by Emily Stooks | Aug 7, 2023 | All Articles, Emilie Stooksbury
I think I can speak for the collective whole of humanity when I say – we love unlikely best friends. Suuuure, this is usually a duck and a German Shepherd, an elephant and a mouse, or a chihuahua and a chicken. But as of today, new unlikely BFFs have entered the scene 😂🙌
We at New2Knox are here to help you discover (or rediscover!) Knoxville. We’re here to help you find your new favorite Happy Hour and your new best friend. We’re here to share the good news about a rad new business or, you know, where to find The Office trivia. We are THRIIIILLED to do this 🤩 We are not, however, hard-hitting journalists. We’re not here to share numbers or hours of research or general nitty gritty.
We’re here to share Scruffy City sunshine. In fact, in this unlikely best friends pairing, we’d confidently say New2Knox is the duck. A delighted duck on her way to Happy Hour while quacking about it to all her friends. (Hey, friend! 😘)
But we have leaned on Knox News as a helpful resource for getting to know this city for YEARS now. They do share the numbers. They do share the research. They do share the nitty-gritty. They are feet-on-the-ground local journalists. You can email them. You can DM them. You can high five them on the street.
This is Ryan! He’s a journalist for Knox News who you should totally high five when you see him on the street!
We figured it was about time to combine our love for Knoxville and officially partner up. Come to us for date night ideas and then we’ll point you to Knox News for why dating can be so gosh darn hard in Knoxville. Come to us to feel out the vibes on the local quarries and then we’ll point you to Knox News to learn what’s on the bottom of the quarries 👀 Come to us for advice on your birthday dinner and then we’ll point you to Knox News to find out who’s serving the most expensive dish in town.
You get it. We’re stoked to be partnering with our local journalists here in Knoxville and taking this unlikely best-friendship to the next level. We have some exciting things in the works with them that we’ll be sharing over the course of this month STARTING WITHHHH a curated selection of Knox News articles on our home page we ✨specifically✨ think you cuties will enjoy! Click here & scroll down to see what’s been curated for you at the moment; then come back every couple weeks to see what new articles have hit the scene. We also recently recorded a podcast with them answering some of y’aaaaall’s questions about Downtown Knoxville. (You can listen to that here!)
We’re also thriiiiilled to have their research when it comes to neighborhoods in Knoxville. The (🎉freeee🎉) Move2Knox Rental Guide will soon include links to not just top-rated apartments and moving companies – but all the Knox News nitty-gritty facts about each neighborhood in Knoxville as well.
Move2Knox, heyyy!
We’ll stop gushing now… but are you surprised? You know how much we love new friends 😉 Keep an eye out for more New2Knox Knox News News coming soon!🙌 (PS. Please say that last sentence out loud for the full impact 😂)
READ ABOUT THIS PARTNERSHIP FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW RIGHT HERE 👀
by Emily Stooks | Jun 28, 2023 | All Articles, Downtown, Food & Drink, Nena Potter
An Interview with Owner Elle Nelson
WRITTEN BY: Nena Potter
Elle Nelson, owner of Monkey’s Bar in Downtown Knoxville, makes the joke that she is attracted to chaos. And I believe it. But as a famous quote goes, “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
A couple of months ago, I sat down with Elle and her one year-old golden retriever, Monkey (whom the bar is lovingly named after 😍), inside her bar to chat for a bit about her new venture in Knoxville’s Old City. After a quick introduction, I ordered an espresso martini sensing I was going to need a tad bit more energy for the interview. Before I even started asking any questions, she exuberantly dove right in to tell me her story on how Monkey’s Bar came to be.
Elle started bartending at Central Depot (the bar that was previously in the same location) in 2021 and told the owner she was looking for a possible partnership or ownership in that bar. When that didn’t work out, Elle moved on to other things – BUT when 103 W. Depot became available in October of 2022, she seized the opportunity, took herself over to the Secretary of State building in Nashville to form an LLC in person (because she didn’t want to wait), and opened Monkey’s Bar a mere two months later on December 23rd.
Hearing this gave me whiplash. (Insert the anxious sweaty emoji here because wow. 😅) On top of this extremely quick turnaround, she was also still working a fulltime job. Chaos, y’all! She does admit it was the most stressful time in her life but was committed to opening the bar and doing whatever it would take to get it done. And she did, admittedly with a lot of help from those around her.
We joked that it may take a village to raise a child but the same can be said about opening a bar… and most other things in life. Elle pointed out pictures hanging up at the bar of family and friends. She first pointed out a picture of her mom with Monkey. Then she notes the picture of one of the bar managers, Mike, and his wife, Taylor, telling me they spent a lot of hours painting and doing so many other things to help get everything in place to open. Another friend helped get the birchwood and made the liquor shelves behind the bar. Her dad helped make the molding designs on the wall. Others helped by bringing in art to decorate and showcase… the list goes on. “It wouldn’t have opened without those people,” Elle says while looking at the photos. You can sense just how grateful she is to have such a supportive community around her and how important community is for Monkey’s Bar, period.
In the few months Monkey’s Bar has been open, Elle has made it a place where people not only come for the standard bar happenings like happy hour and trivia but also events like ABBA-themed karaoke parties, disco nights and much more. “I think I pretty much opened a business because I like to throw parties,” she says while laughing and honestly, I’m here for it. At one point, Elle and I got sidetracked during the interview, brainstorming party ideas for Christmas in July and Valentine’s Day. I joked about having a tattoo party and she was immediately on board, wondering out loud how many people would get a Monkey paw tattoo (um, everyone?) and went on to say if they did, they would drink for free at Monkey’s Bar. Needless to say, I love all of this.
Once we got back on track, the final question I had for Elle was just asking if she had any tips for people who are new to Knoxville or anyone trying to get involved or wanting to know more about different places to live in the area. Her advice? “Ask your bartenders. They’re some of the best connection points that you’ll have in the city.” I couldn’t agree more with this. They are the eyes and ears around town and if they don’t know something, odds are they know someone who does. And when in doubt Elle says, “Come to Monkey’s bar and ask me because I’m from Knoxville!”
So go to Monkey’s Bar to get to know all the good stuff from Elle. Go to Monkey’s Bar for Monkey snuggles and kisses. Go to Monkey’s Bar for cocktails & mocktails named after fabulous pop-culture references. Go to Monkey’s Bar for New Girl Trivia or a New2Knox Hop. I’ll personally be going to Monkey’s Bar to catch up with my new BFFs Ellie & Monkey. Just go to Monkey’s Bar, full stop. Because in the midst of what might sometimes be chaos, I guarantee you will find your own opportunities for community (and cocktails 😉).
Cheers!
Nena
by Emily Stooks | May 31, 2023 | All Articles, Downtown, Emilie Stooksbury, Food & Drink
If you’ve hung out with us before on this lil corner of the internet, you know two things: 1.) We LOVE Knoxville. 2.) We HATE picking favorites. Here’s another thing we love: a cool cocktail on a warm summer day. So just be aware that these are just some of our many favorite spots for a fun mixed bevvie in the Scruffy City 😂 If you too are on the continuous hunt for the perfect place to wet your whistle and raise a glass to good times, we are your peeeeople! Go put on your party pants and then come back and explore these must-try spots for cocktails in Knoxville, Tennessee. (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, have we mentioned it’s hard to pick favorites? 😅)
1.) Public House
We will never get over Public House. Are they here to impress you with bells and whistles? No. There website states, “We are a neighborhood bar with no TVs, no live music, and no smoking inside.” We’ve never heard of trivia or comedy or fill-in-the-blank happening there. They will not care one iota that they made this list. AND YET. Their drinks are consistently delicious – experimental and yet palatable. They easily made our favorite patios list. Landing that coveted spot under the greenery leaves us blissful for days. And they serve bomb hot dogs. Y’all, we love hot dogs.
2.) Tern Club
On the quieter side of Gay Street lies an elevated tropical oasis: Tern Club. When we say every. single. detail of this spot has been intentionally curated… from receipts coming to you inside thematic books to glasses being carefully thrifted – everything has been carefully and lovingly chosen. But it’s not just cute. The tropical cocktails – from the classic faves to ones they dreamed up all on their own – are almost dangerously delicious.
3.) Monkey’s Bar
The newest bar on this list is our current casual ✨obsession.✨ Monkey’s Bar is owned by, well, Monkey. Monkey is the sweetest bestest golden retriever/bar owner there ever was. His human, Elle, is also an absolute delight and has created a friendly, delicious cocktail bar – somehow being both un-pretentious and un-divey (a difficult feat to manage, as I’m sure we all know). We love their pop-culture-inspired drink names, their specials to go alongside any and every show at the Mill & Mine (they’re next-door-neighbors), and their long and thoughtful mocktail menu. While we shouldn’t be surprised, it turns out dogs do, in fact, make excellent bar owners!
Image from @brotherwolfbar
4.) Brother Wolf
Speaking of dogs, their ancestors own the bar a couple blocks south. Brother Wolf has stormed the Knoxville cocktail scene with their lengthy Negroni menu (yes, they do in fact serve the famous “Negroni Sbagliato” from that momentarily viral sound 😂) and what many are calling the best espresso martini in Knoxville 👀 We’re personally smitten by their festive pop-up bars. Brother Werewolf pops up during October, Miracle in the Old City takes up residence during the Christmas season, and for one magical moment each year they turn into “Jolene’s” during Rhinestone Fest.
Image from @fivethirtylounge
5.) Five Thirty Lounge
If you prefer to take your cocktails in the skies rather than on the rocks (we do), our fave place to do so is the Five Thirty Lounge. This spot is just classy… (so classy, in fact, that we chose to NOT say “elevated” which would have been the perfect rooftop pun). Take advantage of their Happy Hour specials and deeefinitely round up some friends to have the whole rooftop igloo experience when winter rolls back around 🤩 Want to rooftop hop? Check out four more rooftop bars in Knoxville right here!
6.) Fly by Night
SOUTH KNOXVILLE
Remember Tern Club from a couple spots up? Those drink & design MASTERMINDS just recently opened up another brilliant concept. While Tern Club is a mid-mod moment, Fly by Night seeeeps of the seventies. From the disco ball in the center to the porcelain cats in the corner to the wallpaper that can only be described at groovy, it is all, as they say, far out ✌️ The menu even fits the vibe, offering popular drinks of the decade like dirty martinis, rusty nails, and (my personal favorite) grasshoppers. Needless to say, we are smitten & will be flying (😉) over to the south side frequently.
Image from Peter Kern Library
7.) Peter Kern Library
Last but not least, we couldn’t let a list like this slip away without a nod to Knoxville’s only speakeasy. If you turn off Market Square and slip into the alley between The Oliver Hotel & Knox Brew Hub, you’ll spot a red light. That’s your cue, babes 👀 The Peter Kern Library is open and ready to sneak you in for an evening of literary-themed (and excellent, for the record) sips. PRO-TIP: There is a loose dress code (namely, no hats, guys!) so take this as a rare opportunity in the Scruffy City – when your friend texts, “Are we getting cute?” you can answer with a hearty, “Yes!” 😉 There is also a password to get in, but in an effort to respect the scared secrets of The Library, we won’t just throw it out here on the world wide web. Shoot us a DM on Instagram and we’ll tell ya how to find it 🤫
Hopefully this helps wet your whistle as we whip up another 7! 😉 In the meantime, where is YOUR favorite spot to grab a cocktail?? Let us know over on the ‘gram & maybe it will make the next list!
