We had the opportunity to dine at a quaint spot in Downtown Knoxville. Located inside the Tennessean Hotel is a swanky place called ‘The Drawing Room’. Im not quite sure what happened, it might have been the warm greeting we received downstairs, and then being escorted to the second floor where we found this amazing dining room overlooking the Worlds Fair, but we fell in-love instantly. Greeted at the entrance by the GM Kyle, we immediately felt welcomed. We got there right when they open around 3pm and we had the place to ourselves! We sometimes like to pretend that we plan things that way, and that we personally reserve whole venues and act like we are royalty, or that we’re celebrities. After picking out a cozy window seat in our private dining room, we ordered a drink that seemed fun and delicious, the Smoked Ol’ Fashioned. This photographed well as it is placed inside of glass chamber and pumped full of wood smoke, we are suckers for good presentation.

After that we happened to notice the lighting where we sat was kind of perfect. Naturally I forced my model of a wife to take some ‘candid’ shots of her drinking my old fashioned, obviously for product shots 😉 

Lighting is a big deal for us, so this was a plus (food always has to look its best). The room was full of amazing natural light from the large windows around the whole outside of the dining room. The views were great, and from what we heard, people watching is at an all time high during game days, and when the weather gets nice; thats another plus being people watching is one of our greatest passions. Okay, enough about how amazing and beautiful the place was, i’ll get to the food. We ordered a bunch of shareable’s like the Fig & Prosciutto Flatbread which was topped with arugula, honey, figs, prosciutto and sea salt. AKA, amazing! Also, we ordered Country Style Pate, made in house and served with pickled vegetables, crostini’s and whole grain mustard. Kyle talked to us about the inspiration behind the Pate, and he explained that the chef grew up eating this home cooked meal prepared by his mother.  Since it was something so near and dear to his heart, he knew he had to include it on the menu with his own specific twist created just for The Drawing Room–Nailed it! Take a closer look if you want…( those serving platters <3 )

After that we decided to order a sandwich to share, because as the kids would say YOLO. We planned to walk around Downtown Knox after this, so we didn’t have any guilt about eating for a family of four. Again, we asked our new BFF, Kyle what he thought we should get and he said that the Roasted Turkey Sandwich was the bees knees–well, he didn’t say bees knees, I’m not sure anyone says that, but it felt right to me, so I’m sticking with it. Either way, he mentioned it was amazing and hearty, so we went for it.