Return to a Favorite Bakery and Lunch Spot…Plus

After about 2 years of isolation and our efforts to avoid Covid-19, we finally decided to re-visit one of our favorite bakeries and luncheon destinations…

Tellico Grains Bakery is located in the center of Tellico Plains Tennessee, a small town of over 900 residents.  Unlike many small towns that aren’t close to larger cities, Tellico Plains has grown in recent years.  The population count was 657 in 1990. 

Both portions of the building occupied by the Bakery were built in 1908 and this was one of the few structures that survived the fire of 1914.  At various times, all or part of the building has served as a bank, attorney’s office, barber shop, beauty salon, pool room, town library, post office (1927 – 1975), Hayes Sweet Shop, a restaurant, a video store and a pawn shop.  The current owners bought the property in 2001 and opened the bakery…

This isn’t the greatest photo but it does provide a glimpse of some of the goodies produced by the family that owns and operates Tellico Grains.  There is a wide variety of delicious cookies, plus brownies, turnovers, cinnamon rolls, savory croissants, different types of Danish, a plethora of different types of bread and much more.  Unfortunately for us, that one lone scone on the lower shelf in the center was purchased by the customer just ahead of us.  Tellico Grains can only be described as an artisan bakery. 

Here are a couple of views of the inside of Tellico Grains… The first is looking from the small dining area toward the display and service counters.  The second photo shows part of the dining area.  Wood, brick and stone prevail throughout. 

If you check out Tellico Grains’ website at http://tellico-grains-bakery.com/?author=1, you can see what the Bakery’s owners went through just to save the building and start their business.  The building was in pretty rough shape in 2001.

We love the personal pizzas at Tellico Grains, (we think that they are the best in East Tennessee), but we also love their sandwiches.  Laurie ordered her favorite sandwich.  “Joe’s Italian is made with Genoa salami, pepperoni, Benton’s prosciutto, pesto mayo, pepperoncini’s, black olives, red onion, Dijon mustard, lettuce and tomato on an herb flatbread roll.  Happy wife!

I usually order the Waucheesi Club, a sandwich with smoked ham, roasted turkey, Benton’s bacon, pepper jack cheese, red onion (not for me), mayo and Dijon mustard on toasted sourdough bread, topped with lettuce and tomato.

In this instance however, I went for Stu’s Reuben with thinly sliced pastrami and corned beef topped with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and house made Thousand Island dressing all on toasted pumpernickel bread. (I substituted Dijon mustard for the Thousand Island) It was good but I didn’t like it as well as the Waucheesi Club.  Still, I’m thinking that the next time we dine at Tellico Grains, I may try the ‘Crispy Mister’.

To view the lunch menu go to http://tellico-grains-bakery.com/?page_id=1035.

This note is unrelated to the Bakery…other than it is related to the town of Tellico Plains. If you follow my blog, you are well aware that I do enjoy history and love researching little known facts and happenings. 

Well, when the Civil War broke out and Tennessee broke with the Union, the existing post office in Tellico Plains obviously didn’t and couldn’t use Union/Federal stamps.  So, the local postmaster printed his own.  They are both rare and expensive.  The first photo shows a close-up of one of these stamps and the second photo shows one of these stamps on an envelope addressed to someone in Knoxville Tennessee.

A bit more about the town of Tellico Plains.  It occupies the former site of the Cherokee town of Great Tellico, one of the more important towns of the Overhill Cherokee during the late 1700s.  Two important Native American trails met at Great Tellico, the ‘Trading Path’ and the ‘Warriors Path’.  Today the town’s economy is fueled by the nearby Cherohala Skyway and the Cherokee National Forest with the Tellico River and Bald River Falls.

Back to Tellico Grains Bakery…

On this occasion, we definitely supported our local business!  In addition to our lunch, we brought home the array of products shown above.  From the left we have fresh white bakery bread, house made granola, 2 oatmeal raisin cookies, 2 coconut cookies, 2 peanut butter cookies, and a big loaf of Fougasse bread… We also bought a large container of honey produced by Loving’s Honey Bees.  FYI, Fougasse bread was originally from Provence in France and it’s baked on a hearth… I suspect in this case it was one the bakery’s pizza hearth.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave