Puleo's Grille

Puleo’s restaurants are currently specific to the East Tennessee, greater Knoxville area.  Our tagline, as all our loyal customers know, is “Southern Roots – Italian Heritage”.  Those southern roots run strong, as the East Tennessee area was largely settled by Native Americans originally, and later, by a great many Scots-Irish immigrants.  In fact, it is estimated that 11.9% of all Americans (approximately 36,278,332 Americans) can trace their geneaology back to either Scotland or Ireland.  (Wikipedia)

St. Patrick’s Day began in Ireland, name for Naomh Padraig (Irish), the most commonly recognized patron saint of Ireland.  The holiday has also become an enthusiastically embraced phenomenon across the United States.  In the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, you will see all manner of shamrocks, green clothing, green beer, green cocktails, green hair (yep, it really is fairly common these days!) and in some cities like Boston, environmentally friendly food coloring poured into the local rivers to celebrate Irish heritage.

We here at Puleo’s in Knoxville can’t reveal just yet what fun activities we’re cooking up to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but we do promise that you’ll love them!  We would also like to invite you to give us your suggestions for St. Paddy’s Day festivities – write us on our Facebook and Twitter walls.  We’re always open to good suggestions!  Stay tuned for more details later this week! 

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

Most of you know that Puleo’s is active on Facebook and Twitter.  For many of you, that’s where you visit to check out our latest promotions, learn fun foody tips and leave us kind comments about your favorite foods.  The comments you leave are also fodder for us to come up with interesting blogging content, and today’s post is focusing on a Knoxville favorite – our delicious Fish and Chips!  We thought it would be fun to investigate and share with you the history of this standard favorite in many cultures.

Most commonly, we attribute Fish and Chips as a meal that was created in Great Britain.  Interestingly, our research actually indicates a slightly different, rich history. 

It is thought to be the quintessential British meal, but new research claims the original idea for fish and chips came from Jewish and French dishes. Transformations between 1850 and 1945 included the emergence of fish and chips, influenced by both French and Jewish culinary traditions.  Fish and chips mixed “French frites with Jewish fish dishes”.   Through the latter part of the 19th century and well into the present century, the trade expanded greatly to satisfy the needs of the growing industrial population of Great Britain. The development of the steam trawler brought to these shores fish from all over the North Atlantic, the water round Iceland and Greenland and off the North Cape of Norway.  Seashell of Lisson Grove

Fish and Chips are now a popular restaurant standard here in the United States and you, our customers, have let us know that our Fish and Chips version is one of your favorite menu items!  You post comments on our Facebook and Twitter walls quite often about this dish.  Our version is a generous portion of golden fried whitefish served with our famous Puleo’s Napa Slaw (another crowd favorite!) and our unique dill caper remoulade to add a zesty tang.  It’s served piping hot, crispy and delicious and just hits the spot on those days you’re hankering after some good home cooking.  It makes your mouth water just thinking about it, doesn’t it?!  We’re getting hungry too!

Why not make plans to come see us at your favorite Puleo’s location for lunch or dinner this week and order some wonderful, savory Fish and Chips or anything else that captures your interest on our menu?  We look forward to seeing you soon!

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

Hey Puleo’s friends, it’s time for a fun new coupon offer to get you excited to come and see us!  Well, let us just say, we know you stay excited to come and see us – we see the smiles on your faces when you walk in, when you’re dining with us and when you leave.  Instead, let’s just say this is a little Thank You from us to you for being such wonderful, loyal customers!

So, what is this new coupon offer? 

Purchase two entrees and have your choice of Chicken Chili Nachos or the dessert of your choice.  Pull up our new coupon, print it and bring it with you the next time you visit your favorite Puleo’s location. 

What better reason can you think of to justify a visit to your favorite Puleo’s location than a great starter to your meal or a luscious dessert to finish the meal?!  Either option that you choose will be a winner and a delicious complement to the rest of your meal at Puleo’s.  Talk with your friends, tell them about the coupon – get a group together and come have an impromptu party with us! 

This coupon is good through March 26th, 2010 so don’t delay – take advantage of this one soon!

(Important Note:  We do need the actual printed coupon to redeem.) 

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

So, you know our slogan at Puleo’s is:

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage.

You see it on our blog posts and you read it on our menus. You definitely taste it in our delicious, hot, fresh meals! We love to interact with you, our customers, because we appreciate the strong relationships that exist. So many of you reacted with such enthusiasm to our recent informal Facebook and Twitter survey to tell us about your favorite Puleo’s restaurant location, that it got us thinking. What fun new contest could we come up with to tap into that wonderful loyalty and enthusiasm? Focusing on family, tradition, heritage and good home cooking are all vital parts of our identity, so this is what we’ve come up with – Puleo’s Favorite Family Recipe Contest!

These are the details:

• Beginning Sunday, February 21st through Monday, March 15th, submit your favorite family recipe.

• Submit your name, contact info and recipe with recipe title to email address: puleosrecipecontest@gmail.com

• We will recognize each entry with a Facebook/Twitter post containing your name and the title of your recipe. To  ensure we are able to fit everything into the Twitter posts, please remember we are limited to 140 characters, so think along those lines when naming your recipe. We will have to bow to necessity and abbreviate where needful with these posts. When possible, we will endeavor to write everything out completely.

• Chef Puleo will review all of the recipe submissions and choose the winning entry.

• The Top Two Runners Up will receive Dinner for Two at the Puleo’s location of their choice.

• The winning recipe recipient(s) will be picked up in a limousine and chauffeured to the Strawberry Plains location (Chef Puleo’s home restaurant) where Chef Puleo will prepare and serve you the winning recipe!

• Stay tuned – we’re working on a couple more fun additions to the Winning Entry Prize Package.

It’s that simple! Send us your favorite family recipe – don’t forget to give it a name – your full name and contact info in the email, and sit back to see who wins! Spread the word, tell friends and family; we hope to get a landslide of response and look forward to reading all the wonderful, unique recipes that you send in!

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

Our Locations:

Alcoa

352 Fountain View Circle

Alcoa, TN 37701

(865) 981-9399

Cedar Bluff

260 N Peters Rd Knoxville, TN 37923

(865) 691-1960

Deane Hill

242 Morrell Road – Centre at Deane Hill
Knoxville , TN 37919
(865) 531-6338

Merchants/Cedar Lane

110 Cedar Ln
Knoxville, TN 37912

(865) 688-2575

Strawberry Plains

7224 Region Ln
Knoxville, TN 37914

(865) 673-9101

Cookeville

1385 Interstate Dr
Cookeville, TN 38501

(931) 520-0411

Murfreesboro

730 NW Broad St
Murfreesboro, TN 37129

(615) 867-3312

You’re reading the title of this post and thinking we’re insane to start talking Prom Planning this soon, right?  Well, perhaps we’re jumping the gun a wee bit, but believe us when we say that those months will be upon you before you know it!  It is the middle of February and although we may have another few weeks of winter on the horizon, spring is definitely just around the corner.

Proms will be right on the heels of spring blooming in East Tennessee! With it will come all the attendant details for pretty gowns, handsome tuxedoes, just the right car, just the right group of friends, the ideal Prom location for each school, and to put a crowning cap on the evening, a great meal at your favorite restaurant!   Luckily, there are so many wonderful, convenient Puleo’s locations to choose from for your elegant Prom Dinner. 

Stay tuned for details as Prom Season draws near – we promise to post specials on great meal combos that will perfectly complement your special evening.  The best news is that this is one detail you can check as done on your list of important Prom Planning details – you can always count on Puleo’s to provide that perfect, delicious, affordable celebration meal for your special night.

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

So, Valentine’s Day is approaching and we recognize that a large number of Knoxvillians are going to take one of two approaches:

1) Wait until the last minute, dash out to the local card shop and grab what you can find, bundle it up, slap a red bow on it and breathe a sigh of relief that you didn’t forget the holiday.

OR

 2) Look for a unique, romantic option that lets you spend a leisurely evening with your love, provides a delicious meal complete with dessert, wine and friendly, elegant atmosphere.  

Well, guess what?  We have the second option already covered, and the best part is, it’s affordable!

All Puleo’s locations are offering the following Valentine’s Day Perfect Pair, with the Pick Two choice of:

16 oz. King Cut Ribeye OR 6 oz. Bistro Filet

2 sides

2 salads

2 1/2 size desserts

A bottle of Sycamore Lane wine

All for the Valentine’s Day Perfect Pair price of $49.98!

Rather than worrying about placing a reservation, we simply ask that you utilize our Call Ahead Seating option – make sure to give us at least 30 minutes advance notice with your call and we’ll put you on our list!  We’re all for the idea of a romantic dinner with your love on Valentine’s Day, and we think our Perfect Pair menu is the ideal way to celebrate, get rid of all the stressful details and let us do all the cooking for you!  Does it get easier or better than that?!  We doubt it! 

We’ll see you on Valentine’s Day!

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

In our recent informal online survey, we asked Knoxville to tell us your Top 5 Puleo’s Menu Favorites.  We’ve already spotlighted the Number One favorite – Fried Green Tomatoes, and the 1st Runner-up, our Puleo’s Napa Slaw.  The menu favorite that came in a close third on your list is our Citrus Chicken!  We think it’s a great item on our menu – a boneless, marinated hickory grilled chicken breast served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and carrots. 

Our unique citrus marinade wakes up your taste buds and marries beautifully with the smoky, savory hickory grilled flavor to produce what you already know to be true – a Knoxville Puleo’s Menu Favorite!   Add a House or Caesar Salad for an extra $2.99 and perhaps pair your meal with a glass of Sartori Giulietta, Pinot Grigio Blush wine. 

Round out the evening with one of our decadent desserts, maybe our Key Lime Pie or our Creme Brulee Cheesecake with strawberry topping to continue that fruity, citrusy theme,  and you have the makings of a beautiful experience at your favorite Puleo’s location. 

Are you hungry yet?!  Come visit us soon!

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

Corn bread.  Just the word conjures up childhood memories for most of a warm kitchen, fragrant with the toasty aroma of corn bread baking in the oven.  There are countless recipes and countless methods for making corn  bread, but the most common is to use a cast iron skillet and bake in the oven for that unique crispy crust and soft, fluffy, light interior that is the perfect companion to soups, chili and any number of traditional holiday meals.

We thought it would be fun to give you a simple, basic corn bread recipe to have on hand. The following is a southern approach, using buttermilk.  If buttermilk is not to your taste, simply substitute regular milk in the recipe.  Most southern corn bread recipes are savory in flavor.  Many northern states add sugar to their recipes for a more cake-like consistency and sweet flavor.  This one below sticks to the true southern style.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup melted butter or cooking oil (depending on your taste/preference)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 3/4 cups cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch cast iron skillet pan and place skillet in oven to preheat.

In large mixing bowl, combine baking soda, cornmeal, flour, and salt.  Use either a sifter to break up any lumps in dry ingredients, or use a whisk.  Add eggs, melted butter or oil and buttermilk, beat until well blended.  Remove cast iron skillet from the oven and pour any excess melted grease into the batter and mix quickly. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a baking rack to cool, or serve warm with melted butter.

It’s as simple as that!  Once you get the hang of this basic recipe, you can have lots of fun with additions such as different cheeses, chili peppers, creamed corn, sour cream, bacon, or even mix in some of your homemade chili and swirl through the batter for a marbled effect.  Use your imagination and then sit back and listen to the rave reviews of your family and friends about your awesome corn bread!

Of course, we’re always ready to serve you a hot, fresh, tasty meal at Puleo’s when you don’t feel like slaving away in the kitchen.  Come see us and let us do all the work – you deserve it!

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

We did an informal survey a while back, asking you what your Top 5 favorite Puleo’s menu items are.  The number one most listed item was Fried Green Tomatoes and we posted a blog about this last week.  You know what the first runner-up was?  Our Puleo’s Napa Slaw!  We think it’s the best cole slaw around, of course, but we have to admit, it was a bit of a surprise that this rated the second highest number of comments from Facebook and Twitter posts.  Our version is made fresh daily with crisp Napa cabbage, purple cabbage and a slaw mix of crunchy carrots to add that great variety of texture and taste.  Most cole slaw mixes are done with a heavier, creamier mayonnaise dressing base.  Puleo’s Napa Slaw is dressed with our tangy, sweet and sour Puleo’s Asian Dressing which is vinegar based and coats the slaw mix with a lighter preparation.   It is a unique approach to cole slaw and we believe this is why you, our diners, love it enough to list our Napa Slaw as one of your Top 5 Favorite Puleo’s Menu Items! 

Have you ever wondered about the food history of cole slaw?  So did we, so we did some research. 

The reason cole slaw became as popular a side dish as it did in America was due to NYC deli owner Richard Hellmann’s 1903 creation of a formula for bottled mayonnaise, which he began marketing in 1912. It became a bestseller, quick and easy to use as a dressing for shredded cabbage, which thereafter became a standard side dish to the increasingly popular sandwiches and hamburgers in American kitchens.
‘American Classics: Cole Slaw’, by John Mariani,
Restaurant Hospitality Magazine 1/97

Cole slaw (cold slaw) got it’s name from the Dutch ‘kool sla’  – ‘kool’ is cabbage and ’sla’ is salad – meaning simply, cabbage salad. In English, that became ‘cole slaw’ and eventually ‘cold slaw’. The original Dutch ‘kool sla’ was most likely served hot. (The two preceding paragraphs of trivia were sourced from www.foodreference.com.)

Come see us soon for lunch or dinner.  If you’ve never tried our tasty Puleo’s Napa Slaw, make sure to order it on your next visit.  Knoxville fans love it and we think you will too.

Puleo’s Grille – Southern Roots – Italian Heritage

Did you know that Puleo’s has a whole slew of unique Martinis on our menu?  We strive to provide the most comprehensive dining experience possible for our customers.  That means coming up with a wide range of Featured Wines and delicious, fun mixed drinks like our martinis.  For the tee-totalers, we haven’t forgotten you – we proudly serve Coca Cola products, JFG coffee and Luzianne iced tea.

Below is a list of all of our martinis – we’re sure you’ll find one or more that will become personal favorites.  Stop by for dinner and one of these great drinks today!

The Big Orange Bellini Martini – Grey Goose L’Orange, Orange Curacao, Big Orange Bellini Mix, Magic Bellini Crystals  7.00

 The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg – Grey Goose Citron, Cuervo Gold Tequila, Splash Sour Mix, Salted Rim  7.00

 Sour Apple Martini – Absolut Citron, Sour Apple Schnapps, Apple Slice  7.00

 Cosmopolitan Martini – Absolut Kurant Vodka, Cointreau, Cranberry Juice, Lime Twist  7.00

 Pearl HArbor Martini – Absolut Vodka, Malibu Rum, Puleo’s Pina Colada  7.00

 2 Weeks Notice Martini – Chopin Polish Potato Vodka, Vermouth, A Bit Dirty, Olives  7.00

 Espresso Martini – Belvedere Vodka, Coffee Liqueur, Shot of Espresso, Sugar Rim  7.00

 Pineapple Upside Down Martini – Stolichnaya Vanilla Vodka, Cherry Liqueur, Pineapple Juice, Cherry  7.00

 Chocolate Martini – Stolichnaya Vodka, Dark Crème de Cacoa, Kahlua, Hershey’s Chocolate  7.00

 Bubble Gum Martini – Bombay Gin, Banana Liqueur, Strawberry Liqueur  7.00

 French Kis with an Alligator – Grey Goose, Chambord, Midori, Hershey’s Kiss   8.00 

J-Bird Martini – Bombay Sapphire Gin, Blue Curacao, Lime Twist  8.00