Page 64 - Cityview May-June 2017

Lonesome Dove Western Bistro
Texas swa er and wild game bri s an iconic Old C y sal n to life.
100 N. Central St. Knoxville, TN 37902 865-999-5251 lonesomedoveknoxville.com
it’s refined and funky at the same time. Overflow goes the second-floor Fulmer Dining Room— named for the coach; Tim Love is a proud UT alum. Groups can rent the top-floor Sullivan Room, once a bordello and still haunted by Clara the Ghost.
Servers take orders for all courses all at once, so the crew can orchestrate the arrival of different courses. “We take you on a journey,” says Rossbach. The tour guides
are well informed and enthusiastic about their dishes, which they will split up for family-style sharing.
In his quest to create unique dishes, Rossbach says, “I’d like to feel that I make a difference.” The journey begins with Wild Game Fettine, paper-thin
LONESOME DOVE occupies
the renovated Patrick Sullivan’s Saloon and its neighbor building,
once known as Annie’s. The Texas connection starts there, in that onetime proprietor Annie DeLisle was once married to Cormac McCarthy, whose novel All the Pretty Horses has entered the same Texas literary pantheon as Larry McMurty’s classics from The Last Picture Show to, yes, Lonesome Dove. The restaurant echoes the Texas vibe of celebrity chef Tim Love’s restaurants in Ft. Worth and Austin. Chef de Cuisine Jesse Rossbach came from the Austin Lonesome Dove in 2016, having joined the LD family a year and a half before from Austin’s trendy North Italia Modern Cuisine and True Food Kitchen.
If you aren’t in a Texas state of mind when you walk in, a warm “Howdy” from the hostess gets you started. The saloon bar runs along the right side
of the room. Behind it, a selection of spirits, arranged artistically to set off their different shapes and sizes, let you know that this is a place where a cowpoke can get a real drink. Like a western movie set, the balcony level of timber-frame beams runs down
the left side of the saloon. Diners
can look down on the bar or nestle beneath the balcony. The dining room that was once Annie’s features an open kitchen emanating the aroma
of elk and venison on the grill. With twangy music, exposed brick walls, and stained-glass clerestory windows,
Eat
DINING OUT
THE CITYVIEW RATING
Ambiance: Service: Food: Presentation: Price:
22
Total: (out of 25)
The Cityview Rating reflects the totals of the ve categories: Ambiance, Service, Food, Presentation, and Price. (25: Out of this World; 20 to 25: Excellent; 15 to 20: Very Good; 10 to 15: So-So;
5 to 10: Not Recommended; 0 to 5: Don’t Eat Here)
Review by N. Brooks Clark Photograph by Nathan Sparks
62 MAY JUNE 2017