On spring
day 45 years ago, Laurie and were married…exactly one year after our first
date. Time flies! We recently celebrated our 45th
Anniversary. This milestone earned us a
first class celebratory meal in a first class restaurant…
The first
photo shows the parking lot side of the Foothills Milling Co. Restaurant in
Maryville Tennessee. The second photo
shows the front door to the restaurant.
The original
Foothills Milling Co. location was opened in 2001 in Wears Valley, located
between Townsend and Pigeon Forge Tennessee. That location actually featured a working mill
in the restaurant. The tourist traffic
in that area was just a small reason for the restaurant’s early success. In any case, in late 2006 or early 2007, this
family operated restaurant relocated to this site in downtown Maryville.
So what
is this old car doing in the Foothills Milling parking lot? There was another restaurant at this location
prior to the move by Foothills Milling Co but, even before that this building
served as a Studebaker and later, an Edsel auto dealership. I like old cars but I’m no expert. This appears to be a 1925 Studebaker Standard
Six. A nice touch of the past…and whimsy
too.
The bar
is small and quite cozy. Since dinner reservations
are critical here, there are probably relatively few folks cooling their heels
with an adult beverage before dinner. In
addition to the bar, there are separate spaces for small group or private
gatherings.
The
restaurant’s atmosphere is elegant or upscale enough as befits its menu and the
quality of the food. Southern charm is evident
in the white linen napkins and tablecloths…fine dining in a casual relaxing atmosphere. The suggested dress ‘code’ for the restaurant
is business casual. Most folks were
wearing slacks and collared shirts and the ladies were mostly in slacks and
nice tops. Others were actually a bit
more casual or more formal.
To help
us celebrate, we were accompanied by our new neighbors and friends, Sue and
Steve. Wisely, not too long ago, they
fled California for calmer climes and a higher standard of living here in
eastern Tennessee. They live right across the street from us.
Then of
course, they 'had to' take a picture of Laurie and yours truly… Honest! I am smiling!
Isn’t that
old brick wall a great backdrop?
Warning: Some of the following photos aren’t the
greatest. I forgot my camera and the
lighting was such that I couldn’t see if the photos Laurie took with her phone
were clear or not. They looked good at
the time… FYI, I only had one glass of wine!
Adult
beverages were ordered and our server told us that we would be served an ‘amusette’,
a starter designed to stimulate our palates.
Sue, Steve and my bride were all served little fritters with greens and
a sauce, the name of which I can’t recall.
All three of my dinner partners
raved about the fritters.
Since I
avoid greens due to my meds, the server suggested that she could serve me a
strawberry drizzled with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with goat cheese. It was very good!
About the
same time that the ‘amusettes’ were served, so was this basket of house baked
bread! It was the best bread that we’ve
had in a long time and it was served with top notch local butter…soft and easy to
spread! After we wiped out the first
basket of bread, our server brought us another basket to demolish. I do believe that Steve and I both consumed
80% of a basket of bread each!
When it
came to ordering the food, Sue and Steve had more control than we did…but it
was our anniversary so we had an excuse!
In any case, for an appetizer they just spilt a bowl of She Crab Soup
that was finished with a splash of sherry.
It was very well received.
For my
appetizer I ordered the “Buttermilk Curry Pork Meatballs”…Berkshire pork
meatballs with yellow curry and served with warm naan flatbread. I didn’t leave anything behind, even the naan
of the curry sauce. Very nice indeed!
Laurie
also ordered an appetizer…but the photo was too bad to even consider using in this
post. In any case, she ordered something
she hadn’t had in a long time but always loved. Her choice was the “Escargot”…a half dozen
French helix snails stuffed in roasted garlic button mushrooms and served with
lemon and a slice of grilled French baguette.
She really enjoyed her choice but she has since told me that she prefers
the escargot in a garlic butter sauce and that, for her at least, the mushrooms
were unnecessary.
Next…in
order for us to ‘cleanse’ our palates before the main course, each of us were
served a small dish of high quality sherbet.
I was trying to recall the last time I was served sherbet as a palate
cleanser…and we decided that it was the last time we dined at Foothills Milling
Co. Another nice touch by the
restaurant.
Now on to
our entrees! Sue ordered “Maple Leaf
Farms Duck Two Ways…seared duck breast cooked to medium beside a pecan and
apple smoked leg quarter and served with soft polenta, roasted brocolini, and a
port cherry reduction. By now both Sue
and Steve were quite happy and impressed with the quality of the food and
service at Foothills Milling Co.
Steve
went in yet another direction with his dinner entrée. He ordered the “Low Country Shrimp and Grits…with
jumbo shrimp, Benton’s bacon, creole white wine cream sauce and creole sausage
over creamy grits. Another dinner winner!
My better
half…my bride for the last 45 years…ordered what she usually orders on special occasions.
This time her entrée was served in a
different format from the way she usually orders her favorite. She had the “Tempura Lobster Tails”…cornmeal
tempura fried…with jasmine rice, sourwood honey sriracha aioli, sweet Thai
chili sauce, sesame roasted mushrooms and baby green beans. She gave her celebratory meal ‘two thumbs up’
but she did reach her ‘food limit’, ending up taking a lobster tail and some
rice home. I had it for breakfast!
As I
perused the menu trying to decide what I’d order for my entrée, I looked at
many options…Steak and Potatoes; Cedar Planked Salmon; Short Rib Stuffed
Meatloaf, Horseradish Crusted Grouper, Danish Baby Back Ribs…and several other
possibilities. I told our little group
that I saw several possibilities but bemoaned the lack lamb on the menu. An adjoining table overheard me and told us
that lamb chops were available and that in fact, they’d ordered them for their
entrees.
Happy
me! So I ordered the Lamb Chop for my entrée! It was served on a bed of rice of some sort…which
worked very well with the medium rare chop. Since I
am avoiding greens, our server told me that they could offer me roasted carrots
instead. My meal was excellent!
This sweet
beverage, a fancy latte, was Laurie’s ‘dessert’, and yes, I also indulged in a
dessert. In my case, I had an excellent
blackberry cobbler with some first class ice cream. In both cases, dessert was definitely an ‘overkill’! However Laurie finished her liquid dessert
and I ‘forced’ myself not to waste the cobbler.
We forgot to take a picture of the cobbler…
The Foothills
Milling Co. Restaurant is a first class dining destination. We have never had a finer meal anywhere in
the Knoxville metropolitan area! Service
was tops too. Hannah, our server, was
very helpful and knowledgeable…
Foothills
Milling Company is located at 315 South Washington Street in Maryville
Tennessee. Phone: 865-977-8434. They are open Tuesday through Saturday
beginning at 4 PM. When I called for a
reservation a week before our dinner, I was told that we could choose between 5
PM and 8:30 PM. This is a popular and
highly rated restaurant! Learn more at Foothills Milling – Foothills Milling Company.
I’ll bet
that you thought that this blog posting was done… Wrong! Laurie felt a need to take a ‘selfie’ of us
to mark the big event. Just for the
record I’ve also attached a ‘professional’ photo that was taken 45 years ago. We do look a little different now…time
marches on!
We’re
looking forward to our 50th Anniversary!
Just
click on any of the photos to enlarge them…
Thanks
for stopping by to see what we’ve been up to!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie
