The Knoxville Museum of Art is expanding its showcase of exhibitions to The
Artist’s Palate, a restaurant located in the Great Hall of the museum. Here
the artist is the chef and the viewer is the customer who does more than
just wet his palate.
“Everything you get here is going to be a work of art,” said executive chef
Paul Carideo.
The Museum opened in March with Whittle Food Services as its new management
and has since been playing with ideas on how to serve downtown Knoxville
and the surrounding communities. The new restaurant follows a more
adventurous agenda than the basic fare of the KMA Cafe, the restaurant
formerly located there.
The reception has been more than favorable, said Nathan Monell, director of
marketing and external relations.
“The Artist’s Palate is a little more contemporary in style — they’re
taking more exploratory food delivery that’s being pretty well received,”
he said.
The restaurant is striving to serve the downtown and UT audience as a nice
place to eat that is quick and inexpensive.
“We’re targeting the downtown and UT audience, so the downtown
businessperson can slip out quickly … parking is easy for them … we’re
a non-smoking atmosphere, and we don’t tip at all, so we’re looking for
someone who seeks a reasonable lunch, where the food is very good and in a
nice, dignified area,” Monell said.
The food comes from an acclaimed team of chef Paul Carideo and Dan Morris,
manager of Whittle Food Services .
Morris’ solid resume includes 30 years of success in the food industry.
Heralding from Canada, Morris has worked all around North America as an
executive chef and an educator in cuisine.
After chairing the Florida Culinary Institute in Palm Beach three years
ago, Morris came to Knoxville to work for Whittle Food Services. Knoxville
is, Morris said, one of the major markets to try new innovative culinary
techniques – there are more people per capita who go out to eat here than
all but one city in the country — and Morris keeps his eyes open
for new innovations.
What The Artist’s Palate is trying to do, is cover all regions of the
country and bring them together with many different styles of cooking.
While Morris claims to shy away from culinary fads, he sees fusion in
styles and regions as an innovative way of cooking.
The menu is somewhat standard fare, but surprises appear here and there.
The Artist’s Palate offers soup, salad and sandwiches along with two daily
specials. Everything on the general menu is less than $7 and the specials
are less than $8.
One feature is the Jamaican Chicken Salad, a grilled Jamaican-style jerked
chicken with orange sesame dressing and a garnish of shredded coconut,
cashew nuts and raisins. There’s also the Beefeater, 6 oz. of tender roast
beef served on a San Francisco sour dough roll with gravy and horseradish
sauce. This generous helping of beef costs $4.55.
I had the Italian Onion soup and one of the specials. The soup came in a
small bowl and had a lofty flaky pastry on top. It was pretty to look at,
you know, museum food, but pretty confusing as to how to eat it. I got
really paranoid, because I felt that the waiters were watching my stupidity
on how to finish without making a huge mess. As soon as I did figure it out
(you sort of need a knife) it was worth the brain teaser. The pastry
contributed to the texture of the soup which was seasoned well with tons of
cheese.
The special I ordered, which will continue through the month, made me feel
less like a measly college student constantly worried about my budget. I
felt happily pretentious. I’m sitting in a museum listening to classical
music and the waiter comes with a plate that consists of a lobster, shrimp
and scallop trio on a buttery saffron cream sauce with mango chutney served
with caviar and potato crisps. As to be expected, the plate was almost too
artistically eye-catching to eat, but I let my gluttonous urges take
control. It was the best lunch, affordable or not, I’ve had in a long time.
The dessert cart, full of everything from a rich Chocolate Decadence to
Strawberries Romanoff, was waved away from my potential bursting at the
seams, but the best surprise came when I was reminded that tipping was not
required – Whittle Food Services employs servers on regular salary. Not
having to tip makes things less stressful on the pocketbook and the dining
experience.
One complaint about the Artist’s Palate could be that they do not cater to
vegetarians. Only the soups and a couple of salads are vegan-accessible.
Yet the menu is still changing, as are the daily specials, so perhaps they
might offer some equally innovative dishes for non-meat eaters. Aside from
this, the Artist’s Palate, which is located smack between Fort Sanders and
downtown is a welcome site for Knoxville restaurant-goers.
