Friday, January 20, 2017

Fine Dining on Northshore Drive – Knoxville Tennessee

It’s a new year and it was time to revisit an upscale restaurant that we hadn’t been to in 3 or 4 years.  Cost is always a consideration but this venue is also a long drive from our home.


Our last visit to Northshore Brasserie was with our friends Lynn and George and they were our dining partners this time as well.  The restaurant is located in a strip shopping center along Northshore Drive in Knoxville.

This restaurant had been in business for more than 10 years.  It’s a family owned, full-service restaurant and bar serving homemade French Belgian cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere.  We were hopeful that it would be as good as we remembered but I had seen a couple of less than positive reviews lately…  



  
After an hour drive, we arrived for dinner at about 5:30 pm.  The dining area and the bar were fairly empty when we arrived but, as you can see, both areas were packed with patrons by the time we were finishing our entrees!


Our very attentive and efficient waiter brought us this little bag of warm crusty bread…and I was thinking, “Is that it?!”  No worries though, the nice crusty bread kept coming warm and fresh as long as we wanted more of it.


All of these condiments were served with of Lynn’s appetizer.  I saved the leftover horseradish for possible use with my entrée.

Our waiter did mention that there had been a recent chef change so the suspense was building as we ordered our meals…


Lynn loves oysters but she hesitated when she heard that they were from the Gulf of Mexico.  However she gave in and ordered this half dozen to start out her meal. (Market Price) She said that they were fine but not her favorite…


Laurie loves Escargot and she really liked this version that came sans the snail shells! ($12.00) These “Iron Skillet Escargots” were sautéed in white wine, garlic herb butter and parmesan.  I’m not an escargot fan but Laurie did let me ‘steal’ a bit of that cheese, wine and butter from the bottom of the pan… Yum!


For my appetizer/starter, I ordered a healthy salad… This is the Brasserie Salade. ($7.00) It included mixed baby greens, tomatoes, cucumber, egg and Danish bleu cheese.  It was a nice fresh salad…


Laurie surprised me when she ordered the Veal Ragu Pasta. ($24.00) She gave me a taste and I had to agree with her… This entree was very nice indeed!


I continued to try to eat a relatively healthy meal. (My pre-dinner drink, a Jack Daniel’s ‘neat’ was healthy wasn’t it?) For my entrée I ordered the Roasted Half Chicken. ($24.00) It came with pommes puree (whipped potatoes), Brussel sprouts and the chicken was topped with charred citrus…lemon.  It was a very nice meal and well-presented too.


I will admit that I was jealous when I saw George’s entrée!  He ordered the Lamb Shank. ($30.00) It came with sweet potatoes, mushrooms and parsley-mint gremolata.  He couldn’t finish it and he gave me a taste!  Excellent!

FYI… I had no idea what ‘gremolata’ was.  It is defined as a dressing or garnish made with chopped parsley, garlic, and grated lemon zest, served as an accompaniment to meat or fish.


Lynn is a carnivore, that’s for sure.  Again I was jealous!  She ordered the Butcher’s Steak with shallot bordelaise sauce and pomme frites/French fries. ($24.00) The steak was perfectly cooked and she happily cleaned her plate.


What the heck, other than the bread and butter, I’d been relatively healthy…until dessert that is!  Both couples ordered Profiteroles ($7.00) to share with their spouse.  This dessert consists of a pastry shell filled with vanilla ice cream, topped with a bit of fruit and smothered with warm luscious chocolate sauce.  Excellent!

In our opinion, the new chef is doing just fine.  Northshore Brasserie continues to rank near the top of the fine dining pantheon in the Knoxville metropolitan area.  It’s a great place to celebrate a special occasion.  Both the service and the food were far above the norm!

Northshore Brasserie is located at 9430 South Northshore Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-539-5188.  Website: http://northshorebrasserie.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave  


3 comments:

  1. Looks like a special place. The meals all look delicious and well presented.

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  2. Did someone say lamb? LOL! Wow, lamb is my favourite...followed by chicken and salmon. The meals look succulent and the presentations are lovely! :)

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  3. That did look like a special meal. It would have taken me a while to decide what to order – either the lamb shank or the steak with fries – since it is a Belgian restaurant their fries should be excellent because fries are not “French” they originated from Belgium. In France we just call them “frites.” Being Belgian, there should have been a good list of beer because Belgian beers are famous – and there is such a great variety. That was quite a meal.

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