Ron T.
Yelp
Pleasant surprise for a red meat and fried food eating carnivore!
We're in Gatlinburg, we want to go on a picnic, we want KFC, but it closed a couple years back and has been replaced by a CiCi's Pizza. What to do? What to do? Me - being - me - I suggest barbeque, beans and coleslaw - shot down. "Hey! Why not CiCi's Pizza?" Again - shot down. "There's a market - how about a pound of bologna, white bread - heavy on the gluten and some American cheese?" This time I was shot down with the addition of a few cuss words. I was outnumbered by four women and a part-time vegetarian - so they chose Whole Earth Grocery Café. My daughter and turn-coat son-in-law (I'm kidding) have eaten her a few times. This is not a vegetarian restaurant per se, but there are plenty of options for such. And what the heck is it about women and chicken salad? It's like their go-to meal. "Hey honey - would you like chicken salad for dinner?" "No - we had that for lunch - and breakfast!" I think there is some kind of law that a woman MUST eat chicken salad whenever they go out as a group. And it is usually at one of those places that has lacy table clothes and Thomas Kincaid art on the walls.
I relented and finally agreed. Two lentil burgers are ordered - "a lentil burger?" What kind of animal is a lentil - do they bite - are they wild - does it taste gamey? I've had bison burgers, chicken burgers, hamburgers, pork burgers, but I have never seen lentil meat at Publix.
Our group of six order the following: two lentil burgers (medium rare - kidding), a chicken salad wrap in a wheat tortilla, a two chicken salad sandwiches, an egg salad sandwich each of which came with a side. There was one pasta salad and 5 potato salads. Each meal was about $6.50 and included the side items. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their choice. I got the wrap since we would be eating on rocks beside a mountain stream. The pasta salad, while it may have been a healthy take on the dish still tasted like most multi-colored spiral pasta salads I have had. All the sandwiches came with artisan lettuce, tomato and red onion. The chicken salad had grapes in it and was delicious! I was told that the potato salad did not taste the same as the last time. It was made with skin on potatoes - how I like it. Most agreed it just needed a little salt if nothing else. We also bought a bag of kettle potato chips fried in avocado oil. The burger eaters really enjoyed them and my daughter offered me the couple of bites she didn't eat - tastes like chicken (kidding - again). It was good and I would not hesitate to order it - should every grass fed cow in the world die suddenly and there was no chance of ever having a hamburger. By now you should get my humor and know that again - I am kidding - oh, which reminds me - I have also had a goat burger. It is my understanding that during busy seasons, they sometimes run out of food. This happen to the kids and that is how we found The Fox & Parrot. They asked the owner if she knew of some other non-chain, non-fast food restaurant and she pointed them to there. For that reason - I love her!
This is also a small grocery/gift shop that has healthy options for preparing your own food as well as some handmade garments and local craft items.
When we got back into town, I had to counter-act the healthy stuff with a double dip of S'mores ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone from Kilwin's - OK - you can judge me...