In honor of the Royal Wedding this week, it would only seems fit to write the most royal of my reviews yet: Rouxbarb. This little gem of an establishment caught my eye a few weeks back, and after a solid internet stalk I knew this would be my next target. We chose to go check it out for a 'date night' as us young classy 30-something parents do these days, and it proved to be not only the most deliciously prepared food I have had in oh, say about the last 31 years of my 31 year-old life, but hands down the most (how do I say this w/o swearing?) "*&%$#@*&^%-ing" greatest dining experience my sweet hubby and I have had to date.
When we arrived the seasonly-glammy hostess sat us and buttered us up correct, and got us going on our BYOB bottle of white we scooped on the way, and immediately had our waitress at our side. Ok, so there's waitresses, and there are PROFESSIONAL waitresses...now, this lady was goooood, and I mean good. She suggested the Chef's tasting, if we were interested, (like that was gonna get a 'no'), and then proceeded to send the Chef out to our table like he had nothing better to do but to meet us. At this moment I blacked-back-in and remembered what a REAL dining experience was like, ya know... when the Chef wants to meet the people he is gonna cook for, and maybe actually cares who's his patrons are. Anyways, it was a quick beg and plead for the last tasting of the night and POOF we were relocated to the bar for the food-feast that took eleven- hundred plates and what seemed like hours to consume. It was glorious, royal even. I felt like Kate Middleton in a cheap dress and expensive lip gloss.
Our first several plates were delicious Southern-fared concoctions like deep fried chicken livers with tomato jam and grits, pimento cheese beignets with hot pepper jelly and PEI muscles w/ Benton's bacon and the most eggy soft bread that helped me consume all that last drop of broth, because upon the Chef's recommendation, I picked the bowl up and drank the rest. No big deal. This is what i'm talking about, an establishment that can create such an intimate dining experience while not focusing on the white table cloths and pocket-book plumpness of it's patrons, but keep it a close face to face conversational meal.
Oh, did I mention they have their own BBQ smokehouse out back...no big deal. Ha!
Right, so then maybe the 7th or 8th plate we enjoyed was a warm grilled pineapple salad, then quail with dirty rice for our entree and then a dessert plate that was a serious slap across the face. There was like 7 different desserts on this platter, and yes I mean platter. It was the truly awesome ending that we could have never expected. Actually, the whole experience was so unexpected that we're still pinching ourselves making sure that it actually happened.
We finished our bottle of wine chatting it up with another couple across the bar, and the great staff who really made the whole time we spent there (it felt like it was 4 or 5 hours of mouth-watering 'open-mouth insert heaven' time) just perfect. It's not any wonder the Chef has as many kudos locally and nationally as the number of plates he fed us that night, the food was like nothing else Knoxville has going, and the experience was as good as it gets.
While everyone else is watching the CNN and MSNBC royal wedding coverage this weekend, i'll most likely be texting everyone I know trying to find someone to go back with me. Yes, its that's good.
Colleen's yummy food rating: 5/5
Check their website here.
