The United Nations in the Supermarket

As the cultural food choices expand in my city, my reasons to drive to the ethnic markets in Atlanta shrink. Oh, I will still find a reason, but the new Publix Supermarket in Hixson Tennessee has provided a surprisingly wide range of international food options. Some of my finds:




Prepared Indian meal mixes



Cuban/Latin food in the freezer



Jamaican canned fruits and vegetables.



English canned goods. (Do Mushy Peas sound non-appealing to anyone else or is it just me?)



Indian spices.

Tennessee Valley Winery

Tennessee Valley Winery
Loudon Tennessee


I am far from being a wine connoisseur but I do like a glass of wine every now and then. It seems like there have been several new wineries springing up across Tennessee in recent years. When I asked at the Tennessee Valley Winery how long they have been open, the response was "25 years." Kind of a shocker for me as after a decade of traveling highway 75 towards Knoxville, I had never stopped before. I sampled several wines and decided on an extra sweet desert wine, Strawberry Rhubarb because rhubarb is something I had not seen before in a wine. It's a delicious wine in the opinion of my uneducated wine palate.




(Grapes on the vine)

(The Tennessee Valley Winery off Highway 75 Loudon Tennessee)




(Vineyard view)



(My sentiments exactly)

(Strawberry Rhubarb wine)

McKay's Used Books

Anyone traveling through Tennessee might want to consider stopping at McKay's in either Knoxville or Chattanooga. Unlike many other used bookstores, McKay's is well organized so it's much easier to find what you are looking for. The stores themselves are huge. Knoxville has a two-story cavernous warehouse sized building with an elevator which goes to the music loft. Because of the huge selection, traffic is high at both stores, even at midday when you'd think people would be at work or school.

So why do these interior McKay's photos show a nearly empty store? Knoxvillians and Chattanoogans would assume they were taken before the store opens as it is pretty much crowded at every other time. The pictures were actually taken at about 4pm, when the store should be in full swing.

That's because this is the new Nashville store! Nashvillians have not yet discovered McKay's leaving lots of good stuff still on the shelves not yet picked over by bookaholics, musicholics, and movieholics, looking for a good bargain.

I traded in old CD's, audiobooks, and DVDs and earned enough in trade to get the latest David Sedaris book and one other, both on CDs and unabridged, for the $40 in trade that I earned.

Lemongrass
Maryville Tennessee


















(The lunch special with cashew chicken, soup, salad, and sushi)



Lemongrass is basically the only Thai restaurant in Maryville Tennessee, and with only about three or four in nearby Knoxville, you start to get the picture that this is pretty much a Thai deprived area. So, any Thai restaurant is a welcome sight. The curries and the noodle dishes are good, but I thought the sushi was especially good. The soup flavor was gingery with a very light fish sauce flavor that did not overpower the soup as can be the case at some Asian restaurants. I thought the chicken was a bit overcooked. I read a scathing review on another site giving this restaurant one star for serving raw chicken. Perhaps they are overcompensating. I also thought the ginger salad dressing was a little watery. The cashew chicken could have more flavor, although I wonder if they might have reduced the heat level and spice level on many of their dishes in order to appeal to a broader audience. Still, I would recommend Lemongrass for those that happen to be visiting Maryville.










(A covert photo of the sushi chef in action; and a photo of his finished product)

Wally's Hot Dogs

Wally's Hot Dogs
Lenoir City Tennessee


















If you happen to be driving along highway 321 just outside of Lenoir City Tennessee, stop and say hello to Wally. He told his wife that he wanted to spend his retirement selling hot dogs and opened his stand on a remote section of highway with literally no other businesses around. He's from New York so maybe after all those years in the big city he decided to get away from it all. I gave him my blog address and he promised to stop by so he could see himself on the net. Hi Wally!


















The dining room.





















Hot dogs go for $1.75. Even less if you buy several at once. But ya need some chips Wally. Can't have a hot dog without some chips. Pepsi is only 75 cents a can. He has other flavors too. Besides hotdogs, he also sells kielbasa. I'll have to try that next time. I heard him say something about chili also, so I guess you could get a chili dog.



















Wally does have his health department certificate in case you nay sayers were wondering.




















I love the entrepreneurial spirit!
Dineometer Rating: 100%!

Ciao y'all

The Patio

Madisonville Tennessee

Madisonville Tennessee is actually a pretty cute little small town. It's about 20 minutes east of Interstate 75 between Knoxville and Chattanooga. The downtown area had a few interesting shops for browsing.

The Patio restaurant had good food by small town standards, and if I lived nearby, I would probably be a regular. We aren't talking Little Italy good, but you won't find much better in the area. The veal parmesan could have been a little more tender but the sauce was robust. Decadent looking homemade deserts were taunting me from a glass case but I managed to resist. The outdoor patio is a great space to sit and enjoy watching small town life while you dine.

Dineometer Rating: 70%

Adventure Dining Gold, Memphis Tennessee

Jerusalem

Memphis Tennessee

Now this is my kind of restaurant. I happen to see it while driving past and made a sharp left turn, cutting off two lanes of traffic, and was thrilled to see that it was open on a Sunday. My kind of restaurant because the restaurant sign was barely discernible and it is Middle Eastern, which is so hard to find in Tennessee. The restaurant was in the back of a store, set away from the road in a small cluster of stores and not readily apparent to the naked eye. Inside, the signs were all in Arabic—including the no smoking sign—with secondary writing in English underneath. The menu featured all my Middle Eastern favorites such as baba ghanoush, kebabs, and kibbeh. The prices were very reasonable with an order of kibeh for only 2 dollars. The sandwiches were served in pita and baba ghanoush was used instead of mayonnaise, adding to the Middle Eastern flavor.

One mildly odd thing was the fact that this restaurant was also name Jerusalem but was not affiliated with this Jerusalem restaurant in Kansas City, where I had dined only a few weeks ago.

Mennonite Bakery

The Swiss Pantry

Belvidere Tennessee

The Swiss Pantry in Belvidere Tennessee is known for its freshly baked goods, bulk groceries, and cheeses. The store is owned by a family of individuals who are of the Mennonite faith. Belvidere Tennessee is rustically located about 20 miles off Interstate 24, over a hour away from Chattanooga, and approximately 15 miles from the Alabama border.

On my most recent visit a fellow customer purchased an entire shopping cart of cookies. I guess with high gas prices, he wanted to stock up. I purchased what was probably the best pecan coffee cake I have ever had. Although they do not use preservatives in their bakery, it remained fresh for days and was just as good three days later as the day I bought it.

They will also prepare a sandwich for you, and have chili, as well as a homemade soup option which changes daily. This would be a great place for a picnic lunch if you happen to be driving in the central, southern part of Tennessee. Get yourself a ham sandwich and an old fashioned sarsaparilla root beer in a bottle and sit outside at the picnic table, enjoying the quiet view of the Tennessee countryside.

Restaurant Review: Apple Cake Tea Room

Apple Cake Tea Room
Farragut Tennessee




Except for a bunch of newly built gigantic houses, Deputy Travis Junior (Robert Ben Garant) of Reno 911 having graduated High School there, and the Apple Cake Tea Room, Farragut Tennessee, a suburb of Knoxville, has few other talking points.



Housed in a log cabin just off I75, the Apple Cake Tea Room is the type of place that ladies go to lunch. The ambience is cozy with quilts on the wall and girly trinkets on the shelves. You could easily picture Mrs. Claus being right at home here. It's popular for showers and on any given visit you are likely to see a group of women surrounding someone who is unwrapping pastel colored gifts. Occasionally you will see a frightened looking man or two but I would estimate the clientele to be 85 to 90 percent testicle free.



The food at Apple Cake is relatively good with freshly prepared sandwiches and soups, served in lady-like small portions. My favorite was a chicken and dumplings soup that was served on one visit, but I have never seen again. When seated, you will be given a cute little muffin by a waitress that looks not unlike a Stepford Wife. (Discrimination lawsuit alert: If you are funny looking and live in the Knoxville area, please apply for a job there just to test out my suspicions. Let me know how that goes for ya.)



Being a tea lover, I mistakenly first went to the Apple Cake TEA Room several years ago, for a good pot of tea. At that time, they had only two different types of tea bags. I recently saw a box of Constant Comment on the shelf with at least two other different types of tea! Progress sure, but why not take a giant leap and invest in some little tea balls and loose leaf? Go crazy Apple Cake Tea Room. Hey, maybe you could also hire a few funny looking waitresses, just for variety.





Dineometer rating: 70%

My Muse*

King Tut's Grill
Knoxville Tennessee

(Sorry for the crappy photos. Mo deserves better.)

It's quirky restaurants like this one that were my inspiration for Dine-o-meter. A restaurant so off-beat in the middle of the interesting restaurant impoverished area know as my beloved Tennessee, that I just had to find a way to promote these types of places. Can you imagine stumbling upon an Egyptian eatery on the edge of southern farm land? And then being served drinks in a flower vase with your freshly made stuffed grape leaves? I am sure to you New Yorkers this is no big deal but when you live in the Appalachian mountains, this type of place is Adventure Dining gold.


Read the full review here: http://www.dineometer.com/browse_reviews.php?id_b=170

Dineometer rating: 100%

*I really dislike the term "My muse" particularly when said by celebrities at the academy awards, but it was such a fitting term for this restaurant I just had to use it.