Bella Luna Opens on Market Square!

Yesterday marked the opening of Bella Luna at 15 Market Square. Thanks to my friend Buddy Ray, who, after catching the Blueplate Special at WDVX offered to treat me there. He thereby became the official sponsor of this blog post.

Entrance to Bella Luna on opening day

Bella Luna is the project of chefs Donna Parang and Christin Love. Christin greeted me at the door, a bit curious about the shabby looking guy taking pictures. She was perfectly gracious and offered to help in any way. Later when I returned, I met Donna who was equally pleasant. Donna and Christin are both graduates of the Culinary Institute at the University of Tennessee. Their venture is focused on simple Italian food in the tradition of northern Italy, which is the area where Donna's maternal family originates.

Much about the restaurant is still in development. Our lunch was taken on the first lunch shift, so not everything has been worked out. A full bar will open soon and the small stage at the rear, which some of you may remember from the space's Abodes' incarnation, will feature live music, with jazz mentioned as a likely possibility. The seating area is very spacious and open and would likely accommodate a small space for the dancing enthusiasts among us.

After walking beneath a painter and his ladder at the door, the signs that the restaurant is still in development were few. The seating, like the food, is intended to be simple. The lighting was lovely, though it was daylight out, so I'm not sure what it is like in the evening. The walls have room for art to be added as they grow. Our waiter was attentive, though not intrusive, and seemed very comfortable with the menu. The combination of lighting, menu font and my fading eyesight (I forgot my reading glasses) rendered the menu a blur and he was very kind to read a good bit of it to me. The menus are temporary, so that may be improved upon later or, more likely, I need to remember my reading glasses, though that brings up my fading memory.

Piadina con Gamberi Gigliati e Pesto

The food? Very good and very reasonably priced. Buddy Ray ordered the Piadina con Gamberi Gigliati e Pesto $7 (Grilled Shrimp and Pesto Flatbread) which is "House-made flatbread with pesto, roasted red pepper, and grilled shrimp topped with arugula and herb greens." It was very good. The flatbread had an excellent taste and consistency, crisp and easy to bite. The tastes of the ingredients on top mixed wonderfully and there was a spice on the shrimp which served them very well. If I had a small criticism, it would be that the shrimp could have been more flavorful. Being from the Gulf Coast I'm a bit picky about my shrimp. I'd love for them to purchase shrimp from the Shrimp Dock, but I don't know if they sell commercially.

Taglatelle con Pomodoro

I ordered the Taglatelle con Pomodoro $7 (Pasta with Tomato Sauce) which is "House made tagliatelle with pomodoro sauce and fresh basil." It was also excellent. I had them add sausage for a little extra spice and that made a great difference. I'm not sure what kind of sausage it was, but it, the pasta and the sauce were excellent.

I did wonder about bread, which wasn't brought to the table. I was told that fresh bread is coming, but the details weren't worked out before the opening. The potential vendor is a local baker who is a friend of the chefs and with whom downtown residents and customers of the Market Square Farmer's Market and Just Ripe are very familiar. His bread will be a great addition. Christin and I agreed he needs to open a bakery downtown.

Interior of Bella Luna on opening day

We concluded our meal with cups of espresso ($3.95 per cup), which is something I got into the habit of doing in Paris and will probably have to limit now that I'm back in my normal financial mode. It was, like everything else, very good. True to the theme of the restaurant, it was Lavazza Espresso, which is Italian coffee also served at the French Market.

Our final bill was run up a bit by the fact that the espresso was pricey and I added sausage to my dish, but otherwise lunch may be eaten at Bella Luna for a fairly modest price by downtown standards. With a little art, open bar, jazz on the stage and fresh bread, this restaurant is set to be an excellent addition to downtown. Please go by and give them a try.

Updates and New Developments

If the first few days are any indication, the new year will be filled with change for downtown. Faster than a blogger can blog or, certainly, a newspaper can publish, significant developments emerge. I hope as many of the shifts are as exciting as others will be discouraging.

Whenever downtown is mentioned in an article on the Knoxville News Sentinel, the message boards light up with discussion of how the center city is a wasteland of some sort or another. Generally, the logic runs that taxpayer money is wasted by the truckload on  a dead and dangerous place and even if you wanted to take a trip downtown you would end up riding in circles through the night looking for affordable parking. Eventually a few people wade in to defend the city.

Why are so many local residents (or at least readers of our local newspaper) so negative about our city?
I'll leave that topic for future blogs, but today I'll include some of the developments which have brought these folks out in packs.

The primary negative news recently concerns the closure of area restaurants. First, in mid December, Regas announced it was closing. While many people have fond memories of the restaurant, it has struggled for business in recent years. Next, just at the turn of the New Year came news that Arby's was closing downtown. Though at the other end of the culinary spectrum from Regas, it nonetheless was also a long-term downtown dining establishment.

S and W Grand, Gay Street, Knoxville, 2009

Then, on Saturday, the announcement was made that the S and W Grand, which opened to great fanfare about a year ago was shutting its doors at least temporarily. The final closure of the three seems the most damaging to downtown momentum. As expected, a large number of people commented on the Knoxville News Sentinel story and most of them were negative. There were themes that emerged related to the price of the items, portions and lighting. I regret this one the most of the three because of its high-profile opening and its symbolic connection to downtown's re-emergence. I'll also miss having Donald Brown downtown every Saturday night.

The closure of the Saint Oliver has been discussed on this blog and elsewhere. The great news there is that the people who purchased it plan to invest a large amount of money to restore and update it and they plan to do so in short order and reopen as a hotel this spring. I hope that all goes well. The information from this weekend is that a large sale will be held beginning this Thursday of all the items contained in the building. These were collected by Kristopher Kendrick and range from inexpensive to very expensive and from common to unusual, if not rare. I'd love to have something just for the historical connection, but my boss would probably prefer that I work during those hours.

Henley Street north of the bridge, Knoxville 2010

Also worth a mention is that the drive to have something done regarding Henley Street (see post below and poll above) received a great boost this week when Metropulse published Jack Neely's article on the problems and possibilities given the current closure of the bridge. In his, typically eloquent, article he challenged the mayoral candidates to take a stand in their campaigns. Perhaps that is the next  goal for supporters of this effort. My worry is that we are going to have nearly a year of place-holding and no action in that office followed by months of a new mayor becoming acclimated and by that time half or more of the closure period will be over.

Of course, there are openings coming as I mentioned earlier in Just Ripe (which appeared to take a bit of a construction leap this week!), Harry's Deli and Blue Coast Burrito. A reader commented that the space being vacated by Nama's move to Gay Street is already slated to open as a new restaurant. Additionally, with facade grants in place, work is underway to open dual-use buildings as businesses and condos at several locations on Gay Street and Market Square.

So, the news in this very new year is not all bad, it's just constant and we are just over a week into the year. Hang on for the ride.