Eating Locally + Spring Time in East Tennessee

Since we haven’t traveled recently and we’re still home for a while, my posts will be more likely to be about area restaurants and bits of scenery.  Hopefully, we’ll also get out and about to check out some historical sites and perhaps a park or two…

So…this time it’s mostly about food!

Thai Bistro in Loudon County is one of our favorite local restaurants for dinner.  The chefs are Thai and the items on the menu are the real thing! 

Following her usual order of Crab Rangoon as an appetizer ($6.00), Laurie decided to try something different…and she ordered the Salmon Teriyaki. ($16.00) It was excellent!

I started out with a terrific appetizer as well…the Spring Rolls. ($5.00) As for my entrée shown above, I am addicted to Thai Bistro’s Pad Thai with Chicken…and I order it “Thai Hot”, #5 on the heat scale! ($11.00) As usual, I was very happy!

Thai Bistro serves lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Sundays.  Closed Mondays.  This restaurant is located at 222 Lakeside Plaza in Loudon Tennessee.  Phone: 865-657-9624.  Their website can be found at: https://www.thaibistrotellico.com/.

Our friends Norm and Linda did it again.  While we are pretty good when it comes to trying different places to eat, they constantly put us to shame.

This time, they took us to T.C.’s Grill in Maryville Tennessee.  As you can see this restaurant occupies a former gas station and what was apparently a convenience store.  Sure looks like a diner!  We love to try diners!

The dining room at T.C.’s Grill sure looks like a diner…except that it is much larger than would be typical of such an establishment.  The other limiting factor is that although the menu is fairly extensive, it doesn’t approach the wide range of selections usually offered in a diner.

The pickle chips appetizer was a winner!  Very tasty with a nice ranch style dipping sauce… Note: This was only a half order. ($3.50)

The onion rings had been recommended by Norm and Linda and they requested a full order for the table.  Laurie agreed that the onion rings were very nice… ($6.99)

Linda ordered a special…the Meat Loaf Dinner.  It came with 2 sides.  She liked her meal a lot and took some of it home for an upcoming lunch.  I didn’t record the price but most dinner entrees ranch from $11.99 to $14.99.

This was my dinner portion of Country Style Fried Chicken with gravy. ($12.99) This was a huge meal!  There were 2 hand-breaded chicken breasts, even more than I could eat a one sitting!  The breading and gravy were very nicely seasoned…plus T.C.’s had Tabasco on hand for the discerning diner.  I had the second chicken breast for lunch a couple of days later.

Having gorged on the onion rings, (I don’t like onions so I didn’t help reduce the stack), Norm simply followed up with a big bowl of Bean Soup. ($4.99) He was very content with his choice.

Laurie thought about it for a bit and then went for one of her favorite sandwiches, the Patty Melt. ($9.79) She wasn’t a happy camper.  For one thing, her medium rare burger was under cooked and bloody…very unappetizing! 

But for the most part, our dinner at T.C.’s Grill was a positive experience…although Laurie would never order another patty melt there.  We’ll go back in the not too distant future to try out other offerings, perhaps for breakfast.  The large breakfast menu looked tempting. 

T.C.’s Grill is located at 2514 Old Niles Ferry Road in Maryville Tennessee.  Open Monday – Saturday from 7 AM until 9:30 PM and Sunday from 8 AM until 3 PM.  Phone: 865-980-1905.  T.C.’s Grill is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pg/tcsmaryville/about/?ref=page_internal.

I thought I’d end this post with a few early spring photos taken at the back of our house.  We love spring and we love our red bud trees!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave