Buzz Word is back…with its third edition!

One of the best parts about food blogging is coming up with new ideas for regular pieces. It’s what I enjoyed most during my time with the Houston Press and certainly still rings true with TMR.

Say hello to Buzz Word…a new-ish weekly feature, designed to increase interaction among Little Rock foodies! On Sunday evenings, I will post a “buzz word” on The Mighty Rib Facebook page. The word could be anything food related (ie… steak, cheddar cheese, Swiss chard). I will then ask for reader suggestions on one dish that includes the “buzz word” of the week. All suggestions go into a hat, one is picked, dish is eaten, review is written…all within a week’s time.

The suggested dish can be a reader’s favorite dish, something they despise, or just something they’ve never ordered. Either way, good or bad…I will give my completely honest take on the dish.

Got it? Get it? Good! Let’s go!

Our latest “buzz word” was potato. We received 20+ reader suggestions. Here are just a few: Scotch egg from Mylo’s, gnocchi from Natchez, and truffle fries from Big Orange.

This week’s selected dish was Chris H’s potato skins from West End Smokehouse and Tavern.

I had several people ask me: “how could you choose a bar appetizer over some of these amazing suggestions?” My answer: it’s ALWAYS a random selection.

West End’s potato skins (served with a side of sour cream and ranch dressing) turned out to be very solid, except that they weren’t really potato skins at all. I’d classify these more as potato slabs. They took a big potato and sliced it length-wise into five pieces, whereas a traditional order of skins utilizes smaller potatoes which are cut in half–with most of the innards then hollowed out.

This latter style often yields crispy, deep-fried skins, but West End’s potato slabs (ranging from ¼-inch to ½-inch thick slices) proved to be a nice alternative. While the green onion and cheese toppings weren’t as plentiful as anticipated, the actual potato portion was excellent—crispy on the onside and soft and slightly greasy on the inside.

The only true downfall of this appetizer was the bacon crumble. A few pieces were downright impossible to chew and fearing a chipped tooth, I opted to spit out some of the bits (nice mental picture).

Finally, the presentation and overall execution of this appetizer was a bit lacking, but with it being a take-out order, I can certainly give a slight pass on these aspects.

If you find yourself at West End and are in need a good, appropriately greasy appetizer to go alongside your beer, the potato skins are definitely a nice option.