Satisfy your culinary curiosity in Knoxville

Explore downtown Knoxville’s food scene via a two-hour guided walking tour of Market Square, Gay Street and The Old City.

Tours, conducted by the friendly and petite Paula Johnson, are held Friday and Sunday afternoons with two sets of restaurant locations featured on the different days’ tours. Friday locations are The Parlor, Shonos in City, Bistro at the Bijou, Coolato Gelato, Sapphire, Downtown Grind, and Mast General Store. Saturday’s locations are Lenny’s, Steamboat Sandwiches, Trio, La Costa, Cocoa Moon/Koi, and Sangria’s.

Friday tour highlights recently included lavender lemonade and homemade pimento cheese at The Parlor, where visitors will find an intriguing mix of locally-sourced food and vintage music instruments; freshly-made gelato running the gamut from traditional to Elvis inspired; and Sapphire’s must order Hope Brothers Plate featuring Alan Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham, capicola, bresaola, Alaskan smoked salmon, Tennessee Sweetwater cheeses, baby dill pickles, walnuts, fresh fruit, seasonal jam and spreads, as well as the Bacon Cheddar Deviled Eggs, which are served as a maternal throwback without a hint of irony.

Tickets for the tour are $39 per person, a fair shake given the quantity of food served on the tour—one would be advised to use the tour as a late lunch. Tours run from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. and feature interesting bits about the town’s history along the way. The tour is appropriate for all ages—though older children will get more out of it than youngsters—and also makes a good activity for families, friends, or dates.

For more information, visit gofoodonline.com/go_food_online/tours.html or call 865.201.7270.

Southern hospitality wins rouxbarb recognition

I found Chef Bruce Bogartz out in the parking lot of his tiny restaurant talking to a patron. Casual and affable, he opened the door for my dining companion and myself. He runs RouXbarb, located on Northshore Drive in Knoxville, Tenn., much like one would run a Southern guesthouse. The attention is personal, none too stuffy, and bent on making sure that patrons get what they want, have a good time being there, and come back again.

Bogartz opened RouXbarb in February 2008 and has been earning steady acclaim since from those including the James Beard Foundation, AAA, and Metro Pulse’s Best of Knoxville awards. The menu changes as new things come into season—whatever that season may be. Our meal was wrapped with a smorgasbord of desserts, two of which incorporated Girl Scout cookies. Whenever possible, the restaurant’s menu features ingredients from family-sustained farms, local or regional sources, and uses hormone-, antibiotic-, and steroid-free proteins. Look to the Pimento Cheese Beignets served with hot pepper jelly and bacon from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams. This same bacon also found its way into a plate of steamed mussels during our meal, bringing a beautiful smoked quality to the succulent shellfish. Bogartz also loves barbecue, a technique he applies to his duck and to the $24 daily barbecue sampler plate. His plans are to expand the restaurant’s barbecue offerings in the future.

Reservations are encouraged at RouXbarb, and groups larger than eight or more will dominate the restaurant’s intimate dining room. Alcohol service is on a bring your own basis.

For more information, visit rouxbarbfood.com or call 865.212.0024.