On The Town Dining with Mr. Bill: Bonefish Grill at Turkey Creek--Knoxville

Every now and then, a restaurant comes into the
cross hairs that you have not dined in.

Bonefish Grill was just that restaurant!

Since it was my birthday weekend, I wanted to experience something that I had not in the past. After a while, you start returning to the same old, same old and it was time to make a change in my dining patterns.

The first thing that I though was..oh, it's probably just another corporate chain since they also operate Outback, Flemings, Ray's et al. OSI Restaurant Partners, LLC has changed my opinion of "the chain". Fleming's remains my favorite steak house and we enjoy that restaurant as much as I can.

A friend suggested that if we go, we need to make reservations. I called earlier in the week and secured my Saturday 630PM slot. We arrived at 620PM and were promptly escorted to our table. No waiting...no excuses. Our server, promptly arrived to assist us since this was our first visit. She showed the Evening Special Menu that piqued our interest. Her first suggestion for an appetizer was their famous Bang Bang Shrimp. I have heard everyone rave about this and I just had to try them. This dish I could have eaten for my entree...it was that good. Wonderful flavors and surprisingly, the "spice heat" began to build after three or four of the shrimp. It was superb.

Bang Bang Shrimp

The Evening Special Menu

The very first item was the Beet-Goat Cheese Salad. Sounded interesting but I am not a fan of Goat Cheese. My dining companion loves Goat Cheese but doesn't like beets. I said...why not....try it, maybe it will be something new to expand your palette. It was met with rave reviews.

Beet-Goat Cheese Salad

On to the entree choices. The daily feature was Atlantic Swordfish with Pumpkin Ravioli. My choice was Deluxe Mixed Grill sirloin steak or longfin Rockefeller with sea scallops and shrimp for $18.9. I did the $5.00 upgrade to Filet Mignon. It was a perfectly cooked Mignon...medium rare...just the way it should be served. (Later, I was to discover that Bonefish Grill owns Fleming's Steak House....that explained a lot.) The sea scallops and shrimp were included with a beautiful lemon/butter/tomato sauce.

Filet Mignon with Scallops and Shrimp

The Atlantic Swordfish was very tasty with a surprise flavor of the Pumpkin Ravioli. Very flavorful, but the Swordfish portion appeared a little on the small side.

Atlantic Swordfish beautifully plated!

Of course our meal would not be complete without a great bottle of Le Crema 2008 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast....a great California served slightly chilled...just the perfect temperature. Our only dissapointment was the bottle finally arrived at our table after the entrees were served. Should has been delivered to the table before hand, but I will let that small error not deter my enjoyment of the meal.

To finish the evening, of course was dessert. Coconut Pie with a Jamacian sauce and Macadamia Nut Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream. So good!