Restaurants in Maryville

Pork loin, ham, turkey breasts, and certified Angus beef slow cook over plumes of piquant smoke at Clint's BBQ & Country Cookin', where plates of country-fried steak and deep-fried okra crown blue gingham tablecloths. Clint himself takes to the eatery's stage on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, where he and a small band croon and pluck guitars, banjos, mandolins, fiddles, and an upright bass beneath an antique Texaco marquee. Retro ephemera plaster the walls in the slope-roofed dining room, where old license plates hang beside photographs and metal placards painted with classic advertisements for Beech-Nut, Coca-Cola, and Acme teleporters.

Though born in Mexico, Jose Garcia has built a career focused on fresh, nutritious Asian cuisine. As reported by Carly Harrington of the Knoxville News Sentinel, Garcia’s goal in opening Fan Chao was to supply health-conscious locals with cuisine that harmonizes with their dietary goals or restrictions. So he teamed up with local chiropractor and wellness expert Dr. Scott Courtley to design Fan Chao’s bill of fare. The restaurant’s made-from-scratch, oil-free, and veggie-heavy fare is as tasty as it is wholesome.

The menu tantalizes tongues with bold flavors of flame-seared beef, chicken, and tofu. Many items, including moo goo gai pan and a vegetarian feast with spiced tofu, can be made entirely gluten-free upon request. Sensitive tongues can also request a lower heat level on spicy dishes such as garlic ginger beef or firecracker shrimp.

Knoxville.com also favorably featured the Chinese eatery, highlighting distinctive décor details such as the color scheme of reds and earth tones. A flat-screen TV beams a live stream of Fan Chao's grill chefs, who spend most of their time searing or singing lullabies to each fresh morsel.

Garrett's Downtown Deli borrows both a name and a philosophy from owner and founder Garrett Scanlan, whose childhood job in his father's kitchen and formal apprenticeships at several kitchens across Europe have led to appearances in more than 50 cookbooks and his own television program, 90 Miles with Chef Garrett. Behind the counter, Chef Scanlan and his kitchen crew take time to construct his eatery's deli-style fare as if it were served in a gourmet bistro or about to be sacrificed to a vengeful volcano. Sandwiches are crafted from Garrett's own recipes and contain hand-carved meats that are roasted in-house, including turkey, ham, and corned beef sliced thin, piled high, and paired with a pickle and chips, coleslaw, or potato salad. A hot-entree-and-salad bar poses even more choices for eager eaters, with daily rotating spreads of pasta, barbecue, baked chicken, from-scratch soups, and diet-friendly salads and recipes.

Loco Burro's owners wanted to create an environment that reflected the festive flavors of their menu, which is packed with zesty Tex-Mex fare, such as sizzling fajitas and margaritas blended with fresh citrus juice. In the dining room, the staff keeps the party popping with crowd-pleasing challenges, such as The Whole 5 lb. Chiuaua burrito, which wins competitors who consume it within an hour a free burrito and a T-shirt. Meanwhile, the restaurant's bucking mechanical donkey awaits a courageous rider or a romantic evening out with a mechanical dishwasher. On the roof, the restaurateurs arranged a sophisticated patio that boasts stunning Great Smoky Mountain views, hypnotizing fire pits, light strings, and tables and couches where guests can continue the merrymaking under the stars.:m]]

Jose Garcia’s life has drawn him in many different directions. He grew up in Mexico, but he moved to pursue the American dream, which propelled him from a job as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant to his current role as chef and owner of WokStar Asian Cuisine. Here, he draws on culinary skills he painstakingly taught himself and presides over cooks who chop vegetables and wok-sear meats before patrons’ eyes. The menu brims with Chinese, Korean, and Thai influences, which infuse the air with the scents of ginger, garlic, and sesame. Spicy fare, such as chili-spiked kung pao, can be cooked according to a personal preference for mild food or a need to teach a robot to sweat.

A huge statue of Buddha watches over the dining room at Surin of Thailand, although his peaceful gaze is subverted by complex curries, spicy stir-fried noodle dishes, and flavorful barbecue-chicken entrees a day in the making. Half chickens are marinated in Thai barbecue sauce overnight before being slowly roasted and grilled, then they’re plated with scoops of shrimp fried rice and reminders to chew each bite thoroughly, not matter who’s threatening to steal the flavorful dark meat.

Surin measures its dishes' spiciness on a three-pepper scale, where one is "spicy" and three is "Thai hot." Though most dishes fall between nonspicy and hot, a few earn their trio of peppers, including a medley of mussels, scallops, and shrimp with spicy basil sauce.

Another Buddha—actually, just a head—guards the sushi bar, where nigiri, sashimi, and creative maki rolls are born. Under the two Buddhas' protection, diners settle into leather seats or tuck into booths backed by ferns and foliage. Outside the stone-walled eatery, a patio seasons dishes with sunlight and refreshing breezes.