Revisiting Area Diners…

In the last month or so, we revisited a couple of local diners here in East Tennessee so it’s time for an update…

One of our favorite diners in the area is actually a true diner in the classic sense of the word. (Not counting the increasingly rare dining car format locations around the country)

Hot Rod’s 50’s Diner is located just inside the Alcoa Tennessee City limits right next to the city of Maryville.  As you can see, it’s colorful and there is outside dining available…heated in the wintertime.  On this visit we introduced our friends Jodie and Morrie to Hot Rod’s!

This is the hot rod that is always parked outside the diner whenever it’s open.  It’s a Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler.  The Plymouth Prowler, later the Chrysler Prowler, was a retro-styled production car manufactured and marketed in 1997 and 1999-2002 by DaimlerChrysler.  The Prowler’s overall production totaled only 11,700 cars.  The later model could go from 0 – 62 miles per hour in 5.9 seconds and had a top speed of 126 miles per hour. 

The inside of Hot Rod’s 50’s Diner looks like a ‘hopped up’ diner on steroids!  It’s bright and shiny with lots of retro signs, photos and memorabilia on the walls.

And then of course, there is the diner style menu selection… The first problem that new customers encounter is that the menu is huge!  The burger selection alone is enough to dazzle and baffle diners who haven’t been here before. 

Jodie ordered a Classic Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich on grilled Texas toast. ($8.49) You might ask what’s with the slices of bacon beside the sandwich.  The fact is that Hot Rod’s BLT comes with ten (10) slices of bacon so those 2 pieces were ‘overflow’!  Jodie had never seen a BLT that was so loaded with one of her and our favorite types of meat…She was happy with her meal & loved the fun atmosphere of the diner!

Laurie went for a 6 inch Italian Hoagie. ($6.99) Her sandwich consisted of ham, Genoa salami, pepperoni, and provolone cheese on a grilled hoagie bun with lettuce, tomato, red onion and mild finger peppers.  Italian dressing was on the side.  All sandwiches come with a side and she chose cottage cheese.  She was loved her meal and she always enjoys the atmosphere…a fun place to eat!

There are no less than 24 different sides that you can choose to go with your sandwich or burger.  This, being the south, diner’s choices include: macaroni and cheese, stuffing, sweet potato fries, fried okra, candied carrots and creamy cheese grits.

After poring over the hamburger menu for some time, Morrie settled on a Kielbasa Burger…a 7 oz. steak burger topped with sliced kielbasa sausage and then topped with provolone cheese. ($8.99)  Morrie thought that this was a great sandwich!

For my dinner, I ordered an 11 oz. Beefster Burger. ($11.99) This huge burger was topped with sliced roast beef and melted cheddar cheese.  It was accompanied by a side of horseradish sauce.  It was cooked medium rare as requested…and it was very good!

Then, as if we hadn’t done enough damage to our digestive system and health in general, Morrie and I both decided to have dessert! (Laurie did too, but her Butter Pecan Shake ($3.99) was positively healthy compared to our desserts…

It was not just any old dessert either!  This is a Fried Twinkie Sundae. ($4.99) A Twinkie is dipped in cake batter, deep fried and then served with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside a heap of whipped cream.  The whole creation is then drizzled with raspberry sauce…

Indecent…Decadent…Sinful…Pure Pleasure!  If I had one last dessert to choose before I died, this would probably be it!

Hot Rod’s 50s Diner is located at 373 Hannum Street in Alcoa Tennessee.  Phone: 865-984-7171.  Their website and their huge menu can be found at: http://hotrods50sdiner.com/index.html.  

Our next diner ‘revisit’ was at Fat Stacks in Madisonville Tennessee.  We’d had a great breakfast the first time we visited but we had noted that they also served sandwiches, burgers and dinners too… We decided to check out what was for dinner.

  

  

Viewers may make 2 immediate observations when viewing our dinners at Fat Stacks.  First of all, they look alike.  Secondly, if you added eggs, we’d have breakfast again!  We weren’t very experimental, that’s for sure.  On the other hand, we know what we like… Laurie had the chicken fried steak with gravy and I had chicken fried chicken with gravy.  We both accompanied our choice of meat with those great crispy hash brown potatoes.

 

We really enjoyed our meals…even if our doctor wouldn’t have approved.  Even better, this is an inexpensive place to eat!  Fat Stacks Restaurant is located at 4915 New Highway 68 in Madisonville Tennessee.  Phone: 423-545-9540.  They are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Fat-Stacks-307184836304169/?ref=page_internal.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…and try not to drool over that fried Twinkie sundae!

Thanks for stopping by to see what we’ve been eating…
P.S. We truly do not eat like this on a daily basis. These meals are "a treat" for eating pretty healthy the rest of the time!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave