As I drive around Kingsport, I’ve recently noticed several new restaurants that are either opening soon or that have recently opened.  I thought I’d mention them here, along with what I know about them, if anything.

The Great Taste Buffet is located on Stone Drive in the strip mall that is roughly across the street from Hardees.  It’s the strip mall where Subway was located before they moved across the street.  I don’t know anything about the Great Taste Buffet yet, but it’s almost certain to be a Chinese restaurant, based on the Chinese lanterns hanging outside.  I don’t think they are open yet, but it appears that they are getting close, as there seem to be people there working on it almost every day.

The Red Apple is a mostly Chinese and Japanese buffet that recently opened in the old Ryan’s building.  Some of my friends gave it a ringing endorsement, and one of them doesn’t even care for oriental food, so there must be enough selection to please most diners.  In addition to the standard Chinese dishes you’d expect to find, I’m told they have a salad bar, chicken wings, sushi, and a Mongolian grill.  I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to soon.

Stadium Dogs is located in the Green Acres shopping center on Eastman Road.  They have hot dogs, nachos, and similar fare.  One of my friends says they have better peanut butter milkshakes than Pal’s.  I plan to put that to the test soon.

The place that I forgot the name of is located downtown near the new Higher Education center.  One half of the business is a restaurant, and the other half is a general store.  I’ll update this post when I find out more – such as the name of the place, for instance.

El Campiniera (not sure if I have the name right) is a Mexican restaurant that is supposedly opening soon on Broad Street in downtown Kingsport.  However, the “coming soon” sign has been there for about a year, and there is no sign they’ve done any work on the place, so I’m guessing their plans fell through.

Zaxby’s recently opened in the Kingsport Pavilion.  Since it’s a national chain, most of you are probably familiar with it.  I plan to post a full review of it soon.

Today I decided that I’d do a top 10 list that ranks my favorite local restaurants in Kingsport.  I wanted to recognize some places that I think are outstanding and deserving of your business.

For this list, I’m only including restaurants that are locally-owned (as far as I know), and that only have one location.  Therefore, you won’t see restaurants on this list that are locally-owned but have more than one location (like Pal’s and La Caretta) or that are national chains (like Cheddar’s).

So, without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite locally-owned Kingsport restaurants:

10.  Fisherman’s Dock:  Until recently, it had been a long time since I’d eaten at Fisherman’s Dock.  My family and I have tried it several times lately, and it’s quite good these days.  It’s the only true seafood restaurant I can think of in Kingsport, aside from the national chain “fast food” seafood places.

9.  Kingsport Grocery Company: I’ve only been here once since it reopened as KCG, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Those garlic knot appetizers are awesome, and if you like New York style pizzas, they’ve got you covered.  When they say “large pizza”, they mean it.  One of my personal favorite items on their menu is the black bean hummus.  They have a wide variety of unique appetizers to try, such a sweet potato fries, which are very good as well.

8.  Pratt’s: The only thing I’ve tried since Pratt’s reopened as a full service restaurant is the pulled pork BBQ, but it must be pretty good, because I’ve tried it several times.  One of the best things about Pratt’s is that they have several different BBQ sauces to try.  And their cheese biscuits are one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, but as of the last time I was there, they only serve them on Friday and Saturday.

7.  Chef’s Pizza: If you’re looking for good pizza at a reasonable price, it’s hard to beat Chef’s.  Their meatball pizza topping is particularly good.  I’ve also heard good things about their soup and salad lunch buffet.

6.  Nick’s: The restaurant once known as “Nick Nave’s” is still going strong.  It’s a a traditional family-style restaurant serving burgers, steaks, fish, and specializing in broasted chicken and potatoes.

5.  Sharon’s: As those of you who read my review of the “new” Sharon’s a few months ago know, I wasn’t too sure if I liked the changes they made to their restaurant or not.  After trying it a few more times and getting used to it, it’s again become on of my favorite locally-owned restaurants in town.  The burgers are some of the best I’ve ever had.  They’ve added some photos on the walls of various celebrities enjoying their burgers, so the decor has taken a step in the right direction as well.   I think I gave them a score of 6 out of 10 in my review a few months ago, but I’d increase that to a 7 or 8 now.  If they’d ever get around to putting milkshakes on the menu, it might go even higher…

4.  Molcajetes: I’m not going to beat around the bush – I love La Caretta.  But Molcajetes is an excellent Mexican restaurant as well, and there’s no reason that a La Caretta fan can’t enjoy Molcajetes as well.  The food is just different enough that I like eating at both places.  The dish called “South of the Border” has quickly become my favorite – it’s 2 chile rellenos with a side of beans or rice.

3.  Tomoko – Tomoko is a fairly new Japanese steakhouse that opened up in the old Wendy’s building in front of K-Mart on Stone Drive.  The service and food are excellent, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite places to eat.

2.  China Wok – China Wok is hands down one of my favorite places to eat, and not just among locally-owned restaurants, either.  If I expanded my list to include every restaurant in the world, I still think China Wok would be #2.  As you’ve probably noticed if you live in Kingsport, there are Chinese Buffets all over the place.  China Wok is by far my favorite.  The selection on their buffet is smaller than most, but the food is so much better that there’s really no comparison.  They also have a huge menu if you prefer to order that way.  If you like Chinese food, go eat at China Wok.

1.  Plum Tree – After I spoke so highly of China Wok, you probably didn’t except to see another Chinese restaurant ranked above it, huh?  Plum Tree doesn’t have a buffet, but their food is the best I’ve had at any Chinese restaurant I’ve ever eaten at.  I had a hard time deciding whether Plum Tree or China Wok should be #1 – it was very close.  China Wok is my favorite Chinese buffet, while Plum Tree is my favorite Chinese restaurant to order off of the menu.

I know most of you who are reading this probably already know where the medallion was found on Friday, but I still thought I’d wait until the end of this post to reveal the location in order to build suspense.  I wasn’t there, but I’m guessing Friday’s treasure hunt might have been one of the most epic of all time.

Clue #1:  Look for muddy water, take a leisurely drive, here flora and fauna really thrive.

This clue doesn’t seem to narrow down the location of the medallion very much.  Muddy water could refer to most any river, lake, pond, or creek.  Plants and animals (flora and fauna) thrive at most all bodies of water, except the Dead Sea.

Clue #2:  Sometimes treasure is hidden among trash, the most savvy hunter will get the cash.

I’ll be honest.  Even after finding out where the medallion was hidden, I still can’t figure out how this clue ties into the location.  I guess you could say I don’t have a clue!

Clue #3:  Look for the archway and lots of letters.  Flowing water makes this challenge even better.

When I saw this clue, I still couldn’t figure out where the medallion was.  After finding out where the medallion was hidden, I know realize this clue refers to a tunnel that contains graffiti and has water running through it…

Clue #4 (!):  Legend has it, this place is haunted, listen for the crying baby, but don’t be daunted!

A fourth clue?  This has never happened before!  It isn’t even mentioned in the official rules.  Well, let’s see if we can figure out what the clue means…

Great day in the morning!  They’ve hidden the medallion in Sensabaugh Tunnel!  There will be chaos!  Pandemonium!  A big moulage!  Sensabaugh Tunnel is only one lane wide!  If people try to rush in there from both ends, it will be insanity!  And there’s water running through it!  With all of the rain, there’s probably 3 feet of water in that tunnel!  And I haven’t even mentioned the ghosts yet!

Seriously, while Sensabaugh Tunnel is definitely an interesting and different place to hide the medallion, I don’t see how it could be safe to hide it there.  There’s nowhere to park that I know of, and with the last clue making it obvious where the medallion was hidden, you have to figure a ton of people were racing to get there.  If anyone was there, please post your experience in the comments.  I’d love to hear a first hand report!

Today’s medallion was found by the flag pole at the Kingsport Regional Service Park, which I’m told is beside the soccer fields in Sullivan Gardens.  Once again, all three clues were given out before the medallion was found.  I like that.

Clue #1:  Near a field where Canada Geese nest, lies the medallion to end your quest.

I’m not very familiar with the area where the medallion was found, aside from having driven by it a couple of times.  I assume there are a lot of geese that hang out near the soccer fields.

Clue #2:  Round and round and round this way.  To the left, then right you’ll stay.

Since I’m not familiar with the industrial park where the medallion was found, I don’t know if this clue refers to the roads within the park or the roads that you take to get there.  However, I looked at a map of Kingsport, and I can’t figure out a way that this clue could possibly describe the route from downtown Kingsport to Sullivan Gardens.

Clue #3:  Star and stripes fly high here, look closely or you’ll miss it, the medallion is near.

There doesn’t seem to be anything more to this clue than revealing that the medallion was near a flag pole.  I’m guessing that the second clue would mean more to someone who is more familiar with the Kingsport Regional Service Park than I am.

These all seem to be good clues, they just didn’t have much meaning to me since I’m not familiar with the place where the medallion was hidden.

Remember, my blog isn’t the official source of clues for Treasure Trackers.  I just like to discuss the event and analyze the clues after the medallion is found each day.  You can get the clues as they are announced at www.treasuretrackers.net.

On Wednesday, the medallion was found at shelter #39 at Eastman Cabins.  I’m surprised they hid it so close to place where it was hidden the day before.  For the first time this week, the medallion wasn’t found until all 3 clues had been given out.

Clue #1:  Follow the road to the left, then right.  The goal you seek will be in sight.

The road through Eastman Cabins is one-way, so you have to go to the left around the main loop and eventually back to the right when you get to the curve.  There is a soccer field at the back of Eastman Cabins, but I don’t know where shelter #39 is located, so I don’t know whether a soccer goal was being referred to in the clue.

Clue #2:  Around the curve and down the road.  You’re about to hit the mother load.

This clue added to the first one by making it clear that there is curve in the road near where the medallion was hidden.  It seems likely that the second line of the clue is referring to the creek that runs through Eastman Cabins.  According to Dictionary.com, the term “mother lode” refers to “something valuable or in great abundance”.  The California gold rush began when miners found gold and silver deposits in creek beds and they followed them upstream to find the source.

Clue #3: Eat, play or stay night and day. Bears might visit and have their way.

The first part of the clue refers to the things you can do at Eastman Cabins, and I can see how someone who is familiar with Eastman Cabins could put this clue together with the previous ones to figure where to look for the medallion.  A couple of years ago, there were signs posted at the beginning of the Eastman Cabins hiking trail warning that bears had been spotted, so it isn’t completely unheard of for bears to be in the area.

If there is anything hidden in the clues that refers specifically to the number 39 (the number of the cabin where the medallion was found), I didn’t spot it.

I’m giving the treasure hunt a definite thumbs up so far this year.  The clues have been good, and I like the fact that it took until the third clue was given out before the medallion was found on Wednesday.  Each clue alone wouldn’t do much to help anyone find the medallion, but when put together, they compliment each other well.  I especially like hidden meanings in clues, and for the first time this week, we had one with the “mother load” reference.

Remember, my blog isn’t the official source of clues for Treasure Trackers.  I just like to discuss the event and analyze the clues after the medallion is found each day.  You can get the clues as they are announced at www.treasuretrackers.net.

Today the Treasure Trackers medallion was found at the Sullivan South Band’s Practice Field on the “Band Director’s Perch”.  Once again, the medallion was found after only one clue was given out.

Clue #1:  Practice makes perfect, so they say.  Fall will come soon and tunes to play.

Just like yesterday, this is a very straightforward clue.  High School marching bands play music in the fall during football season, and the first part of the clue makes it clear that the medallion was hidden at the place where the band practices. It was just a matter of who picked the correct school.

At this point, I have mixed feelings about how the treasure hunt is going this year.  The clues aren’t bad, because they narrow down where the medallion is hidden while at the same time possibly leading to several different locations.  However, unlike last year, the clues aren’t tricky enough to make you stop and think very long before figuring out what they mean.  For instance, the clues on the first day of last year’s treasure hunt had me trying to figure out what the Queen City was, researching mascots for local schools, and even surmising that the one of the clues was a reference to the TV show “Saved By The Bell”.  This year, the clues are more straightforward, and don’t require much analysis.  I guess you could say that the main requirement for finding the medallion so far this year is a knowledge of the area’s geography as opposed to a knowledge of trivia.  I wish the first clue was a little harder to figure out, because I like for the treasure hunt to go longer into the day instead of always being found first thing in the morning.

I’m anxious to see the clues for the rest of the week.  Be sure to stop by again tomorrow for a discussion of Wednesday’s Treasure Trackers!

Remember, my blog isn’t the official source of clues for Treasure Trackers.  I just like to discuss the event and analyze the clues after the medallion is found each day.  You can get the clues as they are announced at www.treasuretrackers.net.

The first day of the treasure hunt has concluded, and the medallion was found beside the sign at the entrance to Bays Mountain Park.  Like I did last year here on my blog, I thought I’d analyze the clues each day after the medallion has been found and try to see if I can figure out how the clues lead to the medallion.

Sometimes they release all 3 clues even if the medallion is found after only one clue is given out, but they didn’t do that today, so we only have one clue to analyze.

Clue #1:  Go past this graveyard and keep on going.  Look for a creek where the water is flowing.

If you go past Meadowview Convention Center and on to Bays Mountain that way, you’ll pass a cemetery on the left.  You then cross a bridge over a creek when you make the right turn towards Bays Mountain Park.

I think this was a great clue to start the treasure hunt with.  It’s general enough that it could have led to several different places (anywhere that there is a creek near a graveyard), but at the same time, it’s specific enough that it’s easy to see why someone would go towards Bays Mountain looking for it.  While the clue seems to point to the creek itself, it’s not unreasonable that someone would go a few dozen yards further up the road to look near the Bays Mountain sign, since it’s a pretty significant landmark.

To whoever is running Treasure Trackers this year, good job on day one!

Remember, my blog isn’t the official source of clues for Treasure Trackers.  I just like to discuss the event and analyze the clues after the medallion is found each day.  You can get the clues as they are announced at www.treasuretrackers.net.

Last year, my series of posts about the Fun Fest Treasure Trackers event generated the most traffic my blog has received in a single week.  I’ve decided to bring the series back for another year.  Although it has had some ups and downs over the years, the Treasure Hunt has always been one of my favorite Fun Fest events.

What I’ll do is after the Treasure Hunt ends each day, I’ll do a post where I discuss and analyze that day’s clues.  Please don’t depend on my blog to get the clues when they are announced, because I won’t be posting them until the hunt is over each day.  You can get the clues as they are announced here:  http://www.treasuretrackers.net .

Everyone enjoy Treasure Trackers 2009!

With Kingsport’s Fun Fest starting tonight, I thought I’d do a list of my top 10 favorite Fun Fest events over the years.   Here goes!

10.  Crazy Boat Race: I think it’s been well over 10 years since the last Crazy Boat Race, but it was one of Fun Fest’s biggest events during the early years.  Teams would build all sorts of unusual boats, and race them down the river at Riverfront Park.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  I’m not sure why they stopped having the boat race, but I remember there were some years that they had to cancel it because there wasn’t enough water in the river due to drought conditions.  I’m guessing safety concerns were probably a factor also.  I think they continued the event for a while under the name Crazy Boat Show, but I guess nobody was interested in looking at the boats if they never actually went into the water.

9.  Block Parties: The neighborhood I used to live in had a huge block party  for several years, and I always enjoyed it.  The neighborhood where I live now had one this year, and it was great as well.

8.  Fun Fest Goes to the Races: Back when the Kingsport Speedway was operating, they would always have a special race during Fun Fest week that usually drew one of their biggest crowds of the year.  I miss our local speedway, and I wish someone would fix it up and start holding races there again.

7.  Fun Fest Slam: While our local professional wrestling scene is going strong with at least 3 different promotions regularly running shows in Kingsport, I don’t think there is a special wrestling event as part of Fun Fest any longer.  One of the matches that stands out in my mind from one of the Fun Fest shows several years ago was Skyfire (who was EZ Money in ECW and Jason Jett in WCW) vs. Eddie Golden.  At the time, Lucha Libre style wrestling had just started getting popular in the U.S., and Skyfire and Golden did pretty much every Lucha Libre and high-flying move I’d ever seen in my life in that one match.  I still rate it is as one the top 10 matches I’ve ever seen in person.  I also enjoyed seeing Kane at one of the Fun Fest wrestling shows.

6.  Fun Fest Parade: I haven’t been to all of the Fun Fest parades over the years, but I try to make it to as many as I can.  I’ve always enjoyed watching parades, and in many ways, the Fun Fest parade seems to have gotten bigger than Kingsport’s Fourth of July parade.

5.  Crazy 8s: I’m not athlectic, and I don’t run in the 8k road race.  However, I love watching it.

4.  Taste of Tri-Cities: The Taste of Tri-Cities has changed over the years, but I’ve always enjoyed it.   In the early days of Fun Fest, The Taste was kind of an event to itself, while in recent years it’s become more of a support event to the concerts and other events going on near D.B., since all of the attendees need somewhere to eat.  The event was originally conceived to give visitors a chance to sample foods from several area restaurants, and it was priced accordingly.  The servings were small, and the price was rarely over $1 for any individual item.  That way, you could sample food from several different places without spending too much or getting stuffed.  Nowadays, the prices are basically the same that you would spend at the restaurant itself, and most vendors serve full meals.

3.  Balloon Race: I’ve always enjoyed watching hot air balloons, but the Fun Fest Balloon Rally used to be a competition.  A lead balloon would take off 20 minutes before the others, and the other balloons would chase it.  At some point, the lead balloon would land and place a target on the gound.  The pilots of the other balloons had to toss a beanbag towards the target, and whoever came closest was the winner.  I still enjoy the balloon rally, but it was more exciting when it was a race.

2.  Fun Fest Fireworks: In my opinion, the Fun Fest fireworks have always been better than Kingsport’s Fourth of July fireworks.

1.  AFG Treasure Hunt: I took part in the treasure hunt for many years when AFG was in charge of it.  I’ve even been known to take a week of vacation during Fun Fest just so I could participate in the daily treasure hunts.  I love Pal’s, but when they took over the treasure hunt a few years ago, it wasn’t as good.  The clues and hiding places just weren’t as good as AFG’s.  Another new batch of sponsors took over the event last year, and while it still wasn’t as good as the AFG Treasure Hunts, it was best one of the past few years.  I hope they can return my favorite Fun Fest event to its former glory.

It’s been a while since I did a movie review, so I thought I would review The Strangers, which I finally watched tonight.  As with most of my reviews, there will be some spoilers, so keep that in mind if you haven’t watched the movie yet.

I had heard back when the movie was playing in theaters that it was a pretty good movie that was brought down by a poor ending, and I agree with that assessment.  The Strangers seems to be one of those movies where the writers and director crafted an excellent movie for the most part, but couldn’t think of a good ending.

The first hour or so of the movie was quite good.  The plot is actually very basic – a couple returns home after attending a wedding, and unknown masked assailants attack them.  There is just enough time spent at the beginning of the movie developing the protagonists to make you care about them, but it didn’t take too long to get into the suspenseful part of the movie.  Simple but effective plot devices, such as knocks at the door and an unknown person standing in the yard staring in the window, are used to create an atmosphere that is genuinely scary.  I thought the skipping record on the record player while the villains searched the house for their victims was particularly effective.  The masks worn by the villains were very creepy as well.

The first 15 minutes or so of the movie’s second hour felt like filler to me.  It almost seemed like they made an hour-long movie that was really good, but realized it would have to be longer to see a theatrical release.  The things that happened during this part of the movie were very run-of-the-mill horror movie cliches.  The victim tries to run from the house to the barn, falls down and hurts her ankle, and has to crawl the rest of the way; the victim tries to call for help on an old radio but the villain smashes it; the victim hides in a closet while the villians walk around the house looking for her.  This part of the movie almost became boring.

The ending of the movie was very basic.  There wasn’t anything particularly creative about it, and there wasn’t any sort of revelation as to why the villains did what they did.  They just tied the victims to chairs and stabbed them.  When one of the victims asked why they were doing this, one of the villains simply replied “because you were home”.

There were several things that I didn’t like about the ending.  First, the villains removed their masks and revealed their faces to their victims before stabbing them – but their faces were never shown on camera.  This was a huge disappointment.  Secondly, the very end of the movie just didn’t make sense to me.  One of the victims was still alive – and the villains knew it.  However, they willingly left her alive.  I didn’t understand why they would do that, since they had shown their faces to her.  Finally, the final scene was puzzling.  Two kids entered the house and found the bodies of the victims who had been killed, as well as the surviving victim.  One of the kids approached the survivor, she opened her eyes and screamed, and the credits rolled.  I don’t know what that was supposed to represent, unless it was to show that she survived, but we already knew that.

As a new feature of my movie reviews, I’ve decided to end them not only by giving my rating of the movie, but also by picking three other movies from the same genre and telling whether I though they were better or worse than the movie I just reviewed.

The Strangers Rating:  *** (Good)

Was it better than:

• The Halloween remake?  YES
• Vacancy?  NO
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)?  NO