Truly Fine Dining – Knoxville TN

Laurie and I love good food and while we tend to search for the local joints, home cooking and cost friendly dining, we do love to splurge now and then.  We had a chance to go for the gusto very recently when our friends Lynn and George invited us to dine out with them…

All too frequently, high-end or upscale dining has been a disappointment for us…not just here but also in our former home stomping grounds, Chicago.  East Tennessee restaurants such as The Orangery and The Dancing Bear Lodge, have been ok…but not great.  For upscale restaurants, we expect the ‘Full Monte’…our monies worth...with good service, nice atmosphere, an imaginative menu, plus a satisfying portion of high quality food…nothing less!

 

This is the Northshore Brasserie in West Knoxville.  Yes, it is in a strip center…but by definition, brasseries are supposed to be casual dining places that serve high quality but hearty food as well as beer and wine.  We arrived a bit early by fine dining standards…at about 6:30 pm…when the dining room was almost empty.  (Note: For us retired folks early dining tends to be the rule, not the exception)

 

 

I would note that as per this photo, the bar scene at Northshore Brasserie was cranked up and operating at full throttle even at 6:30 pm!  By the time that we left the restaurant…at about 8:30 pm…the bar was completely packed!

 

 

Laurie took this photo of the dining room at around 7:15 pm.  It was filling up fast!  Note the simple yet warm décor… Unlike many big city restaurants, the seating was nicely spaced and you didn’t feel like you were sharing your meal or table with the folks sitting next to you.

This is Lynn and her husband George.  They really appreciate fine dining... Lynn is responsible for a ‘dining out’ activity for a local group in a couple of months and she’d selected Northshore Brasserie for the event.  With George’s encouragement, she wanted to ‘try it out’ in advance of the event.  As you will see, we heartily concurred with the idea of this ‘test run’! 

 

Thanks to George for taking this photo of Laurie and myself at the restaurant.  All too often, with Laurie taking almost all of our pictures, we have no proof that we were actually anywhere together!

Now let’s get down to what’s really important…the food!

 

We ordered wine…I had a glass of Louis Jadot Macon Blanc while Lynn, Laurie and George shared a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michele Indian Wells Merlot.  We were all happy with our choices.  Extremely happy!

More importantly, at least to me, was the bread!  This was the best hunk of bread with a restaurant meal that I think we’ve had in East Tennessee.  It had texture…body…you had to chew it…it had flavor even before spreading on the herbed butter.  It reminded us of the best restaurant bread offerings from our favorite restaurants in Chicagoland…

As for the wine…The broad selection by the bottle ran the gamut price-wise, from $22.00 to $200.00 a bottle.  Most bottles were in the $30.00 to $40.00 range.  There was also a wide selection of wine by the glass…with prices from $6.00 to $12.50 a glass.

 

We all ordered an appetizer or salad.  Lynn started out with some Oysters, which she really enjoyed…so much so that she ordered a second helping!  (Oysters and King crab legs were at market price) 

For the table, Northshore Brasserie offers a platter of chilled King crab, oysters, mussels and shrimp.  It’s $50.00 for 2 people and $80.00 for 4 people.  Another option would be Mussels…prepared in 5 different ways. ($14.00 for a bowl and $21.00 for the Grande portion)

 

I ordered the Brasserie Salad ($6.00) as my starter… It was comprised of mixed baby greens, tomatoes, cucumber and egg with Danish bleu cheese.  The ingredients were fresh and I was very happy with the salad. 

Not counting the East and West Coast Oysters, the King Crab Legs or the chef inspired Market Plate, the listing on the menu under Hors D’Oeuvres included 13 items.  Prices ranged from $6.00 for my salad to $18.00 for Foie Gras.

 

I suggested that Laurie order the Iron Skillet Escargots. ($12.00) The snails were sautéed in white wine, garlic herb butter and parmesan cheese.  She thought that there might have been bit of mushroom in the sauce as well.  She really loved this appetizer!  The waitress earned ‘extra points’ by suggesting that Laurie keep the skillet with the remaining sauce for dipping our second loaf of bread…just an excellent idea!  Delicious!

 

 

George ordered an appetizer that you just don’t see on the menus down here in East Tennessee!  This was his platter of Roasted Marrow Bones with mushroom pate. ($14.00) This appetizer was much larger than he’d expected and he wasted no time in cleaning up his plate.  Two thumbs up!

Other interesting Hors D’Oeuvres included: Calamari Steak ($10.00); Crispy Frog Legs ($10.00); a Charcuterie Plate with pates, terrines and sausages ($16.00) and; Seared Lamb Belly ($13.00)

 

This photo of George’s entrée is a bit dark… He ordered the Lamb Shank braised with Vienna coffee, bittersweet chocolate and dates. ($30.00) Hence the dark sauce and the coating on the lamb shank… He gave me a taste and it was very good indeed!

 

 

Lynn ordered the Butcher’s Steak with Frites. ($19.00) She ordered it medium rare and it was perfect.  It was served with shallot bordelaise sauce.  The steak was very tender and flavorful.  Another winner!

The chef offers daily specials…or plats du jour.  Monday is Bouillabaisse, Tuesday is a Pasta dish, Wednesday is a Pork Shank, Thursday is Rabbit, Friday is a Whole Fish and Saturday is Chef’s Choice.

 

Laurie loves duck ...so it was no real surprise that she ordered the Duck Cassoulet...duck confit, white bean and sausage casserole. ($25.00) She reported that it was rich and very filling but excellent.

In the tradition of most brassieres that I’ve eaten at, the number of Entrees listed on the menu was limited…7 plus the plat du jour and the Steak Frites offerings.  In addition to George’s and Laurie’s entrees, there was Grilled Salmon, Coq Au Vin, Fried Oyster Salad, Pork Tenderloin and a Beef Short Rib.  Entrée prices ranged from $19.00 to $32.00.

 

Finally, there was my entrée… I was going to have the Grilled Salmon but when I saw the New York Strip Steak Au Poivre on the menu, I quickly changed my mind! ($31.00) I hadn’t had a really good steak…other than at home…in a long time.  Plus, when you add a classic green peppercorn sauce…it’s just a bit more special.

I ordered it medium rare…and it was cooked perfectly!  It was very tender and all who tasted it felt that it was an excellent steak.  The peppercorn sauce added that little something extra too… FYI, the French fries are cut fresh daily and they were very nice as well.  I was a very happy camper!

We did miss taking one photo… I ordered a side of Brussels Sprouts with Benton’s Bacon, cream and Gruyere. ($8.00) It was very good…but I still prefer the way Laurie sort of caramelizes them in the oven at home.  Other sides include broccolini, pommes frites, a gratin of wild mushrooms, haricots verts (green beans) and a potato and leek gratin. (Prices range from $6.00 to $8.00)

 

Yes…we went all the way!  Everyone ordered a dessert… Lynn and I had the Profiteroles with homemade vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. ($7.00) We took no prisoners…nothing was left behind!

 

 

George and Laurie both ordered the Maple Crème Brulee. ($7.00) They both said that they enjoyed their desserts but after I tried Laurie’s, I pretty much confirmed that the only things that I like maple flavoring with are pancakes and waffles…

To summarize…this was the best restaurant meal that Laurie and I have had since we moved to East Tennessee!  To be honest, you can’t compare a classy high-end restaurant such as Northshore Brasserie with a local diner, a great burger or pizza joint or a down home restaurant that pumps out southern comfort food.  However, we have eaten in several ‘name’ restaurants here in East Tennessee and Northshore Brasserie is far and away the best of them all!  Our waitress did a great job and the staff seemed to operate as a team.

Apparently many others feel as we did about our experience at this restaurant.  Of 81 reviews regarding this restaurant as published in Trip Advisor, 73 gave Northshore Brasserie a Very Good or Excellent.  It was ranked 6^th among all 629 restaurants of all types in the Knoxville area.  For more from Trip Advisor, go to http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g55138-d734980-Reviews-Northshore_Brasserie-Knoxville_Tennessee.html.

Northshore Brasserie is located at 9430 South Northshore Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-539-5188.  For their website, go to http://northshorebrasserie.com.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing this superior dining experience with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Postcards & History Past (Jackson MI)

My wife and I are packrats for sure… We collect stuff and until we retired and moved to East Tennessee, we didn’t get rid of much of anything...other than clothing for charity.  Laurie primarily collected teddy bears and cow creamers.  I gathered memorabilia from Montgomery Ward and Co., toy soldiers…and various other stuff…including old postcards.

In today’s electronic age, it’s hard to find postcards to send friends and family via the US mail.  I was glancing through my postcard collection the other day and it dawned on me that postcards were like the email of their day…and that they were often a photo or artist’s rendering of an historical place in a specific point of time. 

So, I perused through my collection, focusing on what I’ve collected from the place that I consider to be my hometown…Jackson Michigan.

 

This postcard was mailed, (1 cent postage), back in 1912, although the picture appears to be a little earlier.  I don’t see any cars at all and Main Street, (later Michigan Avenue), is dirt covered.

Jackson was founded in 1829 and it was named after President Andrew Jackson.  Initially, after being settled by Horace Blackman and a few others, the town was named Jacksonopolis…and then Jacksonburgh.  It was shortened to just Jackson in 1838.  By 1850, there were 2,363 residents.  In 1870, there were 14,447.  In 1900 there were 25,180!  The town grew fast and it was prosperous.

 

This is a bird’s eye view of Jackson circa 1944…2 years after I was born.  Downtown, as I remember it as a youngster, was a happening place!  There were 2 or 3 movie theaters, lots of traffic and plenty of people on the street.  There was a J.M. Fields and a Jacobsen’s department store…among others.  As a teenager, I ‘dragged’ the Ave…from a drive-in restaurant on the west end of town to another on the east end of town.

The population of the city of Jackson peaked in 1930 with 55,187 residents.  The town was a huge rail hub complete with workshops and a roundhouse.  In addition, the city was an early home to the auto parts industry.  Long before Detroit cranked up the assembly lines, Jackson was making parts and assembling cars.  Over twenty (20) different cars were once made in Jackson.  These included the following: Reeves; Jaxon; Jackson; CarterCar; Orlo; Whiting; Butcher and Gage; Buick; Janney; Globe; Steel Swallow; C.V.I.; Imperial; Ames-Dean; Cutting; Standard Electric; Duck; Briscoe; Argo; Hollier; Hackett; Marion-Handly; Gem; Earl; Wolverine, and; Kaiser-Darrin.

By the time I was roaming the streets of Jackson, the population was down to somewhere around 51,000 and the decline has never stopped…

 

Another of Jackson’s ‘claim to fame’…and a major employer…was the Michigan State Penitentiary.  This postcard from 1909 shows the nicely landscaped front of the facility.  The old prison was located just a few blocks from downtown Jackson and just a few blocks from the Jackson County Fairgrounds…definitely an image issue!

This facility was replaced by a new prison south of Jackson… I personally liked the new prison.  I drove taxis while going through college and if I could pick up a cab full of visitors at the Greyhound Depot to take to the prison…the rest of the day was pretty much pure profit! 

 

This is the ‘other view’ of the old Michigan State Penitentiary from a postcard dated 1914.  It was a pretty foreboding looking place!  The last time we were in Jackson, part of the old structure still stood.  It had served as a National Guard Post for many years after the prison closed.

When I lived in Jackson, the prison was the single largest employer in the county.  Kelsey-Hayes and a couple of other auto suppliers…Aeroquip for one…were still struggling to survive.

 

Governments are always trying to improve things… This is the Grand River in downtown Jackson, before they buried the river completely underground.  This image is from a postcard circa 1910.  In fairness, my stepfather painted the river just at the point that it passed under the buildings along Michigan Avenue and he couldn’t have painted that picture until at least 1947... Perhaps the city fathers had flood control in mind or they just wanted to spruce up downtown.  Today, a river like this would be a central attraction in most downtowns!

As Jackson lost its manufacturing base and the population declined…city managers tried to transform the downtown area into a real destination.  They rerouted traffic, leveled a lot of old buildings to build parking lots and turned Michigan Avenue into a ‘mall’.  Downtown’s demise was hastened…at least in my opinion.

In 1910, Jackson’s population had grown to about 31,500… As of 2010, the number of residents has declined to less than 33,500… Unfortunately, Jackson was and is part of mid-America’s rust belt.

 

OK history buffs…These are the famous, (or at least footnoted), Oak trees in Jackson where the Republican Party was originally organized.  This postcard was mailed in 1921.

To further refine this claim, Jackson is one of the birthplaces of the Republican Party.  It is undisputed that the first official meeting of the group that actually called itself “Republican” was held under the Oaks on July 6, 1854.  A marker commemorates an anti-slavery county convention on that date and notes the ‘founding’ of the Republican Party.  

 

I love this picture!  This postcard was mailed in 1912.  This very imposing structure sported the latest in firefighting equipment.  Note the giant hose tower…  The postcard was sent by a fella to ‘Martie’ up in Mt. Pleasant Michigan.  He was in town for the county fair. 

 

 

Other than the prison, the most famous landmark in Jackson was the Cascades.  These man-made waterfalls are still on display on summer nights…a veritable light show for families and lovers alike. (This postcard is dated 1944) I personally liked the Cascades best in the winter time.  Back in the 50’s, we would sled down these hills.  The bushes were much bigger by then and we liked the most dangerous run…between the right hand side of the Cascades and the closest group of bushes!

Back in the days when I was a lad…many, many years ago…viewing the Cascades was free.  Families gathered, had picnics, lovers parked and necked, etc.  Now the falls are fenced off and there is an admission charge… ($4.00 a person or $7.00 for a family) For more information, you can go to http://www.jacksonmich.com/cascades2.html.

 

Yes, Jackson had an airport too!  Reynolds Field Airport or Reynolds Municipal Airport, actually had commercial air service for many years.  It looks like all of the cars have gathered next to the dirt airfield to meet a Ford Tri-Motor.  This postcard from 1929 was published shortly after the field was opened and airmail deliveries were initiated.

North Central Airlines served Reynolds Field until 1984.  When I was attending prep school in Niagara Falls New York, I managed to fly Convair 220’s and 440’s out of here a few times…

 

Being a food junkie…and one that likes to both eat and write about our food experiences, I had to throw this postcard into the mix.  Although this postcard is dated 1962, the Regent Café had been in business in Jackson, across from the old Post Office, since 1926.  I have fond memories of many family dinners here, usually on Sundays, in the early and mid-1950’s.  Families didn’t eat out very often in those days, so this was a big deal!  I even have an old menu with the 'old prices' stashed somewhere around the house…

 

 

OK…so this isn’t a postcard.  It’s a photo from my train and depot photo collection.  This handsome brick building is the passenger railroad depot in Jackson.  It was built in 1872 by the Michigan Central Railroad.  It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and it is still active as an AMTRAK station on the main line between Detroit and Chicago.

 

 

Even though this isn’t a postcard…it seems like the right photo to end this little historical tour with.  This photo from 2010 shows the ticket booth and waiting area for AMTRAK passenger trains in Jackson Michigan.  I’ve actually taken the train to Jackson…and it was an interesting change of pace. 

Despite its flaws and warts, I still regard Jackson as my home town.  I can point to several homes that I lived in there over the years.  My family names are Weed, Myers and Thomson.  Homes were on Prospect, Douglas, Third Street, First Street and a few others.  My middle school, Intermediate School was Frost…out near the Cascades Park.

A few well known people had their roots in Jackson.  These included; Jack Paar (Tonight Show); Tony Dungy (NFL Player and Coach); Dave and Mike Hill (PGA Golf Pros…13 and 3 tour wins respectively), plus; James McDivitt and Alfred Worden (NASA Astronauts).

That’s about it… If you’ve read this all of the way through, thanks for your patience!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Great Trips – New Zealand VI

The morning after our arrival in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand, we had to decide what we should do next.  We were staying here a couple of days so we had some time to explore the area.  There we were, in a great little town, surrounded by mountains and fronting on a big beautiful lake.  So we decided to go for the most obvious tourist experience…a boat ride!

 

This is a photo of the Twin-screw Steamer Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown.  The Earnslaw is 168 feet long, with a beam of 24 feet.  She still has her original twin coal-fired triple expansion jet condensing vertical marine engines with 2 locomotive type boilers...and for the mechanically inclined, they are open for viewing while underway.

 

 

This is the TSS Earnslaw on the morning of our excursion… This ship was built in 1912 and she’s been declared a ‘Historic Place’ under New Zealand’s Historic Places Act.  This means that she’ll be protected and preserved even after she is deemed no longer seaworthy.  

When we took our tour in 2000, she was already 88 years old…now she’s over 100 years old and she’s still in operation!  I also think that it’s noteworthy that the Earnslaw is the only remaining commercial passenger-carrying coal-fired steamship remaining in active service in the Southern Hemisphere!

 

It was a beautiful day for a boat ride.  Two of the reasons that the Earnslaw is still operating is that the waters of Lake Wakatipu are so pure and the atmosphere of the South Island is remarkably clean.

The ship was originally configured to carry up to 1,035 passengers and 100 tons of cargo plus 1500 sheep or 200 bales of wool or 70 head of cattle.  Back in the early days, the most direct road to the area ended in Kingston at the south end of the lake.  Almost everything was transported from Kingston to Queensland and the many sheep farms or ‘runs’ around this lake via boat… There was enough business that several steamers were operating in earlier times. 

 

This was one of the views of the passengers and the stunning scenery…the Remarkables mountain range virtually surrounds the lake.  The lake is almost “S” shaped and its 50 miles long by no more than 3 miles wide.  As I mentioned earlier, Kingston is at the south end of the lake…and the town of Glenorchy lies at the north end of the lake.

The surface area of Lake Wakatipu is over 112 square miles.  The average depth of the lake is 750 feet but at its deepest point, the lake bottoms out at 1,380 feet!

 

Laurie took this photo of clouds over the Remarkable Mountains on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.  In its journeys around the lake, the Earnslaw regularly crosses the 45th meridian…which is the halfway point between the Equator and the South Pole.

 

 

Today, cruises on the Earnslaw as well as many other tourist attractions are operated by a company named Real Journeys…formerly named Fiordland Travel. 

This is the Walter Peak High Country Farm and restaurant.  When we took the trip back in 2000, this place was called the Walter Peak Sheep Farm and restaurant.  We didn’t buy the package…just took the boat ride.  It was probably a matter of time or timing.  For those who might be interested in the total package, you can tie the boat ride with a walking tour of the sheep farm, feed the sheep and getting close to deer and Scottish cattle.  There are also herding dogs in action as well as sheep shearing.  For more information, go to https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/.

 

Ahhh…here he is!  Captain Dave at the helm… I started thinking as I looked at this photo for the first time in several years...I still own that shirt and hat!

 

 

Can you believe it!  Here I ‘caught’ Laurie flirting with the Captain of the Earnslaw… She wasn’t even embarrassed!

 

 

Nothing went too quickly while one is cruising along on the Earnslaw.  Typically, she steams along at about 12 knots.  If you let your imagination go, you might be able to go back in time and envision sheep herders going to town, a few hundred head of sheep below deck along with cargo and perhaps a few bales of wool.  Queenstown lies dead ahead…

 

 

I ‘borrowed’ this photo of The TSS Earnslaw steaming across Lake Wakatipu from the Internet… It was just too spectacular to pass up.  Just looking at this picture, it’s not hard to envision the Earnslaw as an Amazon River boat in 2008’s movie, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.   I can also see the King and Queen of Belgium on the foredeck during a state visit…or even better, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip reviewing a portion of the British Commonwealth!

Our next New Zealand adventure was much more exciting and speed was the key…coming up in Chapter VII...

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and enjoying a day on Lake Wakatipu!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Our 3rd "Snowstorm" This Winter! + Critters

Winters have been ‘so tough’ for us since we retired and moved from Chicago down here to East Tennessee.  This winter has been exceptional…with perhaps a grand total of 1 inch of snow on the ground all winter…if you measured it as it fell!

 

For about 5 minutes, it was really coming down!!

 

 

Visibility was minimized and it really looked like winter was finally here…and it was March 3^rd!

 

 

The view from the front porch was equally daunting… The snow was sort of covering the grass and almost sticking to the driveway!

 

 

It was 29 degrees with little or no wind…and other than this little ‘burst’ of snow, most of this morning’s action consisted of widely spaced flurries floating gently to earth…

 

 

Laurie took this picture as well as the following couple of photos when she went out to retrieve the Sunday Newspaper.  Just a few flurries in the air…  

 

 

Her Quince bush has never stopped blooming all this winter!  It was rather attractive against that little bit of white stuff…

 

 

This is our mossy side yard… Grass doesn’t grow well in this shaded area given the proximity to the forest so we protect and nurture the moss.  As you can see, the snow couldn’t quite cover the green…and by 11 AM all signs of our ‘third snow storm’ of the winter of 2012 – 2013, had disappeared!

We sure don’t miss those Chicago winters!!

Now for a few critters…visitors to our yard within the last couple of days…

 

First there were the turkeys…a whole flock of them.  Laurie photographed these 2 in the planted area under the hickory trees beside our driveway.

 

 

Then they invaded our front yard.  The flock was spread out across the yard, down the middle of the street and along the other side of the road as well…

 

 

This photo is a bit fuzzy as it was zoomed in on from the front of our house.  The big bird in the middle was Tom Turkey himself!  He had 15 or 16 of his ladies with him…

Question: What is the proper name for a ‘flock’ of turkeys?  They are called a ‘rafter’ or sometimes a ‘gang’.  A colloquial but unofficial term is a ‘gobble’.

 

This morning after our ‘snow storm’, Laurie photographed this Broad-winged Hawk sitting in a tree at the side of the house.  Broad-winged Hawks are best known for their spectacular migrations...thousands of birds flying by with single flocks numbering up to several hundred!  Hawks are frequent visitors at our house…as are deer, singly and in small herds…as well as raccoons, opossums and skunks.  Life is good in the woods of East Tennessee!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Lobster Feast…or Is It Fest?

Lobster is probably Laurie’s favorite food!  Combine that with the fact that she’s been such a good care giver during my recovery from hip surgery, and I was faced with a need to find a lobster dinner for my bride. 

Although this restaurant chain has shown staying power and it continues to be popular, Red Lobster is not high on my ‘go to’ list of restaurants.  Still, they’d been bombarding our TV screen with commercials pushing their “limited time only” “Lobster Fest”.  So what’s a guy to do when he needs to do what he needs to do!  We even had a little $4.00 coupon…

 

This is the Red Lobster in Knoxville Tennessee.  Red Lobster opened its first location back in 1968.  General Mills bought the company in 1970 and greatly expanded it.  Darden Restaurants Inc. bought Red Lobster from General Mills in 1995.  Currently, there are about 674 Red Lobster restaurants operating in the United States.

Darden Restaurants Inc. also owns a few other familiar restaurants… The largest and best known is Olive Garden (786 locations); then there is LongHorn Steakhouse (386 locations); Bahama Breeze (30 locations); Season 52 (23 locations); the upscale Capital Grille (46 locations, and; Eddie V’s Prime Seafood (11 locations).  Sales/revenues in 2011 were $7,500,200,000 and the company employed roughly 180,000 people!

 

This is the bar area…and Laurie did order a before dinner Vodka and Tonic, tall with 2 lime wedges.  Other than the fact that drink as delivered was short, not tall, it did contain Vodka and 2 lime wedges!

 

 

The dining area was OK…although I did think that it could us a bit of a facelift.  Despite this photo showing empty booths, the restaurant was quite busy.  We had a 10 minute wait at 4:30 PM on a Sunday afternoon.

 

 

Our waitress started us out with 5 nice Cheddar Bay Biscuits!  We’d just experienced these great biscuits at Big Dude and Bev’s house the previous week. (http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com) Red Lobster markets the mix and Bev had wanted to see if they’d come out as nicely from the mix as they do in the restaurant.  She made hers a little bigger and they were excellent!

 

 

This was Laurie’s salad.  I thought that the salads were just so so… There were too many big chunks of iceberg lettuce, just a couple of croutons, a bit of tomato and a little cucumber, plus a spinach leaf or two. 

 

 

As I mentioned at the start, Laurie really likes Lobster and she’s done a great job of putting up with me…so this is the meal that I envisioned for her from Red Lobster’s “Lobster Fest” menu!   It’s the Lobster Lover’s Dream ($29.99) 

The meal consisted of a rock lobster tail plus a split Maine lobster tail, roasted and served with a side of lobster and shrimp linguini Alfredo.  Laurie had ordered the petite green beans but the kitchen got the order wrong and she ended up with a ‘free’ premium side of asparagus, normally an extra $2.25.  The asparagus was cooked just right too!  She didn't mind at all!

While this wasn’t fresh lobster from Maine or Atlantic Canada, Laurie really enjoyed her meal.  (However, she did mention that she could have eaten a couple additional lobster tails…) She didn’t really taste the lobster in the linguini…thought it was crab and shrimp…but she did enjoy it as well, though couldn't eat it all! 

 

This was my Red Lobster entrée… I went with the ‘healthy’ dinner!  This is the Admiral’s feast. ($17.99) It included Walt’s favorite shrimp, bay scallops, clam strips and flounder…and to accompany this fried feast, I added French fried potatoes. 

Everything was quite good…with the 8 fried shrimp leading the way!  The flounder was nice too.  The bay scallops are the tasty small round bits mixed in with the fried clam strips.  I went with cocktail sauce vs. the usual tatar sauce.  My only negative is that there were more fried clam bits than there were fried clam strips… There was certainly plenty of food to eat!

The ambience or lack thereof was a bit of a turnoff.  Service was adequate although both Laurie’s drink and her veggie were misses…even though the latter was in our favor.  Red Lobster #0047 is located at 8040 Kingston Pike in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-693-4651.  Red Lobster’s website is at www.redlobster.com.  

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and experiencing this long lived restaurant chain with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave