Weekend Travel

The Five-Point Weekend Escape Plan

See a Solitary Side of the Smoky Mountains

2. Where to Eat

The Cherokee Grill

(Photo: Mike Jones)

There are no restaurants inside the park, so grill for yourself at one of eleven designated picnic areas. Pick up hot dogs and two-liters at Parkway Market (1127 Parkway; 865-436-9368), a mom-and-pop 200 yards from the park border, and drive to the large Chimney's picnic area off New Found Gap Road. There, you can eat atop a boulder overlooking the Little Pigeon River. Thinner crowds and tubing and swimming opportunities are only a few miles away at Metcalf Bottoms.

Pancake houses are everywhere, but the Log Cabin (4235 Parkway; Pigeon Forge; 865-453-5748) stands out for its quick turnaround and extra-fluffy stacks served with sides of country ham and lard-baked biscuits. Arrive before 8 a.m. to avoid the crowds.

Meat reigns in the Smokies, so give in to a ten-ounce Grand Champion Angus cheeseburger with applewood-smoked bacon at Bullfish Grill (2441 Parkway, Pigeon Forge; 865-868-1000), a strapping, cabin-style restaurant that douses even its salads in bacon and cheese.

Cherokee Grill (1002 Parkway, Gatlinburg; 865-436-4287) serves inventive comfort food inside a vast and dark chalet-style dining room. Order the perfectly breaded mountain trout with a side of tangy blue-cheese grits, and be sure to try one of the robust seven-malts from the Smoky Mountain Brewery microbrewery around the corner.