Review: Market Square Kitchen

Saturday morning after the Farmer's Market, which lacks the tasty breakfast sausage sandwiches that were our weekly breakfast back in Nebraska, we went to the Market Square Kitchen for breakfast.

Melanie had the French toast, which had no shortage of cinnamon and sugar, so was right to her taste. Her side of bacon was unremarkable and a touch overdone.

I got the ham steak breakfast, with the runniest dang over-medium eggs I've ever seen. The grits were overpoweringly chicken broth-flavored, and pretty hard for this Yankee to eat first thing in the morning. The ham steak, though -- ooh, boy, was that a tasty hunk of pig. Crispy around the edges, with a nice rind of fat, carmelized bits, and wonderfully salty.

Service was mediocre, coffee was passable, and no dog bowl was provided.

Review: Oodles Uncorked

Friday night we grabbed the dog and headed to Market Square, where a number of Knoxville's many dog-friendly restaurants are. The three of us walked around getting loved up (okay, just the dog) until a menu jumped out at us, eventually pulling up a patio table at Oodles Uncorked. It was devilish hot, so I ordered a beer.

Two of my favorite things about Knoxville: 1. You can get Yuengling; and 2. It's routinely one of the cheaper beers available.

I ordered the seafood fra diavolo, which was awfully tasty. They had spiked it with chili oil, not just with red peppers, so the heat permeated the whole dish. I'm more accustomed to mussels with a hefty helping of meuniere or the like, so they were a little raw and fishy tasting without anything similar, but the shrimp were perfect -- tender, not overcooked, brightly flavored. Beer, spicy pasta, nice sun -- awesome.

Melanie got the portabello sandwich, which was absolutely drenched in a to-die-for goat cheese sauce. Unfortunately, the quantity of sauce tended to drown out the other flavors -- not that that's necessarily a bad thing when you're dealing with goat cheese. She had a glass of Sebastiani Chardonnay with it, which was smooth and tremendously buttery. Not my first choice for a hot weather wine, but a nice deal on a deeply malolactic chard. The wine list in general was quite complete, with a wide range of various varietals, including organic and otherwise "green" choices.

Our dog got a bowl of water (very promptly, with ice), which she seemed to enjoy immensely, lots of love from about every server in the place.

Review: Taste of Thai

Friday night we went to Taste of Thai with some friends. It was a quirky combination Thai/sushi joint where, as far as I can tell, the sushi is the thing to get. Of the six of us, I was the only one who got Thai, and I regretted it.

They seem to be especially fond of their specialty rolls, which, unlike the specialty rolls at lots of other sushi joints, were not all loaded with cream cheese or other Americanisms. They also had a selection of "normal" rolls, nigiri, etc., which were tasty (albeit smaller portions than I was used to). Their spicy tuna was not spicy, and was ground tuna, which seems to be the trend but still is always a disappointment to me.

Melanie and I split some spring rolls, which were unfortunately fried, but passable. I got the basil chicken, which certainly appeared uncontaminated by basil. The predominant flavors were a) spicy hot (I ordered it three out of four for hotness, and it delivered); and b) half-cooked green peppers. It also showed up 20 minutes after everyone else had finished eating. (The service otherwise was excellent, and they were preparing for a graduation party, so I can forgive that.)

They had a good selection of Asian beers, mostly Japanese; they didn't have Singha or any other Thai beers, sadly. The wine list was short and overpriced.

Review: Naples

Our introduction to Knoxville's restaurant scene came a few days ago at Naples, a cute Italian restaurant I'd describe as "family-friendly": checkered tablecloths, plenty of Ecco Domani, and vast shelves of squishy bread loaded with garlic butter. Naples provides that homely fare, but also had a bit of a daring side.

We started with the baked brie, served with a (supposedly) apricot chutney that appeared to actually be made from raspberries and deep-fried pita chips (welcome to the South!). The pita overwhelmed the brie, but the chutney was a nice complement. The brie itself didn't seem to be especially well-aged, and was a touch blander than I like.

Melanie got the Lasagna, which was colossal, and had a slightly sweet sauce, both of which reminded us both of a lot of the similar Italian food back home in Nebraska. It was loaded with ground beef and cheese, and definitely made up in chutzpah what it lacked in refinement.

I ordered the ravioli special, which changes frequently. That night it was crab meat ravioli with spinach pasta in a tremendously rich mascarpone rose sauce. They didn't scrimp on the crab, and the richness of the sauce didn't interfere with the flavor coming through.

The bottled wine list was impressive, although by-the-glass was a bit short. They only had one Italian beer, predictably Moretti.