By all accounts, 2014 was a damn good year for Little Rock’s food scene. We added some excellent new establishments like The Pizzeria at Terry’s Finer Foods, Good Food by Ferneau, Butcher & Public and Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co. We even saw seasoned restaurantuers like Scott McGehee, Tomas Bohm and Jerry Barakat expand their footprints with the already successful ventures of Lost Forty Brewing, The Pantry Crest and Kemuri, respectively.
Our beer scene has exploded. We have a baker turned chocolatier (and still baker). Heck, we even have a bakery that makes crazy things called kouign amanns.
Hidden gems like Zaffino’s, Super 7 Grocery Store, Mike’s Café and La Regional impressed.
And places that have been around forever, including The Faded Rose, Scallions, Milford Track and Brave New, all continue to delight customers.
I was cautiously optimistic this time last year on what the future would hold for Little Rock’s food scene. Good things were happening, but not enough to cause genuine excitement. With 2015 quickly approaching, it’s obvious that things have improved tremendously over this past year. Will we ever be a New Orleans, Dallas or even Memphis? No … but Little Rock is slowly making strides to becoming a true dining destination.
I say “slowly” because it really does take time.
So, what needs to take place for the culinary scene to continue to move forward? In my humble opinion … it would be great to see these things happen:
We need places like Natchez, South on Main, One Eleven and Capital Bar and Grill to keep churning out great food and to step outside the box every now and then. These restaurants are so important, as they not only house some of our top chefs, but also are quite popular with tourists/out-of-towners.
The Southern Gourmasian must transition from being Little Rock’s best food truck to an elite brick-and-mortar. Chef Justin Patterson is truly one of our best chef’s in town and I’m guessing his passion and creativity will only expand with a permanent home.
The old Starving Artist spot needs a new tenant. Capeo, Mugs Cafe and Good Food are all strong, but the Argenta District could use another shot in the arm with a dynamite eatery in that space.
Whether it’s for the development of a limited edition product, the coordination of a charity function or just a couple of talented folks sharing ideas, we need the collaborative efforts between chefs, bakers, ice cream makers and brewers to continue.
We need a chef/restauranteur to take a chance on Park Hill. The neighborhood is charming, beautiful, historic … and, most importantly, is close to the epicenter of Little Rock. For all those reasons, it has the potential to be the next “big thing.”
Most (not all) local restaurants must step it up on social media. Even something like a simple webpage and a decent presence on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook go a long way in connecting with an audience and potentially improving sales. The excuses of not having the time and/or money to do these things are tired and weak.
Food writing, in all honesty, must continually strive for improvement. Those of us writing- myself included- should challenge ourselves to cover all places–new, old, popular, and hidden gems–and not only praise but provide constructive criticism when warranted.
In general, Little Rock diners need to not only be willing to support local restaurants, but also do so by getting out of their comfortable neighborhoods every so often, driving an extra 10-15 minutes, and “spreading the wealth,” so to speak. Does this sound familiar?
“I live in Midtown. When are we getting a Local Lime, because I hate driving all the way out to West Little Rock.”
or
“North Little Rock? I’m not driving all the way up there for dinner.”
or
“You drove out to Benton?”
The fact of the matter is that almost no place is too far, especially when you take into account that Little Rock has minimal traffic most of the time. If we want to see these restaurants thrive, it’s going to take a conscious effort on diners to, at times, literally go the extra mile.
Finally, adding more and more ethnic cuisine restaurants will only help improve the diverse offerings in Little Rock. Just in the past few months, we’ve added two new Thai restaurants (Oishi and kBird), and it would be wonderful to see more of this in 2015.
Did I miss something or am off base with any or all of my opinions? Please let me know in the comment box below.
8 Comments
As I read your article, I was embarrassed to realize “OMG Milford Track… haven’t eaten there in years… OMG Natchez… I can’t believe I’ve only been there once… OMG South on Main, why haven’t I dragged my family there yet?”
I regard the Little Rock food scene as an embarrassment of riches. We may not be “on the map” according to Zagat or whatever august body decides these things, but Little Rock is the real deal for lovers of well-crafted culinary delights.
Do I want something inventive and high-end? I go to Table 28. Do I want something delicious and reliable? Brave New. Indian? Taj Mahal. Indulgent Italian? Capeo or Vesuvio. Sushi? Sushi Cafe (and my son will bite your hand off if you suggest anywhere else). Pizza? Between ZaZa and Damgoode (Hillcrest) and Terry’s Pizzeria, we are set, with one notable exception that I’ll get to in a bit.
This is one great town to be a foodie. I genuflect at the culinary geniuses who have made it so awesome.
So what are the gaps that Little Rock might fill? I’ll humbly submit regions that I really miss.
You mentioned the blossoming of Thai cuisine. I mourn the loss of Lemongrass (who made some of the best drunken noodles I’ve ever enjoyed), but with Oishi and KBird filling in the gaps, we’re finally getting our Thai fix. We aren’t quite at the level of DC-region Thai. We’re getting there, and this is good, but where is a place that offers superior tom kha gai (coconut lemongrass soup), yum roast duck (roast duck served with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, julienned ginger, and a dressing of fish sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice), and pad prik khing (sauteed green beans with protein and spicy chili/garlic sauce)? Still waiting.
Even more significant is the absent Spanish/tapas element. Hillcrest Artisan Meats has tantalized with its Iberico ham, a most indulgent carnivorous treat. And you can find sangria cocktails at a number of serious eateries such as The Pantry. How is it that we don’t have a place that can serve paella, Spanish stews, with olive and chorizo and Manchego platters? Little Rock would go nuts for Spain… I suspect we just don’t know it yet.
What else don’t we know about? Ethiopian food. Granted, this is something that nobody outside the DC area (or perhaps Chicago) would respond with anything other than “WTF?” But it’s amazing. You order a few vegetable and protein portions (often spicy flavorful mounds of spinach, beef, and goat), and they come served in dollops on a spongy, flat sour pancake which you use to roll up the fillings, mop up the sauce, pat your tummy, Bob’s your uncle. Arkansas may not yet be ready for Ethiopian food, come to think of it, but if my fellow residents find themselves in an area ripe with such fare (Arlington, Virginia springs immediately to mind) I urge you to try it.
I mentioned pizza earlier. Damgoode Pies comes closest to replicating what I ate growing up, and on occasion gets close, but there’s nothing like it in this town: Quad-Cities Style Pizza. I grew up eating Harris Pizza, and miss it probably more than anything else from my childhood. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_City-style_pizza
What is Quad Cities style pizza? Its base is a malty crust, spread with a spicy tomato sauce, ideally layered with a heavily fenneled sausage (though pepperoni or whatever other ingredient is also acceptable), with the mozzarella cheese layered on top. When removed from the oven, the pizza is cut with scissors, bisecting across the center and then slicing vertically to create “pizza strips”. And it’s fabulous. People who have moved from my old hometown to Chicago, San Diego, and Phoenix have opened up their own pizzerias to expose the country to this style of pizza. Although, like loose-meat sandwiches, I fear this concept might not get a whole lot of traction outside the Midwest.
My dad, a food snob who lives in the DC area, loves what Little Rock is doing. So do I.
And I’m especially grateful to have thoughtful, incisive bloggers like you and Daniel to step up and cover the food scene the way it deserves. I’m sure Eric Harrison is a nice guy, but he’s way out of his depth… and it shows. Keep it real!
E.W. thank you for not only following along but for always giving great feedback and opinions (like above). To me (and this is something that should have been mentioned in the piece), one of the huge things that needs to continue to take place is for folks to talk about food, give their opinions, and just keep a great “conversation” going. It makes a huge difference, especially in LR where many restaurant owners/chefs keep a close eye on things and really listen.
Great article and also great comment by poster EW Swan. I heartily endorse the point about Ethiopian as well. I’m not sure if there’s much of any Ethiopian population here to start such a restaurant but what I wouldn’t give for some regular access to Doro Wat. Also we need a good Korean place. I know there’s a reasonable sizable Korean population here so it seems perhaps a less tall order then Ethiopian. Tho a word to local foodies; people often confuse Korean with Chinese but it is actually requires more expensive ingredients so don’t resent higher prices then Chinese. It’s for the quality and harder-to-find ingredients.
I here the mention of Park Hill, and yes we would love some new dining options here. However, we do have EBistro and a new Chef working in the kitchen. Ira Middteton is delivering some great dishes. So come up the hill and enjoy.
Agreed….we have great places here and EW’s comments are spot on. I don’t recall the name of it, but there is an Ethiopian place that I very much enjoyed in one of the suburbs around DFW. Is it better than DC? No idea. It was the first I’d ever eaten and I loved the various stews on the steamed pancake. There was also a honey wine that was quite lovely.
There used to be a tapas place in Breckenridge Village that was wonderful wonderful wonderful. I only got to go when my folks were in town when I was in college (graduated in 1993). Never knew what happened to it.
Looking forward to more in 2015!
Just stumbled across this blog and a little late to the conversation, but I wanted to say that I agree wholeheartedly that our local food scene is much better entering 2015 than a year prior. Also agree on the importance of getting the word out. After growing up here and then living away for a number of years, one thing I’ve appreciated about being back is that we are not so much on the radar of major chains, so a strong local scene has been able to emerge. I try to spread the word about good locally-owned spots–both the exciting new ones and old stand-bys–as often as possible. A few thoughts I’ll add to the good ones here:
– Agree with the desire for more ethnic cuisine options. We have at least one of a lot of things now (thank you, k-bird), but could definitely use a Spanish place–and it would be a hit. And some quality mid-range Italian. Would be nice to be able to get fresh pasta dishes without having to make it a special night out. Korean and horn African would certainly be fun; Moroccan, too, while I’m running down the wish list.
– I would love to see more fresh vegetables on menus, as weird as that may sound. One of my favorite restaurants I used to frequent was Westville in NYC. For an entree, you could pick four from a list of 10-15 veggies of the day (or just get one as a side with a meat dish). It was a little odd to come from an agricultural state to the concrete jungle and find southern-style restaurants with vegetable sides that were far better than anything I ever had in the south.
– Coffee. Man, we need better options for coffee. God bless Mylo for what they are doing there. More of that, please.
– Great stuff happening with the beer scene. It needs to be supported by local bars and restaurants. I always ask about local options before ordering a beer.
– Speaking of coffee and beer, we could use a good coffee pub or three.
Those are just a few ideas. But in the end, we have some great restaurants–and plenty that I haven’t even tried!
Matt, thank you for your comments! Here are a few suggestions for some of the items you mentioned:
-Hanaroo: not a Korean restaurant but they do serve an excellent bibimbop.
-Check out Milford Track … very affordable deli and they make fresh pasta (to order). It’s fantastic.
-For coffee places, Guillermo’s does a good job, as does Mugs Café…and the coffee at Blvd is my fav in the city
-Go to The Root for fresh veggies.
Thanks again for reading and commenting!
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