Street food$market-squareMon-Sat 11:00-20:00; Sun 12:00-18:00
Petro's Chili and Chips on Market Square, the chili-on-chips concept born at the 1982 World's Fair Knoxville, runs the original Petro signature bowl downtown.
Try: The Petro: chili over Fritos
Tip: Order the original Petro; the Knoxville icon is essentially a chili-cheese Fritos bowl.
Street food$market-squareTue-Thu 11:00-21:00; Fri-Sat 11:00-22:00; Sun 11:00-21:00; closed Mon
The Tomato Head pizza counter on Market Square since 1990, Mahasti Vafaie's longest-running downtown spot, sells pizza by the slice and happy-hour slices.
Try: Pizza by the slice
Tip: Happy hour Sunday to Thursday 16:00-18:00 is the cheapest slice run.
Street food$old-cityMon-Sat 12:00-20:00; Sun 13:00-16:00
Curious Dog on West Jackson, the brothers Weidenhamer's hot-dog counter in the historic JFG building, runs 30+ specialty dog builds for the Old City crowd.
Try: Specialty hot dogs
Tip: Pair a dog with a bottle off the 200-deep craft beer wall; opens at 12:00 daily.
Street food$market-squareSat 09:00-13:00 May-Oct
Saturday food trucks at Market Square Farmers Market, the May-October rotating truck roster alongside vendor stalls, runs Saturday mornings on the plaza.
Try: Rotating food-truck plates
Tip: Three Bears Coffee Saturday trailer is a constant; other trucks rotate week to week per Nourish Knoxville schedule.
Street food$old-cityMon 17:00-22:00; Tue-Thu 16:00-22:00; Fri 16:00-23:00; Sat 12:00-23:00; Sun 12:00-21:00
Crafty Bastard at Emory Place hosts nightly rotating food trucks on the brewery patio, the Old City taproom's calling card alongside the rotating tap list.
Try: Rotating food-truck plates
Tip: Check the Crafty Bastard Instagram for the night's truck; the rotation runs nightly except when winter weather hits.
Street food$gay-streetDaily 12:00-22:00
Cruze Farm Ice Cream on South Gay Street, the family dairy's downtown counter, slings cones of buttermilk and rotating East Tennessee dairy ice cream daily.
Try: Fresh-churned ice cream cones
Tip: Open late to 22:00; the late-night cone line moves faster than the daytime queue.