Grub Scout: Sevier County's Tin Roof Cafe built on solid foundation of tasty panini sandwiches

I don’t normally feature Sevier County restaurants in back-to-back reviews, but that’s just how things worked out with my schedule recently. This time, I shifted my sights to Sevierville, home of The Tin Roof Cafe, which is on Apple Valley Road, just past the Apple Barn complex. I met a friend for lunch in the cafe, which occupies a charming, old, two-story farmhouse complete with large, shaded front porch and a namesake tin roof.

Upon entering, you make your way down the main hall to the back room and order at the window connecting to the adjacent kitchen. Several menus lie about for customers to peruse before placing their orders. Elsewhere in the building are other individual dining rooms — each distinctive in its own way but sharing common elements such as plank wood flooring, brightly colored walls and whimsical decor and art pieces.

The fare at The Tin Roof Cafe (not to be confused with the Tin Roof bar/restaurant establishments in Knoxville) revolves primarily around panini sandwiches, which fall in the $7 to $10 range.

The menu features nearly two dozen panini variations, including a turkey, brie and green apple on ciabatta bread; ham and Swiss croissant with mayo, spicy mustard, lettuce and tomato; roast beef, oven-roasted tomatoes, provolone and balsamic vinaigrette on rosemary bread; and the Fancy BLT — bacon, avocado, tomatoes, vinaigrette, havarti cheese and spring mix greens on ciabatta bread.

There is also a handful of vegetarian selections, one in particular made with cream cheese, cucumber, red onion, tomato and spring mix with muenster cheese on rosemary bread. The menu further includes chef, garden and chicken salad salads as well as a kids’ menu that offers a trio of sandwiches and ham or turkey roll-ups.

My friend ordered a panini with grilled chicken breast, pesto, mozzarella and oven-roasted tomatoes on rosemary bread. I couldn’t resist trying the chicken, bacon, avocado, ranch and Swiss cheese on ciabatta bread. All paninis include a choice of side. I went with the pasta salad over potato salad, small green salad, chips or fruit selection.

We didn’t have an extraordinarily long wait, but it did take longer for our orders to be served than I had expected, considering that there was only one other order ahead of ours in the queue.

At any rate, we certainly had no complaints about the food once it arrived. The chicken breast panini was substantially larger than my own order, a difference that is probably attributable to the two types of bread used in our respective combinations.

Regardless of size, however, each was wonderful. The rosemary bread was an aromatically soft cushion for the blend of chicken and pesto, while my ciabatta bread provided a solid foundation for a palate-pleasing combination of chicken, crisp bacon, avocado and Swiss. The pasta salad sides were also enjoyable — substantial, with a zesty vinaigrette flavor.

We passed on dessert, but a rotating selection of fruit smoothies and homemade desserts — which in the past has included treats like pumpkin roll, carrot cake and brownies — is available. Coffee lovers might also try an espresso, cappuccino, latte or frappe. In fact, The Tin Roof Cafe started out as a coffee shop before evolving into a panini-serving cafe.

Next time you’re in Sevier County, consider checking out The Tin Roof Cafe for lunch or dinner. It may be hard to resist the gravitational pull of the popular Apple Barn restaurants and shops, but if you can wind up in the cafe’s orbit, I think you’ll find their food to be out of this world.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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