Comment on this story For more information: Cub Restaurant (423) 487-2142 The Front Porch (423) 487-2875 A few other places of interest: Apple House Restaurant (423) 487-2710 Big Wally’s Grill (865) 217-5511 Cosby Barbeque Pit (423) 487-5438 Movies & Munchies (423) 487-3983 Penny’s Ice Cream (423) 487-2246 Touch of Sunshine Bakery (423) 487-4434 Wildwood Acres Cabins (800) 423-2030

Finding music and home cookin’ in the heart of East Tennessee

by Clint Casey

The road from Knoxville to Cosby is hardly thunderous-nothing like the perilous alley of bootleggers portrayed in Thunder Road. Just east on Interstate 40 where the mountains meet the earth, the area remains one of the few natural beauties in East Tennessee that is relatively uncorrupted by the tourism industry. The community adores Cosby, feeling unnecessarily obliged to convince visitors of its charm, and quick to dispel harmful stereotypes. Restaurants leave “presentation” for other folks, concentrating instead on rich traditions, Southern and ethnic. Bluegrass music dominates the entertainment scene, with enthusiasts chasing it from restaurant to bar to house party. And then there’s the moonshine-a regional specialty that’s somehow acknowledged and elusive at the same time. But despite its charisma, Cosby is economically depressed. A region with enough distractions to fill up a weekend, with diversions to spare, deserves better than being a stepsister to Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg. A pair of restaurants serve as a diamonds in a jewel mine of an area, and its restaurateurs weigh in on running a business in the Smoky Mountains: its culture, music and the white lightning.

The Front Porch

One of the area’s most popular attractions is the Front Porch. A music venue coveted by local musicians, the primarily Mexican restaurant renown for hosting bluegrass opened its doors in 1980. Its menu combines authentic Mexican with traditional Southern cuisine in a menu coordinated by owner Aline Guzman.

Guzman was raised in a blue-collar household in Arkansas just south of Memphis. “We were so poor that we never left the area, and I had no idea that we were anywhere close to Memphis,” she says. Guzman moved to Michigan with her mother when she was in high school, where she met and eventually married her husband, Louis. “Before that, I had never met a Mexican. My mother-in-law taught me how to cook Mexican dishes, and when she passed I was the only one who knew how to cook."

When her mother moved from Michigan to the Smoky Mountains area, Guzman and her children moved also, leaving Louis to work in Michigan for almost 10 years. The two remained married, but Aline wanted to stay close to her mother and eventually start a business in her new East Tennessee home. She says she didn’t know how to do much of anything except raise children and cook, so she decided to open the Front Porch. “It took a long time for me to make friends in Cosby, since I was an outsider and a single mother with four children, but when I opened the restaurant, people came."

With one stove, a small refrigerator and no dishwasher, Guzman opened one of the first Mexican restaurants in the region. At the time, she says, there were a couple in Knoxville, but Gatlinburg didn’t have any eateries that served burritos, tacos, enchiladas, or tostadas. Because of the Front Porch’s humble beginning, Guzman jokes that she is working on a how-to-book titled How to Run a Restaurant on Four Bud Lights based on her experience.

Guzman uses many of her mother-in-law’s recipes in her signature dishes and incorporates Central American classics and ideas from her travels to Guatemala. One ingredient Guzman seems particularly fond of is pickles. “I could care less if the food’s authentic,” she declares. “If I can make it taste better, I’ll do it. A chef served me a tostada with pickles, and it enhanced the flavor, so I use them in my cooking."

The restaurant draws a diverse crowd of people, which pleases Guzman. “Last weekend, the county executive was here, there were old hippies and mountain people, and the judge was here.” She also says that when tourists discover the bluegrass Mexican mecca, they love it and return.

The difficulty lies, however, in drawing tourists for the initial visit. Guzman acknowledges the tourism industry in Gatlinburg, but says that it’s hard to bring people to the Cosby area. Another challenge for local business owners is the economic state of Cosby. Guzman says that in the past there wasn’t enough industry to give people good paying jobs, but things are starting to look up.

However, one economic boost for the community is spoken about quietly. Moonshine is whispered about in the corners of businesses, the equivalent of an alley. When asked, Guzman says, “Oh, there’s moonshining in the area. I don’t know where it is, and I don’t want to know. I think that its one of the reasons that people are accepting of me and the Front Porch. I try not to be judgmental."

The Cub Restaurant

A little farther on down the road lies the serene Cub restaurant, adjacent to a babbling creek populated by ducks. With a hefty helping of Southern classics on the menu, an absolutely beautiful wolf kept as a companion in the rear, and a cast of warm, welcoming characters filling out the tables, an evening at the Cub guarantees entertaining conversation and more than a bellyful of fine cooking.

That Cosby eatery is owned and operated by Kathryn Kotun and Karl Lewanski. Lewanski says two-thirds of their customer base is comprised of tourists looking for the full southern experience. “People from other places believe that everyone lives in a log cabin, and everyone is happy, but people find that they don’t live in log cabins, but they are happy."

Since relocating from Michigan, Lewanski has been surprised by the lack of a social class system. “I’ve learned that there are no social levels here. The thing about the Smokies is that people accept you for what you are. What you see is what you get,” he says. “They don’t decide that you should do this or you should do that. You could be friends with someone who is worth millions of dollars and it works. If you need something, boom, people are there. But if you don’t need anything, then they don’t bother you."

Lewanski says that people are skeptical about economic growth because of the unsightly tourism industry in Pigeon Forge. “If the mountain people understand a scenario, they’ll go with it. But if they don’t understand it or don’t understand why, they won’t go with it. They are very protective of their community and don’t want a five-lane highway in Cosby with hotels running up both sides,” he says.

When Lewanski took over the Cub just over a year ago from its previous owners, most of the menu items remained intact but were tweaked a bit. His partner, Kotun, handles the menu and kitchen while Lewanski manages the staff and front of the restaurant. “Katherine believes that nothing comes out of a can. It would be cheaper for us to open a can and serve it, but when people come down from the north, they want country cooking.” He says that most people are surprised by “real” Southern food. Five or six vegetables served as a meal is not uncommon and might mistakenly construe the culture as vegetarian, but Lewanski adds, “Most people put fatback in the beans. Doctors say you shouldn’t eat this way, but they’ve been doing this for years and they live a long time."

Bluegrass is a significant element of the entertainment offered at the Cub, and Lewanski suggests that the traditionally mountain music is popular because it is what most of the local people grew up with-the spirit of their families-but he also stresses the importance of gospel. “You’ll not find many people who don’t know the words to ’I’ll Fly Away,’ and they’re not ashamed to sing it. It would be hard to find many people in Knoxville who know all the words."

Lewanski also acknowledges the existence of moonshine in the Cosby area, but he’s a bit more willing to talk about the illicit elixir. “It is the moonshine capital of the world. You can’t walk into the country store and get it, but it’s not hard to find. If it wasn’t for moonshine production, doctors and lawyers around the area wouldn’t have been given an education. Most people’s fathers were involved in moonshine in one way or another, and it provided their children with school,” he says. “Most people don’t care to say, ’Yeah, I drink moonshine. Want some?’ It’s not against the law to own three or four gallons, but it is against the law to make or sell it. We offer moonshine to visitors when we have it on hand, but we give it to them. They ask where to buy it, but we would never sell it."

In the span of a weekend, Cosby residents offer spectacular tales of small town Southern living, glorious music festivals of days past and present, and the moonshine lifestyle-all recounted with an overpowering love for a beautiful community. Settling in with a local can illustrate a side of Cosby that Pigeon Forge could only dream of offering.

May 6, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 19 © 2004 Metro Pulse