Dinner near Deal's Gap/Fontana Dam

SWMBO are heading down there in a couple weeks, we'll be arriving late Friday, heading back home late morning/early afternoon Sunday.

Need a cool/delicious place for dinner on Saturday, willing to travel up to an hour if necessary (probably necessary).

Things to see also appreciated. Looking for scenic things, just taking it easy and taking some pictures this trip. Will probably be in the Cherokee of Rarity rather than Miata so hitting all the roads we can isn't a huge priority. (Will do Cherohala anyways.)

Fontana lake is there, good fishing, tallest dam east of the Mississippi. Before 9/11 you could go to the bottom of the dam anytime. There is a chain link door in the bottom of the dam. Stand in front of it. Best air conditioning ever.

My Grandparents had a summer home on the lake when I was a kid.

As far as food, I can't recommend anything. There has to be a fish house or something there.

You most likely are going to have to go to the Tennessee side. This is not bad as that means going through the dragon to get there

bring a knife, kindling and charcoal. Skin and cook the critters that you hit.

What's you favorite variety of eats? Tellicafe in Tellico Plains is a good southern fancy restaurant (sandwiches and southern fare with interesting additions for flavor) They're right at the end of the cherohala skyway.

Heading into knoxville (45 minutes from the Tennessee end of the Dragon) opens up all sorts of choices, from thai and Indian, to Italian, German, and Murrican.

No idea how far away it is, but The Dillard House is the bomb.

Heading into Knoxvegas is perfectly doable. We like pretty much everything, and won't be super picky since now that she's in night school, we get very few "date nights" anymore.

We're staying at Fontana Village.

So much good food in Tennessee. Duck fat fries are the bomb. Deal's Gap is okay, but too much traffic. Cherahola Skyway was more fun for us, just as many winding corners, and virtually deserted. There were some unmarked roads on our course (a mazda rally with routes designed by the organizers of the Tall Pines Rally) that consisted of gravel and hairpins. Really hairy stuff with no traffic whatsoever.

Oh, and Lane's Museum. You can't miss that!!

Forget the Dillard House. Its way to far away and not a good route between them.

Gravel is fine, will be in the Jeep. Not necessarily going for driving this time, just to relax and see things.

If i manage to pull out the Miata in time, that might change.

I'll we'll probably only use Deal's Gap for traveling purposes, not for fun.

spitfirebill wrote: Forget the Dillard House. Its way to far away and not a good route between them.

It's about 1.5 hours. Depending on where else we end up going during the day i'm not going to rule it out just yet.

Lesley wrote: So much good food in Tennessee. Duck fat fries are the bomb. Deal's Gap is okay, but too much traffic. Cherahola Skyway was more fun for us, just as many winding corners, and virtually deserted. There were some unmarked roads on our course (a mazda rally with routes designed by the organizers of the Tall Pines Rally) that consisted of gravel and hairpins. Really hairy stuff with no traffic whatsoever. Oh, and Lane's Museum. You can't miss that!!

I second the Chero-(HOLLA!) skyway. One of the best roads in that area including Deal's Gap which is a bit over run. The Skyway is beautiful and very lightly travelled.

Swank Force One wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Forget the Dillard House. Its way to far away and not a good route between them.

It's about 1.5 hours. Depending on where else we end up going during the day i'm not going to rule it out just yet.

I've never met anybody who ate there that did not absolutely rave about it. We have here at work folks drive over just to eat there.

Yep, Skyway is awesome, driven it 20-30 times, give or take.

Deal's Gap is best driven at night.

Its the deals gap area. Its going to take you an hour to get anywhere.

We camped in the National Park the last time I went down there. The park has some nice scenery and roads but the speed limits are LOW. Clingman's Dome is pretty cool to go check out, watch your speed coming back downhill. The day we went to try and catch sunrise, it was foggy. Go figure. It cleared up some as the sun came up.

Pigeon Forge appeared to have a lot of food options but its pretty touristy. One day walking around there checking out things is probably enough if you're so inclined. There IS a Mellow Mushroom pizza in Pigeon Forge.

The Fontana Dam visitor center was pretty interesting, it was the first time I had gone there and we spent at least an hour there gettin our learn on.

You could always go up to Cherokee and cut through the smokey mtn national park (great views!) to gatlinburg for food. Lots of chain places there, but several mom/pop type places that are pretty good. And the jeep (pronounced 'heep' in Spanish) will make running over tourists easier than in the Miata.

Little river bbq is good: 8303 State Highway 73 Townsend, TN 37882 United States

Joey

for food (I can't point to any particular place… been out of the business for more than 30 yrs) but either direction should open up lots of possibilities …. west to Knoxville, east to Asheville

In reply to Spoolpigeon:

Gatlinburg. Thats the name of the nearby town I was also thinking of and couldn't remember the name. Swank this is the one that might be worth a walk around, not Pigeon Forge. Its touristy but wont make you want to blow your brains out like Pigeon Forge.

https://www.facebook.com/ThunderMountainGeneralStoreandDeli?ref=profile

Coming from the NC side towards skyway it's on your right. The owner makes one terrific hot dog. I think they make burgers and other stuff too. He's a really cool guy, came out and talked to us while we were eating at his little picnic area. It's worth the stop in if your on the skyway.

Greenbriars in Gatlinburg has great mountain trout in a wooded setting, very nice. If you don't mind a 40-50 minute or so drive you can run west to Murphy, NC with a few places around the town square - Shoe Booties is pretty good over there.

If you are on the south side of Knox, look up Seeet P's BBQ. And if you are in downtown Knox look up Tupelo Honey on Market Square

If you like Myrtle Beach you will like Gatlinburg, it is MB in the mtns. I'm not a huge fan of that place, but... It brings in lots of tourist money, and it keeps them away from where I like to go. YMMV.

Nick_Comstock wrote: https://www.facebook.com/ThunderMountainGeneralStoreandDeli?ref=profile Coming from the NC side towards skyway it's on your right. The owner makes one terrific hot dog. I think they make burgers and other stuff too. He's a really cool guy, came out and talked to us while we were eating at his little picnic area. It's worth the stop in if your on the skyway.

Thanks man. This is on my to do list!! I would love to retire (from this job) and run a place like this.

In reply to spitfirebill:

That's exactly what this guy did. I hope he's successful enough to stay open, because he seems like a really good guy.