Metro Pulse/Cover/World's Fair

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World's Fair Confidential
The seamy side of the Sunsphere

Taking On a World's Fair
Critics had their way with Knoxville, 1982

The Great Flag Caper
A tale tenuously tethered to the Fair

Eating in Situ

The culinary world damn sure came to Knoxville

by Barry Henderson

If there'd been nothing to do at the 1982 World's Fair but eat your way through it, the enterprise would still have been worthwhile to downtowners who had season passes or access to freebie day passes.

The pavilions and assorted food booths and kiosks provided a veritable smorgasbord of international and regional foods. As the staff of the old daily, The Knoxville Journal, had a bottomless stack of day passes on hand, its members routinely ambled down Church Avenue to the fair site at least a couple or three days a week to break the routine from an assortment of downtown eateries that was then more ample than today.

The lure was the exotic, mostly. There were the fab chicken paprikas(h) and stuffed peppers at the Hungarian Pavilion, the delicious and filling meat pies at the Aussie Pavilion, the spicy jambalaya at New Orleans Square, the luscious onion soup at the Pierre Interlude and the mainline wursts and kraut at the Strohaus. And there was beer everywhere, although even the most dedicated journalists—even the police reporter, I think—held it to a couple of beers with workday lunches.

The Chinese Pavilion boasted three separate eateries, but even on the odd days when the lines of ordinary touristy fairgoers weren't intimidating, the prices were a little steep for daily consumption. The Sunsphere had its Hardees downstairs and its Hardees-managed gourmet restaurant up. There were lots more reasonably priced ethnic foods available in or adjacent to the Mexican, Korean and Philippine Pavilions, and there were scads of other affordable spots on site, including Buddy's Barbecue, the original Petro's, the Pasta Palace, L'Express cafeteria and the new Ruby Tuesday's and the L&N Fish Market in the L&N Station, with a terrific salad stand right outside. Besides the usual hotdogs and hamburgers and Cokes and candies, there were Belgian waffles for dessert at the Brussels Patisserie, along with funnel cakes and a variety of other fantastic pastries at stands up and down the main fair site and down on the midway along Neyland Drive.

I, personally, never did the cotton candy, and I never tried the fried chicken and corn on the cob at the Kuntry Kitchen on the theory that anybody who spells country like that, ain't.

Tried everything else at least once. And went back time and again to the Hungarian place, and the Mexican and most of the other pavilion-based restaurants. And the Strohaus. Of course, the Strohaus. Damn shame it's not still there and serving. It was worth braving the oompah music for the brats or knacks and beers. Really worth it. Let's do it again.