An Upscale Breakfast in Knoxville Tennessee

Laurie's sister Bonnie and Bonnie's husband Bill recently flew into Knoxville for a visit.  They are happy that Allegiant Airlines now flies directly to Knoxville from the St. Louis area's Bellevue Illinois Mid-America Airport.  We all love breakfast and the decision was made to start their first full day in East Tennessee by going out for an upscale breakfast...or in this case, really a brunch.

This is Scrambled Jake's on Northshore Drive in Knoxville.  Laurie and I have eaten here 2 or 3 other times over the years we've lived in the area... First of all, the restaurant is at least 45 minutes from our house, a long way to drive to start one's morning.  Then of course, it must also be said that breakfast at Scrambled Jake's is not inexpensive, at least for the Knoxville area.  Bonnie and Bill thought that the pricing was very favorable compared to similar fare in the St. Louis Missouri vicinity.

We were greeted by a cheerful group of servers at the entrance and our waitress, Laci was just fine.  Our only service problem was that the kitchen was quite slow and it took us too long to get our food. 

We do like the pleasant and warm atmosphere at Scrambled Jake's.  There is a variety of seating in the spacious dining areas including a couple of breakfast bars.  Even better, the tables are spaced well so customers aren't on top of each other. 

If you've ever had beignets in New Orleans at Cafe du Monde, you always remember them and crave them!  So, when we saw Ben-Yah's on the menu ($10.00), we just had to order some as a 'starter' to go with our late breakfast/brunch.  We did some serious damage to our order of Ben-Yah's before I remembered to take a photo.

This was selection was from the "Eye Openers" section of the menu.  It was a good starter but as a real beignet, it just didn't measure up.  We did like them just fine despite our conclusion.  Other "Eye Openers" include such items as the Pineapple Express, a half pineapple filled with Greek yogurt and seasonal cut fruit then topped with granola and local honey. ($11.95) Another interesting item among the options was the Deep Fried Deviled Eggs. ($5.95) 

Time for breakfast itself!

This was Bonnie's breakfast selection.  She ordered the Two Cage Free Eggs Breakfast. ($11.95) A choice of sausage or pecan smoked bacon, creamy grits, a serving of breakfast potato casserole and a choice of a biscuit or toast complete this selection.  She enjoyed her breakfast although with both potatoes and grits...supported by a big but tasty biscuit, does create a carb overload.  

A variety of 'Scrambles' are also on the menu.  An example is the Florentine Scramble with spinach, crimini mushrooms and Duroc pit ham topped with Swiss cheese and then baked on a serving of Scrambled Jake's breakfast potato casserole. ($13.25)

Bill ordered the "All-In" Omelet. ($12.45) It consists of 3 whipped cage free eggs folded with pecan smoked bacon, summer sausage, Duroc pit ham, mushrooms, onions, tomato confit and sharp cheddar cheese.  It is accompanied with an serving of Scrambled Jake's potato casserole.  In addition Bill loves pancakes so he ordered one pancake as a side dish.  This beast of a pancake covered an entire dinner plate.  Bill did indeed like his breakfast...

Scrambled Jake's menu is quite extensive and it doesn't lake imagination.  Other egg dishes include 5 different "Bennys"...or Eggs Benedict.  In addition to the basic version, others included a slab of bologna, another featured summer sausage, grilled peppers and onions and yet another is listed as a "Knox Lox".

For my breakfast I ordered the Chops and Eggs. ($16.00) It consisted of 2 grilled breakfast-style pork chops, 2 over medium fried cage free eggs and the potato casserole.  I also had a choice of either a biscuit and gravy or a pancake.  I should have known better than ordering breakfast-style pork chops as they are thin and, as a consequence they were overcooked and tough.  My other problem is that I'd much rather have hash brown potatoes with breakfast.  The potato casserole concept (also used at Cracker Barrel) is an easy way for restaurants to provide breakfast potatoes without repeatedly cooking potatoes on the grill.  At Cracker Barrel I can at least order hash browns for an upcharge... 

I will say that the pancake that I had as my side...same size as Bill's shown above...was indeed excellent.

Laurie surprised me by ordering something she rarely eats.  This was her Coffee Infused French Toast. ($11.95) Four slabs of baguette style bread was soaked in coffee infused custard, then fried in butter and topped with caramel, powdered sugar and real whipped cream.  She really liked it and...lucky for me she couldn't finish it all so I had to "help" out!

The menu goes on to include waffles, a breakfast pizza, a breakfast burrito, a Croque Madame topped with an egg, a variety of toasts with a variety of toppings and a giant Sin-O-Man Roll topped with cream cheese icing. 

Scrambled Jake's is located at 7428 South Lakeshore Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  It is part of the KBS Restaurant Group, which has a total of 13 restaurants under different brand names and food themes that are located in Gatlinburg, Sevierville, Morristown, Pigeon Forge and Knoxville Tennessee.  Scrambled Jake's is open daily from 7 AM until 2 PM.  You can learn more about this restaurant and the other restaurants in the KBS Restaurant Group at https://scrambledjakes.com/store/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by to see what was for breakfast! 

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave