We have a history, fried pies and I. And it was a particular sort of fried pie that drew the attention of this blog back in December 2007. Lots hashappened since that entry.  We have a different president, social media like Facebook and Twitter have taken over our digital conversations, and there was this little addition to my own household.

But nothing's changed about Ms. Lena's fried pies.  They're still hot, flaky, crisp and tasty -- and you can still only get them on Saturdays.  I revisit the DeValls Bluff pie shop over on Tie Dye Travels. 

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have let the cat out of the bag.  It was a necessary thing.  After all, how would the rest of the world know about Arkansas' biggest burger?

But that's not all that's shared in the article at A Hamburger Today, part of the Serious Eats collective.  We joked at the time about it, "you're having a side of meat and bread with your meat and bread?  Awesome."  Truly, though, the Ed Walker's Giant Cheeseburger's shareability is what elevates it above the standard large-burger challenge presented by so many eateries for the purpose of a little free PR.

If you go, though, you may want to eat smaller and try out the signature French Dip Sandwich.  More details in that thar article. 

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Found on the Eye on Arkansas Flickr space:  this gorgeous bowl of lavendar butternut squash soup from user mcb_smith.  We have some rather talented photographers around here.

Another from user capnloco:  a Stuffie at Damgoode Pies.

You too can share your photography -- food, places, events, people, cool things.  You can even just go browse and take a look.  Who knows -- your photo might be featured on Eat Arkansas, on the Arkansas Blog or even in the Eye on Arkansas segment in the print edition of the Times.  Share away!

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been accused of having no love for an Arkansas standard, one delicacy that is apparently above reproach here in our Natural State. I have been accused of not loving the Cotham’s Hubcap Burger.

I’m not really sure where this comes from. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I’ve been seeing other burgers. Yes, dear friends and readers, I have dallied with other burgers both large and small, sampled the spicing, poked at the buns and made note of whatever’s piled on. Cotham’s is not the be-all and end-all of my burger knowledge.

But to say I don’t like the burger? Now, that’s going way too far.

Continue reading "Of Hubcaps and Smaller Things" »

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chef Jason Godwin starts prepping the items in the quarterfinal heat of the 2010 Diamond Chef preliminary competitions going on over at the Peabody Hotel right now. 

On the other side of the room, Chef Jason Knapp goes through the items in his mystery box. It's a Battle of the Jasons here! The items in this box include Denver cut beef, rum, kohlrabi, saltine crackers, gorgonzola cheese, and gooseberries.

The winner of ths round will advance to the finals June 8th at the Statehouse Convention Center. Heat 6 will begin shortly after this competition is concluded; Chef Daniel Capello and Chef Donnie Ferneau will face off for the other position in the finals.

Chef Godwin's creation:

Chef Knapp's creation.

And the winner is:  Chef Jason Knapp.

And in the final heat -- some odd ingredients for Chef Daniel Capello and Chef Donnie Ferneau:

Fiddlehead fern heads, sirloin steak, peanut butter, cottage cheese, brandy and passion fruit. Yeah, there you go.

And what can you make out of that?  See what Chef Capello did:

And what Chef Ferneau came up with: 

And the winner is:  Chef Daniel Capello.

Chef Jason Knapp and Chef Daniel Capello will face off June 8th at the Statehouse Convention Center in the Diamond Chef 2010 finals.  Should be a blast. 

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Chef Daniel Capello ties a ribeye with string right after the announcement of the items in the third heat of the Diamond Chef 2010 preliminaries at the Peabody Hotel. 

Chef Diana Bratton peered into the box and started hauling out the items: beef ribeye, chayotes, mandarin quats, Brie, red wine and cornflakes. It'll be interesting to see how the items are incorporated. 

The competiton is similar to the Food Network show "Chopped" in how it's performed. The event is open to the public and will be going on until 7 p.m., so come on over. 

Chef Bratton's creation:

Chef Capello's creation:

And the winner is: Chef Daniel Capello.

And Heat 4 was a win for Ferneau's Chef Donnie Ferneau over Best Impressions' Chef Joseph McCullough.

More updates on the jump.  You can also follow real time updates at Fancy Pants Foodie, or on Twitter @eatarkansas or @arfoodie. 

Continue reading "It's On." »

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The Peabody Hotel will be a hot place for epicureans to be Wednesday afternoon. The 2010 Diamond Chef preliminary rounds begin at 12:30 in the Peabody lobby. Eight chefs will vy for the chance to become one of two who will face off against each other for the title of Diamond Chef in a special event June 8th.

I went last year, and it was amazing. Ingredients such as skate, squab and snake were secret ingredients at the event. The release and a snippet of last year's competition on the jump.

Continue reading "Let The Battle Begin." »

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The piece on Slice a few days ago got me to thinking about other Arkansas pizzas I adore. And that lead me to one of my favorites, Iriana’s.

For those not familiar with the place, it’s in a storefront across from the Chamber of Commerce, next to The Hop. Inside, the space is all blacks, whites and grays accented by red lampshades and the red straw cups that adorn each table. It’s also a damn fine place to grab lunch.

The menu is simple… a short list of pizza toppings (just 13), a short list of sandwiches, a couple of salads, some breadstick options. Simple is good, though, especially when you’re dining solo or going dutch. You can order the small salad or the large one, the half sandwich or the whole. Nice options for this tight pocketbook economy.

Continue reading "Another (Thin) Slice." »

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So sad to report that Pia's Italian Restaurant in Conway went out.  The nice little Front Street joint just didn't survive.

Also heard that Three Wing Circus in Cabot has folded up.

On the other side of food news, if you haven't heard yet, Edward's Food Giant has bought up several of the old Harvest Foods locations and is opening grocery stores.  The old Tanglewood Harvest Foods is in the process of being converted.  The family-run company operates several stores, just here in Arkansas. 

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Melissa did. Found this morning on our Eye on Arkansas Flickr sharing account:

This is the Gyro Platter from Leo's Greek Castle in Little Rock Arkansas. it is very tasty and one of my favorite things.

You too can share your photography -- food, places, events, people, cool things.  You can even just go browse and take a look.  Who knows -- your photo might be featured on Eat Arkansas, on the Arkansas Blog or even in the Eye on Arkansas segment in the print edition of the Times.  Share away!

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (0)

Slice, a piece of the Serious Eats puzzle, features several of our different pizza favorites here in the Natural State.  The writer, Lauren, contacted me earlier this week to ask about some of our favorites.  Hope I hit the high spots.  As I've noticed on my Facebook account, there are some who think I'm dead on and some who think I'm way off.

By the way, I love the fact she put "Arkansawyer" in the piece. Awesome. 

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (6)

A devoted reader writes Eat Arkansas to inquire why a favorite sushi place of his isn't shown the love.

I'm a huge fan of sushi restaurants in Little Rock and one of my favorites is Eastern Flames (followed by Mount Fuji). That being said I'm really concerned with their lack of business. I go there probably twice a month if I can (not swimming in money) and attendance on weeknights, especially like yesterday night, are disturbing to say the least. We were there for an hour yesterday and only one other couple came through the door making a total of 4 patrons between 6:30 and 7:30.

I don't know what Eastern Flames needs to attract the crowds. They have the nicest sushi chef I've ever known, probably the best sushi I've had, a killer hibachi menu (oh so good), very reasonable prices, plenty of alcohol, and plenty of space with nice decor. I don't know if it's the location being on a very busy curve of Cantrell Road with a fairly small parking area that is killing their attendance, or a lack of serious sushi aficionados in the know that is hurting their bottom line. Any way you slice it though, their lack of customers is gonna mean a lack of Eastern Flames Sushi and Hibachi for me in the near future, and that is not acceptable.

I don't know if there is anything you can do to make matters better but your blog and your esteemed person seemed like the appropriate place to voice my concerns. Maybe the people in the heights are just to stuck up to travel to the other side of Mississippi for their sushi fix? (granted I am the offspring of a pair of people who I know to be truly unstuckup and long time Heights residents)  Is it the recession?

Posted by Max Brantley | Permalink | Comments (5)

Soup Sunday may have already passed in Little Rock, but it's on in Springdale this weekend.  The NWA Soup Sunday event will be held Sunday starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for kids 5-12.  Once again, proceeds go to Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.  For more information, including a list of soups, check out the website or call (479) 927-9800.

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (1)

Colter McCorkindale's pair of pizza pieces has popped up on the Eye on Arkansas Flickr Sharing site.  Two of our more popular pie places, Damgoode Pies (above) and Vino's Brewpub (below) are featured in the photos he's shared.

Like to share your artsy shots?  Or perhaps you'd care to let others view your handiwork in the kitchen?  Pull out your camera at your favorite restaurant and snap away, or head to your garden (once you start one) and let us see it grow.   Don't forget the tags. 

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (0)

And you might have something.  The Ozark Fried Chicken at Myrtie Mae's in Eureka Springs is made from the same recipe that Myrtie Mae herself used back in the 1930s.  Still a very reasonably priced and tasty dinner at the family restaurant at Best Western Inn of the Ozarks.  More from Tie Dye Travels at Lonely Planet. 

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If you work in downtown Little Rock, it's pretty easy to get burned on the limited, but still reasonably diverse, restaurant selection. One thing that never gets old, however, is Yo Mama's Good Food on 4th Street. They've got the best rolls in town and arguably anywhere.  I always get the chicken fried steak.  It's your basic cafeteria-type cut, but it's great comfort food, especially on a cold day.  Anybody have any favorites/suggestions on downtown dining?

Posted by Gerard Matthews | Permalink | Comments (1)

Not entirely likely, but the Atlantic's Corby Kummer (if you're having trouble viewing the video above, just follow the link) asks if Walmart could actually help small farmers by its plans to go green(er).  Walmart is a huge buyer of produce, so decisions they make about what kinds of fruits and vegetables to sell have ripple effects throughout the food and farming world. Through a new program called Heritage Agriculture, the retail giant is trying to promote local farms by encouraging those within a day's drive of Walmart warehouses to grow crops that would normally take days to arrive from other states.

Ron McCormick, the senior director of local and sustainable sourcing for Walmart, told me that about three years ago he came upon pictures from the 1920s of thriving apple orchards in Rogers, Arkansas, eight miles from the company’s headquarters. Apples were once shipped from northwest Arkansas by railroad to St. Louis and Chicago. After Washington state and California took over the apple market, hardly any orchards remained. Cabbage, greens, and melons were also once staples of the local farming economy. But for decades, Arkansas’s cash crops have been tomatoes and grapes. A new initiative could diversify crops and give consumers fresher produce.

Kummer even stages a taste-test between products purchased at Walmart and Whole Foods.  The results may surprise you.

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Continue reading "Meatless Menu." »

Posted by Kat Robinson | Permalink | Comments (1)

I wrote a while back on the Arkansas Blog about my mystification at D-G restaurant reviewer Eric Harrison's putdown Feb. 11 of Sims Bar-B-Que's nonpareil barbecue sauce. "Thin, mustardy and vinegary," he sniffed in a negative comment about a style of sauce that has served Sims well for 73 years. Harrison also, despite 30 years in residence here, appeared not to have understood about the bottled hot sauce served separately on request at Sims.

Well. In Lindsey Millar's review of The House last week, he made a jocular reference to Harrison's disapproval of Sims' elixir of the gods. Comes today a saucy response:

In reference to your description of me in your review of The House in the Feb. 18 edition as "The Democrat-Gazette's Eric Harrison (of Sims sauce-hating infamy)," I really don't mind your taking a swipe at me, even an anonymous and underhanded one. And if you feel that attempted put-downs improves the quality of your restaurant writing, by all means, go for it.

But at least have the decency not to misquote, or at least to misinterpret, my opinion.

Semantics aside, there is a world of difference between "Sims' sauce is not our favorite," which is what my review of Sims actually said, and "I hate Sims' sauce." Or perhaps your writer only sees things in absolutes and is incapable of distinguishing shades of gray.

And by the way, at least my readers know that it's my opinion they're looking at because I put my name on my reviews. For more than 30 years I have put my byline on every review I've written, and I intend to always do so. I believe a reviewer, any reviewer, establishes a relationship over time with his readers based on the percentage of time the reader agrees or disagrees with him. Why the Times expects its readers to trust the opinion of a writer who doesn't identify himself, I'm sure I don't know.

Eric E. Harrison

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Since he brought it up: The Times has conducted reviews anonymously for 35 years. We believe, in a relatively small town, that the practice lessens the potential for undue influence. I"ve always felt you could argue it both ways, but accepted the policy when I came here 18 years ago after writing reviews under my byline for several years at the Arkansas Gazette. However, when questions are raised, we readily identify writers to address any disagreements on content. My judgment on the barbecue sauce case in question: Once a Yankee, always a Yankee.

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