Kitchen 919 – Knoxville Tennessee

Once again, it was time to explore upscale dining in the Knoxville area.  Our friends Lynn and George are our ‘go to’ couple for these periodic excursions or adventures in fine dining.

Note: Regular followers may observe that my inside and meal photos are a bit darker than usual.  There are 3 reasons for this.  First, I was using Picasa for all my photos and editing and Google shut it down on March 15 and I haven't figured out how to edit Google photos.  Secondly, I don't like taking flash photos in restaurants.  Thirdly, I guess I'll have to try to remember to change my camera settings for low light conditions.

In this instance, they had identified Kitchen 919 as for our exploration into fine dining.  This building was formerly the home of The Orangery, an upscale restaurant that had closed down in June of 2016 after a number of years in operation.  In May of 2017, the owners of Kitchen 919 announced that they would take over the space, remodel it and open a new locale for fine cuisine.

Actually, if my memory serves me correctly, The Orangery was a bit larger than Kitchen 919.  I clearly remember a courtyard.  Once I took a good look, I noted that part of the building is occupied by a fast growing exercise franchise named Cyclebar.  I will admit a little guilt after our expansive dinner as a few Cyclebar members hustled past us in their Fabletics type gear…

This is a photo of the 919 Speakeasy Bar.  It was early and neither the bar nor the restaurant were particularly busy.  It is an attractive bar…a little industrial and yet warm and comfortable. 

The bar has its own menu.  I checked out the on-line version of the bar menu and I was excited to see Hot Chicken and Waffles.  It’s described as follows: “marinated and fried chicken, tossed in 919 hot sauce, served over a savory blue cheese waffle, topped with house made pickles”.   That waffle really sounded interesting…but alas, it isn’t on the menu for the main dining room….

This is one photo of the main dining room.  While it gives you an idea of the décor, it doesn’t really show you just how big this room is.  It is quite large but one negative for me are the large number of side by side tables.  I find it a bit uncomfortable talking about life, issues, happenings, etc., with complete strangers sitting right alongside me.  Fortunately, we arrived early and we had a standard 4-top with no immediately adjacent neighbors.

FYI...Kitchen 919 is part of the Little Hospitality Group, the same company that owns and operates Seasons Innovative Bar and Grille in Knoxville's Turkey Creek shopping area.

Thirsty?  Show me the Money!  I ordered my usual unimaginative Miller Lite (a reasonable $4.00), and Laurie ordered this ‘dirty’ Vodka Martini with Picker’s Vodka (made in Nashville) with extra pickle juice…the martini is partially consumed in the photo. ($11.00) She did say that it was the best Dirty Martini she’d ever had! 

Lynn had a Cosmopolitan ($10.00) and George ordered a nice bottle of Estancia Cabernet that Lynn, Laurie and he shared. ($45.00) There was an additional charge of $9.00 on his bill entitled “Open Liquor”…which I don’t really understand…

When we go out for fine dining experiences, we tend to really do it up!  We only live once so we feel that we should expand beyond the entrees and try other taste tempting offerings.  So we ordered this Cheese and Charcuterie Plate for the table. ($22.00) It was an excellent selection of sausages, cured meat and cheeses with pickled vegetables and nuts with a warm Dutch crunch roll accompanied by whipped pate butter.

To summarize, Laurie and I felt that the Charcuterie Plate was excellent!

Lynn ordered the Beets and Cream Salad as a starter. ($9.00) This complex creation consisted of salt roasted golden beets, red beet sponge cake and beet puree.  It was served with Cruze Farm buttermilk and goat cheese mousse plus arugula tossed with house champagne vinaigrette, crisp fennel, tossed walnuts and garden herbs.  It was very well received…

Laurie ordered the Jumbo Lump Crab and Corn Chowder. ($9.00) This soup blended blue crab with mushrooms, onion, sweet peppers and green onions in a creamy lobster bisque.  It was served with jalapeno cornbread dunked in the middle of the bowl.  Laurie really loved this soup!

I went for Kitchen 919’s Romaine Salad. ($8.00) The romaine lettuce was topped with a parmesan Caesar dressing and Shelton Farms cornbread croutons.  I had them leave off the shaved red onions… On the positive side, the Caesar dressing was very nice and I could actually taste anchovy!  The dried tomato slices were virtually flavorless.  The salad was good overall…but not great.

George ordered the Niman Ranch Pork Osso Bucco as his entrée. ($22.00) It was presented with a pork demi-glace, truffled macaroni and cheese plus butter braised brocolini.  George is a fairly light eater so he took most of the macaroni and quite a bit of the pork home with him.  He told me that the pork was overcooked…a bit dry in the center.

Laurie ordered the Misoyaki Glazed Chilean Sea Bass for dinner. ($31.00) The sea bass filet was pan-seared and finished with a sizzling soy vinaigrette, then served with steamed rice and sautéed haricot verts (green beans).  Laurie Loved Her Meal!

Lynn and I both ordered the same thing…the Ribeye Steak served medium rare. ($38.00) It was served with a pate demi-glace, roasted/braised Brussel sprouts and typically it came with garlic mashed potatoes.  We both opted for fried gnocchi instead of the potatoes…as this was something that I’d never seen before. 

I have to admit that I loved the gnocchi…especially mixed in with the demi-glace.  I don’t think that Lynn was that enamored with it.  I liked the Brussel sprouts, but they weren’t close to as tasty as my wife’s version.  The steak was cooked perfectly and it was very tender.  The problem was that it was so salty…probably partially due to the demi-glace…that it took away from that quality cut of beef.  Even Lynn, who likes more salt in her food, agreed with me after she thought about it…

Well, we’d gone this far…why stop now?!  Lynn and George split Kitchen 919’s version of Chocolate Mousse. ($8.00) Lynn, who is a chocoholic, really enjoyed it.

Laurie and I split this London Fog Brulee. ($8.00) Laurie thought that it was very nice but I thought that it wasn’t anything special…good but not great. 

We had a great table away from the many patrons who began arriving shortly after we started eating.  Our waitress, Anna, was far more efficient, helpful and friendly than most servers that we’ve encountered anywhere in recent years.  Kudos to her!

FYI…one more little complaint.  The on-line menu doesn’t state that it’s a sample menu and it isn’t the current menu.  I’d expected to order one of two items on that menu and neither were listed on the current menu.

In my opinion, Kitchen 919 is a very nice upscale restaurant…despite any negative observations on my part…probably one of the top 5 or 6 restaurants in the greater Knoxville area.  Given the prices, it’s a place for that special anniversary or birthday dinner for most area residents.  We will try it again at some point.

Kitchen 919 is located at 5448 Homberg Drive, visible from Kingston Pike/US Hwy. 11 in the Bearden section of Knoxville.  Phone: 865-233-9979.  Website: http://kitchen-919.com/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what we had for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave