Darrell Benton of Benton’s Country Hams was one of the featured guests on Saturday at The Gathering at RT Lodge. Here he slices ham for a charcuterie plate.
Don’t worry. There will be plenty of pictures of great food in this post. After all, it is a continuation of the Blue Streak’s report on “The Gathering” at RT Lodge, which is a weekend of guest chefs, panel discussions, and other food-related activities held recently at the Maryville resort. (For the first part, see the previous Blue Streak post.)
But there was serious talk, too. One of the most interesting topics, to me, was how seriously the chefs and restaurant owners take customer reviews. RT Lodge’s executive chef, Trevor Stockton, said that it takes 49 five-star reviews on Yelp to neutralize an eatery’s rating after a single one-star review is posted! I found that shocking. And maybe a little unfair.
All the panelists said that they want to hear about any subpar experiences their diners have. “But, please, tell us directly,” Stockton implored.
Suggestions about how to report bad experiences included calling the restaurant, writing the restaurant, or emailing them. They’d like to know about problems and they’d like a chance to make things right, they all said. But going to social media to air complaints is extremely harmful. As is giving a low score on one of the rating services.
But, if you have a good experience, by all means go public with it, they all agreed! Especially those five-star ratings!
OK. Now, on to the fun photos.
Saturday morning’s panel members were, from left: moderator Brian Strutz, the owner with his wife, Jessica, of Knoxville’s A Dopo Pizza; Tiana Saul of Chattanooga Whiskey; April Franqueza of Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts; Caitlyn Cox of RT Lodge; Lawrence Weeks of Murray’s Creole Pub in Louisville, Kentucky; Tyler Trainum of Autumn Olive Farms in Virginia; Trevor Stockton of RT Lodge; and Khaled AlBanna of Calliope in Chattanooga.
The room where the panel discussion was held is called “The Meeting Room.” Isn’t it stunning?
Brian Strutz and Tiana Saul. He did a wonderful job as moderator.
Lawrence Weeks, left, and Tyler Trainum whose family owns an award-winning hog farm. Trainum said, “The best marketing is word of mouth. People want something real. We live in a fake world. Fire, animals, talking. That’s real.” Moderator Strutz quipped, “You can’t get more analog than a farm!”
Pastry chefs April Franqueza, left, of Canyon Ranch, and Caitlyn Cox of RT Lodge, who was passionate about the need to make the hospitality industry more accommodating for workers with young families.
Trevor Stockton, left, and Khaled AlBanna of Calliope in Chattanooga. He cracked the audience up when Strutz asked everyone what one ingredient they were tired of, “Chives!” AlBanna said immediately.
Pastry chef April Franqueza said she was tired of so-called “creative flours.” “Do we really need quinoa flour?” she asked.
We had many options for the afternoon: a foraging walk with an expert, screen printing on the back patio, a beer tasting, and a whiskey tasting. We skipped all of that and just enjoyed lunch and a walk around the property.
The flowers were beautiful almost everywhere we looked.
The desserts offered at lunch: clockwise from top left, some kind of brownies that looked fabulous; Grammy’s ribbon bars; April’s carrot cake; and April’s waffles.
We passed Master Distiller Tiana Saul offering tastes of Chattanooga Whiskey’s products, but we just couldn’t do it that early.
Around cocktail hour, we headed to the patio where we saw Colleen Cruze Bhatti and her husband, Manjit. Yep, of Knoxville’s Cruze Farms.
Elicia Hunt and Taz Painter were there, too.
Also from Knoxville, Dr. Jeffrey Swilley with Kelly Searle.
Heather Ridgely, left, and Beth Holman, the president of RT Lodge.
Music was by Jasper Hollow. Husband-wife duo Lauren and Logan Winders played on the patio during cocktails, top, and later under the dinner tent, bottom.
We became friendly earlier in the day with John and Lynn Kirchner and was fun seeing them at cocktails.
Some of the happy hour offerings: fried okra, arancini (yum!), and three signature cocktails from Calliope in Chattanooga.
Cliff Dossel and Allison Perkins. Friends we met from Winston-Salem.
Knoxville’s Brian and Jessica Strutz. Not only do they own A Dopo, but they are part owners of Potche Bagel and the fantastic new French restaurant, Au Bon Coin.
When we were summoned to dinner, it was in this massive tent!
The grill was going strong!
Some of our table-mates Saturday night: From left, Kevin and Maria McHale with David and Caitlin Zeenah.
And Sidney Scialdone and Bill Riley.
Maria McHale, top, with Courtney Karschnick, front, and Hannah Blevins.
Chef Trevor Stockton introducing dinner.
Our two pasty chefs, April Franqueza, left, and Caitlyn Cox.
Each of them contributed a bread in this basket. We loved them both!
Trevor Stockton prepared the grilled quail, which was served family-style with preserved tomato and roasted mushrooms.
Chef Kahled AlBamma prepared the next course, slow-cooked Freedom Run Farms lamb shank.
I can’t eat lamb, but everyone else loved it! You know what I loved? The fava beans and feta that were served with it!
April Franqueza described her dessert.
Lemon custard, honeycomb candy, chamomile sabayon, and frozen yogurt. Holy cow!
Now, you might think that was enough for one night. (I actually forgot to photograph the salad course.) But no!
As we made our way back to the patio and the lodge, we passed a large group gathered around a fire pit.
We headed to the patio where they were serving — wait for it! — beer floats! “Those beer floats were actually pretty good!” said my friend Jack Singleton.
Alan opted for a corn dog!
Which he said was actually pretty good, as well!
I went with my favorite end of night treat — The Last Word.
On Sunday morning, prior to check-out, a traditional breakfast buffet was offered. These were the standouts, in my book: banana muffins, top, and bee sting buns with almonds and apricot. Fabulous.
Looks like an epic event!!