Tennessee Restaurants Vol. 1

Tennessee Restaurants

Vol. 1

Whether you're looking for a barbecue joint for dad, a tea room for lunch with the ladies or a meat-and-three for the whole family, Tennessee has dozens of restaurants to please your palate. Venture out of the kitchen and off the beaten path, where Southern hospitality is on the menu at these fine establishments, which also serve up pulled pork, heirloom apple cakes, scones, chicken salad, homemade bread, fruit tea, ham sandwiches and all sorts of down-home cooking – without leaving you with any of the cleanup.

Flip through the following pages to find a few of our favorite Tennessee restaurants. Please remember that hours of operation do change, so call ahead before driving long distances. Bon appetit!

East Tennessee

Dutch Maid Bakery

I

t’s not easy keeping a century-old bakery alive, but Cindy Day seems to have mastered the task. Day is the owner of the Dutch Maid Bakery in Tracy City, which was founded in 1902 by Swiss immigrants, the Baggenstosses. Housed in an old brick building, the Dutch Maid still beckons passers-by with the aroma of fresh-baked bread and friendly small-town service.

“The bakery has survived this long because of its great recipes,” Day says. “We ship fruitcakes all over the U.S., and we have unusual breads.

Our salt-rise bread takes so long to make that you can’t find it just anywhere.”

Day purchased the bakery in 2005, reopening it after a one-year hiatus. She also collected all the original recipes the former owners used back in 1902. “We still use the same old recipes, and every loaf of bread is hand-rolled,” she says proudly.

Day has also incorporated a few of her own recipes into the batch of Baggenstoss favorites.

She makes a variety of artisan breads such as Black Olive Roasted Red Pepper, Onion Dill, Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Olive Oil, as well as wedding and birthday cakes, pastries, sweet breads and cookies.

“Another thing that’s helped us survive is being creative,” Day says. “We have a café now, and once a month, we do an elegant evening dinner where we serve prime rib, salmon and other dishes.”

The Dutch Maid Café serves breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, and the

menu includes a soup of the day and a plate lunch, along with sandwiches on fresh-baked bread, salads and desserts.

“I love being creative with breads to see how different flavor combinations turn out,” Day says. “I’m happy to show people how we make the dough and bake the bread.”

When you visit the Dutch Maid Bakery, chances are you’ll find owner Cindy Day in the kitchen mixing dough with an antique mixer or slicing hot loaves of bread with a 1920s bread slicer. That’s because Day uses much of the same equipment – supplemented by a few modern pieces – that the Baggenstoss family used a century ago.

“We have old Hobart mixers from 1919 and the early 1930s, and our oven is from 1919,” Day says. “It was made in Germany and originally fired with wood.”

Even the bakery’s proofer room, where the bread starters are made, radiates oldfashioned charm. “When you work in a state-of-the-art bakery, everything is computerized. But here we use a hot plate and a pail of water to create humidity,” Day says. “It’s kind of archaic, but that’s how they did it in 1902. It’s nostalgic.”

Dutch Maid Bakery is located at 109 Main St. in Tracy City. For more information, call (931) 592-3171 or visit www.thedutchmaid.com.

East Tennessee

Ridgewood Barbecue

K

eep in mind three things about Ridgewood Barbecue in Bluff City: It’s not easy to find. Don’t ask for the recipe because only two people in the world know it, and it’s not written down. And most importantly, it’s all about the ham.

Ridgewood’s signature barbecue dish is pitcooked with a heavy-smoked taste, then sliced thin and piled on platters or massive sandwiches with a tangy sauce. It’s a method Larry Proffitt’s father, Jim, developed back in the 1940s.

The key, Proffitt says, is starting with a high-quality product.

“Any country boy knows you put pork shoulders in sausage,” Proffitt says. “We use hams. They make for a different type of barbecue, with more body. It’s not like you are eating something mushy.”

The smoke pits are outside, which Proffitt says is a requirement. Ridgewood now has four pits and smokes at least 150 10- to 13-pound deboned hams each week, double that in the summer.

Obviously, the formula works, so the family sees no reason to change it, to the delight of customers and food critics alike.

Back in 1948, Grace and Jim Proffitt picked a spot on Old Highway 19E to start their restaurant, and it still serves the venture well, despite its small-town surroundings.

Bluff City is home to less than 2,000 residents, but foodies come from miles around to enjoy one-of-a-kind barbecue from

a family that cares about maintaining the restaurant’s original charm and draw.

“It is just a little joint,” Proffitt says. “You have to want to come to find us.”

Proffitt started working there when he was a boy, often picking up the manuallabor tasks.

“When someone didn’t show up on Saturday, guess who washed the dishes and bused the tables?” he jokes. He’s now passed along the family tradition to his daughter, Lisa Peters, who runs the restaurant. But don’t expect anyone outside the family to take over.

The recipe has more than 24 ingredients, and after Proffitt’s brother died in 2003, it was time to pass on the family legacy to the next generation. He wrote out the recipe, made Lisa study it and practice reciting it aloud until she had it down, and then burned the paper.

That’s what you call a secret family recipe.

Ridgewood Barbecue is located at 900 Elizabethtown Highway in Bluff City. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Contact Ridgewood Barbecue at (423) 538-7543.

East Tennessee

Apple Cake Tea Room

M

ore than 25 years ago, an old family recipe provided the inspiration for what would become Mary Henry’s successful West Knox County restaurant, the Apple Cake Tea Room. Situated near the interstate in a cozy, inviting log cabin, the quaint lunch spot is a favorite among local folks and travelers alike.

Her homemade, heirloom apple cake is Henry’s signature item, but the menu features a number of tantalizing specialties.

“The Tea Room Medley is very popular,” Henry says. “It includes chicken salad, glazed fruit, homemade banana bread with cream cheese and chips. We also get a lot of orders for our Pineapple Boat – a hollowed out pineapple half filled with chicken salad.”

In defiance of tea room stereotypes, the helpings are anything but dainty. “We get a lot of men,” Henry says. “If you can get them in the door, they realize we serve adequate portions.”

What’s more, the food is prepared with care. “Our chicken salad is made fresh daily,” Henry explains. “A lot of places just don’t make their own foods anymore, but that’s something we’ve always done, and we’ll never change that.”

Even the tea is made on site. In addition to the standard English breakfast, Earl grey and green teas, the Apple Cake Tea Room serves its own special recipe Friendship Tea, a Russian spice tea mix that customers can enjoy by the cup or purchase by the jar to take home.

For dessert, there’s the apple cake, of

course, which customers say is to-die-for.

There’s also brownie pie with ice cream and homemade fudge sauce, or if you want to go all out, the Ice Cream Cornucopia, a waffletype pastry in the shape of a cornucopia filled with vanilla ice cream and then drizzled with butterscotch and fudge sauce and topped with sautéed bananas.

The homey, two-story log cabin is decorated with antiques, quilts, pine tables and many of Henry’s family heirlooms. A fire burns in the open fireplace every day. Upstairs, an array of old fireplace mantels and antique wedding dresses provides the perfect backdrop for wedding showers and private parties.

All in all, it’s no wonder this long-standing lunch spot has so many loyal customers.

“I think the community appreciates our longevity and reliability. I consider it a big compliment that my staff has been here for 15, 16, 17 years, and I’ve greatly enjoyed the relationships I’ve built with my regular customers,” Henry says. “It’s a special place.

A lot of memories have been made here.”

The Apple Cake Tea Room, located at 11312 Station West Drive in Knoxville (Farragut), is open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and they also offer rental space for special events. You can reach them at (865) 966-7848.

middle Tennessee

Burdett’s Tea Shop & Trading Company

Y

ou haven’t had a scone until you’ve been to Burdett’s Tea Shop & Trading Company in downtown Springfield. You may have had a thawed-out, wanna-be scone at a coffee chain, but you haven’t truly savored one of these biscuit-like British specialties until you sink your teeth into one of Burdett’s warm, perfectly sweet handmade scones.

“A lot of people advertise fresh-baked scones, but ours really are handmade with our own family recipe,” says Sandy Ramsey, owner of Burdett’s Tea Shop & Trading Company. “Everyone seems to love them.”

Burdett’s specialty is the Raisin Scone, and another favorite is the Ham & Cheese Scone.

Other choices include more exotic varieties, such as the luscious Pineapple Coconut Scone with a powdered sugar glaze.

Opened in 2001 by Ramsey and her daughter, Erin Whited, Burdett’s inviting atmosphere wraps you up like a warm blanket the moment you step inside. Wooden dining tables are dressed up with ivory lace tablecloths, and strands of white lights twinkle around the shop, reflecting in at least a hundred shiny tea pots and tea cups that serve as both décor and inventory.

“We sell a lot of tea sets, unique serving pieces, loose tea and gifts, and people enjoy that as much as the food,” Ramsey says. “It pleases me when people say, ‘I’ve never seen

this anywhere else.’”

The menu also features handmade soups, quiche, salads and sandwiches, such as the Turkey-Ham Melt and the Red River Reuben.

One of the most unusual things Burdett’s offers, however, is its Tea Plate, which can be prepared for one or two people. It includes scones served with cream and jam, mini sandwiches, cheese and crackers, fruit, peanut butter balls, brownies, tarts and other homemade sweets served on a two- or threetiered plate with a pot of steaming-hot tea.

Speaking of tea, Burdett’s tea menu features more than a dozen varieties of black and green teas, from the flavorful and brisk Lover’s Leap to the light and bright Countess Grey.

And the customers, Ramsey says, make her job a labor of love. “When someone says, ‘I love coming here,’ ” she says, “It makes you feel like you did something right.”

Burdett’s Tea Shop & Trading Company is located at 618 S. Main St. in Springfield. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.burdettsteashop.com or call (615) 384-2320.

middle Tennessee

Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse and Bakery

T

he cowbell on the front door jangles loudly when you step in the door at Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse and Bakery.

But don’t expect the other customers to notice your arrival. They continue laughing, talking and eating as if they were at home – just the way co-owner Marcy Gary likes it.

“I think people miss the atmosphere of the old mom-and-pop diners,” says the longlegged redhead, a Midwestern twang revealing her Kansas roots. “There are not a lot of these places left anymore.”

Marcy Jo’s is easy to spot. A friendly white building with brick-red trim and a tin roof, it hugs the edge of the road at the “T” where State Road 99 joins U.S. 431 in Pottsville, a rural community between Chapel Hill and Columbia. A two-seat swing, an old dinner bell and an American flag grace the front porch. Arrive before 2 p.m., and you’ll find the gravel parking lot full of cars.

If you experience a little déjà vu upon entering the front door, don’t worry. Marcy’s partner in this venture is none other than her sister-in-law, Joey Martin Feek, the female half of Joey + Rory. Several music videos feature the restaurant, as do the country music duo’s Overstock.com commercials.

Before they opened in January 2007, Marcy and Joey spent hours poring over family recipes. But these days, you’re not likely to

find Joey hanging around the restaurant much.

Since their appearance on the TV show “Can You Duet,” she and husband Rory (Marcy’s older brother) spend much of their time touring the country and singing their songs.

On weekdays, breakfast is served from 7-11 a.m. The lunch menu features a single hearty special that reflects the season. In winter, meatloaf, roast beef and fried chicken appear on set days. Come summertime, selections include barbecued ribs and chicken or fried catfish.

Saturdays guarantee a full house – breakfast is served all day, with specials such as stuffed French toast garnering praise.

While she’s on tour, Joey misses the farm and family restaurant, but the singer feels good about leaving the business in her sisterin-law’s hands.

“Opening the restaurant was Marcy’s dream, and she’s the glue that holds this place together,” Joey says. “But when I come home, I drop by and make biscuits and wait tables. It keeps me grounded.”

Marcy Jo’s Mealhouse is located at 4205 Highway 431 outside of Columbia. It’s open for breakfast weekdays from 7-11, lunch from 11-2 and Friday nights from 5-8. Reach them at (931) 380-0968.

middle Tennessee

Front Porch Restaurant

W

had in mind when she opened the restaurant in 2000.

“I wanted to do something different than a meat and three but still true to Southern in order.

She had a successful 28-year career in the roots,” she says. “I didn’t want to be cattle brokering business, raised a family and known as just a tea room, and I wanted survived a divorce, but felt stuck. Her heart, businessmen to feel comfortable here too.

We want people to perceive this as a she realized, was in good food, a passion pleasant, friendly place to go. I love it she had indulged in a part-time catering when people come in, see their friends business with a friend, but now wanted to and table-hop.” pursue seriously.

Ladies and gentlemen both come to the “I thought, ‘If I don’t follow my dream now, I Front Porch for a menu that offers everything never will,’” she remembers. from light salads and seafood dishes to And so the Front Porch restaurant was soups, hearty sandwiches and meaty hotborn, much to the delight of thousands of happy customers who flock to the downtown lunch plates, including a blue plate special – served on an actual blue plate.

Dickson eatery for what its owner – who is The menu changes seasonally, with an now remarried and goes by Carol Michael emphasis on quality, from fresh vegetables to Heflin – calls “Southern cuisine with a homemade desserts like the Mile-High gourmet twist.”

Coconut or Chocolate pie and the pecanHeflin works her magic in a Victorian laden Jackson Pie. cottage built just a year after the City of Dickson was incorporated in 1899. Enter the pretty white house with its dark green trim and you’re in Grandma’s house. The porch is painted with garden murals, the floor a The Front Porch Restaurant is located green-and-white checkerboard. The walls at 108 Center Ave. in Dickson. For of the light-filled rooms are sponged a pale more information, contact the yellow and adorned with colorful prints restaurant at (615) 441-0006. Carol and plates. The friendly staff (“Hi, y’all – Michael and her recipes have also like a little lunch?”) completes the warm, appeared on NewsChannel5’s “Talk homey ambiance. of the Town.”

The lunch crowd is eclectic – ladies, businessmen and families – a mix Heflin hen Carol Michael considered the new millennium a few years back, she decided a change was

West Tennessee

Just Divine Tea Room

T

hough the atmosphere of Just Divine Tea Room is country-casual, visitors might be inspired to wear their Sunday best when stopping by for a weekday lunch. That’s because the eatery makes its home in the former Hale’s Point Baptist Church. But no matter how they dress, customers will find themselves singing the praises of the tasty, home-style fare.

In 1998, Charlene Roberts spotted a vacant country church while checking crops on the family farm with her husband, Ronnie. They bought the 50-year-old clapboard building and moved it to its current location at Charlene’s Colony of Shoppes on Highway 88, where it joined a thriving group of quaint boutiques.

After a year of renovation, the former church sanctuary was transformed into the main dining room, a cheerful space painted yellow with white wainscoting accents. The walls are covered with eye-catching décor – an antique lamp, blue-and-white china, a ceramic rooster – all for sale, part of Roberts’ inventory from her home furnishings store.

The smaller former Sunday school rooms are designed for more intimate dining. A oneroom house relocated by the Roberts now serves as a larger formal dining room.

Adorned in rich reds and earthy browns, it’s perfect for large groups and private parties.

The loving attention to detail in the décor carries over into the food. Just Divine’s simple menu features gourmet deli sandwiches and salads, such as the zingy mandarin orange

salad with honey-pecan dressing, as well as daily specials, like the creamy pesto pasta with grilled chicken or shrimp. For a new twist on an old Southern favorite, try the orange-scented cornbread or the garliccheddar biscuits.

The restaurant’s fabulous chicken salad, which began as one of Charlene’s recipe improvisations, has become something of a local legend. Folks order it for sandwiches, and they take it home by the pint. No wonder; it’s made daily from fresh chicken breast (no canned meat here), red seedless grapes, chopped red and green bell peppers, almonds, and a light honey-mustard-andmayo dressing.

Don’t miss homemade scrumptious sweets like chocolate cobbler, hot-fudge cake, apple dumplings or the decadent four-layer dessert, built on a base of pecan shortbread covered in chocolate pudding and cream-cheese whipped topping, drizzled with chocolate syrup and sprinkled with toasted pecans.

It’s heavenly.

Just Divine Tea Room, located at 2257 Highway 88 W. in Halls, just south of Dyersburg, is open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dessert is served until 3 p.m. Contact Just Divine at (731) 836-6113 or www.charlenes.net.

west Tennessee

Canale’s Grocery

E

xpect to find an out-of-this-world ham sandwich when you visit Canale’s Grocery on Raleigh-LaGrange Road in Eads, but don’t expect to find a place to sit down and savor it.

“Our motto is ‘Stack ’em high, sell ’em low, wrap ’em up and let ’em go,’” says owner Justin Canale. “Everything we offer is to-go.”

That’s just fine with the hoards of loyal customers who have been stopping by Canale’s for their famous ham sandwiches since the combination grocery store, butcher shop and gas station opened 36 years ago.

After all, it’s less than $3 for one of Canale’s ham sandwiches stacked with cheese, lettuce and tomato and slathered with mayo or mustard, and you get a big helping of hometown service on the side.

Owned by brothers Justin and Conn Canale, the family business was originally launched in Bartlett in the mid-1960s by their father, George. It moved to Eads in 1970 when the Canales purchased the modest cement block building it resides in today, marked by a faded black-and-white sign that proudly declares: “Canale’s Gro. & Butcher Shop – Home of the Hams.”

Indeed, it is. Canale’s has the capacity to smoke 45 hams at a time in its two stainless steel smokers. Conn arrives at 3 a.m. most days to smoke the hams over charcoal for five to seven hours.

“He’s got it down to perfection,” Justin says.

“We use a dry rub, and I think it’s the best

ham on the market.”

The customers agree. Canale’s sells whole and half hams year-round for $5.99 a pound, and they get so many orders during the holiday season that they have to cut people off.

They just don’t have the cooler space, Justin apologetically explains.

During Canale’s daily lunch rush, many buy chips, soft drinks and other typical small-town grocery fare to go with the ham sandwiches.

“We get backed up around noon making sandwiches when all the workers come in, but we try to get them in and out as quick as possible,” Justin says. “Besides ham, we also have bologna, turkey and roast beef sandwiches. But ham sells the most.”

Justin describes the store’s location as “part country, part city” and thinks running the store with his brothers is about as close as you can get to retirement bliss. “I see a lot of older people who don’t know what to do with themselves, and I like staying busy at this time in my life,” he explains. “We just love keeping busy with our hams.”

Canale’s Grocery is located at 10170 Raleigh-LaGrange Road East in Eads. It is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 6 a.m. to noon.

For more information, call (901) 853-9490.

This special edition magazine was created by Journal Communications Inc. Do you have a restaurant recommendation in your neck of the woods? E-mail us at thaf@jnlcom.com with your suggestion.

Find more Tennessee restaurants on our website at tnhomeandfarm.com/food/restaurants.