Eating in Knoxville, Tennessee

Maybe had we stopped in to visit the residents of Mountain City we could've had some authentic southern food, but through East Tennessee and Knoxville, we hadn't found much other than what Bush's Best Baked Beans was serving up in Chestnut Hill.

What it lacked in southern style homecooking, Knoxville made up for with the variety of restaurants and bars along Gay Street and Market Square.

A crowd gathered for Shakespeare on the Square in Knoxville's Market Square.

While we were in Knoxville, we tried two of the Market Square restaurants.

Soccer Taco was set up like a Mexican sports bar. The food was good, but of course, it was the soccer-themed decor that left the biggest impression.

The televisions on the wall betrayed that soccer theme, however, by showing some collegiate American football during our meal. Between this and the food, Soccer Taco was a fun place to grab a bite, but it couldn't top our earlier experience at Ole's Guacamoles in Johnson City.

Flow serves beer and coffee drinks to to the residents and locals in Knoxville.

Elsewhere in Knoxville, we found the small, trendy Flow Brew Parlor with its coffee, beer and espresso offerings. We enjoyed a Memphis-brewed coffee milk stout by Wiseacre.

Back at Market Square, Not Watson's offered a comfortable experience with big booths, dark lighting and interesting artwork. It also served up an awesome alligator po' boy sandwich.

The food at Not Watson's is served with style, including the alligator po' boy.

Checking out the menu, we learned the story behind the restaurant's peculiar name. Watson's was a renowned department store on Knoxville's Market Square one or two generations ago.

Whenever the restaurant owner's mother wanted to take her family to town, she'd suggest Watson's. They went so often that the kids would always answer the question of, "Where should we go today?" the same way:

"Not Watson's!"

When one of those kids grew up to own this Market Square restaurant, naming it was easy, and Not Watson's stands as a subtle tribute to Mom.

We didn't try this Market Square bar, but we did spot the man pulling a keg through the wall.

Just one block from Market Square, on Gay Street, we tried the Irish pub called Clancy's Tavern and found some good, but pricey versions of pub staples such as fish and chips. What set this place apart was its unique drink offerings, called beer-tails.

The cocktail version of a glass of beer, the bartenders created beer-tails by mixing together two complimentary beers. This sounded to me like it'd be awful, but the one we tried - called Snakebite, it tempered a hard cider with Harp's lager - was delicious.

Our final Knoxville dining experience came on a whim a little further along on Gay Street.

It was early afternooon, and we were headed to a beautiful, historic movie theater now owned by Regal Cinemas when we saw the Parisian-styled French Market Creperie.

The French Market Creperie in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Inside, we ordered a sugary dessert crepe and a savory ham-and-cheese crepe to go along with a couple cappuccinos. For that long moment, my wife and I sat in Knoxville, Tennessee, and reminisced over our honeymoon in Paris, France, just a few years earlier.

Discovering the home of Bush's Best Baked Beans

We're big fans of places like Hershey's Chocolate World and the Turkey Hill Experience, so when we passed signs for Bush's Baked Beans, we made the quick (long) detour to check it out.

The Bush's factory, seen from the nearby visitor's center.

Pulling up, we first spotted the Bush's factory. We'd eventually find out it was a magical place, but for now, we met a friendly guard at the entrance who directed us to a visitor's center a little further down the road.

The Bush's factory is set in the beautiful, green hills of Chestnut Hill, Tennessee, and the visitor's center is an amazing museum/gift shop/restaurant combo.

Everything is immaculate, the staff is friendly, and the featured video inside taught us about the factory's lightning-fast bean canning assembly line.

This was the magical part.

The assembly line is perfectly automated, and it's a good thing since most of it moves faster than our eyes and brains can keep track of what's happening. Factory workers unload entire tractor trailers in seconds and at the touch of a button. The water used to wash the beans and cans is recycled by a sprinkler system that waters the vast rolling hills nearby where a herd of Bush's cows keep the grass neatly mowed.

It's worth the trip for a photo like this alone.

We also learned that I weigh the same as 145,154 beans. That is, I did before we sat down to lunch.

The chili dog I ordered was overloaded to such an awesome degree that I had to eat it with a fork and knife. The appetizer was the baked bean of the day, and on that day was southern bbq flavor. Bush's also provided us our first glasses of southern sweet tea.

There's more here than you'd expect from a baked bean factory.

Bush's baked bean recipe is still a secret, but there's one thing we know for sure:

If you have any passing interest at all in American grilling food, Bush's dog mascot Duke, or standing inside a seven-foot-tall can of Bush's Best Original Baked Beans, the Bush's Beans Visitors Center is worth the trip.