Pigeon Forge Deli

Local write-ups on The Smokies point to the signature subs, including the Chub Sub, the Chicken Salad Chub, an open-faced pot roast sub and a classic Italian sub. Soups, salads and hot pretzels round out the menu. The same article recommends the pimento cheese BLT, which is the sort of sandwich that travels well in a daypack and tastes right on a rock beside a creek. Prices are not published in the sources checked, so call or look at the current menu before you go.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has no restaurants on its main roads, and the nearest food from many trailheads is a long drive back to town. A deli is the practical answer. Order two sandwiches and a side, grab chips and a drink, and you have lunch for a hike up the Roaring Fork or a long afternoon in Cades Cove without losing an hour at a sit-down table. The Wears Valley entrance route also puts you within about twenty minutes of the Townsend side of the park and the Foothills Parkway, so the deli is a sensible first stop when you are heading that way.

• Find it: Look for the strip center on East Wears Valley Road, close to where it meets the Parkway. Allow a minute to find the door.
• Hours: A mall directory lists the shopping center as open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, but that is the center, not the deli. Delivery-app listings show shorter lunch hours. Confirm before relying on an evening visit.
• Park parking tag: If you park in the national park for more than 15 minutes, you need a tag ($5 daily, $15 weekly, $40 annual), and federal passes do not replace it. See the NPS fees page.
• Weekends in October: The park's busiest month. Order your picnic lunch the evening before if the shop accepts it, and be on the road early.

Hikers, picnickers and couples who would rather buy a sandwich than sit through a long lunch. Families with picky eaters will find plain turkey or ham options on any deli board. Skip it if you want a full breakfast or a table-service dinner, since this is a lunch counter first.