Our Anniversary Dinner plus Thai Comfort Food

This is the last summary of local happenings before I begin my chronical, my series of posts, about our mini back roads exploration of North Georgia and Northwestern North Carolina.

It’s hard to believe that we recently celebrated our 43^rd wedding anniversary!  Better yet, we still even like each other!  This year, with severe cases of Covid-19 minimalized we were finally willing and able to go out for an anniversary dinner. 

Bonefish Grill in the Turkey Creek Shopping complex (Knoxville and Farragut), has been one of our anniversary go to spots ever since we moved to East Tennessee from Chicago back in 2009.

Pictured above are the bar and the main dining room at Bonefish Grill.  We were seated at about the center of the dining room.  The surroundings are pleasant and the atmosphere casual.  I did ‘dress up’ for the occasion though, complementing my shorts and New Balance tennis shoes with a collared golf shirt! 

For an appetizer, we chose the Shrimp Caprese Dip. ($10.90) This was a warm and creamy blend of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses layered with roasted shrimp, basil and blistered tomatoes.  As you can see, it was accompanied with some crusty Italian style bread.  We were off to a great start for our anniversary dinner!

In honor of the occasion, we both partook of alcoholic libations.  I had my 9^th beer/alcoholic beverage of the year and my bride went for a 1901 Dirty-‘Tini’ with Absolute Vodka. ($4.30 and $10.10)

Laurie’s favorite food is probably lobster.  She prefers lobster tails or lobster rolls.  No fuss in either case, and both dishes offer lots of lobster!  Featured above are her Cold Water Lobster Tails…a pair of 5 – 6 oz. lobster tails, seasoned and steamed and then served with warm drawn butter. ($36.90) For her sides, she chose rice and green beans… Happy Wife, Happy Life!

For my anniversary dinner, I chose the Mahi-Mahi and Shrimp. ($23.90) My nice mahi-mahi filet and the five jumbo shrimp were brushed with a light citrus-herb marinade and then were grilled over a wood fire.  My entrée was accompanied by some nice vinegar based coleslaw and rice.  I also requested some spicy ‘bang-bang’ sauce that I could use with my shrimp.  It was an excellent meal!

This particular Bonefish Grill is located at 11395 Parkside Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  They are open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week.  Phone: 865-966-9777.  The specific website for this Bonefish location is found at: https://locations.bonefishgrill.com/tennessee/knoxville/11395-parkside-drive.

Another evening and yet another opportunity to dine out!  Thai Bistro is located in Loudon Tennessee close to the Tellico Village residential development.

We are very fortunate to have Thai Bistro in our neighborhood.  During the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, we probably ordered take out from this restaurant more than any other in the area.  The food was always fresh and tasted just like it would have if we’d dined in the restaurant itself.  We can’t say the same for a couple other venues…where carry out didn’t travel well.

I can’t help it!  I’m pretty much addicted to Pad Thai with chicken added. ($13.00) Of course, I do order it spiced up to “Thai Hot”.  Diners can order Pad Thai with chicken, pork, beef, tofu or vegetables.  The rice noodles are stir fried with egg, beansprouts, scallions (not on mine), and peanuts.  The spice makes my head sweat!  I truly love this Thai comfort food.

FYI, we started our meal with Spring Rolls, ($5.50) but I’ve featured them so many times that I didn’t take a photo on this occasion.  They consist of deep fried rice paper stuffed with bean thread mixed with cabbage, celery and Thai herbs.  Three spring rolls are served with homemade sweet and sour sauce.

Laurie likes to roam the menu, trying different offerings for her meals.  I guess that I’m just a creature of habit when it comes to food while she is fairly adventurous. 

She ordered an entrée called Double Delight. ($16.00) It’s simple enough, just chicken and shrimp sautéed in a sweet chili sauce with mixed vegetables.  It was sided with some rice…which was a good thing because it gave her (and me) something to soak up that sweet chili sauce with!  She was very happy with her meal.  I might try it myself the next time…

We rarely eat desserts out and we haven’t tried many Thai sweets despite the number of times that we’ve eaten here.  This time our smooth talking waitress convinced us that we should share an order of Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango. ($8.00) This dessert is drizzled with coconut milk and topped with sesame seeds.  We were surprised with just how tasty it was and we’d order it again.

Thai Bistro is located at 222 Lakeside Plaza in Loudon Tennessee…just about a block off of TN Hwy 444.  Phone: 86j5-657-6440.  Website: https://www.thaibistrotellico.net/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave