Gyro. But this was better than any Gyro I’ve ever had. I ordered mine with Spicy Yogurt as the sauce, and it was fantastic. The bread, meat, and vegetables all worked together to make an explosion of yummy. It was a bit hard to eat, even after cutting off some for Rachael, but I wouldn’t want to do without the bread, so next time I’d probably just carve it up and eat it like a platter of food rather than as a sandwich.

Final Thoughts

There are four mustards to choose from on a bar in the dining area. I tried the Beer Mustard and Spicy Mustard and liked both, although I would go with just the Spicy next time. Speaking of next time, which may be as soon as this Wednesday since kids eat free, I’m going to try the Schnitzel. Another item to note - Grujo’s was packed the entire time we were there on a Saturday evening, with people hanging out at the bar along the front wall waiting for tables to open up as we were leaving. With food this good, I can see why it would be so busy.

Emory Road isn’t exactly convenient for us given where we work and live, but we’ll be making the trip to Grujo’s again.

Peerless, a longtime west-Knoxville restaurant on Parkside Drive, of which I was not a fan, recently rebranded itself as K-Town Tavern. It’s close to our house and even though I didn’t care for Peerless at all, we decided to give it a try.

We’ve eaten at K-Town Tavern twice now, and I would say I was mildly satisfied with some of the food on the first trip and extremely dissatisfied the second. The only reason I’ll give it another chance is because of my “wait 6 months and see if they work out the kinks” policy. Since the main issues I have with K-Town Tavern are people/service-related - they ought to be fixed over time if the management is good.

What I liked

So far, the main thing I liked from K-Town Tavern is the Big Orange Ham & Jam Fritters. These are good enough that, if I weren’t so irritated by the terrible service we received last time, I’d go back and just order a couple plates of these as my meal if I were eating alone.

The fritters were truly excellent. I liked the pimento cheese, I liked the red pepper jam, and even our 3 year old admitted they were great.

 

I also liked the burger I ordered on our first visit, but only the burger itself. The Mac-n-Cheese on it tasted funny. Not like something in it had gone bad, but like one of the 3 cheeses they used was unusual - like a gouda or something. The burger itself, ordered medium, was very good. If I’d just scraped the Mac-n-Cheese off it, I would call it one of the best burgers I’ve had in a while.

 

What I didn’t like

In general, I’d say I didn’t like the lack of familiarity of the servers with the menu and its offerings, although as a just-opened establishment, I’m willing to cut them some slack on that, especially if they own up to it. I’m less willing to be tolerant of what I experienced during our second visit, which I’d call confident and assertive ignorance, combined with a seeming lack of interest in customer service.

I was completely underwhelemed with the desserts. Called out as “hand-crafted” on the menu, but having eaten plenty of “homemade cheesecakes” that come from a food service business, I have my doubts about K-Town’s. I was also disappointed when I left the restaurant after trying the desserts the first time, as I was asked if I would like dessert to go, and I noticed a plain New York Cheesecake - something I would’ve vastly preferred over what I ordered, but unfortunately plain cheesecake wasn’t on the menu and I wasn’t told it was an option.

Here’s one of the desserts we ordered - a Baklava Cheesecake. It was only OK, and not nearly as good as I expect for $8/slice.

Another disappointment was the Tavern Hash on our first visit. I asked what it was, and while the server mentioned a couple of vegetables, what he did not mention was mushrooms, and it was full of them. I didn’t bother to take a picture because I didn’t want to remember it.

What I really didn’t like

Our entire second visit. In fact, if I could go back in time and warn myself, I would have skipped it entirely. But a friend was in from out of town and he wanted to meet us for dinner had asked me to pick a place, so I picked something close to home and new.

The entire visit was a wreck. We were seated in the open area with the slide-up doors and the ridiculously overpowered ceiling heaters. I’ve been in places before with this setup that weren’t physically uncomfortable to be in, so I know it can be done right, but we even joked that it was painful to stand up in the room and a relief to sit down.

We were seated in a room that had quite a few open tables, and our drinks were brought to use by a manager or hostess who noted our server would be over shortly. That evening’s definition of shortly definitely didn’t match ours, because by the time he showed up with 3 glasses of water we hadn’t asked for, for the 4 people at our table, we were beginning to regret our choice of venue.

Everything took too long that visit. Drink refills took several minutes. Our son’s burger came out first, which was fine, then my wife’s pizza arrived 5 minutes later, and it was a good 15 minutes before my Taco Board and my buddy’s Fajitas arrived. Luckily we’d ordered the Ham & Jam Fritters as an appetizer, so we didn’t go completely hungry for that time.

The true tragedy of the evening, though, was my entree, the “U” Build Taco Board. Here’s how the menu describes it - something I didn’t pay a ton of attention to then, because I assumed if I ordered something from the menu, I’d get what’s on the menu. I know, crazy, right?

Jose Corn Salsa, White Mexican Cheese, Black Beans, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Lettuce, Jalapeño, & Southwestern Rice. I bolded the items that did not arrive with my Taco Board, as you can see in this picture.

That’s right - what I was served was the fried catfish (wouldn’t make that mistake again), black beans that obviously had any trace of liquid drained from them, the driest and most tasteless two tablespoons full of rice I’ve ever had, 3 bone-dry tortillas, and … a random handful of tortilla chips someone seemingly just threw on top of the board as it was being carried out of the kitchen. I wish I’d taken a picture of it as it arrived at the table, but like I said, my meal arrived a good half hour or more after we ordered, so I was hungry.

So I sat there trying to make sense of “build your own tacos” consisting of dry meat, dry beans, dry rice, and tortillas so dry that they cracked even more as I folded them around the items I’d been served, and I just couldn’t imagine this was correct. It wasn’t, of course, so I managed to get our server’s attention and asked him if there was supposed to be some salsa or sour cream or anything with this, pointing at the board and its contents.

And this was where the confident ignorance made its strongest appearance that night, which in hindsight made me question all of his other assertions about the menu earlier. He said, and I’m pretty sure this is an accurate quote, “We don’t have salsa. I can bring you some sour cream.” What he brought was the tiniest of sauce containers with maybe a tablespoon of sour cream on it and, wonder of wonders, a mexican-style pottery jar containing corn salsa - almost as if they had something in the kitchen specifically designed to hold a garnish he’d just asserted they didn’t have.

So I made do with the salsa and enough sour cream for half a taco and had the worst meal I’ve eaten in quite a while. It might have been drastically different if I’d been served the items listed on the menu under the Taco Board - who knows?

Bottom Line - Can’t Recommend Right Now

Like I said above - I’ll give K-Town Tavern a second chance in 6 months. It may well be possible to get a decent meal there right now, but that Taco Board screwup really soured me on the place, and there are way too many great options in Knoxville for me to risk it again for now. I might be willing to meet some buddies there for a giant 32oz mug of cider and an order of those fritters in the meantime, but when it comes to taking the family out for dinner, I’m looking elsewhere.

We’ve added a new restaurant to our regular weekly list in the last couple of months - Mario’s. I can’t recall exactly why we tried Mario’s for the first time, but it was likely because it is near our church in Farragut and we were looking for something new. The pizza and spaghetti were good enough on our first visit that we happily tried it again, and we’ve been going every week since.

Basics Covered - Good Pizza

It may be hard to believe, but some pizza joints do really well at other types of food but not pizza. Mario’s isn’t that type of pizza joint. We made the mistake of ordering the Super Mario pizza the first time (like any self-respecting geek could avoid trying it) - and we barely made a dent in it’s gigantic 20 inches. But what we did manage to eat of this enormous pepperoni and sausage pizza was excellent. If we were better about heating up leftovers, we would have had a full second meal just from the pizza alone.

On most visits to Mario’s, we get the Large 14” pizza. We’ve tried many toppings including meatball, bacon, green pepper, and onion. I’m partial to the meatball, especially since it seems like they just slice up the meatballs used in the spaghetti and meatballs. This picture shows one of our regular combos - bacon and pepperoni.

Supporting Cast - Pasta

We’ve ordered several of the pasta dishes at Mario’s and liked almost all of them. That first night I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs and it was phenomenal, especially for the price. I’m not even a huge fan of spaghetti, but I’d be happy to eat this by itself as a meal.

The meat lasagna is quite good as well. As is the case with most of the pastas, I’d be happy to order this at another restaurant, but during most visits I’m in the mood for pizza, so pizza is what I order.

My wife loves chicken parmesan, so she tried that once. I didn’t try it because I don’t care for it, but she assured me it tastes much better than this picture might suggest. She and I are in agreement on what we prefer to order most of the time at Mario’s - pizza - but it isn’t because we don’t like the pasta.

The fettucini alfredo is the only pasta I’ve had at Mario’s that I wouldn’t eat again, but it isn’t because the pasta itself wasn’t good or that the sauce wasn’t a good representation of that kind of alfredo sauce. I’m just not a fan of thick, creamy alfredo, but instead prefer it much lighter - just butter and parmesan would do me fine.

Mario’s serves an appetizer of fried ravioli. I believe we ordered this one night when we weren’t sure about what else we might want, and while it is pretty good, if I were in the mood for an appetizer again, I’d probably go for the cheesy bread, which is outstanding, especially when used to dip Mario’s excellent marinara sauce.

A Sweet End

The desserts as Mario’s are outstanding. On that first visit we ordered the cinnamon pizza. It was very good, and we’d get it more often if not for another dessert that’s less work to eat.

So what’s less work than spreading icing on top of cinnamon pizza? Dipping beignets into chocolate sauce. These little fried balls of joy come out piping hot, covered in powdered sugar, and are delicious with or without the hot chocolate sauce. It’s a good thing these come in a baker’s dozen because that gives us plenty enough to avoid fights at the table.

Why We Keep Coming Back

So you may be asking - has Mario’s earned a regular spot in our dinner rotation simply because the pizza and the rest are very good? Not really. Don’t misunderstand - we wouldn’t keep coming back if the food weren’t also very good. Much like another Knoxville pizza joint, what brings us back to Mario’s is the service. One of the owners, a nice lady, is always happy to see us and pays special attention to our son, who is now three. I recall my mom telling me that when I was still a baby, my dad would tip servers based on how much they made over me. I don’t go that far, but I’ll be honest - making this dad feel like you’re happy my cute little boy is eating at your restaurant is an easy way to push me from just liking to eat at your place to loving it.

One of my friends and her family were visiting from out of town recently and she sent me a message asking me for a quick dinner recommendation for the Turkey Creek area. I pointed her to Mario’s and she let me know they loved it. If you’re in West Knoxville and you’re looking for good pizza and great service, give Mario’s a shot - you won’t be disappointed.

I heard about a new pizza place opening in Knoxville in an unusual way recently. I was contacted by someone at a PR firm saying she liked my blog and was contacting bloggers and other types of media to announce the grand opening of Blaze Pizza. She invited me to a “sneak peak” lunch event for members of the media a couple days before the grand opening, and said they would like it if I wrote a review of the restaurant. Since the location on North Peters Road is just a few minutes from my house, I would have eaten there soon enough and reviewed it anyway, so I let her know I’d be happy to do so. As it turned out, I was out of town on business the day of the sneak peak, so I wasn’t able to attend. We tried to swing by on opening day, but since that was “free pizza day” there was a line wrapped around the side of the building, and while I’m always up for a new dining experience, standing in a huge line with a toddler waiting for dinner isn’t my idea of fun, so we decided to come back the next night.

When I saw the location of Blaze, on the corner of North Peters and Kingston Pike, I felt a tiny twinge of worry for them. If you’re familiar with the area, you’ll know several restaurants have tried and failed in that location, including OCI West, some crappy Chinese buffet, and a place called Tradewinds. Given how that particular area has been built up recently, with the giant new Kroger Marketplace, as well as several other businesses between North Peters and Cedar Bluff on Kingston Pike, I’m thinking Blaze may have better luck than the previous occupants of this location. Given the ample parking and high visibility from Kingston Pike, it should be a good spot.

Blaze’s model is “Build Your Own Pizza” taken to an extreme. It’s like Subway or Moe’s does Pizza. Each pizza is of the 11 inch personal variety, and whether you select one of the signature pizzas or build your own, a few different Blaze employees along the pizza assembly line ask you if you’d like to customize it at each station. Once we supervised the construction of our pizzas, we were asked if each looked good, and when we gave our approval, it was whisked away to be quick fired in just 180 seconds in an oven that was over 500 degrees.

For our son we ordered a basic pizza with ham and sausage. He ate plenty of it and I had a slice as well, and it was quite good. The crust was thin and crisp, and light enough to not be too filling.

My wife ordered the Meat Eater. It has pepperoni, meatballs, red onions mozzarella, and red sauce. This was the undisputed favorite of the three we ordered, and I’d be happy to eat it again for lunch or dinner.

I ordered the BBQ CHKN (that’s the actual spelling on the menu), and it’s normally made up of grilled chicken, mozzarella, red onion, banana peppers, gorgonzola, with a bbq sauce dribble.  I actually like gorgonzola, but for some reason, when the Blaze employee confirmed that I wanted it, since it was a “blue cheese” - I hesitated, and asked him to substitute goat cheese. Even so, the pizza was good. It isn’t the type of pizza I normally order, but I knew I was going to get to sample the meat eater and the ham & sausage pizza, so I went outside more comfort zone. I’m glad I did, and I could see myself ordering this again if I’m in the mood for a less meat-heavy pizza.

Aside from the “artisanal” pizza as Blaze calls it, the rest of the dining experience is pretty close to what you’d expect at a quick service but still sit down restaurant like a Panera Bread. Self-service fountain drinks, and a shelf with shakers of parmesan cheese, crushed pepper flakes, and oregano. This location has plenty of tables, and a mixture of half-booths, tables and chairs, and high-topped tables with tall stools. We were asked by three different Blaze employees, with one of them clearly being the manager on duty or perhaps the franchise owner, how we liked the pizza. It was a nice level of customer service and solicitation for comments, and I hope it continues.

Blaze makes a good pizza for a good price. Each of our pizzas was $7.65, and our total, with soft drinks, milk,  and tax, came to just over $30. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good quick meal in West Knoxville.

I’d like to close this review with a disclosure and a teeny tiny contest which, unfortunately, since I’m doing this on the spur of the moment and I’m not experienced in such things, will be limited to folks who live in Knoxville and who are willing to either email me at mike [at] geekfoodcritic.com or leave a comment on the link to this review on Facebook. Blaze sent me two free pizza passes so I could try their pizza at no cost, but they didn’t arrive until after we’d stopped by for dinner. I’m sure nobody believes I’d sell a positive review on my blog for $7.65 x 2, but just in case I’m going to give these passes away to someone else in Knoxville who reads my blog and would like to give Blaze a try. So all you have to do to enter is email me or leave a comment on Facebook saying you’d like a chance to win the passes. You can earn an extra chance by suggesting  a restaurant that I haven’t tried and reviewed yet. I’ll review the comments and emails at noon on Friday, December 5, and assign a number each, then generate a random number within the range of the entries received to select the winner. I’ll contact the winner to get a mailing address and drop the free pizza passes in the mail the next day. Good luck!

This is post 27 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

I have other restaurants in the queue to review, but after posting a very brief write-up of breakfast at Bojangles last night, I woke up this morning thinking, “I mentioned that I would normally pick Chick-fil-A over Bojangles, so why not grab some chicken biscuits on the way to work?” So I did, and now I’m going to write about them.

I really like Chick-fil-A’s food, and I continue to be impressed by their employees' friendly attitude. I have no first-hand knowledge of their customer service training program, but it works. Something simple like having every employee respond to “thank you” with “my pleasure” makes an impression on me as a customer. I’ve been impressed on many occasions by the helpfulness of the Chick-fil-A employees, especially when we came in when our son was still using a high chair. A teenager rushing to pick up and carry a high chair to your table is something you just don’t see anywhere else - especially at a fast food restaurant.

So I skipped the interstate and drove down Kingston Pike today to hit the Chick-fil-A in Bearden. Paying and picking up my food was a little odd since I chose the left-hand drive-thru lane, which meant I had to lean over the passenger seat to interact with the employee, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it might be. I ordered a Spicy Chicken Biscuit and the regular Chicken Biscuit, along with a large Diet Coke with light ice.

I ate the Spicy Chicken Biscuit first, because I recalled how surprisingly hot it was the last time I had one. Unfortunately, the one I received today was only moderately spicy. Not sure what went wrong, as, thinking back to my days as a teenager making biscuits at KFC, I’m assuming the breading on these is a mix that’s mass-produced in a central location. I wonder if this particular spicy chicken biscuit had sat under a heat lamp for a while, as both the biscuit and the chicken were a little dry, and more than a little disappointing. That’s part of the trouble with fast food - they have to prepare in bulk in advance, and the less popular stuff doesn’t cycle through as often.

The regular Chicken Biscuit was much better. Both the biscuit and chicken were much more moist, and the biscuit was more flaky and satisfying. I would imagine Chick-fil-A sells a multiple of regular to spicy, so chances are my regular biscuit was much more recently prepared than the spicy. Where the spicy biscuit was disappointing, the regular one was a solid example of why I almost never refuse to eat at Chick-fil-A if someone else suggests it. If I had it to do over again, I’d definitely go with two of regular chicken biscuits. Actually, having entered both of these into MyFitnessPal on my iPhone today,  wouldn’t order two, as they’re 440 calories each, and one was plenty.

The fact that Chick-fil-A posts the calorie count for each item on the menu, not in some card you have to ask for, but right there in bold bright colors on the menu, is something I really like. I can’t speak to the healthiness of Chick-Fil-A’s food in general, but they make it impossible to order an outrageously huge meal without knowing what you’re getting calorie-wise.

I don’t eat at fast food places very often, certainly not on a weekly basis although probably more often than monthly, but when I do, I’m happy to do so at Chick-Fil-A - especially for lunch or dinner, when I get their awesome chicken nuggets (400 calories) that are so good, I don’t even need the honey mustard sauce (40 calories).

This is post 26 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

We got moving early enough Sunday morning that we had time to stop for breakfast on the way to church instead of grabbing a granola bar on the way out of our house. We gave our son a choice - waffles at Waffle House, or chicken & biscuits at Bojangles. He picked Bojangles. I’m not a huge fan of fast food, and frankly I’d choose Chick-Fil-A over Bojangles any day of the week … except I don’t have that choice on Sunday.

For our son, we ordered an Egg & Cheese Biscuit combo with “Bo Rounds” and milk to drink. He ate almost all of the biscuit and most of the potato cakes.

My wife ordered the Cajun Filet Biscuit combo with Bo Rounds. Bojangles biscuits are decent. Not great, but not bad either. The cajun-seasoned chicken filet is tasty. The Bo Rounds are good, although they’re a bit too thick in my opinion.

I ordered a Cajun Filet Biscuit and a Gravy Biscuit. I had high hopes for the biscuits and gravy, but those hopes were mostly dashed. The biscuit was decent, but the gravy was bland.

So the food was bland to decent, but some of it was tasty. I don’t make a habit of eating fast food, but it worked out mostly OK that morning. Our son enjoyed getting to pick the place and we got an extra breakfast out during the weekend. I can’t say we’ll be returning to Bojangles anytime soon, but if we’re in the mood for chicken and biscuits again, we’ll give Bojangles another try.

This is post 25 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

It’s All So Yummy Cafe is a soup, sandwich, and ice cream shop in West Knoxville on S. Peters Rd. We had dinner there Friday night and it was really good. This place has changed owners at least once or twice over the last several years, but the formula and quality has remained the same. Sandwiches, soups, Hilton Head ice cream, and free iced tea with each meal.

My wife and son split first one, then a second Fried Bologna sandwich, along with the accompanying potato chips. They’d typically share just a single sandwich, but when he finds something he really likes, he just keeps eating, so she had to order a second one. I had a couple bites of the first sandwich and I can confirm it was very good - certainly worth ordering a second. The bologna was thick cut, and the bread was buttered, thick, and toasted - almost as thick as you’d expect from Texas Toast.

I knew what I wanted to order as soon as I scanned the menu. The Big Cheese is made with two grilled cheese sandwiches with meat of your choice in between. I had a choice between ham, turkey, or bacon. I went with bacon, of course. While this sandwich was simple, it was delightfully simply and tasty- yummy, in fact. My only suggestion for improving it would be to double the amount of bacon to more closely match the double grilled cheese on either side. I’ll order this again, and next time I hope they have some chili to go with it.

After we finished our sandwiches, we ordered ice cream. Our son had a kiddie scoop of Oreo ice cream. To say he loved it would be an understatement. My wife had a two scoop sundae with Oreo and Chocolate Brownie with Hot Fudge. She commented that the oreo ice cream was much better than the chocolate brownie, but was otherwise pleased with the combination.

I should have ordered a two school sundae myself, but as I was scanning the ice cream menu, I noticed something else that I hadn’t had in many years - a banana split.

I selected three different ice creams for my banana split - Butter Pecan, my favorite flavor, Butterfinger Crunch, and Krispy Kreme. I’m glad I decided to observe the young man making it, because I was able to catch him before he put anything on it I wouldn’t like - namely hot fudge sauce or really anything other than a banana and whipped cream. My wife informed me that the entire purpose of getting a banana split is to get three toppings in addition to three flavors of ice cream, but I didn’t care - I ordered what I wanted. The ice cream was great, and the combination of the three flavors with the banana and whipped cream was, you guessed it, yummy. I will say it was far too much ice cream, so I won’t be ordering it again unless my wife wants to split one.

Dinner and dessert at It’s All So Yummy was fun. We’ll be returning soon, if for no other reason, than to see this look on my boy’s face again.

This is post 23 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

A quick post to document a revisit to one of our favorite restaurants and the best barbecue joint in Knoxville - Sweet P’s. If you’d like a longer write-up, you can check out my original review.

We ordered our usual on this visit. A pound of brisket, and a mixture of sides, including potato salad, green beans, and a double order of mac & cheese. We also added an order of zucchini pickles. The brisket was, as usual, amazing. The mac & cheese was very good, as were the green beans. I didn’t have any of the potato salad, because why would I if there is mac & cheese on the table? The new star of this meal were the zucchini pickles, and they were a such a hit that my wife and barely managed to snag a few for ourselves before our son finished them off.

I noticed that Sweet P’s had Crispin hard cider on the menu, so in addition to getting a fountain drink, I bought a bottle of cider. This cider was good, although of the many varieties of Crispin I’ve tried, their “Original” is my least favorite. It’s not bad - it just isn’t awesome. And since it isn’t awesome, I certainly won’t be paying $4.75 per bottle for it in the future.

Nothing new or special about this visit. Just more great barbecue.  If you haven’t tried Sweet P’s yet, you really need to - you won’t find better barbecue in Knoxville.

This is post 20 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

This review will be short because I don’t have much to say that’s positive. We felt like Chinese for dinner the other night but didn’t want to drive all the way out to Turkey Creek. So we went to Lotus Garden. I’ve never cared for it but my wife has better luck there when I’m out of town. This night we settled for close and OK over far away but good. I wish we hadn’t.

We started off with an order of Gyōza. We like pot stickers and they’re usually hard to screw up. Unfortunately, these sucked.

My wife and son shared the Hibachi Chicken. It was good but unlike their other dishes, not a large enough portion for my wife and son to share and feel satisfied.

I ordered the General Tsao’s Chicken. I asked for it to be “extra spicy” but it had about as much heat as I would expect from sweet & sour chicken.

A disappointing meal overall.

I can’t recommend Lotus Garden.

This is post 19 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

On a rainy Sunday evening this past week we decided to give one of our old regular spots that we hadn’t eaten at in a while another shot - Snappy Tomato Pizza in Farragut. We got into the habit of eating there on at least a weekly basis earlier this year, until I decided to cut out as many carbs as possible - something hard to do for a guy who loves pizza.

Snappy Tomato is a chain, and I typically avoid chains, especially as regular dinner spots. We stumbled across Snappy Tomato by mistake, looking for a local pizza joint that ended up being closed for good. We decided to give it a shot and liked it, so we came back a second time, then a third and more. We liked the pizza, and the service, from both the staff and the owner, was very friendly. When I started avoiding carbs, I avoided all pizza places for a while, and while I fell off the carbs wagon a while back, we just hadn’t made it all the way out past Campbell Station Road for dinner again until this week.

Sunday night we tried to order our usual, a large pizza with Spicy Pepperoni and Provolone Cheese (in addition to mozzarella), but they were out of spicy pepperoni, so we settled for regular. The pizza was good, and my wife and I discussed how consistently good it is. Maybe not amazing, and I don’t know that I’d describe it as the best pizza in Knoxville. But I believe one of the benefits of eating at a franchise restaurant is that, if the franchisee follows the established process, using the proper ingredients, what you should get every time is a consistent product. That’s what I like best about Snappy Tomato pizza - it is always what I expect it to be. In a way, that’s better than a restaurant that produces awesome pizza on one visit, but mediocre pizza on the next.

For our son, we ordered the Baked Rigatoni, along with a side of ham because he likes to eat it separately. What you may be able to tell from these pictures is that we were hungry when we got our food, and only after we’d started to eat did I recall I needed to take pictures for a possible review. I shared some of the pasta and it, like the pizza, was unsurprisingly good. The garlic bread was extremely good as well. Our son finished all of the ham, about a quarter of this adult-sized order of rigatoni, as well as a couple of pieces of the dessert pizza.

Speaking of dessert, we ordered the Cinnabread. I’ll readily admit this is something I should not be eating, and we don’t order it every visit. But like the pizza and pasta, it is consistently good. And Sunday night it was even better because it was free. The owner stopped by our table and asked why we hadn’t ordered our usual. I mentioned they had been out of spicy pepperoni and he apologized. When I stepped up to the register to order the cinnabread, he waved my card away and said it was on the house since they couldn’t make our favorite pizza. That was, of course, completely unnecessary and completely awesome.

If you’re in Farragut, you should give Snappy Tomato Pizza a try.

This is post 18 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

This will be a quick review, and the TL:DR version would be - trust a burger place to do burgers and you’ll likely be satisfied.

We couldn’t decide where to eat after church today, so my wife suggested Back Yard Burgers. Only she didn’t suggest “Back Yard Burgers” - she couldn’t remember the name of the place, so she suggested, “that other hamburger place by the BBQ place.” The other BBQ place being Calhoun’s in West Knoxville. I guess neither were top of mind for us, because it took a couple of minutes of playing “whose on first” before we figured out she meant Back Yard Burgers.

We used to eat at Back Yard Burgers in Bearden, but it seems it was closed at some point, possibly due to competition from a fairly crummy chain known as Cookout. When we walked into the one in West Knoxville today, it took us a couple of minutes to get our bearings because the menu was drastically changed from the last time we’d eaten there.

For our son, we ordered the Hotdog, plain. That’s how it came out - plain. Nothing exciting, but he’s two years old, so he wasn’t looking for exciting. I didn’t taste the hotdog myself, but he ate nearly every bite of it, along with a goodly amount of his mother’s waffle fries, and a couple of crackers that came with my soup, so I’m assuming it tasted as good as a plain hotdog that gets dipped in ketchup (not my idea - don’t blame me) can be. We typically tell restaurants we don’t need the bun because he doesn’t eat it, but we obviously forgot to do that today. The Boy had water to drink.

My wife ordered what used to be the Number 1 combo and what is now called the Classic with cheese. Based on her response to the comments I made about my soup, I’m pretty sure she enjoyed her cheeseburger. I didn’t try the fries but have in the past. As waffle fries go, Back Yard Burgers does them right - I’m just not a big fan. Back Yard Burgers only has Pepsi products, so my wife drank unsweetened tea. As I mentioned before, she shared her waffle fries with our son, and between the two of them, they polished this meal off.

I walked into Back Yard Burgers thinking I would avoid extra carbs, so I ordered the Black Jack Burger (it has Pepper Jack cheese), but I made it a double because I was hungry. Then I noticed a sign showing potato soup, and I suffered from a momentary lapse of both logic and memory, and ordered it as well. The burger was about as good as I remember from times past - better than most fast food burgers, not quite as good as Five Guys, and not even in the same class as In-N-Out Burger. As for the soup, I should have just eaten the burger and been done with it. First, it was insanely hot, which probably means it was heated in a microwave. Second, it was just plain bad. It had so much cheese on it that eating it because an exercise in frustration. The potatoes somehow managed to be hard. I ate too much of it before giving up, and smacked myself mentally for ordering soup at a burger place.

If you’re in West Knoxville or elsewhere and are in the mood for a decent burger, Back Yard Burgers is worth a try. Take my advice, though, and stick to the basics.

This is post 15 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

We decided to give La Cabaña a second chance this weekend. We had tried and liked it several months ago, but had a couple of issues that gave us reason to stop going. After checking its Health Department inspection score and seeing it had a 98, we chose it for lunch after church on Sunday.

One thing we loved about La Cabaña when it first opened was the Mac & Cheese on the kids menu. It was obviously homemade, and we once ordered two of them so I could have some as a side. We were disappointed to discover the mac & cheese this time was simple from a box style. Our son didn’t seem to mind, though, and I assume it’s cheaper than what they served in the past.

My wife and I ordered Empanadas and Croquetas. We liked them both, but my wife prefers the empanadas, while I absolutely love the croquetas. I couldn’t recall what they were called when describing them to a friend, so I described them as “deep fried tubes of joy.” I know they have ham and cheese in them, but there has to be more for them to taste this good. The garlic sauce provided with both the empanadas and croquetas is excellent as well.

My wife inquired about another dish we’d love earlier this year called Arepas. These were bread pockets filled with a chicken salad made from shredded chicken and avocado. They were out of this world delicious, but the owner said he only rarely serves them now due to the preparation time required. I pulled this picture of La Cabaña’s Facebook page.

I’m glad we gave La Cabaña another shot. The food is good and not at all like what we normally eat, and the service is friendly. We’ll definitely return.

This is post 10 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge

We tried a new pizza place last week - Little Nicky’s New York Pizza. We were actually going to eat at a sandwich and ice cream shop next door, but we noticed Little Nicky’s and decided to give it a shot. A “Cash Only” sign was a surprise, and on many nights would have been a deal-breaker, but I’m very glad that I happened to have some cash on me this night.

We started off with a dozen Garlic Knots, as one of the employees told us they were awesome and my wife loves garlic knots.  I’m not a huge fan, but I have to admit, these were very good. They were well-cooked and not doughy as so many garlic knots I’ve had have been. They also weren’t drowning in olive oil, and they were covered with just the right amount of minced garlic. The sauce included with the garlic knots was very good too, and I’m fairly certain it was the same sauce used on the pizzas. One neat thing about the garlic knots is that we had a couple left over that we couldn’t finish after we finished most of our pizza. Three firefighters were eating at the table next to ours and, having just finished a truly enormous calzone, they noticed an employee making garlic knots and asked about them. I offered them the two we had left and they gratefully accepted them and enjoyed them as much as we did.

We ordered an 18" pizza with sausage and meatball as toppings. This pizza, as a whole, was some of the best New York style pizza I’ve had in years, and the best I’ve ever had in Knoxville.

First, the crust was perfect. Thin, just slightly crispy on the outside, soft but not too much so on the inside. I normally don’t eat all the crust on any given slice of pizza, but what I did on every single slice of this pizza was dipping the ends in the sauce from the garlic knots.

The toppings were good, if a slightly mixed bag. The meatballs were amazing, and I look forward to having them on spaghetti at some point. The sausage I think could have been good, but it was sliced oddly - lengthwise down the sausage instead of across. While I still liked the taste of the sausage, it did make for an oddly crisp texture. My wife commented that she felt the sausage was too spicy, but I wasn’t as bothered by it as she. Keep in mind I keep sprinkle a substantial layer of crushed red pepper on my pizza, so I may not be the best judge of whether something is too spicy. Our son finished an entire slice of pizza on his own, which is very unusual. He usually just picks at the toppings, but he ate both crust and toppings this time.

We ordered a pair of cannoli to go. I am not especially fond of cannoli, but my wife loves them. She had the chocolate one and loved it. I had the plain one and liked it as much as I like any cannoli. One thing I can say is that the pastry managed to be crisp and light throughout without getting soggy on the inside from the filling. To me that suggests these cannoli were freshly made. While my wife loved the cannoli, I’m hoping Little Nicky’s branches out at some point and offers a homemade New York cheesecake; that’s one of thing that would have made this extremely good dining experience even better.

We liked Little Nicky’s so much that we decided to give it another shot a couple of days later, planning on trying their pasta and possibly a sandwich. When we arrived, we learned they had a special running for 2 bowls of spaghetti, 2 medium cheese pizzas, and a dozen garlic knots for $20, so that’s what we ordered. The spaghetti was very good. The sauce was a little plain, but I’m sure I could have added meatballs to it. I will next time.  Our son liked the spaghetti and ate about a quarter of one of the large bowls' worth.

We ordered meatball on one pizza and pepperoni on the other. The meatball was as good as it was the first time and the pepperoni was good as well. The pizza themselves weren’t quite as good as the first trip, although it was still very good pizza. This was a Saturday night and they had several orders queued up before us and received a steady stream of orders for pickup after ours, so I think the person making the pizzas that night just took them out of the oven a few minutes too early. The crust wasn’t perfect like it was on the first trip, and I did end up leaving several pieces of crust uneaten. Still, we were pretty satisfied with the meal overall, and are looking forward to eating there again.

Little Nicky’s is still new, and I’ve had both an outstanding and good experience there so far. If you’re in West Knoxville near North Peters Rd looking for good pizza, give them a shot.

This is post 6 in the #NaBloWriMo #vDM30in30 30 Day Blog Challenge