Saturday, August 20, 2016
Cracker Barrel - Alcoa, Tennessee
That brings us to today’s blog, Alcoa Tennessee's Cracker
Barrel. Since we moved here we have met Abbie and Mariano who are also Alaskan ex-pats. We have become good friends and grub mates as we see what is good
to eat in Eastern Tennessee. We agreed to meet at the local Maryville Cracker
Barrel for breakfast. There is an old expression, “if you have seen one you
have seen them all.” That is a close truism for Cracker Barrel stores. They are
not exact copies of what but very, very close in layout, merchandise offered,
the menu and usually the quality of the food. When we were traveling Cracker
Barrel offered known quality, ample portions, and reasonable price.
Abbie ordered the Momma’s Pancake Breakfast® ($8.19 Three freshly made Buttermilk
Pancakes with your choice of any fruit topping or a warmed bottle of 100% Pure
Natural Syrup plus two eggs cooked to order and your choice of Smoked Sausage
Patties, Thick-Sliced Bacon, Turkey Sausage or Turkey Bacon.) On a plate by
themselves there were three large golden brown pancakes with a large dollop of
whipped butter. On a companion plate was the bacon, fried crisp, and eggs done to order.
It was a typical Cracker Barrel presentation, the food looked good and appetizing.
On request Abbie got more maple syrup. Momma’s pancake breakfast is a big meal
and a bit more than Abbie normally eats. She did enjoy her mail but there was a
good portion that went to Mariano and some in a doggy bag.
Mariano
ordered the French Toast ($7.19 Four
slices of our own Sourdough Bread (regular or whole wheat) dipped in egg then
grilled to perfection. Served with any fruit topping or 100% Pure Natural Syrup.)
The serving was on an oval platter and there were six thick slices of sourdough bread,
egg dipped, and they were fried to a nice appetizing golden brown with a dollop
of whipped butter on top. More syrup came as requested. Mario said it was very
good, very tasty but he did have one observation. At $7.19 for four slices of
bread the coffee really should come with it. The French toast at good
appearance, good taste, but may have been a bit overpriced after adding the coffee.
Janis
ordered the Wild Maine Blueberry
Pancakes ($7.39 Three Buttermilk Pancakes loaded with wild
Maine blueberries. Served with Wild Maine Blueberry Syrup.) Served on an
oval platter were three golden brown pancakes topped with an amazing abundance
of blueberries. All of that was topped with a generous helping of whipped
cream. There was more than enough blueberry preserves that no additional syrup
with needed. Janis enjoyed her meal, and set it was very good, very tasty. It
is a serving much larger than she normally eats but she managed to finish most of her
meal. The blueberry pancakes were presented well, were good tasting, and
adequate portion with an abundance of blueberries.
I ordered
a more conventional breakfast, at least for me, I chose the Sunrise
Sampler® ($8.19 Two eggs cooked to order with Grits, Sawmill
Gravy, homemade Buttermilk Biscuits, real butter and the best Preserves, Jam n’
Apple Butter (on request) we could find. Plus Fried Apples and Hashbrown
Casserole and a Sampling of Smoked Sausage, Country Ham and Thick-Sliced Bacon.)
This is a good combination as it includes eggs and breakfast meat along with
hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy and fried apples. I asked for my eggs over
medium and ask for the sausage as my choice of breakfast meat. The eggs were
cooked order just like I asked for. The sausage is fried nicely with good
color, was tender and had a good taste. The gravy was nice and hot, nice and
thick and had that good peppery country gravy flavor. The fried apples were
very good and always make a great end to breakfast meal. They’re kind of like
eating an apple pie without the crust.
That leaves the biscuits and the hashbrown casserole. The biscuits it had
been a loft. They were dense, heavy and one would guess that they had not used
enough baking powder. They were also cold and makes me wonder if perhaps they
weren’t left over from the day before. Without the gravy they would have been
way to dry to eat. One of my favorite parts of the Cracker Barrel breakfast is
the hashbrown casserole. This serving did not live up to what I have come to
expect from Cracker Barrel. It was quite dry and the edges crispy and serving
was way too small-sort of like the kitchen scooped the last remaining drag out
of a long-standing pan to fill my order. I did enjoy the eggs and apples
as well as the gravy. The poorly prepared biscuits and potato casserole severely
detracted from my enjoyment of the meal.
One of the things that kept us going back to Cracker Barrel over the years was a consistency of quality in the food. For the most part the four of us received meals that were up to Cracker Barrel’s normal standard. In my case, however, slight deviations from normal quality made a meal less than totally satisfying. As far as I can recall this is the first time I have been dissatisfied with Cracker Barrel. I am sure we will have breakfast a Cracker Barrel again in future and I hope that this glitch was a one-time event. And the grits.... well I never eat that stuff anyway.
Aug 19, 2011 http://thatfoodguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/cracker-barrel-st-petersburg-florida.html
Cracker Barrel (Old
Country Store)
771 Louisville
Rd, Alcoa, TN 37701
My first experience with Cracker
Barrel was probably more than 20 years ago; long before I started blogging my
food adventures. Back then, Cracker Barrel’s were a mostly Southeast presence
and someone from Alaska would be hard-pressed to find a convenient Cracker
Barrel. The wife and I flew down to Florida to visit her parents and one of the
places they took us was a Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Over the years and many
more trips to Florida to visit the in-laws garnered many more Cracker Barrel
experiences.
When the wife retired we started the
motor home phase of our retirement. We found that Cracker Barrel had expanded
and had stores across much of the United States and they made a convenient
place to stop for a bite one on the road. A bit later, we stayed in Florida to
spend quality time with the wife’s father in his later years. That of course made
a breakfast or even a lunch or dinner a common occurrence. That’s not to
mention that frequent newspaper promotions for daily specials made for an even lower
priced meal.
Since then we have relocated to
Eastern Tennessee. We are located not too far from where the very first Cracker
Barrel company store opened in 1969 in Lebanon Tennessee. In the past Cracker
Barrel has had some rough times with customer relations. Apparently they have
managed to smooth out the rough edges and I notice that the customer base seems
to be a cross-section of the population. They seem to be doing it right because
it has grown to be 630 stores located in 42 states and a bit less than 50
years. All of them are company owned and operated.
That brings us to today’s blog, Alcoa Tennessee's Cracker
Barrel. Since we moved here we have met Abbie and Mariano who are also Alaskan ex-pats. We have become good friends and grub mates as we see what is good
to eat in Eastern Tennessee. We agreed to meet at the local Maryville Cracker
Barrel for breakfast. There is an old expression, “if you have seen one you
have seen them all.” That is a close truism for Cracker Barrel stores. They are
not exact copies of what but very, very close in layout, merchandise offered,
the menu and usually the quality of the food. When we were traveling Cracker
Barrel offered known quality, ample portions, and reasonable price.
It was a bright sunny and unseasonably
warm day in Maryville. We managed to find a parking spot in the shade of a
tree. The coolness inside the store was a welcome change from the heat outside.
The hostess led us to a corner table where Abbie and Mariano were waiting for
us. It was all very familiar, the fireplace and the old-time country decore They
had arrived after us but we managed to pass each other in the store without
noticing.
Our server, Misty Dawn, was there
within moments to take our beverage order. A charming young lady, she would be
at tables frequently to see what we needed and yet never looming. She was a
plus to the dining experience. The menu was familiar. I was trying to juggle
the included side dishes with each selection and Misty knew the menu well
enough for me to order the right selection without having to order it
piecemeal.
Abbie ordered the Momma’s Pancake Breakfast® ($8.19 Three freshly made Buttermilk
Pancakes with your choice of any fruit topping or a warmed bottle of 100% Pure
Natural Syrup plus two eggs cooked to order and your choice of Smoked Sausage
Patties, Thick-Sliced Bacon, Turkey Sausage or Turkey Bacon.) On a plate by
themselves there were three large golden brown pancakes with a large dollop of
whipped butter. On a companion plate was the bacon, fried crisp, and eggs done to order.
It was a typical Cracker Barrel presentation, the food looked good and appetizing.
On request Abbie got more maple syrup. Momma’s pancake breakfast is a big meal
and a bit more than Abbie normally eats. She did enjoy her mail but there was a
good portion that went to Mariano and some in a doggy bag.
Mariano
ordered the French Toast ($7.19 Four
slices of our own Sourdough Bread (regular or whole wheat) dipped in egg then
grilled to perfection. Served with any fruit topping or 100% Pure Natural Syrup.)
The serving was on an oval platter and there were six thick slices of sourdough bread,
egg dipped, and they were fried to a nice appetizing golden brown with a dollop
of whipped butter on top. More syrup came as requested. Mario said it was very
good, very tasty but he did have one observation. At $7.19 for four slices of
bread the coffee really should come with it. The French toast at good
appearance, good taste, but may have been a bit overpriced after adding the coffee.
Janis
ordered the Wild Maine Blueberry
Pancakes ($7.39 Three Buttermilk Pancakes loaded with wild
Maine blueberries. Served with Wild Maine Blueberry Syrup.) Served on an
oval platter were three golden brown pancakes topped with an amazing abundance
of blueberries. All of that was topped with a generous helping of whipped
cream. There was more than enough blueberry preserves that no additional syrup
with needed. Janis enjoyed her meal, and set it was very good, very tasty. It
is a serving much larger than she normally eats but she managed to finish most of her
meal. The blueberry pancakes were presented well, were good tasting, and
adequate portion with an abundance of blueberries.
I ordered
a more conventional breakfast, at least for me, I chose the Sunrise
Sampler® ($8.19 Two eggs cooked to order with Grits, Sawmill
Gravy, homemade Buttermilk Biscuits, real butter and the best Preserves, Jam n’
Apple Butter (on request) we could find. Plus Fried Apples and Hashbrown
Casserole and a Sampling of Smoked Sausage, Country Ham and Thick-Sliced Bacon.)
This is a good combination as it includes eggs and breakfast meat along with
hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy and fried apples. I asked for my eggs over
medium and ask for the sausage as my choice of breakfast meat. The eggs were
cooked order just like I asked for. The sausage is fried nicely with good
color, was tender and had a good taste. The gravy was nice and hot, nice and
thick and had that good peppery country gravy flavor. The fried apples were
very good and always make a great end to breakfast meal. They’re kind of like
eating an apple pie without the crust.
That leaves the biscuits and the hashbrown casserole. The biscuits it had
been a loft. They were dense, heavy and one would guess that they had not used
enough baking powder. They were also cold and makes me wonder if perhaps they
weren’t left over from the day before. Without the gravy they would have been
way to dry to eat. One of my favorite parts of the Cracker Barrel breakfast is
the hashbrown casserole. This serving did not live up to what I have come to
expect from Cracker Barrel. It was quite dry and the edges crispy and serving
was way too small-sort of like the kitchen scooped the last remaining drag out
of a long-standing pan to fill my order. I did enjoy the eggs and apples
as well as the gravy. The poorly prepared biscuits and potato casserole severely
detracted from my enjoyment of the meal.
One of the things that kept us going back to Cracker Barrel over the years was a consistency of quality in the food. For the most part the four of us received meals that were up to Cracker Barrel’s normal standard. In my case, however, slight deviations from normal quality made a meal less than totally satisfying. As far as I can recall this is the first time I have been dissatisfied with Cracker Barrel. I am sure we will have breakfast a Cracker Barrel again in future and I hope that this glitch was a one-time event. And the grits.... well I never eat that stuff anyway.
Previous Cracker Barrel Blogs:
May 12 2012 http://thatfoodguy.blogspot.com/2012/05/cracker-barrel-revisited.htmlAug 19, 2011 http://thatfoodguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/cracker-barrel-st-petersburg-florida.html
Labels: bacon, Barrel, biscuits, blueberries, crack, cracker barrel, eggs, gravy, grits, maple, pancakes, sausage, syrup
¶ 2:36 PM
