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