Five-And-Dime Diner

I stopped and grabbed lunch today at Clinchfield Soda Station in Erwin.

What a cool breakfast and lunch spot. Located inside the Clinchfield Drug company building. It’s an old school diner type counter with swivel stools along side the drug store wares, even a pharmacist filling prescriptions!

Very similar to the good olde F. W. Woolworth Company, aka “Woolworth” diner, if you’re familiar with this five-and-dime store from back in the day!

I got a cheeseburger with pickles, fries and a sweet tea. It was delicious! One of the better burger I’ve had since moving to the area. It was so tasty and tender, cooked perfectly and the fries were also tasty and piping hot -

These sodas look interesting too -

I’ll definitely be visiting again. They have an “Iron Horse” burger that sounds and looks delicious but I’ll need to bring a BIG appetite to tackle this burger 🍔 but I’m up for the challenge.

Might even top it all off with an old fashion milkshake!

The service was great too. I give it two thumbs 👍 👍 up!

A Hole In The Wall It Is!

We’re learning that many places of business are closed on Sundays and or close early in these East Tennessee parts. Places like mom and pop stores and restaurants, co-ops and feed stores and most Mennonite establishments.

Well, after breaking our backs cutting, hauling and burning limbs and brush last Sunday afternoon, we opted for a bit of lunch during our break time. Alas, all the local little eateries we closed…except for the Hole In the Wall Diner in Chuckey -

This hidden gem is open till 2:00PM on Sundays and only 11 miles away, so off we went! 

As you might expect, since being one of the few places open on Sunday, the place was busy.

With only one waitress and one cook things were a tad slow. However, that wasn’t an issue as we were in no hurry. We were definitely outsiders and may have gotten a few stares or two. Several parties looked to have come from church, we on the other hand NOT so much and filthy dirty too.

Think I’m a liking these cowboy commandments -

Our smash burgers eventually arrived and they ended up being well worth the wait! The prices were super reasonable and the waitress was super nice.

We’ll definitely be keeping this place on our go-to option list and plan to stop in one of these days for breakfast, as their menu looked delicious.

A Beer Garden

We hit up The Gentry in downtown Greeneville Friday night for some cold beer and wood-fired pizza 🍕-

It’s an outside venue situated in an old alley. The buildings on either side are in a bit of disrepair but suppose this adds to the unique charm. There’s plenty of seating options from picnic tables to couches to Adirondack chairs, covered and uncovered, even an igloo bubble. There’s a stage and they had a lone dude up there singing away on the night we stopped in. It was a relaxing atmosphere -

The pizza was tasty but smaller than we expected (not our pizza pictured) and took a while to come out -

Still getting used to the fact that generally speaking there just are not a lot of people out and about hanging and socializing in these parts.

When I was in Chicago last week we went out to an outdoor brewery on Friday night and it was hopping! Families, kids, dogs, a beehive of activity but alas not in Greeneville anyway -

Not my pic above but a good look at what the alley looks like.

Suppose I’d go back again, as the pizza was tasty

And the 16oz beers were frosty 🥶 cold.

Opa! Brunch With A Greek Twist

Sunday breakfast at Elia cafe!  The best Greek and Mediterranean brunch in Park Ridge, IL, absolutely delicious!

I went with the Spano Benedict, which is spinach and feta pie, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce with hash browns and sourdough toast - 

Great service and HUGE portions, SO delicious!

#Blessed

A Couple Hens Live Here!

"What's the deal with" "The Chicken Coop"?

There are no chickens in it! There are no roosts! There's no chicken wire to be found! So, why's it called a coop?

Ah, that's because this is a convert garage, turned into a lovely backyard bar!  With a couch and chairs, instead of roosts, games to be played, karaoke to be sung 

No nest boxes, rather a refrigerator full of frosty cold wobbly pops!  Whatever you do, just do NOT drink the Miller Lite beers.  Seems they came with the fridge many years ago, EWWWW

I've not yet been invited when the place is a rock'n but it's definitely a coop of some sort, so I'll still give it two thumbs up 👍👍!

Ah-Chooooooooo!

DOH!

When someone screws, or rather unscrews, the top to the pepper shaker and completely ruins your first bite of the mouth watering slice of pizza that you've been thinking about and aching for all day -

The consolation prize was the waitress comping us two deserts - a slice of key lime pie, the pie that made Cootie Browns famous, and a slice of Raspberry Fusion Pie!  Both BIG hearty slices too, and both delicious, BURP!

It's Said, "When In Rome"...

We stopped in and had lunch at the original Burger Bar, located in downtown Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. This classic diner has been around since 1942 and is famously known as the last place Hank Williams, Sr. had his last meal and was seen -

It's a tiny place, with the inside looking like two different restaurants joined by a small hallway between both places.  It had an old diner feel with thick stools and a Formica counter -

I went with the "I Can't Help It" burger, which is a cheeseburger with bacon -

The walls and ceilings are adorned with signed one dollar bills, that I'm assuming were taped up by visiting customers -

Seems the blue state of Virginia is keeping in line with their taxation, geesh -

All in all it was a good take. I'd stop in again if in the area.  The burger was tasty, as were the onion rings, and it was nostalgic traveling back in time if only for a short time. I now regret not ordering one of their milkshakes, alas.  They had quite a variety and they looked delicious too, next time...

We Got "Buzzed" Wings

This past Sunday afternoon we selected a restaurant in Jonesborough to try out.  A little, diner type placed called, Buzzed Wings. However, what we didn't realize, until it was too late, was that Jonesborough was hosting an outdoor Easter events for kids, so it was busy and teaming with people.

We lucked out and found a parking space a couple blocks from the restaurant. A tad chili but the walk was nice and allowed us to take in the activities and do some people watching too.

The restaurant wasn't too busy.  We got a table and were waited on fairly quickly. The waitress was friendly and chatty.  We ordered chicken wings, asked for well done, with Korean BBQ and Garlic Parmesan sauces and their loaded Mac & Cheese.

The food was okay.  The wings were not cooked well done as request but not too bad.  However, they were drenched in the sauces which was a bit overwhelmed, but of course that didn't prevent us from eating them right down to the bones.

The mac & cheese was okay. It was creamy and cheesy, they used penne pasta, and it was donned with real bacon bits.  Oh, almost forgot the most important, the beers were frosty cold 😋

All in all it was okay.

Breakfast For Lunch Because Why Not!

Sausage biscuits and gravy with over medium eggs are not just for breakfast -

I stopped in at the 11E Diner in Jonesboro earlier this week following my Tusculum dental appointment. I've had a hanker'n to try their biscuits and wasn't disappointed if I'm being honest.

Just don't tell me cardiologist...

We're All In On The Fun Too!

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in East Tennessee!

So, it seems appropriate to sit outside and why not next to a roaring fire, that was our plan -

And enjoy some frosty Yee Haw Dunkel beer -

And we nailed this plan!

Nope NOT Those "Cooties"

After several hours of clearing overgrowth on our farm this past Friday, we headed over to Cootie Browns campus location for dinner, cold beers and some March Madness college basketball -

Their pizza is delicious, especially when paired with ice cold beer!

Nope, Not That Aunt Bee

Aunt B with an A!

We headed to Aunt Bee's Home Cooking restaurant for breakfast in Greeneville on Monday morning after our 9AM meeting -

A diner type restaurant with plenty of seating. We were seated right away and had our coffee without waiting.  Our food came out relatively fast and wasn't too bad - sausage gravy and biscuits, eggs and bacon. The wait staff was friendly too.

I'd go back.

How Bout Some Teppanyaki?!

We dined at Yuimaru Kitchen, a Japanese restaurant here in Johnson City back on February 22. It was a birthday gathering and celebration.

The food was tasty but I was a little disappointed in the chef.  He fine and he cooked the food perfectly fine, however, he just wasn't into it.  Part of being a Japanese restaurant chef, behind that grill and with the audience gathered, they really need to get into it and be more vocal and more of a showman.  The chef we had, although he kinda tried, he missed the mark in my book.

But yes, I'd go back.

Pig In A Blanket!

Oh yeah, this happened yesterday!

I stopped at Auntie Ruth's Doughnuts & Pretzel shop, on US-11E in Limestone, for a lunch snack on my way back from our farm!

I went with their famous and sought after pretzel dog, OMG, so frick'n good!  I might even be able to give Joey Chestnut a run for his title, if these hotdogs are served at the Nathan's famous fourth of July hot dog eating contest!

Just saying...

BBQ Comfort Food At It's Best!

Mark this date down, Tuesday January 20, this is when we went out to dinner at The Original Ridgewood Barbeque restaurant in Bluff City for some long overdue, delicious, mouthwatering hickory smoked barbeque!

A staple in these parts, opened back in 1948.

The closed sign was lit when we arrived just before 7PM but they happily let us in - welcoming southern hospitality at it's best -

A blue cheese dip, with saltine crackers, was brought to the table shortly after we were seated, and it was tasty!

For my meal, I went with the BBQ pork sandwich, which came with beans, slaw and fries, AND a sweet tea to wash it all down with. The beans were SO darn tasty, I could have just eaten a bowl of those and been satisfied - HAHAHA, who am I kidding!

But wait there's more, dipping the fries in the blue cheese dip was amazing too, as was the coleslaw - crisp, slightly sweet and creamy -

Now full disclosure - I only hate half of my sandwich. I took it to go with the remaining slaw and fries.  I didn't want to make a pig (get it) outta myself.

The waitress was great! She did not rush us at all, rather she doted on us. She even brought each of us a to go cup filled with sweet tea instead of pouring it out (as a part of closing). We took our time, had a nice fun and relaxing meal - the best company!

Another tasty Tennessee foodie experience!

BTW, looking for a good local tailor who specializes in hemming and expanding the waist of britches... 

Ye Olde Eats

I tried another small and somewhat obscure restaurant yesterday afternoon, a place call Olde Towne Pancake House

It looked more like someone's house than a restaurant, inviting and quaint. The early modern English language used on the sign drew me in with a quaint or medieval feel, which was perfect being this restaurant is located in Jonesborough, Tennessee's oldest town.

 All that plus it had a giant rooster status in the front yard, so why would I not go in, DUH?!

I was warmly greeted with a big WELCOME and a little banter about how cold it was outside as I was taken to a booth, no waiting!  The restaurant proudly was displaying that they had won the Johnson City’s Press Best Breakfast award for the third year in a row - 2023, 2024 & 2025, so it was clear I had made the right decision.

I went with the "Olde Timers Breakfast" menu option, even though it was lunch time, but substituted the bacon with the hash browns and a cup of Joe!

I've been hanker'n for biscuits and gravy since I arrive here in East Tennessee and yesterday was the day I finally satisfied that craving -

The food came out quickly, fresh off the grill and nice and hot!

It didn't take me long to wolfe it all down and show that I am a good boy and a proud member of the clean plate club -

I give this lovely little restaurant two thumbs up 👍👍!

Located just off of route 11e, it's in an ideal location, easy to get to plus it's on the drive to and from our Limestone homestead.

Another delicious restaurant I will most definitely be visiting again!

Now That's Italian!

I worked in the Boston office yesterday and I took a nice relaxing walk at lunch yesterday to Faneuil Hall Marketplace.  Once there, and who can resist, I certainly cannot, I grabbed a couple slices of cheese pizza and a bottle of water from Regina Pizza, found a bench in a shady spot and savored each bite as I did some people watching. 

So so tasty!

AND

People are so so weird!

Pizza and Memories

I took a lunch time ride to Onset, which is part of the town of Wareham, the other afternoon.  I had a hanker'n for a pizza but not just any old pizza, I was in the mood for a Marc Anthony's pizza!  They make one of the best pizza's I've ever had, and SO worth the drive.

My pizza was ready in short order, to go of course.  I found an available bench under a huge shade tree with a fantastic view of Onset beach and the ocean in all it's beauty.  I took my time eating my pizza, enjoying each and every bite AND enjoying the views!

It was a bittersweet trip, one that hit me pretty hard, which I really wasn't expecting and actually is doing the same now as I write this. I have some wonderful memories of Wareham and driving past some of the places we used to visit made me reminisce of times gone by and loved ones lost.  The last time I was at Marc Anthony's was with my family a couple years ago.  Sadly, SO much has changed and although I cried sitting there eating my pizza, they were tears of joy and the many memories I will hold close to my heart forever. 

The Gavel, Yum!

Emilie and I went to The Gavel Public House restaurant, located in Wrentham, one last time before she headed back to college.  It has become our favorite place to go when we have the munchies! All the food I've had so far has been delicious, especially the nachos, which are Emilie's favorite!