Shana Perkins at the Blackstone Grill
I didn’t really appreciate the Blackstone Grill in Tiftonia until we were coming home after a long day in Nashville. We’d driven through driving rain and notorious traffic and I for one was hangry.
I made a quick reservation on my phone just in case but knew between it being a Monday night, after dinner hour and weather alerts abounding from every outlet, we would be the only folks in the restaurant.
Wrong.
It was surprisingly full, but the friendly hostess greeted us with a broad smile and accommodated my picky seating request. Starving but too wiped out to think about ordering, I staggered to the restroom to wash my road-grimy hands. When I returned to the table, a full wine glass awaited and my husband and I clinked our Hutton and Smith Igneous and White Haven sauvignon blanc, $6 and $12 respectively.
Within minutes of ordering and dangerously close to snapping my husband’s head off, two generous salads arrived, each with fresh crisp lettuces, shaved parmesan and oversized croutons. Not what I expected at all for the $5 price tags.
We demolished these salads, enjoying a couple of warm yeast rolls with butter as we ate. Timed perfectly, our identical entrees arrived, bourbon glazed salmon, steamed broccoli and a piping hot baked potato.
I’m picky about baked potatoes, and when I made the reservation, I looked for a place to request a potato that was fresh out of the oven – not one baked at 3 p.m. and left lingering in the cold oven. There was no such space, but it didn’t matter. The potato was perfect, ready for butter and sour cream, and it puffed up picturesquely when I squeezed the sides together. I will say the broccoli was a tad crunchy and could have used a little butter and fresh squeezed lemon, but our darling waitress, Shana Perkins, brought both the second I requested them.
The salmon was unexpected. Clearly only seconds away from the grill, the thick piece of bourbon-honey glazed fish was perfectly cooked and very flavorful. Finally satiated, I looked around the restaurant. A few folks were dining outside, and a group of amicable tourists from Pennsylvania were seated behind us. A large group of male golfers were having a wonderful time nearby, and a couple of families were seated in various spots around the restaurant while a few folks sat at the full-service bar.
There aren’t any booths, a negative for me, but the tables are cozy enough, with plenty situated against the wall and not in the open room. An informal steak-house atmosphere meets super reasonable prices is the feel here. And speaking of steak, there is plenty of red meat on the menu, from sirloin to burgers, and a few things in between.
When Shana offered dessert, I asked about the chocolate cake on the menu. She said it was just homemade chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Let me be clear: there’s no such thing as just in front of those particular words. But this homemade cake is four layers, and garnished shaved chocolate and fresh strawberries.
Suffice to say, I was divinely satiated with my yummy food, excellent service and friendly staff and can’t wait to go back.
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Ferris Robinson is the author of three children’s books, “The Queen Who Banished Bugs,” “The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds,” and “Call Me Arthropod” in her pollinator series “If Bugs Are Banished.” “Making Arrangements” is her first novel and is available in paperback and on Kindle. “Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity” is a collection of true tales about man’s best friend. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.
Ferris Robinson