The Smoky Mountain Brewery - Large Pizza

Smoky Mountain Brewery Cheese Pizza

As you can tell, the Smoky Mountain Brewery and Restaurant is one of my favorite places in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. This trip, I decided on their famous home made pizza. I choose BBQ chicken as the topping. During football season, it is better to get to this restaurant early lest you want to wait a while. We got lucky and got squeezed in before the crowd came to watch the many college football games on the numerous flat screen television sets positioned around the restaurant.

As you can see, the pizza was a large, a 12 inch pizza. It was delivered in about 20 minutes, which is pretty damn quick as it takes about that time for the pizza to bake in the oven. The crust was thin and crunchy, the cheese plentiful and  the sauce zesty and good. And oh yea, the BBQ chicken topping was generous and tasty.

The cost was fair, about 14 dollars without tip. The Grassy Knoll Diner awards 4 stars out of 5 to the Smoky Mountain Brewery Pizza and recommends them for dinner.

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1. 
   

   Ohio J said

   January 10, 2008 at 8:33 am e
   Damn that looks good. Maybe pizza from The Elmton tonight for dinner. BTW the secret ingredient in thier fab pizza……Swiss Cheese!
   Reply
2. 
   

   Jungljim69 said

   January 10, 2008 at 8:47 am e
   The Elmton! YUMMY. Don’t forget to have a few chicken wings to go with the pizza
   Reply
3. 
   

   LOTGK said

   January 10, 2008 at 11:43 am e
   Yes, I have to get those pictures up. So far behind.
   Reply
4. 
   

   Valdunagan said

   January 10, 2008 at 1:08 pm e
   I don’t see the chicken. Is it under the sauce. Looks good, I love thin crust pizza thats crunchy.
   Reply
5. 
   

Peddler Steakhouse - Filet Mignon

Peddler Salad

The Peddler Steakhouse has a reputation as being the best steakhouse in the Gatlinburg Smoky Mountains. We are all about to put that reputation to the test.

Yes, the Peddler has already been critiqued, but the steak was so good last time, it would merit a second visit. As usual, the Peddler was packed, all the tables occupied and about 100 people waiting to get a table. Knowing the little secret to secure a table we moved to the cocktail area overlooking the scenic stream. (You see, there is usually an hour to two hour wait for a table down stairs but if you go to the cock tail area, there are tables scattered about and you can order dinner and sit there.)

Our waitress came over and asked us what we wanted to drink. I went with the diet Coke and said we would also like to order dinner as well. (In like Flint) I began with the salad, one you make yourself from the salad bar down stairs. Notice the huge chunks of ham and hard boiled egg halves plus real bacon, not those cheap baco bits. The salad is a meal in itself. There were dozens of choices to select from. No two salads are the same.

Peddler Filet

The Gatlinburg Peddler is famous for steak, so of course I ordered the filet mignon and a baked potato. For the restaurant being so crowded, the service was quite peppy. In less than 20 minutes our steaks were delivered to our table plus another round of diet Cokes. Of course the filet was prepared perfectly. The taste was exquisite, yes, I said exquisite. Zero fat and juicy and tender and bursting with flavor. One of the best steaks I have ever had.

The only setback for the Peddler is it's own popularity. No matter when you go, no matter what day, you will always wait. Always. A one hour wait time is the average to get a seat.

The cost for the dinner is around $45.00 without tip but you get a fabulous salad, great steak, big ass baked potato, hot fresh rolls with butter, and the soft drink, (Coke) of your choice.

Yes, the Gatlinburg Peddler Steakhouse reputation does exceed expectations. With that, The Grassy Knoll Diner awards 4.75 out of 5 shots to the Peddler and recommends the steak house for dinner.

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1. 
   

   Chica said

   January 23, 2008 at 12:05 am e
   It’s taking a day or more to recieve your alerts in my email for your posts. :/ Shame on you for posting such delicious food, I’m fighting not to gnaw at my monitor..LOL
   Reply
2. 
   

   LOTGK said

   January 23, 2008 at 8:52 am e
   Do you mean the Yahoo alerts? if so, there is no problem. I just don’t update it as I should.
   However, if you subscribe to the feed…
   http://lotgk.wordpress.com/feed/
   Either through Feedburner or Google reader, you will receive updates as they happen.
   Reply
3. 
   

   Chica said

   January 23, 2008 at 10:26 am e
   WEll I have since done that, because I did finally realize it was slow. 
   Reply
4. 
   

   LOTGK said

   January 23, 2008 at 10:31 am e
   Thank you.
   Reply
5. 
   

   Kathy said

   January 23, 2008 at 1:22 pm e
   The salad is an entire meal in itself. Looks yummy.
   Reply
6. 
   

   Lead Scientist said

   January 24, 2008 at 6:21 am e
   and its only a 5 minute walk away.
   Reply
7. 
   

   LOTGK said

   January 24, 2008 at 8:31 am e
   Everything in Gatlinburg is a five minute walk away.
   Reply
8. 
   

   Paul said

   December 25, 2008 at 7:16 pm e
   Metal plate looks good.
   I am Paul.
   I love steaks and steakhouses around the world!
   Reply
9. 
   

Champions Restaurant – Philadelphia

Champions Of Philadelphia

After running the Philadelphia Museum Of Art steps ala Rocky Balboa, "Rocky Steps" we were hungry and stopped at Champions Restaurant, inside the Marriott Hotel in downtown Philadelphia for dinner.

My order was very simple. A bowl of chicken noodle soup and an order of chicken strips.

Champions Chicken Noodle Soup

After an almost 30 minute wait, (And there was no excuse for the restaurant was not crowded at all) my chicken soup came. It looked delicious and it was good. I was concerned for the restaurant was not busy, and as most restaurants, the soup of the day is prepared early and readily available in a minutes notice. Yet, it took almost 30 minutes for it to arrive. I wonder how long i would I have to wait for the main entree.

Chicken Strips

Before the chicken strips arrived, the server brought out fried fish and macaroni and cheese. I told him that wasn't what I ordered and he actually argued with me. I asked to speak to my waitress. She came over and saw the mistake and said she would put a rush on my order. No apology, no batting of the eyes, nothing. I wasn't holding out much hope on the rush part.

My wife ordered a Philly steak and cheese. It came without cheese! WTF! It also went back.

Finally, after another 20 minutes, our correct dinners arrived. I will admit the chicken strips tasted great, but i just can't get past the rude and lousy service we received.

Taking into account the shoddy service, the arguing, and the incorrect meals, the Grassy Knoll Diner awards 1.75 shots out of 5 and does not recommend Champions Restaurant inside the Downtown Marriott Marquis Philadelphia hotel.

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Francesco’s Italian Restaurant – Las Vegas

Francesco's

Francesco's restaurant, nestled inside the Treasure Island casino was hard to find. It blended right into the casino atmosphere. Luckily, we found it and wandered in for dinner.

Appetizers

There were a few of dining that evening so table table appetizers were ordered. Above is a fine selection  of seafood dishes from the menu.

Chicken Parm

I ordered the chicken parmigiana. Before I did, I saw an order delivered to a table next to us and it looked fabulous. It would not disappoint.

The chicken was very lightly breaded, well cooked, juicy, smothered in cheese, with a tangy tomato sauce covering a tender chicken breast. The taste was very good. The sauce was tangy, the cheese good, and the chicken well cooked and good tasting. The meal was cooked to perfection and the service very efficient. And the cost, surprisingly low at around $25.00 without tip.

The Grassy Knoll Diner awards 3.75 shots out of 5 to Francesco's Italian Restaurant and recommends them for dinner.

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Rosie Jones - School Teacher

Class is in session. Rosie Jones, A British international glamour model, has been hired to teach a class on blogging etiquette. Enrollment is limited for this one time offering. For more information, contact us in the comment section below.

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Aunt Mahalia's Chocolate Confections

Chocolate Heaven

Walking on the Parkway, (The main drag in Gatlinburg) I happened by Aunt Mahalia's Homemade candy store. A huge picture window dominated the store showcasing all the sweet confections.

I decided on the artery busting cluster confection of chocolate, cashews, and caramel.

In a word, it tasted delightful. However, the cost was $2.49 for this one piece of delightful. Not so delightful anymore. (Do you think I can squeeze the word delightful in this post one more time?) The cashews were fresh, and whole, (Whole cashews just seem to taste better than pieced cashews) the chocolate was divine, and the caramel nice and thick. It was very good tasting for sure.

The Grassy Knoll Diner awards 2.5 shots out of 5 and only recommends Aunt Mahalia's delightful (Ding, ding, ding) convection only if you got money to throw out the window.

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Hungry Howie's - Calzone

Hurry - Its Dying

A new fast food delivery restaurant opened up in Youngstown recently. It looked like a typical pizza joint place, and being the blue plate special king, decided to try them out.

I used the flyer that was in my mailbox and called in my take out order. I ordered the above item, which by the menu is a sausage and cheese calzone.

Pickup was painless, the order was ready, and it was correct. When I got home, I unwrapped my dinner and found this. A big blob of soggy dough, cheese, sauce, and what appeared to be rabbit turds.

The taste was, well, terrible. A soggy mess of ingredients congealing wrapped up in a box. I cannot confirm if it was sausage or rabbit turds. Or cheese for that matter. However, the sauce was plain tomato paste, no spice whatsoever.

The Grassy Knoll Diner awards 1.25 shots out of 5 and does not recommend Hungry Howie's for lunch or dinner.

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Star Bagel - San Francisco Breakfast Sandwich

Star Bagel Menu

 The last time we were in San Francisco, we stopped for breakfast at Star Bagel, located at 1475 Polk Street, (Between Pine St & California St) San Francisco, CA 94109 in the Nob Hill area. Star bagel was a short walk from our hotel. We stepped in and bellied up to the counter. I ordered a bacon, egg, and cheese toasted bagel.

Egg Bacon And Cheese Bagel

The counter guy took to task and began to cook our eggs and bacon on his grill. he cut our bagels and toasted them. In less than five minutes, our order was up.

As you can see, this was a big bagel with plenty of filling. I estimated three scrambled eggs were used for my bagel. They were cooked perfectly. On the bottom was 4 crispy pieces of bacon, well cooked, and delicious. A piece of cheese surrounded by a buttered toasted bagel completed the ensemble. The taste was very good.

The bagel was $2.25 plus added bacon and cheese totaling $4 dollars. There was not a lot of places to sit, and it wasn't the absolute cleanest places, but the bagel was fresh, well cooked and tasted good.

The Grassy Knoll Diner scores 3.5 out of 5 shots and recommends Star Bagel of San Francisco for breakfast.

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