Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is Dolly Parton’s neck of the woods.
The renowned entertainer grew up in a one-room cabin in nearby Sevierville, on the banks of the Little Pigeon River near the Great Smoky Mountains.
Parton is part owner of the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge. When she recently appeared at the park to christen an expansion called Wildwood Grove, I asked her to describe the local culinary scene.
“We just love all the mountain food,” Parton said. “Everything up here in the mountains has to be fried and deep-fried and refried.”
Well, not exactly everything, but Dolly wasn’t far off. Visit Pigeon Forge and some of the surrounding towns, and you’ll find plenty of fried chicken, fried steak, fried catfish and Southern-style favorites such as pot roast, cheddar biscuits, barbecue and scratch pies. Not surprisingly you’re also likely to dip into a bucket of moonshine, legally produced by a long-time distilling family.
For example, there’s Johnny Baker of Ole Smoky Moonshine in Pigeon Forge. He’s from a long line of moonshine distillers. He says his grandfather made moonshine to raise 11 kids, including his mother.
Johnny Baker holds a jar of 70-proof apple pie moonshine at the Ole Smoky Moonshine Distillery in Pigeon Forge, where he’s the director of group sales. “It’s a smooth moonshine, not thick with a lot of additive to it,” says Baker, whose ancestors began making moonshine more than a century ago. “Moonshine runs through our family veins. It’s about as legit as it gets.” (Photo: Wendy Pramik for USA TODAY)
“He had to make sales to get his family fed,” Baker said. “With that comes a pride factor. We want to put the best product out there that we possibly can.”
Pigeon Forge is an authentic, genuine and downright fun place to visit. You don’t have to look further than the people who’ve set up shop here to find true talent, whether it’s a juggler who balances a flaming, backyard grill on his chin or a chef who deep fries deviled eggs.
With its roadside attractions and performance halls offering a fair share of glitz, Pigeon Forge in a way is a family-friendly version of Las Vegas – instead of the Strip, you’ve got the Pigeon Forge Parkway. But you’ve also got something unique – lush, mountainous landscape, thanks to the neighboring Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the most-visited national park in the country.
The food here is unpretentious, and Parton likes it that way.
“I’m a big meat-and-potatoes gal myself,” the entertainer said. “I try to do low-carb when I have to wear my stage clothes, but if I had my way, I would just eat everything – every piece of fried chicken and every bowl of mashed potatoes I could find.”
And, while not all of the food in the area is fried, it’s generally filling and well-representative of this lovely, colorful slice of Tennessee.
A family visiting Blue Moose Burgers and Wings in Pigeon Forge digs into some of the restaurant’s featured items. Blue Moose’s theme is familiar – a sports bar with burgers, wings and craft beer. But it’s the customer service that many say separates this non-chain from its competitors. “Tourists want to let their belt out, and they want to eat,” says managing partner Scott MacDonald. “If you’re on vacation you want to splurge.” (Photo: Wendy Pramik for USA TODAY)
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