grub scout
Bubba cooks ups some fine crustacean, but prices far from shrimpy
By cooper | 2:01 pm, 08/31/2007Ordinarily, I approach heavily themed franchise restaurants with a wary eye. I don’t have a major problem with the Hard Rock Cafes and the Planet Hollywoods of the world, but I do tend to get a little cynical when large corporations try to replicate creative concepts with an assembly-line mentality.
So when I first heard of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., a worldwide restaurant chain based entirely on one specific movie (“Forrest Gump”), I couldn’t help but sigh — while also marveling at the evil genius of this concept’s marketing potential.
Ambiance, entrees pair nicely with vast array of vintages
By cooper | 3:46 pm, 08/27/2007I must admit that as much as I enjoy a glass of wine, I have managed to stay only marginally knowledgeable of what is truly a vast subject. There are so many subtle variables in any given glass of wine — not to mention all the grape varieties, vineyards and individual wineries in play — that to acquire even a dangerous level of knowledge has always seemed an intimidating task to me.
Deli makes its mark with its customer-pleasing atmosphere
I had always been a bit confused about the whole Time Out Deli presence in Knoxville. Over the years, I have been marginally aware of Time Outs on Magnolia, Central and Middlebrook, and I reviewed Ali Baba’s Time Out Deli on Kingston Pike earlier this year.
Mark, whose namesake Time Out Deli I recently visited on a lunch break, brought me up to speed on what belongs to whom. Evidently, all the Time Outs except for Ali Baba’s are operated by the same family, so at least I wasn’t being too duplicitous in my coverage.
