The Grub Scout
| For the Knoxville News Sentinel
I have actually given coverage to Penne For Your Thoughts twice before — once as a food truck and once as a vendor at Marble City Market almost four years ago. I honestly hadn’t intended on stopping there again so soon, but our Plan A last week fell through at the last minute, and PFYT now has a permanent brick-and-mortar location that was not far from our original destination. So I decided to give ‘er another go.
Several of the items on the menu struck me as familiar; I know for a fact that The Grub Spouse and I had tried Pastative Thinking (chicken Alfredo) and Naan of Your Business (Italian flatbread tacos) on previous visits. This time around, we decided to dig a little deeper into the menu and start with one of the shareables, Into the Great Fried Open ($8.49) — fried ravioli filled with ricotta cheese and topped with honey garlic yogurt.
As you’ve probably already picked up on, the menu overall is one big pun-fest. For example, the salads have names like Everyone Romaine Calm and A Salad Plan (an entrée-sized greens dish). We also spotted flatbread pizza offerings such as Six Meat Under and Livin’ on the Veg. There’s even a four-item kids’ menu titled Penne for Your Tots.
The Spouse perused the selection of pasta dishes, which includes the likes of a pizza-style pasta and the Cajun-flavored Undercover Spice. The Spouse, however, went with the Mac Daddy ($14.99), Italian mac and cheese pasta prepared with Alfredo sauce and a cheese blend. It normally also includes Italian sausage (which is what The Spouse ordered), but you might opt instead for the cheeseburger, barbecue chicken or Buffalo chicken styles for $1 each.
Meanwhile, I focused on the entrees, all of which come with a side dish. My choices included the Mind Grinder (an Italian-style sandwich), Chicky Chicky Parm Parm (that one is fairly intuitive to figure out) and Chopped Dead Gorgeous — Italian chopped cheese prepared with Black Angus ground beef, tomato basil aioli and more.
I finally settled on Sweet Dreams Are Made of Brie ($15.49), a sweet and savory sandwich featuring genoa salami, fig and balsamic jam, and brie cheese on a toasted baguette. I picked Italian pasta salad as my side instead of waffle fries, a side salad, bread with Boursin cheese and crispy Brussels sprouts.
While we waited, we spotted quite a few other customers rolling in to dine on site or to pick up to-go orders. It seemed that the kitchen did a decent job of keeping up with the dinner rush. Our ravioli came out after a not-unreasonable length of time. We both liked this starter a lot, from its gooey ricotta innards to the zesty marinara sauce that we dunked many of our bites in. The yogurt topping served as a unique accent.
I liked my sandwich pretty well. The description had really hooked me, but I was a little disappointed in the ratio of salami to the rest of the mix. All the ingredients were good, mind you, but I felt that the sweet fig and balsamic jam dominated the flavor profile of this item. I would have liked a little more salami and brie in the mix to balance things out both from both a taste and texture standpoint. The pasta salad side was OK; no better or worse than any other version I’ve experienced before.
The Spouse’s Mac Daddy dish was very good. The piping-hot blend of pasta, cheese and Alfredo sauce was spot on, and in my opinion, Italian sausage just makes everything better. This particular plate was satisfying all around, and it was bountiful enough for The Spouse to call it quits halfway through and fetch a lid for the aluminum serving container.
If you’ve ever visited Penne For Your Thoughts as a food truck or at Marble City Market, you won’t find much (if anything) new on the menu. But I can say that this eatery continues to consistently serve quality Italian-American cuisine that’s twisty in both its branding and its recipes.
I think it’s still good enough to merit imitating Dr. Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory” when you’re at the entrance: “Penne!” “Penne!” “Penne!”
Penne For Your Thoughts
Food: 3.75
Service: 3.75
Atmosphere: 3.75
Overall: 3.75
Address: 9430 S. Northshore Drive, Suite 104
Phone: 865-766-5817
No alcohol service
Kids’ menu
Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays
Bottom line: This restaurant now serves its unique brand of Italian-American fusion cuisine in its own brick-and-mortar location on Northshore.
Dining and Cooking