Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Food at Home, Out and About and, in the Near Future

We haven’t gotten out and explored much lately.  Health has been a limiting issue but we hope to hit the road soon.  We both miss our back roads adventures but everyone has to deal with life as it confronts them…

So…it’s all about food!



Time for a healthy meal!  A nice salad with mixed greens with cherry tomatoes, olives and balsamic vinaigrette dressing…backed up with grapes and orange slices.  Attractive and good for us!

Of course, I’m not being exactly serious.  First of all, greens don’t agree with my meds.  Secondly, a meal without some protein isn’t a complete meal, at least in my opinion…

This was on my plate…two Klement’s all beef hot dogs, pan grilled on the stove with butter.  The top sliced Pepperidge Farms buns are buttered and shredded cheese was added along with Dijon mustard.  Laurie had to eat that salad so she only had one hot dog… 

Neither of us have ever had a better hot dog than those made by Klement’s, a Wisconsin based company that has over 60 years of experience making top notch sausage products.  Locally, we buy our Klement’s hot dogs from Fresh Market in Farragut Tennessee.  To learn more, check out their website at https://klements.com/.   

Next in line was a restaurant luncheon one day when we were out and about…



This is the Café by LeeEllen in Loudon Tennessee.  We’ve dined here previously but it’s been awhile so here we go once again.  We love the fact that it is purely a local venture, plus the owner and her staff are so friendly and the food quality is top notch.  The mismatched tables and chairs just add to the downhome atmosphere.

Laurie once again opted for her favorite sandwich at LeeEllen's.  A Curry Chicken Salad Sandwich isn’t something that you find on too many menus, at least in East Tennessee.  The chicken salad is enhanced with grapes, almonds, mayonnaise, and curry sauce.  Better yet, it was served on a croissant!  For a side, Laurie went for cottage cheese.

In my case, I tried something new.  This was the Roasted Chicken, Swiss Cheese and Bacon sandwich.  As you can see, it was just loaded with roasted chicken and plenty of bacon.  My kind of sandwich!  For my side, I made up for all that meat with a fruit cup consisting of sliced grapes. 


We finished our lunch…but we weren’t done!  While we were satiated for the moment, we knew that we’d want some dessert in the evening.  Laurie ordered this luscious looking and tasting coconut cake…moist and wonderful.  She even gave me a taste.  For my part, I brought home a lovely slice of lemon cream pie.  Yum!

The Café by LeeEllen is located at 307 Grove Street in Loudon Tennessee.  Phone: 865-224-9888.  They are closed on Mondays and open from 11 AM to 2 PM on Tuesdays.  Wednesday through Sunday, LeeEllen’s is open from 9 AM to 3 PM…and on those days they do serve breakfast.  Website: https://www.thecafebyleeellen.com/. 

This is Loudon Tennessee’s old combination passenger and freight depot built by the East Tennessee and Georgia Railway.  The depot was built ca. 1863.  The railroad first came to Loudon in 1855 when a railroad bridge spanned the Tennessee River near here.  At that point the small town was known as Blair’s Ferry.  The old depot was the home of the local Chamber of Commerce for many years and I believe that it is now owned by Southern Railway, which is part of Norfolk Southern Railway.  Trains still rumble by the old depot...

Change has arrived!  The Monkeytown Brewing Company opened a new location in the depot on Thursday, 4/20/23!  Will it hurt The Café by LeeEllen?  It is actually less than a block away…right behind the left side of LeeEllen’s as shown in my first photo in this post.  We hope that all will be well and they will both survive and prosper.  The menus are totally different.  Monkeytown Brewing Company will be open for lunch and dinner Thursdays through Sundays.  Monkeytown Brewing Company is located at 318 Angel Row in Loudon.  Phone: 865-657-3380.  Website: https://loudon.monkeytownbrewing.com/.   

Both restaurants are about 3 blocks from the main street (US Hwy 11) through the center of Loudon and they may help each other attract customers.  I would guess that the clientele will overlap some and that may introduce customers to both restaurants.  Time will tell!  We will sample Monkeytown’s menu a couple of weeks from now when the initial confusion and shakeout has settled down…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

5 comments:

  1. As I said before, will repeat, fruit and vegetables are overrated :-) I used to eat damn lots of salads and veggies, but I wasn't that healthy at all..I guess everyone is different. And I couldn't agree with your more about the protein, David. The lemon pie does look pretty tempting if one enjoys the desserts and sweets. I didn't grow up eating desserts or sweets...can you believe that I have never had a donut, Oreo or M&M? Yes, I do bake for the family, but I don't eat them at all. When I do grocery shopping, I usually go directly to the meat counter or butcher :-)

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  2. Those first three pics look really healthy but the fourth not as much. We'll have to give those wieners a try. The coconut cake looks mouthwatering.

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  3. Delightful photos, and my own disagreement as to a healthy meal. I personally don't like anyone's hot dogs, and it wasn't till I had grilled Kielbasa or Bratwdurst that I liked a tube of meat. Yep, I'd love the fruits and salads...though chicken and bacon do sound pretty yummy. I walked into a fast food restaurant yesterday, aimed to just use the facilities...and was enticed by their bacon cooking odor. I quickly left before succuming to my appetites.

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  4. Your food pictures made me hungry. Since I came back from Georgia last Sunday I have just eaten what I could find in the freezer as I wanted to write a post. I’ll have to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I bought some sauerkraut and need to cook it. I usually do it the Alsacian way, with hot dog and some pork chops. I’ll have to see if they sell your wieners in Nashville somewhere, they sound tasty. I just remember that I bought some corned beef that I need to cook before mid-May. I usually like to make “New England dinner” once a year, corned beef and cabbage. Do you like that? Of course now when I make it, it lasts the whole week…

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  5. Dave, when I saw those first few photos of greens and fruit, I thought either i was on the wrong blog or you had drastically changed your food preferences! But, then came the hot dogs and the rest of the store. The Cafe food choices looked great even those desserts, which unfortunately are off our food plan for a while, so please enjoy for us!

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