Blue Ridge Country January/February 2023 - 94

FLAVORS
Hidden Hamburgers,
Tex-Mex Memories
and Syrian Street Food
These East Tennessee establishments nourish and connect us.
By FRED & JILL SAUCEMAN | Photos by FRED SAUCEMAN
P
ast the bulk spices and bags of Uncle Henry's
pretzels, there's a hidden offering at Troyer's
Mountain View Country Market in Limestone,
Tennessee. This Amish-Mennonite-style store
on Highway 11E stocks countless cheeses, regional
soft drinks and home canning supplies.
In the parking lot, customers line up for discussized
doughnuts.
What many of those customers miss, though, is one of
the best hamburgers in the region. To find it, you step all
the way to the back of the building, locate an order form,
fill it out, place it in the basket and then browse the store
for about 20 minutes. But the burger is worth the wait.
Made from fresh ground chuck, it's a burger with craggy,
irregular edges, and it's dressed with a plank of pickle.
Best of all, there are picnic tables outside on the porch,
where you can meet new friends and proselytize about
the glories of the half-pound Troyer's hamburger.
About 45 miles to the northeast in Bristol, the diminutive
Circle Burger is sold at the country's last remaining Blue
Circle restaurant. Homer Longmire opened the first one
in Knoxville in 1931. His business eventually grew into a
chain of 32 Blue Circles across the Southeast.
This lone Blue Circle sits between what was once a
dental arts building and an old-style putt-putt course.
Owners Mark and Debbie Sourbeer follow the triedand-true
Circle Burger cooking technique. " We season
them with pepper and salt and then add mustard, pickle
and onion as they're cooking, " says Mark. " Then we flip
them and put a bun on to incorporate flavor. " The final
touch is to steam the whole sandwich.
Greeneville, Tennessee, is home to one of the country's
best steakhouses. Without the Steaks-R-Us sign to tip you
off, you might walk up and mistake the building for a Social
Security office. Inside, the furnishings are honest and
unadorned. The place even lacks the mandatory steakhouse
table decoration from our childhood: a candle in a
red globe wrapped in plastic netting.
But folks don't flock here for décor. They fill the park94
BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
ing lot expecting a well-deserved night out on occasion, a
break from the factory or farm, and the feeling that their
hard-earned money has been well-spent. That's what The
Butcher's Block has given its customers since 1987.
The 14-ounce char-grilled Angus beef ribeye is always
cooked perfectly to the specified temperature and
requires no additional seasoning. The Butcher's Block
may be best known for its " Texas Tails, " the flat end of
the tenderloin. This year The Butcher's Block celebrates
36 years in business.
The oldest town in Tennessee, Jonesborough, is home to
one of the region's newest Tex-Mex establishments. Its
story begins in a grandmother's kitchen. The setting is
Lubbock, Texas. It's a Saturday morning.
The scents of ground cumin and garlic fill the air as
hands knead masa into tamale dough. Gloria Cardenas
has instructed her 11 grandchildren to clear their calendars.
By the end of the day, some 60 dozen tamales will
be ready for the growing family.
Food became granddaughter Myra Cardenas' mission
in life. She opened Texas Burritos & More in a Jonesborough
building that once housed a pool hall.
Cardenas proudly serves Tex-Mex food, distinguished
by those very aromas of cumin and garlic she recalls from
her grandmother's kitchen. Another defining element of
Tex-Mex cooking, she adds, is yellow cheese.
" It's a huge thing in Texas. We've had customers from
Lubbock come to see us in Jonesborough, and they tell
us they knew immediately we were authentic Tex-Mex
when they saw the yellow cheese, not white. "
In 2011, Yassin Terou left his native Syria for Knoxville,
Tennessee, and soon began selling falafel sandwiches at
the city's Annoor Mosque. Three years later, he opened
his own restaurant, and now, there are two Knoxville
locations of Yassin's Falafel House, one downtown on
Walnut Street and a newer one west of the city on North
Peters Road.
Yassin's grilled chicken shawarma captivated us on
first bite, served over rice along with a garlicky yogurt
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