A back room mural at Uncle John's.

...stop in at Uncle John's. It's THE place to eat. No matter that it's the only place to eat in the tiny, three-block town west of Memphis, Uncle John's serves up Italian-meets-homestyle-Southern fare that's worth a detour: catfish, ribs, heaping portions of spaghetti, homemade ravioli and spaghetti and meatballs.

The restaurant began, informally, in the early '80s, when local rice farmer John Marconi started preparing his favorite heirloom dishes with ingredients out of his garden. You can taste the authenticity in the toasted ravioli appetizer, stuffed with beef and herbs, lightly breaded and dusted with a sprinkling of Parmesan.

We also sampled an entrée of spinach-and-beef-stuffed shells topped with the house Alfredo, with plenty of thick slices of buttery garlic toast on the side. At a table nearby, we couldn't help but eye an Italian roast sandwich, stacked high with all the fixings on a toasted French bread. Next time.

Make sure, too, you check the restaurant's backroom, where a local artist is painting a mural that promises to include all of Crawfordsville's citizens. 5453 Main Street. Beer. CC $-$$ 870-823-5319. LD Tues.-Fri., D Sat.

Continue reading "If you happen through Crawfordsville..." »

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A new wine bar, The Wine Cellar, is coming to Fayetteville this month. It will be located in the Metro District Building next to the Nadine Baum Studio. The Wine Cellar will feature the use of self-service Enomatic wine dispensers. These machines are hooked up to the wine bottles and pour the wine directly into the glass at the push of a button. The customer will be able to choose between purchasing a taste, a half glass, or a full glass of wine.  There will also be a full bar and premium beer list. No word yet on the food (if any) that will be served. 

The Wine Cellar
509 W. Spring Street, Fayetteville, AR 72701

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Just for fun, a musical tour of the country's barbecue. The musicians favor vinegary North Carolina barbecue.

Moral: Barbecue is not a verb.

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Obviously, if you are reading this blog, you love food. You think about it, you read about it, you probably even dream about it. As foodies, we care deeply about our food and where it comes from. We wonder about the farms that produce what we eat. We wonder about the chefs that can create dishes that we only wish we could make ourselves. But how often do we wonder about who is serving our food?  Well, Meet Your Waiter hopes to change all that. Here, we will highlight those unsung heroes of the restaurant biz, without which your food would never get from that brilliant chef in the kitchen all the way to your table. Some things you learn about them may surprise you. Other things you may have had pegged the minute you laid on eyes on them. Either way, meet your waiter this week:

 
Name: Hannah Burton

Age: 20

Where she works: Gusano’s Chicago Style Pizzeria, server

Favorite dish she serves: The Hula Pizza. The name implies that the pizza has something to do with Hawaii, but it doesn’t. It’s named after one of the owners, whose nickname is Hula. It is a traditional crust pizza with ranch dressing instead of pizza sauce. It is topped with Chicken, spinach, mushrooms, and onions.  

Best part about waiting tables: “Downtown has such a fast pace”, she says. “You meet so many different people.” Also, working at sports bar is just up Hannah’s alley. She is really looking forward to the upcoming football season. 

What you may not know: Hannah has been in 10 car wrecks in 4 years! One of which involved a drunk driver. Her car was totaled and she broke her shoulder and tore muscles in her back. Now, when she’s serving a table drinks, she always asks who’s driving.

Her future plans: Hannah is a speech pathology major at UCA. Her goal is to work with handicapped children.
 

If you want your favorite waiter profiled here, leave a comment and let me know where they work and why they are awesome.

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The August issue of Wine Spectator honors some of Arkansas’ most renowned restaurants in their annual Best Wine Lists of 2008 issue. Sixteen Arkansas restaurants made the cut, winning the magazine’s “Award of Excellence”. There were two newcomers to the list year: Copper Grill and Grocery and Valentine’s Restaurant, both of which were also noted for offering inexpensive bottles.

The rest of the list includes restaurants from all over the state: Acadia (Little Rock), Anderson’s Cajun Wharf (Little Rock), Autumn Breeze Restaurant (Eureka Springs), Bordinos Restaurant and Wine Bar (Fayetteville), Capers (Little Rock), Capriccio Grill (Little Rock), Chef Paul’s (Hot Springs), Ciao Baci (Little Rock), The Crystal Dining Room Restaurant (Eureka Springs), Ferneau (Little Rock), James at the Mill (Johnson), River Grille (Bentonville), Sonny William’s Steak Room (Little Rock), and Theo’s (Fayetteville).

Wine Spectator offers free access to their dining guide, including info about all the restaurants mentioned above at www.winespectator.com/restaurants.

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It's grape harvest time in the Arkansas River Valley and Kat Robinson's Tie Dye Travels has a report from the Post Familie operation on St. Mary's Mountain.

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This discussion began on an ad hoc basis in another thread, but I thought it was a worthy topic for an open forum -- bar food, greasy dives, righteous diners and other earthly delights. What better emblem than the burger at Midtown Billiards, where the house funk is thicker than even this burger. "Great at all hours, even better at three in the morning," says photographer Joel DiPippa.

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Meet your waiter.

Obviously, if you are reading this blog, you love food. You think about it, you read about it, you probably even dream about it. As foodies, we care deeply about our food and where it comes from. We wonder about the farms that produce what we eat. We wonder about the chefs that can create dishes that we only wish we could make ourselves. But how often do we wonder about who is serving our food?  Well, Meet Your Waiter hopes to change all that. Here, we will highlight those unsung heroes of the restaurant biz, without which your food would never get from that brilliant chef in the kitchen all the way to your table. Some things you learn about them may surprise you. Other things you may have had pegged the minute you laid on eyes on them. Either way, meet your waiter this week:

 
Name: Haley Pipkins

Age: 27

Where she works: Loca Luna, bartender and hostess

Favorite dish she serves: The Fillet Mignon, cooked medium rare, served with garlic-mashed potatoes, and the “vegetable medley” (sautéed green beans, squash, and red bell pepper).

Best part about waiting tables: “I love all the people that I work with. People who work at restaurants are…quirky.”

What you may not know: Haley is known as “The Cat Lady”. She has three cats but says that she would own 15 if she could.

Her future plans: Haley is 6 ½ months pregnant. She would love to run a day care out of her home someday, so that she can stay home with her own child and still earn a little money on the side. 

 If you want your favorite waiter profiled here, leave a comment and let me know where they work and why they are awesome.

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It's Cave City Watermelon Festival time this weekend and Kat Robinson at Tie Dye Travels has all the details to get you motoring that direction for all the free melon you can eat. There's music and more, of course.

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Kat Robinson at Tie Dye Travels continues her pizza quest, this time visiting the landmark Pizza D'Action in Stifft Station.

(Is that the cheeseburger pizza she mentioend? Not sure, but it looks worth a chomp.)

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Kat Robinson at Tie Dye Travels visits one of my old LR favorites -- Grady's Pizza on 12th Street. The Steve's Favorite, sort of cheese dip on a pizza, was my standard back in the day. Added since my last visit long ago (or something I somehow overlooked in my pizza-draft-beer rush) is something I've been craving since the demise of the D&D -- chili spaghetti. Twelfth Street here I come.

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I’m not even sure if I should even say this but… I don’t really care for peaches.  I can hear the collective gasp from all of the Eat Arkansas readers. I know. I know. I’m a freak of nature. I’m not even really sure why I don’t like them. Maybe the peach fuzz weirded me out when I was kid and that made me steer clear of them ever since. I’m really not sure. However, if I am anything, it’s open minded—especially when it comes to food.  I am always willing to give something a second (and even a third and sometimes a forth) chance. So, at the urging of the clerk at BJ’s Produce I bought a peach spread made by House of Webster in Rogers, Arkansas.  You know what I learned? You don’t necessarily have to have to like peaches to like this peach spread. (Or maybe I learned that I’ve actually liked peaches all along but I just didn’t know it. Who knows? ) Whatever the case, the spread was really good and it got my culinary wheels turning.  After trying it on toast, I tried mixing it with yogurt and wheat germ for breakfast. That was really good. I have since used it to make a glaze for grilled chicken and now I am trying to incorporate it into everything. Just for the sake of conversation, what would you use it for?

House of Webster makes a whole slew of products right here in Arkansas. I hope to feature more of them in the future, once I’ve exhausted my new peach fascination.

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Obviously, if you are reading this blog, you love food. You think about it, you read about it, you probably even dream about it. As foodies, we care deeply about our food and where it comes from. We wonder about the farms that produce what we eat. We wonder about the chefs that can create dishes that we only wish we could make ourselves. But how often do we wonder about who is serving our food? Well, Meet Your Waiter hopes to change all that. Here, we will highlight those unsung heroes of the restaurant biz, without which your food would never get from that brilliant chef in the kitchen all the way to your table. Some things you learn about them may surprise you. Other things you may have had pegged the minute you laid on eyes on them. Either way, meet your waiter this week:

Name: Mitch Smith

Age: 26

Where he works: Ferneau, In Hillcrest

Favorite dish he serves: The Sake-Grilled Tuna. Pan seared tuna with lime-ginger ponzu, sticky rice, and spicy mustard micro-greens.

Best part about waiting tables: "Bartending is like throwing a big party", Mitch says. "All I have to do is make sure everyone’s having a good time."

What you may not know: Mitch grew up in Santa Barbara California on a 600 acre ranch. He moved to Arkansas to be closer to his sister. 

His future plans: "I just want a simple life. Maybe I’ll move back home to the family ranch where everything is relaxed and simple."

If you want your favorite waiter profiled here, leave a comment and let me know where they work and why they are awesome.

**And don't worry! I have a list of all your suggestions and I am working on them. I look forward to meeting all your favorites!

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John DiPippa completes his pork loin trilogy:

The series of pork loin breakdowns continues, this time with a heaping load of veggies! This started with a classic Italian recipe with one onion sliced and softened in a pan.  While the onion was softening, I took the time to practice my knife skills on a few pounds of zucchinis. The zucchinis were added to the pan and given a quick pinch of salt and pepper.  About a pound of the pork loin was then cut into medium sized cubes and placed in a second pan to brown. 

As the zucchini began to brown and soften to the appropriate level, I added a little bit of tomato paste and vinegar to the pork cubes.  This put a really nice flavor and color on the pork before being placed over the steaming hot zucchini and onions.

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Joel DiPippa provides instructions for that sauce surroundin his shrimp.

Every Italian cook will tell you to have an all purpose tomato sauce recipe ready at the drop of the hat. This sauce has been in development for over 10 years derived from my parents' instruction, my friends' feedback, and knowledge gleaned from reading various cookbooks and watching much food TV. As requested from Bopbamboom, I share mine after the jump.

Continue reading "Saucy" »

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