137 Apple Valley Way Townsend, Tennessee 37822 Phone: 865-448-6000

The Area's Best Dinner, with Fresh Ingredients from Local Farms, Is Worth the Drive to the Dining Room at Dancing Bear Lodge in Townsend

A gentle breeze stirs the leaves in the tall trees that shade and surround the outdoor terrace. Candles flicker as fireflies begin to rise and the sun sets behind a backdrop of smoky-sapphire mountains.  The mouth-watering aromas of country-cured bacon, sizzling steak, and just-baked breads waft from the kitchen.  Glasses clink after the pleasing pop of a released wine cork, and dishes begin to arrive at your table.  First comes a spring-onion soup that is richly satisfying with its accent of crispy cured bacon.  That's followed by an almond-crusted rainbow trout that must surely have been swimming in a nearby stream earlier today.  It's accompanied by butter beans and spinach from a garden in a hollow just a hill or two away, with mushrooms from the woods that border it.  And as the twilight fades to a velvety night lit by just slightly more stars than this special place deserves, temptation appears as Tennessee Whiskey Cake with sorghum ice cream and candied pecans.  It is welcomed like a dear, old friend. 

This is the dining room at Dancing Bear Lodge, serving those of us who visit only for the food, as well as those who stay in rustic but luxurious rooms and cabins at this 36-acre woodland retreat in the foothills of the Smokies.  It's an easy 45-minute drive from just about any doorstep in Knoxville or Oak Ridge, about 20 minutes for those who live in Maryville.  It welcomes dinner guests five nights a week and on most holidays.

The spectacular meals that end with sips of locally roasted Vienna coffee begin with Executive Chef Jeff Carter making his way in early morning through area farmers' markets, gathering an array of just-picked organic produce and locally grown fruits and vegetables that were snug in their garden beds and orchard boughs just a few hours earlier.  You might also find him on the phone with Alan Benton, placing an order for cured hams and bacon from one of the most highly praised purveyors in the nation, who happens to be just a county or two away.  Through every season, Chef Carter seeks locally grown and raised ingredients, knowing that he can count on the bounty of a region that has a rich heritage of farming, gardening, and livestock.

"We are so fortunate to be surrounded not only by majestic mountains and year-round natural beauty, but also by so many local sources of wholesome food that is pure, full of flavor, and grown or raised by people I can call by name," he says. 

And that's one of the special things that make dinner at Dancing Bear Lodge different – and better – than a meal at a place that may be a few minutes closer to home.  The other is the dining room itself, with its broad-planked wooden floors, walls of golden-hued logs, and views of the surrounding woods.  The room opens to a terrace (or open-air back porch if you grew up in or near these hills and hollows) that accommodates guests through all but the most frigid months.  And you are made welcome and put immediately at ease by gracious servers who appreciate the special nature of this place and its food almost as much as they appreciate having you enjoy it.