Hunter’s Bakery and Café in Sweetwater Tennessee

It’s a fact that each year my wife celebrates her birthday from sometime in November until sometime in January of the following year… This is despite the fact that her big day is in early December! 

The result of this rolling birthday celebration is that we never know when the next birthday treat or present will suddenly appear.  However in this case she knew what she wanted!  Back in October she and her sister Bonnie had visited Natural Element Interiors at 1225 Murray’s Chapel Road in Sweetwater Tennessee and she’d found a nicely framed French antique horse print.  Today was the day that we’d determined that we go and buy it! 

I will admit that Natural Element Interiors is a quality shop with lots of decorator items and gifts…and I don’t like to shop!  To learn more about this tasteful decorator store, go to www.NaturalElementInteriors.com.  

In any case…exhausted as I was from shopping, I decided that we should stop for lunch before heading home.

 This is Hunter’s Bakery and Café in downtown Sweetwater Tennessee.  Downtown Sweetwater is occupied by a number of antique and gift shops that range in quality from very classy to ‘they have a lot of stuff’!  The center of town consists of many old buildings and Hunter’s is located on a corner in one of those classic structures.

Established in the 1850s, Sweetwater today is the largest town in Monroe County Tennessee with a population of about 6,000.  It is the home of the Craighead Caverns which contains the “Lost Sea”, the United States' largest underground lake.  See http://thelostsea.com/.

 

Hunter’s Bakery and Café has been in operation for several years now.  The dining room is long and narrow with an old tongue and groove wooden ceiling.   There are a couple of bakery display cases at the front of Hunter’s by the entrance and baked goods can be purchased to go as well as dessert items for diners…

It was lunch time.  Laurie ordered the Beef and Mushroom Philly Sandwich. ($7.99) This creation consists of hot beef tips, sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese, and pepperoncini peppers, all served on a hoagie bun.  She chose the potato chips over the steak fries or sweet potato fries.

The beef was tender and of good quality and quantity.  Since she never gets mushrooms at home, (my fault), she really enjoyed that change of pace.  She told me that she’d order this sandwich again without hesitation!

I decided to take a chance and I ordered the New York Strip Sandwich. ($8.99) As per the description from the menu, this was a hand-cut New York Strip steak chargrilled to perfection and served on a hoagie bun.  I asked for the lettuce and tomato with my sandwich and I chose the steak fries as my side.

I will admit that I had low expectations for an $8.99 New York strip sandwich.  What kind of a grizzled hunk of meat could a restaurant provide for such a reasonable/low price?  The answer was a pretty darn decent hunk of steak, grilled medium rare as ordered!  It was no puny, thin little piece of flavorless shoe leather… It was thick, tender and it was nicely seasoned.

Our experience at Hunter’s for lunch was positive indeed.  The only downside was that by 1:30 PM they’d run out of their 2 daily soups.  Our waiter was pleasant and helpful.  We will return!

Hunter’s Bakery and Café is open Monday – Thursday from 11 AM to 4 PM, on Friday until 8 PM and on Saturday until 5 PM.  The menu does include several entrée items for those who want a full dinner style meal.  Hunter’s Bakery and Café is located at 101 East Morris Street in Sweetwater Tennessee.  Phone: 423-351-1098.  Their website can be found at: http://www.hunterscafesweetwatertn.com/home.html.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Thanksgiving Dinner – 2016

Have you ever gotten tired of turkey for Thanksgiving?  Well, we have!  First of all, the focus on today’s turkey’s is on white meat and my better half always feels a bit cheated as she much prefers the more moist and flavor packed dark meat.  Secondly, cooking a turkey isn’t difficult but I’m tired of dissecting the bird for leftovers for the freezer after dinner…

So this year I suggested that we go for a change of pace!  Simple to cook, delicious, great leftovers and easy to clean up when we’re done. 

Our families weren’t visiting this year and we weren’t able to visit them either.  However, we did learn that Larry (aka Big Dude at http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/) was on his own for the Thanksgiving Holiday.  He was more than happy to join us for the big feast!

So Laurie and I were off to Fresh Market where we picked up some crusty fresh baked bread, some fresh Brussel sprouts and a 6.5 lb. prime rib roast. (I love leftover prime rib roast!)

First, Laurie took the roast out of the refrigerator and rubbed it with kosher sea salt, repacked it in the butcher paper and left it on the counter for 3 hours to get to room temperature.  Then she rubbed the rib roast with grape seed oil and doused it with Kirkland’s Steak Seasoning from Costco before she popped it in a 500 degree oven for 15 minutes before turning the temperature down to 325 degrees for roasting…

As for the Brussel sprouts, Laurie cut them in half.  Then she applied grape seed oil to a flat baking pan, also brushing the sprouts with more grape seed oil.  Then she seasoned them with a generous sprinkling of Webber’s Savory Herbs with Roasted Garlic Seasoning.  She also added just a touch of that Kirkland’s Steak Seasoning. (350 degree oven for half an hour while the rib roast was ‘resting’)

Looks pretty good doesn’t it!?  The prime rib was roasted in the oven until the thermometer read 120 degrees.  Then Laurie pulled it out of the oven and tented it so it could rest.  The temperature increased to 130 degrees before I began my carving efforts.   

Larry/Big Dude brought a bottle each of white and red wine.  He also constructed 3 of these delicious holiday appropriate salads using lettuce, cranberries, candied walnuts, gorgonzola cheese, carrots and raspberries.  For a salad dressing he provided a tart vinaigrette salad dressing which perfectly complemented the ingredients in the salad.

Finally, I was permitted to start carving up the rib roast!  All 3 of us prefer medium rare so the roast came out perfectly.  One convenience is that Fresh Market butchers separate the bones from the roast itself and then they tie it tightly back to the ribs so the flavor is maintained and it’s much easier to carve…

Note: Even though I prefer medium rare beef, I do have a ‘thing’ for the end cut from a prime rib roast…and I had one of those for my second serving!

This is what the Brussel sprouts came out looking like… They were caramelized and almost decadent!  Believe me they were all gone when we finished dinner.

Here is one of our dinner plates ready for action.  The mashed potatoes were from Bob Evans with creamy local Amish butter blended in. (Why make dinner prep difficult when these potatoes are so good?) The au jus was courtesy of Heinz with added garlic and pepper.

Larry and I both had seconds of everything!  In addition, we sent him home with some mashed potatoes and a big meaty rib bone for him to gnaw on at his leisure.  We know that the mashed potatoes will be fried and topped with an egg for breakfast.   

Sticking with simple… This apple crisp pie also came from Fresh Market.

Dessert consisted of a slice of the apple crisp pie heated and then topped with a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream from our local ice cream maker…Tic Toc Ice Cream in Loudon Tennessee.

What a great meal!  Kudos to my desire for something different for Thanksgiving, Laurie’s cooking skills, as well as Larry’s imaginative salad and wine.

I’ve already started thinking about what we should serve for Christmas dinner…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by to see what we’ve been up to!  We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Mama’s Grits for Breakfast…

Restaurants come and go… It’s a tough business, that’s for sure!  Loudon County and the area around Tellico Village have seen many, many restaurants open and then disappear.

It’s a rare occurrence indeed when a restaurant closes up and then reopens several months later in close proximity to its original location.

So…after months of absence from its original location on the fringe of Tellico Village, Classico Italian Pizza and More re-opened in the center business area of Tellico Village in Loudon County.  The new location is probably less than 2 miles from the old restaurant…

But wait!  Isn’t the headline for this post “Mama’s Grits”?  What does that have to do with an Italian Restaurant?

Yup… It does indeed look like an Italian restaurant.  The pleasant surprise is that before it becomes an Italian dining establishment at 11 AM, this space operates under a different name, i.e. “Mama’s Grits”. 

The breakfast menu is extensive and varied… You can order Eggs Benedict, French Toast, a “Skillet, Breakfast Tacos, Huevos Rancheros, Quiche, any number of breakfast sandwiches, etc, etc.  We opted for none of the above despite the variety and temptation.  As it was our first visit, we went for the basics...

The House Specialty is Mama’s Grits Sausage Gravy. ($4.00)  Yes, there is a biscuit buried under that chunky sausage gravy!  Even though we didn’t need it, we ordered this as a side dish.  This was because we have had a hard time finding good sausage gravy here in East Tennessee.

We’ve now solved our sausage and gravy deprivation!  This was a very nice version of one of our favorite breakfast sides…  The next time we dine at Mama’s Grits, I may well opt for this same dish with an egg on top as my entrée. ($5.00)  Or, I could go for the Sausage and Gravy over the fried potatoes with an egg on top! ($6.00)

For her breakfast, Laurie ordered 2 eggs easy over with fried potatoes, bacon and toast. ($5.00) It was a good breakfast although we both prefer hash brown potatoes and she liked her bacon, which for her is critical.  The toast comes to the table pre-buttered, which we do prefer.

Meat options for the basic 1, 2 or 3 egg breakfast include ham, country ham, bacon, sausage or smoked sausage.  You can have toast, a pancake, a biscuit or an English muffin.  Instead of the potatoes, you can have grits.

I had the same breakfast but with a sausage patty and rye toast with my easy-over eggs and potatoes.  Alas…they don’t stock Tabasco sauce but I’d brought my own bottle with me just in case I needed it.  Despite our preference for hashbrown potatoes, these breakfast potatoes were pretty good.

Mama’s Grits serves a very nice breakfast with lots of options and variety for very reasonable prices.  Our breakfast, with our entrees, the sausage gravy and biscuit, 2 coffees, tax and tip came to just $21.00.  That was a lot of good food for the money!

But wait!!  I’m not done with breakfast yet…

Just a few days later we returned for breakfast again!  Our plan was to try a couple of different items from the menu.  Laurie went for the Eggs Benedict with breakfast potatoes as her side. ($6.00) She enjoyed her breakfast.  The amount of food was just right and the hollandaise sauce was a nice version. 

Notes:

·       Instead of having Canadian bacon, she could have opted for sausage patties, smoked sausage, bacon or country ham if she’d wanted to ‘mix’ things up.

·       The only negative for this visit was that Mama’s Grits had run out of orange juice on this particular morning…

I stuck with one of my predictions for my second breakfast at Mama’s Grits… I went for the Sausage Gravy and Potatoes with an over-medium egg on top.  It came with the buttered rye toast and I added a couple of sausage patties just for good measure. (Total - $8.00)  I was very happy indeed, even if my breakfast was a bit of a carb overload for me!

The Classico Pizza and More (Italian) side of the business is yet to be reviewed.  While this split personality restaurant operation had started out as a partnership, we learned that the original owner of Classico had been bought out by a couple (Theresa and Larry…Mama’s Grits proprietors) that have lived in Tellico Village/Loudon County for many years.  They’ve retained the original chef from Classico Pizza and More.  We are hopeful that both ends of the business demonstrate the quality and service necessary for long term success! 

Classico Pizza and More/Mama’s Grits are located at 206B Village Square across from the Chota Center at the stoplight at the corner of TN Hwy. 444 and Chota Road.  Phone: 865-657-6300.  At this point, this restaurant does not have a current website or Facebook address.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for breakfast!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

A Nice Variation from Our Usual Grilled Lamb Chops

We love lamb chops and roasts… Many people we know don’t care for this type of red meat and the unfamiliar taste associated with lamb.  Perhaps they sampled a bit of ‘older’ lamb during their youth…aka mutton! 

In any case we eat lamb chops on a fairly regular basis…at least a couple times a month.  Usually, I just add some salt, pepper and rosemary or thyme, let them sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and then I pop them on a hot grill for a few minutes…

These beautiful lamb loin chops were purchased at Costco.  I was just going to do my usual grilling exercise but Laurie had a better idea.  She’d noted a recipe for “Seared Lamb Chops with Lemon-Mustard Pan Sauce” that was published in the December/January 2016 issue of “Fine Cooking Magazine”. (p.34-35) Wise husband that I am, I decided to follow her suggestion!

As per the instructions, I began by sprinkling all sides of the chops with salt and pepper.  

The recipe called for me to heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat in an ovenproof 12-inch skillet. (We used grape seed oil) Next I cooked the chops until golden brown on both sides.  The recipe called for a cooking time of about 4 - 5 minutes in total for 1 inch thick chops.  Our chops were about 1 ½” thick so I cooked them for another minute or so…

Next, I moved the chops to a plate and lowered the heat to medium.  Then we added 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic and 1 teaspoon of chopped thyme to the skillet and cooked the mixture, stirring it until fragrant. (5 – 10 seconds) Next we added a cup of dry white wine and cooked, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.  Then we whisked in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of country-style mustard and 1 teaspoon of light brown sugar. (We used Splenda brown sugar) and cooked the mixture for 2 more minutes.

Once the mixture was completed in the oven-proof skillet, the chops were put back in the pan and they went into a pre-heated oven (375 degrees Fahrenheit) where we roasted them for about 10 minutes.  The objective was that they would be medium rare when finished… 

Once the chops had been roasted the requisite 8 – 10 minutes, we removed them from the oven and tented them with foil on a plate while we completed the sauce… The final addition to the sauce was a quarter cup of heavy cream. 

We stirred the sauce over medium-high heat until the sauce thickened slightly. (It took about 3 or 4 minutes)

We plated the chops with a generous helping of asparagus (drenched in Amish butter).  That sauce that we’d been working on was poured over the finished chops… The recipe called for a tablespoon of chopped chives for garnish but I don’t think they would have added much to the finished product.  The lamb chops were outstanding and this was an excellent meal!  We will replicate this meal in the not too distant future…

Here are the ingredients as printed in Fine Cooking Magazine:

• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 8 lamb loin chops, preferably about 1 inch thick (We did 4)
• 1 Tbs. finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbs. country-style mustard
• 1 tsp. light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbs. finely sliced fresh chives

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for dinner.  Have a Terrific Thanksgiving Holiday!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Waffle House – Lenoir City Tennessee

OK…we admit it!  We like the down home feel, the down home folks and the food from the griddle at Waffle House Restaurants.  Whenever we go on any trips, at least one road stop will be at a Waffle House for breakfast or lunch.

Despite our bias, Waffle House locations do vary.  They can range from clean to greasy and the service can be haphazard too.  However, the food is pretty much the same no matter which Waffle House you visit.

This is an older Waffle House and it’s located behind a motel just off of I-75 on US Hwy. 321 in Lenoir City Tennessee.  We’ve eaten here a couple of times but it’s been at least 3 years since our last visit…

The interior of Waffle House restaurants don’t vary a lot.  They are basically ‘diner style’ with a counter and a number of booths.

 

Waffle House was founded in an Atlanta Georgia suburb back in 1955.  One of the co-founders was working for Toddle House Restaurants at the time.  There are now more than 2,100 Waffle House company or franchisee owned locations in 25 states across the USA.  All Waffle House Restaurants are all open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year…

For some fun and interesting Waffle House factoids, you can go to https://www.wafflehouse.com/fun-facts/.  By way of example, Waffle House Restaurants serve 238 orders of hash browns per minute and they’ve served 2,501,866,574 eggs since 1955.  

If you’ve never been in a Waffle House Restaurant, these photos show the front and back of their colorful menu.  While the focus is on breakfast, they do serve a lot of hamburgers and T-Bone steaks. (I’ve never tried one of their T-Bones…so the next time I’ll just have to go for it!)

Laurie went for the Texas Bacon, Egg and Cheese Melt Sandwich with Hashbrowns and onion added in. ($7.00) She doesn’t usually go for a breakfast sandwich but she reported that this was a good sandwich…the kind that I would really go for!

 

Waffle House serves a lot of hashbrowns and they can be ordered in different sizes. (Regular, large and triple) They can also be ordered with onions, cheese, ham, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, grilled mushrooms, Bert’s Chili or sausage gravy or any combination of the above.  You can even go All the Way! (Pass the Rolaids)  

I went for 2 eggs over easy with a large order of hashbrowns, toast and sausage patties. ($7.25) I’d never ordered the large hashbrowns before and I will admit to a ‘carb coma’ after finishing this huge order with my breakfast!  We love Waffle House hash browns but we both forgot to ask for them the way we like them best…extra crispy. 

You know what you’re going to get at a Waffle House.  Consistency is the word.  We enjoy their breakfasts and their burgers as well.  For those health conscious diners out there, you will note that the calories are listed adjacent to each menu item so you can pick or chose your level of ‘heathy’ dining.

We were happy with our breakfasts as well as with our service.  This Waffle House (#506) is located at 1116 US Hwy. 321 (I-75/Exit 81) in Lenoir City Tennessee.  Phone: 865-986-9200.  The company’s website can be found at https://www.wafflehouse.com/.  

Just click on any of these photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for breakfast!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Local Happenings…

This has been a quiet summer and fall for us.  Starting with a surgery in June and another on November 1, my movements and hence our travel, local exploration and even dining out has been quite limited.  Limited activities provide fewer blog postings of much interest to me, much less to anyone else.  I’m actually considering slowing down from my regular blogging schedule and spending more time working on our family ancestries and our multitude of photo albums.

Still, I do like to blog and enough has been happening locally to provide me with a bit of material for yet another posting…

Just 2 lots up the road from our house, a builder purchased a lot and recently began construction of a spec home… We, the deer and our local flock of turkey lost a lot of big trees, food source and ground cover. 

Laurie spoke to the builder and he told her that this house would go up fast…and he was definitely telling the truth!   Note the lake view in the distance…

Crews have been working on this new and large home from 7 Am until dusk 5 to 6 days a week ever since they cleared the lot.  It’s been interesting to watch their progress. 

These are the most recent photos of the new home that we’ve taken.  Laurie is going to create a construction photo album for whoever buys this new home.  Issues have been far and few between.  Laurie made sure that the crew cleaned up their trash on a daily basis…and our neighbors, Jill and Paul, who live on the other side of the new home, have had their internet, TV and phone line cut twice by construction equipment.

We’ve now been told that the same builder is planning to build a home right next door to our house in the not too distant future.  We’ll be sorry to see the woods go on that side of the house but we knew that it would probably happen at some point in time.  We’ve been here more than 7 years now…

This is J.D., the cat who rules the home that he allows us to live in…and serve him.  For cat lovers, he’s a bit of an oddity.  Every November, he loses hair on his legs and underside and he ends up looking a bit ‘skanky’.  Logically, the fall and winter is the time that his coat should thicken to provide additional warmth.  In his case, his coat will thicken again…when it warms up in the spring!

These are views of Tellico Lake taken from Tennessee Hwy. 444.  That haze isn’t fog or even smog per se.  It’s smoke from the dozens of wildfires that are burning in Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.  This smoke problem has been going on for a couple of weeks now, with sporadic breaks when the wind clears it out.

Yes, those are silos in the lake.  Like all Tennessee Valley Authority dam impounds (lakes), farm land and homesteads were seized for the projects and the ‘better good’. 

Due to the smoke, you can barely see across the lake.  On November 15^th it was reported that about 250 Tennesseans had been treated for smoke related breathing problems.  There are estimates that roughly half of the fires at this point are arson related!  One fire, dubbed the Tellico Fire, has covered 13,740 acres!

This view through the bridge over the Fort Loudoun Dam shows just how smoky it’s been in Lenoir City Tennessee.  Outdoor activities have certainly been hampered by this unusual situation.

Some fires in the Southeastern USA have been burning for over a month now, especially in the mountains where tough terrain limits access for firefighters.  We’ve had very unusual weather…a very hot summer combined with a lack of any serious rainfall.  It’s been 2 months since we’ve had any notable rain here. 

I’ll end this blog posting with a couple of Laurie’s photos of the recent “Supermoon”.  The first photo was taken through the smoky haze from the forest fires.  The second photo was taken a day later when the wind had blown much of the smoke away… I almost like that yellowish moon the best, from an esthetic viewpoint.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what’s going on in our area of East Tennessee!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave