Spicin’ Up Your Knoxville Dinner Date
Emilie Stooksbury
5 Unique Culinary Experiences in Knoxville, Tennessee
Here’s the deal: There are sooooo many spots to have delicious dinner date nights or girls’ nights in Knoxville, Tennessee. We’re not going to sit here & list them all out for you (though shoot us a DM & I’ll def send you my current favorites… they change LITRUHLLY all the time). What we are going to do is share five culinary experiences that are just a little… different. We feel pretty good about the fact that at least ONE of these five dinner adventures will leave you saying, “Knoxville, you’ve stolen a pizza my heart.” 😉 Grab your forks and your sense of culinary curiosity, folks, ’cause we’re spicin’ up the dinner date by chowin’ down in Knoxville, Tennessee!
1.) Potluck Cafe Supper Club
Potluck Cafe has been just the sweetest little addition to the North Knox neighborhood. And we do mean “little.” 😂 This corner store is cute, cozy, & ADORABLY French-themed with almost entirely thrifted decor. (*swooooon*) The space is perfect for sipping coffee while chatting with the barista… ooooor, hear us out, an intimate supper club.
On Wednesdays, we wear pink AND we go to Potluck for Supper Club! Make your reservations in advance via Instagram and then embark on a cozy, comforting, thematic culinary journey. It’s a homemade surprise each time… and will make a regular ole dinner date a little more interesting to boot!
2.) Trust Fall at A Dopo
You know what I love? Delicious dinners with people I adore. You know what I don’t love even a little bit? Making even one decision. 0/10, no stars, a cloud of dust is all that’s left of where I was standing. “Do you want your coffee hot or iced?” “I HADN’T EVEN CONSIDERED THAT QUESTION YET. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS BEST???” I digress…
You can only imagine our absolute DELIGHT when we learned about A Dopo’s Trust Fall for Two! Here’s the scoop (er, slice): When you sit down, tell your server you’d like to try the Trust Fall. They’ll ask about dietary restrictions and then they won’t ask you any. thing. else. INSERT ANGELS SINGING HALLELUJAH. They’ll put together a culinary journey for you consisting of a bottle of wine, a starter, two pizzas, and gelato. We absolutely loved every dish & the element of surprise made it about one million times more fun. Don’t be a dope-o and head to A Dopo!😉😉😉
3.) The Oak Room Experience
The Oak Room in the Happy Holler neighborhood is an underrated date night spot, period, but we’ve found a way to make it even mooore fuuuun. They’ve got cocktails; they’ve got flatbreads; but they’ve also got an “Oak Room Experience” (ooh la laaaaa)!
The “Oak Room Experience” consists of their Oak Room Charcuterie Board (an absolutely fabulous spread, trust us) perfectly & intentionally paired with 5oz pours of all eight of their barrel-aged sours on tap. As you sip & snack on this legit JOURNEY, you’ll be surrounded by the barrels where your future sours are aging 🥲 The circle of life, people. It is delicious & you are welcoooome.
4.) Stop Your Wine-in'
Ohhh, so you want FANCY fancy. We can help with that too 😉 This may take a hair more planning, but Knoxville has wine dinners around town pretty frequently! Usually these dinners entail perfectly paired wines with delicious food being explained by experts and yours truly feeling like the classiest, most cultured young professionals Knoxville has ever seen.
These three restaurants host them pretty regularly: The Plaid Apron, Osteria Stella, & Pointb (but there’s more wine where that came from 👀).
5.) Cruisin' for Dinner
Now this may not be a foodie’s paradise, but dinner on the Tennessee River simply has to make a list like this. The Star of Knoxville riverboat has lunch & dinner cruises during peak seasons where you can go to town on a buffet before heading up to the deck for views & general delight. PRO-TIP: If you want to go DIY style, you can bring your own food (pizza, picnic, you name it) to the top deck for a “Sightseeing Cruise.” This is our favorite thing. I mean, dinner on a riverboat with views of the cutest, scruffiest city this side of the Mississippi? Sign us up.
That’s it for now, but we simply must know: What is YOUR favorite unique culinary experience in good ole Knoxville, Tennessee?? Maybe it’ll make the next list! 🙌