Jack Townsend wants The Possum to feel like “a pocket in time that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
The Maryville native and chef-owner is set to open his first restaurant this summer at 313 N. Houston St. The restaurant’s unlikely name traces back to a tattoo Townsend got around 2019 — a possum eating a slice of pizza — that was originally going to inspire a pizzeria called Pizza Possum. The idea shifted once the building came into the picture.
“As we started to kind of take it apart and remodel, we just kind of realized this building just kind of called for something different,” Townsend said. “A little bit more of a full-service restaurant was what would make more sense in here.”
That full-service concept will lean on old and often-forgotten Southern Appalachian recipes, researched from sources like the century-old recipe archive at Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House in Lynchburg. The signature dish at The Possum will be roast chicken and dumplings — hand-formed, not the soupy or pie-crusted versions Townsend said diners often get elsewhere.
“For us, it’s much more about if we’re going to do chicken and dumplings, we’re going to make our dumplings by hand,” he said.
Entrees will top out around $25, with a full bar offering classic cocktails and wine. The 2,500-square-foot space seats 85 across roughly 25 tables, with a staff of 10 to 12.
Townsend, who cooked at Knoxville’s Tomato Head, Maple Hall, Babalu and Maryville’s Diamond Jack’s, said the building’s parking lot sealed the deal. The two-story brick structure dates to 1937 and served as medical office space for decades — including, according to Maryville city historian Mark Bennett, a practice run by Dr. Lester Cleo Olin — before Townsend’s company, Stock Creek Holdings LLC, purchased it in April for $630,000.
He said maintaining the building’s historic feel is important to him. For example, he used doors from the rest of the building to build the bar and kept as much of the original woodwork as he could.
The location is within walking distance of a number of commercial office spaces as well as residential homes, Townsend pointed out, making it ideal for midweek lunches in a city with increasingly difficult traffic.
The restaurant is now awaiting a city water-line tap for its sprinkler system, with an opening targeted for July or August.
The Possum is located at 313 N. Houston St., Maryville. For more information, visit thepossumrestaurant.com.
