Like most of you, The Grub Spouse and I found our lives turned upside-down when Snowmageddon ’24 descended upon our region. After being trapped in the Grub House for days, we found a Goldilocks window of time to escape to downtown Knoxville. The roads were navigable enough for us to squeeze in a performance of “Wicked” at the Tennessee Theatre and kill the proverbial second bird by walking a few blocks to SmashCity for a pre-show dinner.
This wasn’t my first experience with the tiny burger franchise (the other location is in Omaha, Nebraska, of all places). I first tried their fare almost two years ago during a visit to their original Knoxville home, Marble City Market (the business was simply known as Smash in those days). I tried their Truffle Smash burger on that outing and walked away having immediately elevated it to one of my favorite local burgers.
However, they flew the coop about six months ago, departing MCM and finding a cozy new home on Central Avenue, near the intersection of Summit Hill Drive. They have their own parking lot there and occupy a small but welcoming space that certainly has a lot more personality than the MCM food-court seating area.