A Local Favorite for Breakfast

We needed to drive over to Maryville Tennessee to visit the AAA office, look at travel materials and pick up an assortment of up-to-date maps and travel books.  We decided that we’d leave early enough in the morning that we could stop somewhere new for breakfast…

Gracie’s is a bit out of our way, even when we have to head over to Maryville.  Never-the-less, I’d heard about this local restaurant ever since we moved to East Tennessee and I decided it was time to give it a try…

Gracie’s is an unassuming place located in Maryville Tennessee, literally just across the street from the city of Alcoa.  Alcoa is home to a large Alcoa Aluminum plant.  Given its location, I’m sure that many of Gracie’s fans/customers either work at Alcoa or have retired from Alcoa.

Factoids:

• ·        The Aluminum Company of America built a big plant just outside of Maryville Tennessee. (In North Maryville) It was the biggest provider of aluminum in the South.  The area needed housing for workers, so Alcoa built many houses. The area eventually turned into a city.  The wife of Alcoa hydro engineer James Rickey came up with the name “Alcoa” as an acronym for Aluminum Company of America.  The name Alcoa was created specifically to name the town Alcoa Tennessee.  The town was founded in 1919.  Over time, the name Alcoa was unofficially used to reference the company as well, including the first employee-created credit union in the state.. The Aluminum Company of America officially changed its name to Alcoa, Inc. in 1999.
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• ·        To learn more about the controversial beginnings of the city of Alcoa and its early “relationship” with its neighbor, Maryville, just go to http://www.cityofalcoa-tn.gov/city_government/city_history. 

The interior of Gracie’s Restaurant is just what one would expect in a local diner or corner restaurant.  It was clean, the décor is straightforward and it was well maintained… It was late in the morning when we arrived, so business was relatively light.

The wooden tables have ads for local businesses literally imbedded on the surface and then the top was coated and sealed with an epoxy resin.  I’m sure that the ads helped pay for the furniture and the tables are easy to keep clean.  I did wonder how many of the businesses whose ads are displayed are still in business…

This artistic rendering of the exterior of Gracie’s is embedded in the center of all of the tables in the restaurant…

Laurie ordered her favorite breakfast…two eggs over easy with bacon (3 strips) and crispy hashbrown potatoes.  The eggs were just right, the bacon was very nice and the hashbrowns were cooked to order! 

Laurie was asked if she wanted toast or biscuits with her breakfast… She decided on a biscuit and she was stunned when the waitress brought her 2 biscuits and white pepper gravy!  The biscuits were very good and Laurie also liked the pepper gravy.  I was particularly pleased with the price…only $5.99 for Laurie’s breakfast!

 

My breakfast was fairly similar…opting for the same egg and hashbrown preparation, but choosing rye toast over the biscuits.  My breakfast meat of choice came on another plate…

This behemoth hunk of meat slathered with white pepper gravy is Gracie’s version of chicken fried steak.  I estimate that this meat patty weighed in a 7 or 8 oz.  It is not what I would normally title as a chicken fried steak…although it is fried.  I couldn’t place what it tasted like but it was lighter in texture and flavor than what I would normally expect.  While it was OK…and the portion was huge…I would prefer the more standard version. The cost of my breakfast was only $7.19!   Oh, I almost forgot to mention…the cook misread the order and I was also served 2 biscuits and the white pepper gravy.  Yikes…enough food for an extra person..!

To sum it up…Gracie’s serves good food with good service at very reasonable prices in clean and pleasant surroundings.  If only Gracie’s had Tabasco on hand for her customers!  Oh well, we will return and I’ll bring my own Tabasco…

Gracie’s is located at 766 Lincoln Road in Maryville Tennessee.  This restaurant is open from 7 AM to 8 PM Monday through Saturday.  Phone: 865-984-7117.  Gracie’s can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gracies-Restaurant/195617930471208.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave