Les Jones

Food & Drink > Sullivan's in Maryville

Melissa and I ate at the new Sullivan's building in downtown Maryville.

The architecture is fantastic. It's a two-story room, defined with drop ceilings, raised seating areas, railings, and an upstairs banquet room. It reminded us a little of the brewpub in downtown Knoxville.

The menu includes steak and seafood, but there are reasonably-priced blue plate specials. Melissa had catfish and I had a vegetable plate. The catfish was delicious, and was browned just right. Someone's cooking school tuition was well spent. We didn't have any drinks, but Cecil and a fellow we met while walking around town afterwards both praised the bartenders.

The green beans were cooked with pork and were delicious. The mashed potatoes come with your choice of chicken, mushroom, or pot roast gravy. We liked the pot roast gravy better than the chicken.

Sullivan's is right next door to the renovated Palace Theater. It's in the old downtown JC Penney's building. The retailer's name is spelled out in tilework in the floor as you enter.

JC Penney's migration around town tells the story of retail in this town. During the downtown flight in the '60s and '70s, they moved to Midland shopping center, a huge strip mall just down the road. When Foothills Mall was built in the '80s, they moved there. Wynn's sporting goods now occupies the old JC Penney's building in Midland. You can tell by the black, white, and blue tile at the entrance.

Proffitt's department store made the same migration. I'm not sure if everyone knows it, but Proffitt's started in Maryville. The downtown store that currently sells educational products was the first Proffitt's. They eventually became a national chain, bought Saks, and took the Saks name, leading some people to think that Saks bought Proffitt's, when in fact it was the other way around.

We walked down to the construction site for the new Maryville municipal facility. To expand, the city tore down a number of commercial buildings, and several streets worth of houses. We were shocked to discover that they had also taken the playground and backlot building of St Andrew's Episcopal Church. In fact, it looks like the only boundary for the city's construction was the church itself and the graveyard. I can understand that the city needed to expand, but the church shouldn't have been intruded on. It outlasted the old municipal building, and is likely to outlast the new one.