Fresh on the Table New Restaurants in Knoxville
Four new dining destinations bring hot chicken, Southern comfort, hearty breakfasts, and playful nights to the Knoxville area.
Knoxville’s dining scene has been busy this fall. Since midsummer, a historic armory has traded drills for duckpin bowling and scratch-made bar food, a renovated home has begun serving Southern comfort food from scratch, and two beloved names, one fiery and one fluffy, have set up shop in town. Pull up a chair. Here’s where we’ve been eating.
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
The chicken is big, juicy, and crackling, and the sweet-and-smoky dry rub is a gentle way in. The sides steal the show: pimento mac and cheese, bacon-flecked baked beans, and bacon cheddar grits so buttery they’re out of this world. The waffles arrive like thick funnel cakes, crisp outside, with syrup and honey butter. Finish with warm peach cobbler under vanilla ice cream. Two college guys at the next table swore by the chicken sandwich, with its creamy slaw and honey mustard.
The Possum
Begin with the skillet cornbread, its crunchy top glistening with hot butter and honey. The crispy Brussels sprouts, tossed in a ham jam of country ham cooked with Coca-Cola, are filling and flavorful. For the main event, try the sweet tea-brined fried chicken with mac and cheese dusted in crushed pork rinds. Or order the roast chicken and dumplings, thick and doughy beneath chicken gravy beside sweet glazed carrots. The shrimp and grits, with jumbo blackened shrimp and andouille over pimento cheese grits, has a kick you feel in your throat. Save room for buttermilk pie with homemade ice cream, where the vanilla is unmistakable.
The Flying Biscuit Cafe
The menu is enormous, but the fresh veggie scramble is a fine place to start: three eggs with spinach, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, and white cheddar, so light and fluffy it’s almost unfair. It comes with “moon dusted” potatoes, seasoned with Italian herbs, and the namesake biscuit, crisp outside and cloud-soft within, with cranberry apple butter. Then there’s the cappuccino, the largest we’ve ever seen. The owner’s favorite is the s’mores peppermint. At the bar, two women split a mimosa tower and told us they love having a downtown breakfast spot with great hours and no endless wait.
The Armory
The food holds its own against the entertainment, with about 90 percent made from scratch. Smoked wings, brined and smoked in house, fall apart at a touch, and you can choose from sauces like citrus sriracha and Carolina BBQ or dry rubs. Don’t miss the hand-battered fried pickles with jalapeño ranch, the fresh taco salad in a fried shell, the shrimp po’boy, and the Bacon Love smash burger. Pair them with a Cadillac margarita or an espresso martini.
