Telling a Story at The Appalachian

When Chef David Rule was ready to move forward with his dream of creating a sophisticated Southern eatery, there was no doubt who his partner would be for equipment, kitchen design, and more.

"Oh, it was definitely going to be KaTom," Rule says. "There are relationships there and that team is great to work with. KaTom was an incredible partner to have on this project."

The product of the collaboration is The Appalachian, which is situated across from a building that once housed a diner frequented by a young Dolly Parton in historic downtown Sevierville, Tenn.. A mural on a brick wall facing the restaurant depicts the superstar and Sevierville favorite daughter being served a burger at the counter of Red's Cafe.

"This is the best location for us. They did a great job creating an area people really want to come to, something that's worth making a stop for," Rule says of the city's ongoing downtown revitalization efforts. "It's very exciting to see it starting to take shape."

Telling the Story: The Space

Visiting The Appalachian is a bit like hiking one of the peaks in the eponymous mountain range; there are many paths you can take, each weaving a different story with an incredible payoff ending.

"We have a few different opportunities for experiences," Rule explains. "With every visit and every part of the restaurant, we want to tell a story. That's our top value: 'Tell the story.' "

Go straight back from the entryway and you'll enter a brightly lit room with walls lined with glass shelves holding a selection of libations, with a focus on regional tipples. There are bottles of Revival Sorghum Whiskey from South Carolina's High Wire Distilling, a trio of offerings from Tennessee's own Jack Daniel Distillery, and more Kentucky bourbons than you'll see in many package stores.

Further on from there, you might find yourself in an intimate space hosting a quiet business meeting or a rowdy bachelorette party, secluded from other diners by a thick glass partition.

But take a right from the entrance and you're in the action. This is the restaurant's expansive-yet-intimate dining room. Its walls are paneled with darkly painted wood and decked with colorful original art. The space is filled with tables made by a craftsman in Knoxville with wood reclaimed from the demolition of century-old buildings in the region. It's all part of that mission to tell a story.

"We lead the story with the farmers and artisans who supply The Appalachian," Rule says. "We teach our team about David Grant Howard, the craftsman who makes the tables, so they can tell our guests about them."

The showpiece of the 4,000-square-foot dining room is a hulk of architecture and steel that breathes fire from before the restaurant opens until after the last dish is plated.

"The centerpiece of this restaurant and the centerpiece of our menu is that wood-burning hearth," Rule says. "Most everything we do has some kind of smoky, char flavor. This is traditional cooking."

Rule's vision for the hearth took shape at the same time the concept for The Appalachian did. Its creation is one of the first things he asked the KaTom team to tackle. It was sourced from a specialty metalworking shop, with KaTom Foodservice Solutions Manager Josh Harrison coordinating the effort.

"The team at KaTom was incredible about getting into my vision and helping me make it a reality. They were just great to work with," Rule says.

Being the centerpiece, the cookline is naturally out front, in full view of every table in the dining room. On busy evenings, the space is a blur of motion as orders are cooked, plated, and pushed across a custom-made stainless steel-topped credenza for service.

"I love that piece," Rule says. "It's a really great presentation."

Telling the Story: The Menu

Rule is an alum of the widely and exuberantly praised Blackberry Farm in nearby Walland, just down the road from Walnut Kitchen, a popular eatery that was his first foray into developing restaurants. The Appalachian builds on the lessons and recipes he learned at each, with a menu that changes from season to season and sometimes day to day.

The Downtown Sevierville Farmers Market is staged around a community green located just across the road from The Appalachian and Rule sources ingredients from its sellers.

"We basically have our own grocery store right out front," Rule says. "Our menu reflects the quality of the ingredients we buy. We source the highest-quality ingredients. I guarantee the quality is better."

The menu offerings Rule and his team build with those top-notch makings include a fried chicken skins appetizer ("That's the best part of the chicken," Rule says), roasted duck breast on a bed of Anson Mills Pencil Cob grits, and grouper served with heirloom Carolina Gold rice and garlic scapes.

"There's been a need for this kind of cuisine in this area. We want to be a good representation of what this region, and particularly its cuisine, is all about," Rule says. "We're taking it beyond beans and cornbread to explore the things you can do with contemporary Appalachian food."

In a town dominated by restaurants catering to the "same as I have at home" tastes of many tourists, The Appalachian really sets itself apart with the wood-grilled meats section of the menu. There, guests can find T-bone steaks, filet mignon, and even a 32-ounce, dry-aged ribeye, all of it cooked over the fire in that central hearth.

"Ordering that big steak is an event in itself. It could feed a family of four, but that's not really the point. That's a special occasion meal. That's coming out for a birthday and you want to celebrate with something really great," Rule says.

Rule needed kitchen equipment flanking the central hearth that would make menu flexibility easy. His partners at KaTom helped find it, from an eight-burner range with a griddle to a dough mixer that powers through the makings of biscuits for a strawberry shortcake dessert.

"KaTom helped us build a space that works for what we're doing," Rule says. "They talked us through the feasibility of what we had in mind, showed us how everything lined up as far as dimensions and connections, and helped us create a more efficient kitchen."

Telling the Story: KaTom's Contributions

Harrison appreciates being part of the partnership between Rule and KaTom.

"Chef Rule is great to work with because he came into this project with a vision and then trusted us to help him make it happen. He has opinions about how he wants certain things to be and that's reflected throughout the restaurant. There are other times he hands it off to us and says, 'Get me something that can do this and will work the best for what we need.'"

Fortunately, Harrison knows his way around a kitchen and the industry, with an encyclopedic knowledge of what it takes to get the perfect equipment for any task. Paired with an inside support team and KaTom Project Designer Michael Holbert, he and the other members of KaTom's accounts team walk owners from concept to grand opening. The KaTom install team puts the finishing touches on it all, staging the package and setting it into place when the building is ready.

In this case, the space was ready for a grand opening at the beginning of February 2021. Like every business that opened its doors during the pandemic era of 2020-21, The Appalachian faced some uncertainty as construction progressed while the world shut down. Rule and his team got a real-world lesson in the nimbleness that now characterizes the eatery and its menu.

"We had everything in planning when the pandemic hit. That did kind of make us step back, but we just decided to push ahead. No restaurant's the same and really no time period is the same, so there are always unique challenges in doing this kind of thing," Rule explains. "We were flexible enough to make a few changes, like taking out some of the soft surfaces we had planned and spacing out the tables more, which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing, anyway."

Visiting the Story

The Appalachian is open for dinner (4 p.m. bar, 5 p.m. dining room) Tuesday through Saturday, though Rule says he is considering options to tap into a growing daytime crowd in downtown Sevierville. From people renewing their license plates at the nearby historic courthouse to workers in area offices, tourists stopping in to see the changing business district to groups holding meetings in town, there are plenty of hungry people around.

The restaurant is dabbling in dayparts now with holiday brunches, collaborations with regional businesses, and other events, and may start hosting meetings in its large private space.

The Appalachian is located at 133 Bruce Street in Sevierville.