Monday, September 8, 2014

Bullfish Grill – Pigeon Forge Tennessee

When we ventured over to Pigeon Forge a few weeks ago to check out the 8 PM show at the Sable (sab-LAY) Theater, (http://www.sabletheater.com/), we drove over early so we’d have enough time to do a little shopping and then find a place for an early dinner.



I selected Bullfish Grill… It’s located just below the Sable Theater and its part of the DCL Foods Group, a company which manages several restaurants and restaurant chains.  Within a couple hundred feet of Bullfish Grill, DCL Foods also operates Johnny Carino’s and Blue Moose.  We’ve previously dined at Parkside Grill and Lakeside Tavern in Knoxville.  

To learn more about the restaurants operated by DCL Foods, go to http://bullfishgrill.com/partners/.


The restaurant was busy…but large enough to accommodate what I’m sure was at least partially a pre-evening show crowd for all of the various evening entertainment venues operating in Pigeon Forge.
 
Of course, Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Gatlinburg comprise a huge tourist area with many attractions.  Some tourists actually visit the Smoky Mountain National Park!  To learn about the many attractions in the area, just go to http://www.visitmysmokies.com/what-to-do/attractions/.


The bar area was on the other side of this wall of bottles… The dining area, bar and bathroom were all clean and we consider the décor as ‘tourist area upscale casual’.  Since I only wear golf shirts, shorts and tennis shoes for at least 8 months a year, this environment is perfect for me!


Laurie started out our evening ‘on the town’ with a Dirty Martini ($6.00) and I ordered a Miller Lite beer. ($3.00) Laurie reported that her martini was pretty darn good!


We love good bread and Amy, our waitress, brought out a hunk of this nice warm chewy bread with a salted top and accompanied by soft butter.  When I took this photo, both of us had already eaten a slice of bread!


We were really surprised and happy to find this entrée on the menu!  It was the first time we’d tasted this fish since we went to Australia on vacation in 1989…
This was Laurie’s order of Barramundi with a lemon butter sauce.  It was accompanied by white cheddar mashed potatoes. ($19.99) In Australia, Barramundi is referred to as poor man’s lobster.  It has a nice meaty texture without any hint of a ‘fishy’ taste.  Laurie also enjoyed her mashed potatoes…but she loved the Barramundi!

Entrées also came with a house or a Caesar salad.  We chose the Caesar salad. (Failed to take a photo) It was very bland…just a salad with a faint hint of Caesar dressing.  If we hadn’t known what it was supposed to be, we would have thought that it was a house salad with a bland creamy dressing. 

  
I also ordered the Barramundi…in my case with the mustard dill sauce.  For a side I chose the stone ground cheese grits.  I would have never ordered grits before we moved south to East Tennessee but now I have grown to like them…if they’re done properly.  These grits were pretty good and I also really enjoyed my barramundi!

FYI… Barramundi or Asian seabass are widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific region from the Persian Gulf, through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia.  Barramundi is a ‘loanword’ from an Australian Aboriginal language meaning "large-scaled river fish".  Originally, the name ‘barramundi’ referred to a species of less desirable fish, but the name was appropriated for marketing reasons during the 1980s, a decision which has aided in raising the positive profile of this fish significantly.  Although unusual, barramundi can reach up to 6 feet long and can weigh up to 130 lbs.  The barramundi is a game fish but it is also farmed in Australia with operations gearing up here in the USA.

Other than the lackluster Caesar salad, Laurie and I really enjoyed our dinner at Bullfish!  Our waitress, Amy, was very pleasant and helpful.  We will return for more barramundi…and perhaps another dirty martini… Bullfish Grill is located at 2441 Parkway in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  Phone: 865-868-1000.  Website: www.bullfishgrill.com.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!


Take Care, Big Daddy Dave  

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a very nice place to have dinner before a show, especially in a touristy town.
    Sam

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  2. Sounds like it was a hit and I would have really enjoyed both side dishes - sounds like you are officially a southerner now. I've heard of this fish but never eaten it, so I'm off to read about it.

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  3. Glad you found that special fish!!!! We seldom get to Pigeon Forge/area --other than passing through at about 7 a.m. (when we are heading up the mountain), like we did last Friday!.. BUT--if we were looking for some kind of special food, I'm sure we'd have to go somewhere like that area in order to find it... Maybe during the off season, we'll get over there and try out some of those good restaurants... Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. I have never eaten barramundi but if I ever see it on a menu I’ll try it for sure. I don’t know the Pigeon Forge area – it sounds picturesque (not the shopping, but the mountains!)

    Thanks for coming to my blog. I certainly agree with you that without the Allies Europe would not be what it is today and we are all thankful for their help. I just wished that the US post office had selected a place that the US liberated, rather than Paris that they did not – I would not get the usual refrain that Paris was not liberated by the Parisians – and this picture has a lot to do with it. I wonder why the post office did not get an accurate picture of somewhere they liberated, as there were thousands of them.

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  5. We are in Brentwood watching the grandkids. I had pre-programmed my current post and the next one too. Now I am concerned that people will think that we are not thankful for the Allies help. I was just trying to say that of all the places the post office could have chosen they choose the only one that the Parisians liberated. You don’t know how many horrible comments I have received for those liberation posts. I delete them, but for every good comment received I must have received 4 nasty anonymous ones. Yesterday one said “Yes, we liberated Paris, not the French – they must have used that gun on ebay “French WW2 gun, brand new never used.” And some more comments even nastier and very gross. I am on the receiving end – I can’t count the ugly emails I have received, so I was just trying to say that I wished the US Post office had used another picture than the Champs Elysees, it may be “symbolic” for the liberation but for 98% of the people they believe Paris was liberated by the US (even though Eisenhower had refused) and have given me a very hard time. I should never have posted on the Liberation if I had known. Sorry I could not find your email, so I had to write it in a comment. I will go back to my post, and either delete part of it or rewrite it, but for now I have to go and feed the kids. Thanks again for your input. (My email is on my blog.)

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