I haven't eaten everywhere in this county yet, but I do like to try new places.  So I poked on over to Crazee's Cool Cafe for lunch the other day.  Yes, it's one of those that allows smoking and doesn't allow anyone under 21.  Yes, it has pool tables.

But the lunch crowd I encountered were a friendly bunch -- filling most of the tables in the center of the room.  I came in, ordered the daily plate special, and watched.

There's a popcorn maker by the door that's apparently free to everyone.  A guy at the table next to me received the Half Pound Footlong Dog ($6.95) while I was waiting, and I momentarily lusted after it.  My waitress brought me an oversized cup of iced tea and I watched sports highlights.

The Daily Special ($8.25) was chicken spaghetti, and my plate contained a nice sized bowl of it along with a salad that contained tomatoes, lettuce and onions.  The Thousand Island dressing was pretty good.  The spaghetti?  Warmed me up and treated me like a lady.  I was very happy with it.

The other special offered any day at lunch is the Burger Special -- you can choose any of the burgers from the menu and it comes with fries and a drink for $7.50.  That includes hamburger, cheeseburger, BBQ burger with cheese and bacon, Mexican burger with jalapenos, Italian burger with Mozzarella and marinara and mushrooms, and Mushroom Swiss with, well, mushrooms and Swiss cheese. 

I like the fact that the price on the wall when I came in was what I paid -- the sales tax was already figured in.  No pennies to fiddle with.

Crazee's Cool Cafe is located at 7626 Cantrell Road, on the north side of the road west of Mississippi.  (501) 221-9696.

I continue to indulge myself both by eating and by preserving the memories of my trip to Italy in a few photos. At top, an arugula pizza from a century-old pizzeria in Rome, Da Rici (or Est! Est! Est! -- it serves gallons of the mellow white wine known by the same name).

Then there's one of the best pizzas of the trip, the diavola from Da Rici, with spicy salami, somewhat like pepperoni and hot chili oil for added condiment. These pizzas cost around 7 euros.

Then, a break from pizza, with slices of roast veal, roasted potatoes, impossibly sweet steamed pearl onions and garnish at Sabatini, a venerable restaurant in the Trastavere neighborhood of Rome. Not cheap -- about 14 euros, but rich and filling.

of food and wine.  Next week, Eureka Springs is hosting its annual Food and Wine Weekend - four days of fabulous wine pairings and meals offered by 18 different restaurants in the area. 

Some are extravagant -- like The Grand Tavern's $95 meal that includes House Cured Gravlox with Caviar, Lemon Lavendar Salad, Grilled Veal with a Fois Gras and Truffle Demiglas and Vol au Vent stuffed with Grand Marnier cream and strawberries.  Some are very reasonable, like Casa Colina's Tamale and Dry Aged Ribeye meal for $55.  There's even an incredible $395 per couple dinner being served at The Crescent Hotel that includes beef tenderloin, lobster tail, and wines that made my husband gasp such as a 1944 Royal Oporto Port and Grand Marnier 150 (I know, not a wine but I love Grand Marnier).

There are even classes.  Sharron McCarthy is doing classes at the Cottage Inn.  There's one on Saturday the 14th for $45 that not only includes a cooking class and wine seminar, but also a tasting of the dishes and chocolate truffles and... man, I need to stop writing about this while hungry. 

There's a lot more at the event website.  We're planning on heading up there ourselves (it's anniversary time) and can't wait.  Well, we have to, but we don't want to.  More information by phone at  (800) 344-6050.

I gotta tell ya, I love cookbooks.  Must have a couple hundred of them -- ranging from Apicius (ancient Rome) to Le Menagier de Paris (14th Century French) to Cake Doctor to The Joy of Cooking and about every little church and school cookbook I've been able to get my hands on.  I've kept up with a battered dogeared copy of the early '80s St. Vincent Infirmary cookbook Cornerstone Cookery with care and respect, have two copies of the gigantic tome The Best Recipe (the original and the update that came out last year) and jealously guard my mostly complete Time Life collection of The Cuisine of... books.  I keep close tabs on my signed copy of Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt and my autographed copy of Big Kevin, Little Kevin.  I even have the Favre family cookbook and Penn & Teller's How to Play With Your Food and Dom DeLuise's Eat This, It'll Make You Feel Better.

But when it comes down to talking about cooking here in Arkansas, I've been hard pressed to point someone in the right direction, one commercially available book that contains not only Arkansas favorites but information about this city I grew up in.  Something worthy of being a fantastic Christmas gift.

Guess what?  I found it.  More on the jump.

Joel DiPippa shares more Italian pizza fare:

I've been on sabattical from my Eat Arkansas posts this year, but Max has inspired me to share.  From my family's Italian vacation to Puglia this summer, this is a 4 Seasons Pizza.  Each quarter has a different focus - Mushrooms, black olives, artichokes, and ham. This was in the whitewashed city of Ostuni on the southeastern coast coast. 

Nothing Arkansas about this except the eaters, pair of Arkies the only English speakers in a joyous Neapolitan restaurant filled with families enjoying a Sunday evening repast. And I do mean evening. The restaurant did not even open until 8 p.m.

But what a way to end a trip in Naples -- an old school restaurant.

It was our best pizza in Naples, far better than the guidebook picks. The crust was blistered in the hot oven, but crisp on the bottom all over, no soggy center. The toppings were chopped tomatoes, a lavish amount of mozzarella, basil, fresh mushrooms and thinly sliced ham, cooked to the crispness of bacon. It was popular all over the restaurant Sunday evening.

I had the house special linguine, with shrimp, clams and fish in a red sauce atop firm strands of pasta. Garlicky, but not too much. Salty, but not too much.

In the background of the photo, you can also see remanants of a platter of battered and fried vegetables, including squash blossoms, cheese and fritters made variously with rice, potatoes and ham. The frying was impeccably crisp. A platter for one, 10 euros, was enough for about 4.

The house red from the region, Campana,washed everything down in fine fashion.

We were sorry we couldn't get around to more seafood. The fish, fresh from vendors on the boat dock across the street, was arrayed on ice in the middle of the restaurant, glistening and fresh. It smelled only of the sea. The shellfish wiggled when the waiter held them up for inspection.

I was stuffed, but I had a slice of baba, the rum-soaked Neapolitan sponge cake. We also had coffee and a shot of grappa.

All this, plus entertainment from a strolling guitar player and friendly service from veteran waiters clad in white jackets and black bow ties for $100. That covered everything -- food, drink, tax, tip, entertainment.

I'd do it again and again. Ciro's Mergellina. Go there if you find yourself in this sprawling, fascinating and, yes, somewhat gritty, place. There's a Ciro's cafe for just coffee, desserts and pizza on the waterfront, but the real thing is set back about a block from the water. Think of it as Gallatoire's Naples-style, but cheaper.

One astute reader responded to yesterday's Facebook lunch suggestion with one of his own.  Wes Holden suggested I check out Morrilton's Blue Diamond Drive-In, and since I was headed that general direction I decided to take him up on it.

Good suggestion, Wes.

The menu contains a lot of what you might expect from a drive-in -- lots of burgers, hot dogs, fries.  But it also contains things like Pat's Patty Meltdown -- a patty melt with a heaping pile of grilled onions instead of bread -- and The Shaner, a club sandwich that apparently rivals The Stoby for its three meats, two cheeses, and all the fixings.  I went for the daily special and more... on the jump. 

On the suggestion of a reader, an open line talking about something pretty urbane... Halloween treat offerings.  The ghouls and goblins (and undoubtably the Scream masked and Hannah-Montana garbed) will be hitting the streets Saturday night looking for goodies to fill their bags.  Here at our place, we hand out individual bags of microwave popcorn and Playdoh; the neighbors tend to look at us as eccentrics, but that goes far beyond October 31st.

There was once a time, even within my lifetime, when you could ring a doorbell and be treated to a homemade popcorn ball or caramel apple.  The fear of razor blades and hypodermic needles ended that, even bringing some parents to taking their kids Halloween booty to the nearest ER for an X-ray before meagerly doling out sweets to the young'uns. 

I've been on the giving-out side of Halloween ever since my little brother got to the 'tweens and thought it was uncool to do the door-to-door thing any more (much less dressing up -- his loss).  Now that I have a child of my own, it'll be interesting to see what turns up in those goody bags -- which reminds me, there's still Boo at the Zoo (which Hunter very much enjoyed).

So here's your chance.  Want to talk about what you're giving out?  How about what you wish was still allowable?  And admit it, you've likely snuck a piece of candy out of your kid's overloaded bag -- what's your favorite?  Have fun, and remember to wear your reflective clothing. 

For those seeking the solace of an autumnal flavor, a handy guide to places where pumpkin is the perfect selection... from ravioli to pie to mousse to latte... including these scrumptuous Maple Pumpkin cupcakes from Brown Sugar Bakeshop.  Check it out at Tie Dye Travels. 

Celebrate Arkansas' microbrewed and homebrewed bounty at LittleRocktoberfest, Saturday 6-10pm at Dickey-Stephens Park.  Fine examples of ales, stouts, porters and more from Bosto's, Vino's, and local heavyweight Diamond Bear will be offered, along with new beer varietals by New Belgian and  Boulevard.  Homebrewers will also be sharing.  Enjoy bratwurst and hot dogs and all the accoutrements, along with live music.  Tickets are $25 and are available at Fermentables or at the door.  Call (501) 758-6261 or check out the website.

There are many Central Arkansas folks who swear by Red Lobster.  Over the years I've attributed that to good advertising, habit, even the presence of cheddar biscuits.  But what I think it comes down to is that the menu is accessible and people know what they'll get... seafood (or some resemblance of it) in a combination that's comfortable to them.

Yet, there is a restaurant around these parts that's doing seafood better than the old chain... with more choices and with a better drink selection menu.  I give you... Mickie's Bluefish Grill in Conway. 

Those lovely Crab-Stuffed Mushrooms ($7.99) you see there were full of hot (almost too hot -- directly from the oven) piping romano and parmesan cheese and sweet crab meat, and served up with a daily Twitter special -- a $1 mimosa.  Beat that, fancy pants chains.

More on the jump. 

I made my way to Dardanelle this weekend for the 61st Annual Mount Nebo Chicken Fry.  I was surprised that the chicken in question wasn't all fried, as it was years ago when I last attended the pretty little community event atop Mount Nebo... but the marinated goodness of the proffered chicken leg with my $5 meal was enough to make me stop craving breaded and deep fried goodness.  In the land of Tyson, chicken comes in many shapes and forms.  More on my soujourn to Sandlizard Town at Tie Dye Travels. 

Go here to vote.

We also have a new contest underway this year -- Toast of the Town. A readers' vote on the best in bars, drinks, bar food, etc. Go here to find out more.