A local offers his advice on the best and worst dishes at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen in Pigeon Forge, TN Over the years, I have at times been hard on Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen. But in fairness, the eatery is battling expectations vs reality. While having the Deen name atop the restaurant is certainly a draw, it also leads to
A local offers words of wisdom on what not to do while riding the Tail of the Dragon There’s a road through the mountains of Tennessee into their North Carolina counterparts. Over its 11-mile stretch, it features 318 curves. It’s known as the Tail of the Dragon – or U.S. 129 to those less poetically inclined – and it is
An honest review of a fan-favorite, family-style restaurant in Pigeon Forge: Mama’s Farmhouse I sometimes struggle to review family or farmhouse-style restaurants. Why? My grandmother, who we called Nanny. A tiny Hoosier from Southern Indiana, she was an excellent cook who made down-home classics like chicken and dumplings and meatloaf that you could have served to any food critic in
Local takes a look at current conditions of NC, TN one month after a devastating hurricane As we approach the one-month “anniversary” of the biblical flooding in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Helene, the mountains and their people are in various stages of recovery. Things are back to business in some places like Gatlinburg
Local lists top spots to get the biggest, juiciest steak around the Smoky Mountains As someone who has personally spent a lifetime in search of the perfect steak, I understand that the biggest doesn’t always mean the best. But as a red-blooded American, I also know that sometimes the biggest dang well does mean the best. When dining out in
A Buc-ee’s fanatic imagines what it would be like if Buc-ee’s built a theme park Now that the Smokies AA baseball team has officially absconded from Kodak to return to Knoxville, the Sevier County entranceway at Exit 407 has a problem. Namely, there’s a gigantic parking lot and a good-sized baseball stadium going to waste. Considering the possibilities, I jokingly
Rumors are starting to get in the way of recovery efforts post Hurricane Helene. In this article, we set the record straight It was late Friday morning, the 27th of September, and the world – at least the world in the mountains – was under siege by a torrent of rainfall that was nearly apocalyptic in scope. Leaders on all
Should you travel to the mountains? The complicated answer: It depends While it’s not the first concern on anyone’s mind – people and their livelihoods and property will always come first – those who have booked vacations for the mountains of Western North Carolina and East Tennessee are left in a bit of a quandary about what exactly they should
A timeline of events that outlines what happened in Tennessee, North Carolina during Hurricane Helene and how you can help As someone who once lived in South Alabama, just outside the danger zone when Hurricane Katrina came ashore, I thought maybe the comparisons were a tad hyperbolic, at first. But as someone who once again lives just a few miles
The No. 1 missed attraction won in a landslide, while the others were a close race In his treatise on faith, the power of the past and perception, the great Long Island philosopher William Martin Joel said, “The good old days weren’t always good and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.” It’s a sentiment that rings true in the