Emilia
Italian restaurant · Knoxville ·
Regional Italian dishes, house-made pastas, paired with wine
Regional Italian dishes, house-made pastas, paired with wine
"You’ll need to load up on carbs before summiting Clingmans Dome, and there’s no better place to do that than at downtown Knoxville’s dashing Emilia. The Italian restaurant, serving cuisine inspired by the Emilia-Romagna region, has a lot of the requisite Italian decor: brick walls, rows of wine bottles behind the bar, and oversized cans of tomato sauce doubling as decoration. But this warm retreat eschews red sauce Americana in favor of a more delicate, refined approach to pastas and entrees. Look for lightly fried baby artichoke fritters brightened with lemon-caper aioli, warm house-pulled burrata with roasted local squash, and Springer Mountain Farms chicken cooked under a brick until crispy and served with oregano pan sauce and salsa verde. The house specialty, though, is the pasta. It’s all made in house and served in ever-changing variations, like campanelle with roasted mushrooms and broccolini in a pine nut-mushroom broth, or fusilli carbonara with a poached Windy Acres Farm egg and toothsome bacon from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham." - Matt Kirouac
"Taking part in the Eat Out to Help Out initiative, this restaurant is offering reduced-price dining as part of the city's broader effort to encourage patrons back to restaurants during August." - George Reynolds
"Closed until further notice as part of the Woodhead Restaurant Group’s response to the coronavirus pandemic; management cited the primacy of team and guest safety and the challenges faced by internationally based staff, and said the group will pursue delivery/takeaway offerings and other retail initiatives while regular restaurant service is suspended." - Adam Coghlan
"Preparing to take over the recently vacated restaurant space is Villeray Portuguese restaurant Emilia, which is said to be opening in that location." - Tim Forster
"Opening on Friday 26 April inside the Bonhams auction house in Haunch of Venison Yard, Mayfair, this new restaurant comprises a ground-floor café and wine bar (open all afternoon) plus an upstairs dining room; both are open Monday–Saturday for lunch and dinner, and a weather-dependent courtyard seats up to 20. Article Design Studio has given the space a light, bright redesign that nods to timeless Italian ristoranti, while chef Stuart Andrew (formerly head chef of Clipstone and now executive chef across the group) leads a kitchen inspired by the culinary traditions of northern Italy’s Emilia‑Romagna. The menu aims to celebrate regional produce—mortadella, Parmesan, balsamic, Parma ham—through playful interpretations rather than strict replication, with highlights including smoked eel tortellini in brodo, roast haunch of venison with beetroot risotto, and a wild strawberry crostata; a back-of-room table displays the day’s desserts and cheeses. Beverage offerings feature two wine lists: an everyday selection (leaning toward the Italian peninsula but with roughly 60% from elsewhere) and “The Auction List,” a curated collection of over 100 special bottles assembled with Richard Harvey MW and Bonhams’ Wine Department, all backed by the group’s stated focus on great British produce, a broad wine program, and engaging service." - Adam Coghlan
