There are parts of the Magnolia Corridor that don’t just hold space, they hold memory. For all of us.
As a little girl born in East Knoxville I spent long and hot summer days playing in the dirt while watching my dad play baseball for the Knoxville Blue Jays at Bill Meyer Stadium.
We had food, we had baseball. Times were good.
Back then, my grandmother would never have fathomed going to West Knoxville to do business when a quick drive to Magnolia Avenue could get it done. Every week she bought her groceries at the old Kroger up on the hill and did her banking at Home Federal. Sometimes, we’d stop at the Taco Bell just past Cherry Street or go feed the ducks at Chilhowee Park. And my mom would take me to get my hair pressed by Miss Juanita at the old Salon De Beaute.
Now what used to be feels like a ghost town, still echoing years past.
You can see it in the buildings that remain, in the ones that don’t, and in the stories people carry about what Magnolia Avenue used to be. Before the talk of revitalization and redevelopment, there was a time when Magnolia simply worked. It fed people. It employed people. It gave East Knoxville a place to gather without having to leave.
A new chapter begins on that same stretch of road, one that comes with both hope and history attached to those behind it.
Rosarita’s Mexican Cantina is now open inside the old Long John Silver’s building at 2816 E. Magnolia Avenue, reintroducing a full-service, sit-down restaurant to a stretch of East Knoxville that hasn’t seen many in years. But here, an opening like this carries more weight than a menu. For real estate developer Keith Foster, it’s a sign of renewed possibility along a corridor long marked by disinvestment.
Foster has partnered with business developer Blake Pavlis and Kimberly Black, alongside restaurateurs and brothers Raul, Jarion, Ramon and Juan Mares, as well as Miguel Hernandez, to bring the vision to life.
“This is more than a restaurant, it’s an investment in the Magnolia Corridor,” said Foster. “We listened to the community’s desire for more seated dining and quality food options. Rosarita’s helps meet that need while creating jobs and bringing energy to this important corridor.”
“Investment” is a word East Knoxville has heard before.
But on this side of town, it carries some weight.
For years, it’s come in waves, moments of promise that didn’t always last. In a community underserved for decades, every new project raises a quiet question:
Is this different?
For the team behind Rosarita’s, the answer started with listening.
“It was unanimous,” Pavlis said of early conversations with residents. “Everyone wanted a consistent sit-down restaurant option. They wanted to be able to have a cold beverage. They wanted something they could walk to, something accessible in the neighborhood.”
That clarity shaped the concept.
Not just what kind of restaurant to open, but why.
“We knew it was a good start,” he added. “There’s a couple things you can take into almost any community, a coffee shop, a pizza place, or a Mexican restaurant. Those are the kinds of places that bring people.”
And bringing people back to Magnolia is part of the point.
Food Insecurity & Something Different
Rosarita’s is a collaboration between local developers and experienced restaurateurs. It’s a mix of vision and experience aimed at creating something the corridor hasn’t seen in years. It was also created, in part, to address East Knoxville’s ongoing food desert, bringing fresh, affordable sit-down dining options to the Magnolia Corridor.
But just as important as what they’re building is how they’re thinking about it.
“One of the biggest things for us is showing that we can have nice things in our community,” Foster said. “That everything isn’t blight, buildings and despair. We want to bring prosperity to the Magnolia corridor and we have a vision to keep this going and continue investing in this neighborhood for the next five to 10 years. We can’t keep waiting on someone else to do it, our government officials to do it, it starts right here the people from the community.”
That word, prosperity, comes up often too.
Not just as a goal, but as a counter to the narrative that has followed Magnolia for years. Because for a long time, the story of East Knoxville has been told through what it lacks.
Rosarita’s is attempting to tell a different story, one that centers what’s possible. Pavlis shared the team’s genuine interest in quality and accessibility, something they say was intentional from the start.
“We wanted something different,” Pavlis said. “Not just another place where food comes off the back of a truck. We’re talking about fresh, chef-driven options. Locally farmed.”
For Black, it’s also about bringing people from all backgrounds in East Knoxville together.
“You have stronger communities when you embrace different cultures. And that’s what builds community,” she said.
That distinction matters in a community often described as a food desert. Because while a restaurant alone won’t solve food access, it can shift the experience and create a space where people aren’t just grabbing something quick, they’re sitting down, being served, engaging.
And that, in its own way, is about dignity.
“People deserve to have that experience in their own community,” Foster said.
History & A Community That Stayed
Through all the changes, Magnolia never lost its people.
There was a time when Magnolia Avenue pulsed with life, a commercial spine of East Knoxville where Black-owned businesses, family restaurants and neighborhood staples lined the street.
That version of Magnolia didn’t disappear overnight. As industries shifted and investment followed westward growth patterns, Magnolia Avenue saw a steady decline in businesses. Storefronts emptied. Restaurants closed. What had once been a hub of economic and cultural activity became marked by vacancy and underinvestment.
The effects were felt deeply in East Knoxville, a community that has long experienced disparities in infrastructure, retail access and economic development.
“It wasn’t just that businesses closed, it was what those closures represented,” said Foster. “When you lose restaurants, you lose gathering spaces. You lose jobs. You lose part of the identity of a place.”
By the early 2000s and into the 2010s, the Magnolia Corridor had become emblematic of those challenges, a stretch of road where development lagged behind the rest of the city, even as conversations about revitalization continued.
For those like Foster, East Knoxville residents have continued to invest in the area in the ways they could, supporting the businesses that remained, advocating for more, and holding onto a vision of what the corridor could be again.
That kind of consistency matters.
City Councilman Denzel Grant, who helped bring the partners together early on, said that community voice shaped what Rosarita’s became.
“Businesses come and go in our district, but community doesn’t. One thing I talk about often in our community is the need for collaboration. I thought this was the perfect team to get some things done. This is just one of many opportunities we can have up and down Magnolia,” Grant said.
He shared that the project is also about shifting mindset and narrative. Too often in the Black community, he said, there’s a tendency to try to build in silos, but real, lasting progress comes through collaboration.
“Bringing together people with different strengths, backgrounds and experiences is what makes projects like this not only possible, but sustainable. These kinds of projects, the jobs, the social engagement, they create space for people from different backgrounds and races to come together,” Grant said. “There aren’t many places in the city where you see that.”
He added that the effort is also about changing how East Knoxville is perceived.
“We want people to know East Knoxville is a safe place, a place you can come and patronize,” he said. “We’re working to get rid of that ‘gun zone’ narrative the news has put on us. This is an opportunity zone.”
Renowned pastor and local farmer Chris Battle, who has spent years addressing food insecurity in East Knoxville by providing fresh, locally grown produce through his BattleField Farm and veggie van, said he’s encouraged to see more people stepping up to bring healthier food options to East Knoxville, especially along the Magnolia Corridor.
“The problem with a food desert, or food apartheid, is that there are no healthy options,” Battle said. “Even if you want to eat healthy, especially if you don’t have a car, the options just aren’t there for our community. And I’m glad that this establishment can begin to address some of that.”
He added that efforts to introduce healthier dining options must also meet people where they are.
“You’re talking about changing people’s eating habits over time,” Battle said. “That doesn’t happen overnight. But if you can start bringing in better options, that’s a move in the right direction.”
What’s on the Table
At Rosarita’s, the menu is designed to meet the moment. It’s familiar, flavorful, and built for both quick lunches and long dinners.
The menu leans into familiar staples: sizzling fajitas, loaded quesadillas, and burritos and enchiladas filled with bold, traditional flavors. Plates like carnitas and chimichangas round out a menu that leans into both comfort and variety, while shrimp cocktails and seafood dinners offer something a little lighter but just as satisfying.
For those looking for classic Latin dishes, options like arroz con pollo sit alongside shareable plates like nachos, making it just as easy to come in for a full meal as it is to gather around the table with friends.
Then there’s the drink menu.
From colorful, flavorful margaritas to glasses of sangria, Rosarita’s offers the kind of beverage options that turn a quick stop into a place to linger. It’s part of that full-service experience, the ability to sit, sip and stay, that hasn’t always been available along Magnolia.
The restaurant is open for both lunch and dinner service, designed to catch the midday crowd of workers along the corridor, those looking for meeting space, while also creating a comfortable evening destination for families and residents. Hours are structured and consistent, keeping the doors open into the evening. Which is something Magnolia has lacked, giving people a reason to stay on this side of town a little longer.
Still, Hope
No one involved is pretending one restaurant will fix everything.
Magnolia Avenue has seen moments before, projects that sparked excitement but didn’t always last.
Still, there’s belief in what it could spark.
“Revitalization isn’t about one ribbon cutting. It’s about consistency. It’s going to spark tremendous growth,” Foster said. “We already have other things coming down the pipeline, different concepts, more investment. This is just the start.”
He also shared the broader vision, including millions in future investment, a multi-year plan to reshape parts of the corridor while maintaining its identity.
“Beautification without gentrification,” Foster described it. “We can’t wait for anyone else to come in and do it, it’s up to us as the community. That’s why we are here.”
That balance, growth without displacement, is one East Knoxville residents are watching closely.
“Letting people see the power of collaboration, bringing different backgrounds and races together, is how we build something sustainable,” Grant said. “That’s how we keep those tax dollars circulating in our own community and open the door for more opportunities.”
At the same time, he emphasized that revitalization will require both community buy-in and institutional support.
“It’s no secret that district six has historically been left out of a lot of these conversations when it comes to economic investment,” he said. “Part of this is on the city, but part of it is on us too, supporting what’s being built, showing up, and patronizing these businesses.”
Pavlis said the partnership behind Rosarita’s reflects a larger commitment to intentional, community-driven development.
“We have other properties coming on board, but anything we do has to be about long-term prosperity, not short-term gain,” he said. “That’s why we’re partnering with people who know this community, because you can’t just show up here, flip the lights on and expect success. You’ve got to understand who you’re serving.”
For Grant, spaces like Rosarita’s represent more than a place to eat, they’re part of rebuilding the social and economic fabric of the community.
“This is a place where people can come, sit down, and connect, see familiar faces, meet new people,” he said.
In a corridor built on memory, that’s how you start to bring it back to life.
And the little girl in me hopes to see it feel like that again.
Rosarita’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., with extended hours until 10:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Photos from the grand opening on April 14:
Discover more from Inside of Knoxville
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.