You’ll need to load up on carbs before summiting Clingmans Dome, and there’s no better place to do that than at downtown Knoxville’s dashing Emilia. The Italian restaurant, serving cuisine inspired by the Emilia-Romagna region, has a lot of the requisite Italian decor: brick walls, rows of wine bottles behind the bar, and oversized cans of tomato sauce doubling as decoration. But this warm retreat eschews red sauce Americana in favor of a more delicate, refined approach to pastas and entrees. Look for lightly fried baby artichoke fritters brightened with lemon-caper aioli, warm house-pulled burrata with roasted local squash, and Springer Mountain Farms chicken cooked under a brick until crispy and served with oregano pan sauce and salsa verde. The house specialty, though, is the pasta. It’s all made in house and served in ever-changing variations, like campanelle with roasted mushrooms and broccolini in a pine nut-mushroom broth, or fusilli carbonara with a poached Windy Acres Farm egg and toothsome bacon from Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham.

A breakfast mainstay in the trendy Old City neighborhood of Knoxville, where centuries-old factory buildings are seeing new life as art galleries and saloons, OliBea is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the palate. The sunny space, with hardwood floors and featuring local art, provides a relaxed environment in which to linger with locally roasted coffee and locally sourced ham and eggs. Biscuits are a popular staple, available by themselves, in Benedicts, sandwiched on pickle-brined fried chicken, or heaped with sausage, cheddar, scrambled eggs, and serrano jam.

An hour northwest of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Knoxville offers a good mix of the old guard and the new upstarts. Bistro at the Bijou is like a bridge between them: It’s a swanky haven in one of the city’s most historic buildings, located next door to the ornate Bijou Theatre. The restaurant feels sophisticated and regal, thanks largely to the building’s Renaissance-style architecture, stained glass windows, and art that hangs in the dining room. But the bistro maintains a casual air, thanks to owner Martha Boggs, a Tennessee native who aims for a welcoming, watering-hole atmosphere and a farm-to-table approach. The bill of fare includes fried okra Caesar salad, bourbon-glazed pork loin, and fried bologna Benedicts on buttery biscuits. The cocktails are frequently as seasonal as the food menu, with variations like strawberry mojitos and lavender-blueberry spritzes.

About 45 minutes north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sevierville is quieter and less touristy than Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. It’s also a town with a rich, longstanding agricultural legacy, which lives on at Five Oaks Farm Kitchen. The grounds outside the restaurant are garnished with tractors and trucks, while the interior of the enormous farmhouse dining room features lofty ceilings, wooden chandeliers, and communal picnic tables. In the morning, breakfast means fried pork chops smothered in sausage gravy and eggs scrambled with pecan-smoked bacon. Lunch and dinner take advantage of the adjoining smokehouse for barbecue-focused fare, such as hickory-smoked chicken and prime rib of beef with grated horseradish mustard and au jus.

This modest bakery may be light on decor — just a few simple tables in a stark strip mall storefront — but the pastry counter is big on flavor. It’s run by Stephany Houston, a pastry chef who formerly worked at nearby Dollywood. Her specialty is oversized and doughy cinnamon rolls, while other treats include fragrant cinnamon bread, banana pudding, thick slices of oatmeal cake, apple slab pie, and cheesecake parfaits. There are savory options too, like ham salad and soups, but the stars are the sweets.

A new addition to the Sevierville dining scene offers a modern approach to traditional Appalachian flavors and recipes, courtesy of Tennessee native David Rule. Sourcing ingredients from local purveyors like Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham, Heritage Farms Cheshire Pork, and Cruze Farm Dairy, the chef and co-owner does most of his cooking over a wood-fired hearth, churning out dishes like Buffalo frog legs, rainbow trout with grilled strawberries, smoked squash soup, hanger steak with smoked fingerling potatoes, and pan-roasted chicken with ham hock lima beans. For dessert, there’s Coca-Cola cake a la mode, with a sprinkling of candied pecans for crunch. A far cry from the barn-sized restaurants of Gatlinburg, the space echoes the kitchen’s modern cuisine with a polished, intimate vibe.

Despite the campy decor and stereotypical Italian photos that make the place look like an Epcot version of a Neapolitan pizzeria, Big Daddy’s is the real deal. With three locations on the western side of the Great Smoky Mountains, including this Gatlinburg branch that’s mere minutes from the park, this is a pizzeria that feels touristy but exceeds expectations. Wood-fired brick oven pies are stretched thin and cooked quickly to achieve a delicately crispy thin crust before they’re strewn with toppings like meatballs, Genoa salami, sweet barbecue sauce, and shaved prime rib. You can’t go wrong with a classic margherita either, or the fantastic appetizers, like wood-fired wings and wood-baked soft pretzels with fonduelike cheese sauce. 

A day on the trail requires a hearty morning meal, and few places in Gatlinburg fit the bill quite like Crockett’s Breakfast Camp, named in honor of local frontiersman David C. “Crockett” Maples, who developed regional renown offering home-cooked breakfasts to travelers. His spirit lives on in this sprawling cabin-style brunch restaurant with a lot to look at — whiskey barrels, stone fireplaces, canoes, and a giant wooden statue of Crockett himself greeting you at the door. Savory, robust rations like biscuit sandwiches, corned beef hash, and country fried steak come with a side of sweet corn pone, while more indulgent options include fried cinnamon rolls, pecan-studded waffles, and fluffy buckwheat pancakes flecked with granola and bananas.

Tucked into lush, forested mountainside at the edge of Gatlinburg — the park’s main entry point — the Greenbrier has the look and feel of a quintessential national park restaurant. The stone structure is perched on a bucolic ridge and decked out with dark wood floors, a roaring outdoor fire pit, alfresco rocking chairs, and plenty of requisite taxidermy. The steak-centric menu, led by executive chef Aaron Ward, leans on local farms for produce and meats, which are dry-aged in house. Plates include fried pickled okra, duck breast with orange marmalade bourbon sauce, stuffed acorn squash brimming with wild mushrooms and farro, and a 22-ounce porterhouse seasoned simply with cracked pepper and Himalayan salt. Wash it all down with a pour from the ample whiskey list or a bottle from the lengthy wine list.

Just 13 miles southeast of the park, the Everett Hotel & Bistro in charming Bryson City feels (and tastes) like an upgraded campground cookout. The warm, rustic decor is outfitted with polished wood paneling, candelabras, landscape portraits, and antlers. It looks like an upscale mess hall, albeit a mess hall with a full bar and leather chairs. Ingredients are sourced as locally as possible, and the house specialty is trout, available as trout cakes with remoulade, or pan-seared in a cornmeal crust with red quinoa and baby spinach. Other Southern-tinged specialties, all of which are available for takeout, include she crab soup, grilled Springer Mountain Farms chicken with fig chutney and prosciutto, and the open-range meatloaf, a carnivorous feast made with four locally sourced meats: Creekstone beef, Durham Ranch bison, Border Springs lamb, and K&B Meat’s pork sausage. The Bistro also has breakfast (complimentary for hotel guests) and a drink list emphasizing wine and North Carolina beer.

On the eastern side of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in North Carolina, barbecue is king. Find it at institutions like Haywood Smokehouse, a nondescript roadside haunt with humble decor, a barnlike dining room, and a giant pair of bull horns over the front door. Whether you’re dining inside or out on the wood deck, barbecue comes heaped unceremoniously on paper-lined trays, from chopped pork and sliced brisket to smoked chicken and spicy andouille sausage links. Sandwiches include the Fine Swine, a chopped-pork behemoth topped with provolone and collard greens, and the Texas Melt, a kind of quasi-cheesesteak that layers sliced brisket with grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms, and provolone on your choice of bun or toast. Haywood also has locations in Waynesville and Franklin, but the Dillsboro outpost, a mere 17 miles southeast of the park, is the most convenient stopover.

Proof that Asheville’s beverage scene goes far beyond beer, Ben’s Tune Up is the city’s first sake brewery, using 100 percent American rice and mountain water to create its creamy elixirs. Staying on brand with Asheville’s penchant for garage spaces, Ben’s is inside a former auto shop, with an abundant beer garden and on-site takeout window slinging sake-friendly snacks like dumplings, egg rolls, and kimchi brats. Unpasteurized sake is served cold on draft, including fruit-infused versions like pineapple-jalapeno and blueberry-lime.

Less than 40 miles east of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Asheville is the main food destination on the North Carolina side. It’s also the ultimate beer haven, with more breweries per capita than almost anywhere in the country. Start barhopping at the sour-focused Funkatorium, an offshoot of mainstay Wicked Weed brewery. The modern garagelike taproom, located in the city’s brewery-saturated South Slope neighborhood, offers a sprawling beer garden lined with planters, murals, and picnic tables. Rotating draft selections, such as the Genesis tropical blonde sour and the Silencio bourbon-barrel-aged black sour with coffee and vanilla, constantly push the boundaries of sour beer. The Funkatorium is also a full-service restaurant with salads, sandwiches, and crunchy Roman-style pizzas.

Housed in an endearingly austere space, Burial Beer Co.’s main taproom looks like a repair shop that’s been retrofitted with barrels and twinkling lights. But it’s also one of the most exciting and inventive breweries in South Slope, offering a vast and varied selection of styles. IPAs typically occupy a lot of space on the draft lines, in multiple variations and flavor profiles, like fruit-forward triple IPAs and oat-based imperials. There are also dark lagers, doppelbocks, stouts, sours, and a full food menu that raises the bar on brewery snacks. Cajun pork rinds come with shrimp butter, za’atar-spiced baby radishes are dunked in golden beet hummus, and chorizo, glazed with honey and red wine, gets a pungent punch from paprika aioli, roasted potatoes, piquillo peppers, and grilled bread. On warm days, the yard provides plenty of picnic table space for post-hike drinking.

[Note: Buxton Hall Barbecue is temporarily closed]

In the land of barbecue, Buxton Hall is a step above competitors. Housed inside a historic South Slope space that was once a roller rink before clocking time as the requisite auto shop, the restaurant is the purview of chefs Elliott Moss and Meherwan Irani. They preside over the whole-hog open kitchen, churning out such fragrant fare as pulled pork sandwiches sloshed in vinegary pepper sauce, buttermilk fried chicken topped with creamy white barbecue sauce, smoked sausage platters, and barbecue pork hash with hush puppies, gravy, and rice. The desserts especially exceed expectations and include scratch-made sweets like cherry limeade cheesecake, brown butter pineapple upside down cake, and “midnight snack” cookies studded with peanut butter pretzels, roasted peanuts, toasted white chocolate, and peanut brittle. The picnic tables out front make for ideal outdoor dining. 

It’s not exactly a bygone garage, but this former bus-depot-turned-Spanish-stalwart definitely fits Asheville’s adaptive aesthetic. This is the hub for Katie Button, one of the city’s most prominent and awarded chefs, whose convivial tapas pay homage to her travels in Spain. By the glowing central bar, legs of jamón Ibérico dangle above the open kitchen, ready to be sliced and draped onto charcuterie platters. The snackable menu features other Spanish staples, such as albondigas, paella, and patatas bravas. There are also plenty of Cúrate originals: roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower enriched with fried breadcrumbs and a celery root-yogurt mousse; and surf and turf of South Carolina clams steamed in cider and paired with house-made chorizo. Many ingredients are sourced as locally as possible, from purveyors like Apple Brandy Farms and Honey and the Hive. Cava, gin and tonics, vermouth on tap, and txakoli, ideally consumed via porrón, all keep the Spanish vibes flowing.