Metro Pulse

In my hometown, a curry on a Saturday night was pretty much obligatory. So, too, I blush to tell, was boorish behavior in the curry house. If the restaurant’s flocked fleur-de-lis wallpaper could only talk it would bear witness to some shocking scenes of vandalism, mob rule, and prandial disrespect, including a deeply regrettable incident involving Eric Clapton. Full story »

The Gourmet Nose: Ye Olde Steakhouse (6838 Chapman Highway) is unrefined enough to have plastic-wrapped crackers on its tables. But don’t confuse lowbrow with low quality; the restaurant’s straightforward but perfectly prepared food reaches heights of excellence Knoxville’s more urbane destinations can only dream of. This exceptionally—perhaps uniquely—good steak house doesn’t just have patrons. It has fans, and remaining non-partisan is a challenge in the face of such sumptuous, beautiful cooking Full story »

The Gourmet Nose: One of the more unpleasant ways to die in Australia is to hit a kangaroo while driving through the outback. The split second before collision will often be enough for the beast to jump, clearing the hood but smashing through the windshield. Should the driver survive the initial impact, his last earthly sensation is likely to be that of being kicked repeatedly in the face by the muscle-bound hind legs of the panicked marsupial Full story »

The Gourmet Nose: With the sun firmly past its solstice, the Tennessee summer now awakens from his fitful sleep. Rolling up his sleeves, cracking his knuckles, and lifting his trusty cudgel Fahrenheit, he is ready for another season of violent repression. For the next 12 weeks he owns the very air and all who live in it. Roaming his dominion, he will crush without mercy any mortal foolish enough to break his daylight curfew Full story »

The Gourmet Nose: With the biggest sporting tournament of the year—UEFA’s Euro 2008—currently in full swing, there’s rarely been a better time to spend an evening surrounded by 11 TVs all tuned to the sport that the rest of the world knows as football. There aren’t many locations in Knoxville that can boast such slavish devotion to the beautiful game, but even diners with no keen financial interest in the competition will find plenty to get excited about at Soccer Taco (6701 Kingston Pike, at Bearden Hill). Here, thanks to a successful balancing act that most sports bars could learn from, the matches and their attendant hubbub—despite the sheer number of screens—are as easy to ignore as to watch, and the food is FIFA quality at soccer-mom prices. Full story »

The Gourmet Nose: I was once detained by airport officials for reasons never made entirely clear. A couple of humorless, gun-toting zealots took me to what they referred to as “the room” and left me there to wait, presumably in the hope that I would start to panic. This was a space wholly stripped of warmth or emotion; blank, dull walls, a bedraggled array of plastic chairs and harsh strip lighting in the low, prefab ceiling. The sole human touch came from that famous official photo of George W. Bush looking like a boy who’s just learned a new swear word. Full story »

The Gourmet Nose: Bruce Bogartz—chef, entrepreneur, and force of nature—has returned to Knoxville in some style, transforming a low-slung, surly little building on Northshore Drive into a beautiful gem of a restaurant. Full story »