Knoxville as an outsider can be daunting

Every city has a soul, and no matter how cliché that statement is, I think it's true. There are cities in which one is completely at home instantly and other cities that take time to love, but once you get past their hard exterior are extremely inviting and they are quickly yearned for once left. For me instantly comfortable cities are rare but I've found at least two: San Francisco and Paris. For my wife there is London. For both of us the latter group includes Atlanta and San Diego.

As a recent transplant to Knoxville I found myself fairly excited by what the web boasted. Early trips on the part of my wife while investigating the University of Tennessee for her graduate program also boded well. Once we started hunting for apartments, and later houses, prior to our arrival more of Knoxville's true soul shone through.

In many ways this small city is incredible. Its rural roots come out in the Farmer's Market in Sequoia Hills, the Three Rivers Market food Co-Op, the local cheese, produces, and meat, all of great quality. In other ways this city is maddeningly hard to navigate. There are very good restaurants, very poor restaurants, and those whose reputation is much too great for the food and service delivered.

I am fairly simple in my wants and needs in food and food service. I want good service, prices representative of the quality of food and its presentation, and a lack of pretension.

This blog intends to be a food blog, though it might also be a culture blog, and a poorly written one at that. This blog also intends to be something of a guide to those coming to Knoxville and the surrounding parts of eastern Tennessee. It's something I would have liked to find and never had in hand during my early exploration of this burg. I'm not a journalist, a blogger, or anything else that means my opinions mean anything. I simply want to eat well and be served well, and for that you will get my undying loyalty. Failing that you might get a blog post.