Forty-five Years and Counting!

On spring day 45 years ago, Laurie and were married…exactly one year after our first date.  Time flies!  We recently celebrated our 45^th Anniversary.  This milestone earned us a first class celebratory meal in a first class restaurant…

The first photo shows the parking lot side of the Foothills Milling Co. Restaurant in Maryville Tennessee.  The second photo shows the front door to the restaurant.  

The original Foothills Milling Co. location was opened in 2001 in Wears Valley, located between Townsend and Pigeon Forge Tennessee.  That location actually featured a working mill in the restaurant.  The tourist traffic in that area was just a small reason for the restaurant’s early success.  In any case, in late 2006 or early 2007, this family operated restaurant relocated to this site in downtown Maryville.

So what is this old car doing in the Foothills Milling parking lot?  There was another restaurant at this location prior to the move by Foothills Milling Co but, even before that this building served as a Studebaker and later, an Edsel auto dealership.  I like old cars but I’m no expert.  This appears to be a 1925 Studebaker Standard Six.  A nice touch of the past…and whimsy too.

The bar is small and quite cozy.  Since dinner reservations are critical here, there are probably relatively few folks cooling their heels with an adult beverage before dinner.  In addition to the bar, there are separate spaces for small group or private gatherings.

The restaurant’s atmosphere is elegant or upscale enough as befits its menu and the quality of the food.  Southern charm is evident in the white linen napkins and tablecloths…fine dining in a casual relaxing atmosphere.  The suggested dress ‘code’ for the restaurant is business casual.  Most folks were wearing slacks and collared shirts and the ladies were mostly in slacks and nice tops.  Others were actually a bit more casual or more formal. 

To help us celebrate, we were accompanied by our new neighbors and friends, Sue and Steve.  Wisely, not too long ago, they fled California for calmer climes and a higher standard of living here in eastern Tennessee.  They live right across the street from us.

Then of course, they 'had to' take a picture of Laurie and yours truly… Honest!  I am smiling! 

Isn’t that old brick wall a great backdrop?

Warning: Some of the following photos aren’t the greatest.  I forgot my camera and the lighting was such that I couldn’t see if the photos Laurie took with her phone were clear or not.  They looked good at the time… FYI, I only had one glass of wine!

Adult beverages were ordered and our server told us that we would be served an ‘amusette’, a starter designed to stimulate our palates.  Sue, Steve and my bride were all served little fritters with greens and a sauce, the name of which I can’t recall.   All three of my dinner partners raved about the fritters.

Since I avoid greens due to my meds, the server suggested that she could serve me a strawberry drizzled with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with goat cheese.  It was very good!

About the same time that the ‘amusettes’ were served, so was this basket of house baked bread!  It was the best bread that we’ve had in a long time and it was served with top notch local butter…soft and easy to spread!  After we wiped out the first basket of bread, our server brought us another basket to demolish.  I do believe that Steve and I both consumed 80% of a basket of bread each! 

When it came to ordering the food, Sue and Steve had more control than we did…but it was our anniversary so we had an excuse!  In any case, for an appetizer they just spilt a bowl of She Crab Soup that was finished with a splash of sherry.  It was very well received.

For my appetizer I ordered the “Buttermilk Curry Pork Meatballs”…Berkshire pork meatballs with yellow curry and served with warm naan flatbread.  I didn’t leave anything behind, even the naan of the curry sauce.   Very nice indeed!

Laurie also ordered an appetizer…but the photo was too bad to even consider using in this post.  In any case, she ordered something she hadn’t had in a long time but always loved.  Her choice was the “Escargot”…a half dozen French helix snails stuffed in roasted garlic button mushrooms and served with lemon and a slice of grilled French baguette.  She really enjoyed her choice but she has since told me that she prefers the escargot in a garlic butter sauce and that, for her at least, the mushrooms were unnecessary.

Next…in order for us to ‘cleanse’ our palates before the main course, each of us were served a small dish of high quality sherbet.  I was trying to recall the last time I was served sherbet as a palate cleanser…and we decided that it was the last time we dined at Foothills Milling Co.  Another nice touch by the restaurant.    

Now on to our entrees!  Sue ordered “Maple Leaf Farms Duck Two Ways…seared duck breast cooked to medium beside a pecan and apple smoked leg quarter and served with soft polenta, roasted brocolini, and a port cherry reduction.  By now both Sue and Steve were quite happy and impressed with the quality of the food and service at Foothills Milling Co.

Steve went in yet another direction with his dinner entrée.  He ordered the “Low Country Shrimp and Grits…with jumbo shrimp, Benton’s bacon, creole white wine cream sauce and creole sausage over creamy grits.  Another dinner winner!

My better half…my bride for the last 45 years…ordered what she usually orders on special occasions.  This time her entrée was served in a different format from the way she usually orders her favorite.  She had the “Tempura Lobster Tails”…cornmeal tempura fried…with jasmine rice, sourwood honey sriracha aioli, sweet Thai chili sauce, sesame roasted mushrooms and baby green beans.  She gave her celebratory meal ‘two thumbs up’ but she did reach her ‘food limit’, ending up taking a lobster tail and some rice home.  I had it for breakfast!

As I perused the menu trying to decide what I’d order for my entrée, I looked at many options…Steak and Potatoes; Cedar Planked Salmon; Short Rib Stuffed Meatloaf, Horseradish Crusted Grouper, Danish Baby Back Ribs…and several other possibilities.  I told our little group that I saw several possibilities but bemoaned the lack lamb on the menu.  An adjoining table overheard me and told us that lamb chops were available and that in fact, they’d ordered them for their entrees. 

Happy me!  So I ordered the Lamb Chop for my entrée!  It was served on a bed of rice of some sort…which worked very well with the medium rare chop.  Since I am avoiding greens, our server told me that they could offer me roasted carrots instead.  My meal was excellent!   

This sweet beverage, a fancy latte, was Laurie’s ‘dessert’, and yes, I also indulged in a dessert.  In my case, I had an excellent blackberry cobbler with some first class ice cream.  In both cases, dessert was definitely an ‘overkill’!  However Laurie finished her liquid dessert and I ‘forced’ myself not to waste the cobbler.  We forgot to take a picture of the cobbler…

The Foothills Milling Co. Restaurant is a first class dining destination.  We have never had a finer meal anywhere in the Knoxville metropolitan area!  Service was tops too.  Hannah, our server, was very helpful and knowledgeable… 

Foothills Milling Company is located at 315 South Washington Street in Maryville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-977-8434.  They are open Tuesday through Saturday beginning at 4 PM.  When I called for a reservation a week before our dinner, I was told that we could choose between 5 PM and 8:30 PM.  This is a popular and highly rated restaurant!  Learn more at Foothills Milling – Foothills Milling Company.

I’ll bet that you thought that this blog posting was done… Wrong!  Laurie felt a need to take a ‘selfie’ of us to mark the big event.  Just for the record I’ve also attached a ‘professional’ photo that was taken 45 years ago.  We do look a little different now…time marches on!

We’re looking forward to our 50^th Anniversary!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what we’ve been up to!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie