Dinner at a National Chain and More

I started thinking about restaurants located relatively close to our house that we hadn’t eaten at since we’ve lived here…10 years in August.  A couple of national chain restaurants came to mind.  So, a couple of weeks ago, we ventured forth, giving one of them a try.

This is the front of Texas Roadhouse Restaurant, which is located in the Turkey Creek shopping complex in west Knoxville and Farragut Tennessee.  Texas Roadhouse is relatively easy to miss as it faces a short subsidiary road in the shopping area.  We’d eaten in a Texas Roadhouse years ago…but it was so long ago, with one exception to be explained later, its memory has faded.   

Upon entering the restaurant, you are greeted by a host or hostess as well as by this refrigerated display case full of various cuts of steak.  For a carnivore like myself, this was a positive sign.  The steaks looked good.

The U-shaped bar is located in the center left of the restaurant’s public area as you enter the building.  Customers in the bar are surrounded by TV screens…

FYI…Texas Roadhouse is based in Louisville Kentucky and it has about 563 restaurants in 49 states in the USA plus restaurants in the United Arab Republic, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Mexico, China, Taiwan and one at a US military base in South Korea.

This is a large restaurant…with mostly booths but some tables for folks like me that aren’t crazy about booths. (Especially for 4 diners) Wood with a touch of industrial style lighting plus a mix of Texan/country décor define the interior.

As we were about to be seated, the hostess asked if we’d like some rolls…a little different than most establishments.  They were stacked near the host’s station and she brought a basket of them with us.  They were just OK and neither of us like the sweet ‘butter’ mixture that they’re served with.  We want real butter!

What we did remember from Texas Roadhouse years past were the peanuts…a fond memory!  There still is a bucket of salted in-shell peanuts on every table.  The only difference is that you don’t throw the shells on the floor like customers used to… Instead, an empty bucket is provided just for the remnants.  As an old loss prevention/risk management guy, I would have been pushing for this change just to prevent slips and falls by customers and employees alike.  

Laurie’s 18 oz. Frozen Margarita with Sangria was very pretty…and she liked it a lot! ($6.25) I did my usual with a pint of Miller Lite. ($3.75) Both drinks went well with those peanuts!

Although there is a lot of variety on the Texas Roadhouse menu, given that meat display case at the entrance with the emphasis on steaks on the menu, the tendency, at least for dinner, is to go for steaks!  It least it was for us.  We both chose steaks and we both went with the side Caesar salad.  We like a lot of salad dressing (although many folks don’t) and this salad was perfect for us.

As I mentioned above, the menu has a lot of variety for diners to choose from.  Beyond the appetizers/starter and salads, it features ribs, combo plates, chicken specialties, country dinners, and dockside favorites, as well as burgers and other sandwiches.

The steaks were tender enough and they were grilled medium rare as requested.  Laurie went for the 10 oz. Ribeye with applesauce on the side ($16.99) and I went for the 12 oz. version with 'loaded' steak fries. ($18.99 plus 99 cents.  In our opinion the steaks just were OK.  Laurie would rate hers a 6 out of 10 and I would rate mine a 5.  While the seasoning gave them flavor, the amount of salt used was a bit over the top.  

Conclusions: 1) The steaks were average for a casual dining restaurant, and 2) The next time we dine at a Texas Roadhouse, we’ll explore other portions of the menu.

The Texas Roadhouse in the Turkey Creek Shopping complex is located at 11001 Turkey Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-392-9150.  The company’s website is at https://www.texasroadhouse.com/.

After dinner, Laurie was out of her Tito’s Vodka at home so we went shopping.  For those unfortunates who do imbibe in an alcoholic beverage from time to time, if you don’t have a Total Wine and More in your area, it’s your loss.  Other stores like this exist but few compare in size and available selection of brands and types of beverage.

This photo shows just a part of the fine wine selection at Total Wine and More.  The display also promotes the fact that the company ‘does weddings’! 

Total Wine and More is family owned and is headquartered in Maryland.  The company has over 193 stores in 23 states and it employs over 7,000 associates.  This year, the company’s sales should reach $3,000,000,000!

Our Total Wine and More store has a wine tasting station…a good thing for more than one reason.  Each store stocks roughly 8,000 different wines!

 

Beyond the USA, they carry wine from (in no particular order) Peru, Armenia, Hungary, Republic of Georgia, Ireland, Canada, Netherlands, Algeria, New Zealand, Chile, Germany, Lebanon, Romania, Uruguay, China, Brazil, Croatia, India, Morocco, Montenegro, Israel, Japan, Cyprus, England, Poland, Switzerland, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Russia, South Africa, Venezuela, Mexico, Denmark, Austria, Portugal, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and Argentina. 

However, on our first visit we had asked if they had any wine from Moldova…and they didn’t have any in stock…although they do carry this country’s wines.  I remember not too many years ago when we had a wine tasting party and the theme was Eastern European wines.  We had a heck of a time finding any wine for the party but Laurie and I lucked out with a donated bottle of excellent Moldovan wine!  If this store was fully stocked, we would have had 12 Eastern European countries to choose from…

Just a couple more photos to give readers who haven’t seen one of these stores…a sense of the enormity of them.  They can encompass as much as 50,000 square feet of space.  In addition to the 8,000 wines, they also carry 3,000 spirits, (bourbon, whisky, Scotch, vodka, tequila, brandy, gin and more), as well as 2,500 varieties of beer!

The net effect of all these choices can be a bit overwhelming but the staff is both knowledgeable and friendly.  One other factor is that high purchasing power equals low prices on competitive products!

Total Wine and More in Knoxville’s Turkey Creek shopping area is located at 11370 Parkside Drive.  Phone: 865-672-5100.  The company’s website is at https://www.totalwine.com/.  

Lost and found!  Laurie went out our front door the other day to check on the yard and to see if she could see any wildlife.  Instead she spotted this miserable and pitiful looking little cockapoo that was just standing there.  When she called the dog…no reaction.  The dog is deaf.  When she picked it up to bring it into the laundry room she also discovered that the dog was blind!  As you can see, despite its problems, it survived its ordeal but it was a mess...it smelled too!  It did have a collar with a phone number so we called the owner who came to pick it up.  Happy ending!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave