Whole Hog Cafe

We went to the one in Bentonville, towards the end of a UA football game.  This is another restaurant where you place your order at the front and they call your number.  You get your own drinks and silverware.  There were 6 booths, a bunch of tables, and some bar stools, too.

I got sweet tea and it ended up being unsweet, but not bad.  We both ordered the Pulled Pork, because, let's face it, pulled pork rules!  It was moist and tender, and not a strong flavor.  The Potato Salad was one of those loaded baked potato style ones.  The Coleslaw was good.  Too many places have really crappy coleslaw, but I liked this one; it wasn't too sweet.  The Baked Beans were okay.

It gets interesting with the sauces.  There are 6 of them in a container on your table, and you have the option to ask for a really really hot one at the order desk.  We tried most of the 6, but didn't bother with the 7th one.  I liked #1 because it was sweet and tangy.  Frank used #3 and said it was good on the beans, that it added some good heat.  They had different flavors, from maple to mustard, which I really liked.  I got a brownie for dessert and it was very good.

Overall impressions:  Not bad.  This is a chain restaurant, and for a chain it was pretty good.  But it wasn't outstanding.  The people were friendly.  They actually messed up my sandwich by adding the coleslaw to it, but they fixed it very fast.  I think the main problems for us were that acoustically it was very noisy, and there's no real service.  You get all your own stuff, including your food.  Also, I've just heard so much hype about this place and how awesome their food is, that I was expecting it to be better.  Don't get me wrong - it is good barbeque!  But I didn't think it was great barbeque.  So, because of the hype and no-frills and their side dishes, I'm going to have to say 3-1/2 stars.



Note:  Photos to be added.

Aroma

This is a Pakistani-Indian restaurant in a strip mall in Bentonville.  It's fairly small.  There were 7 four-person tables, and 2 larger tables.  The buffet is up front and is also a little small.  This is more of a "hole-in-the-wall" type of place.

We got there a few minutes before supper officially started, so most of what we ate was actually the remains of the lunch buffet.  And it was still good!  There was no one about, so we sat ourselves and then got our own drinks.  I'm not sure if you usually get your own drinks or not, but it is very small, and a family-run place. The buffet officially started at 6 pm, but they were running about 15 minutes late.  There only seemed to be one person there, so we understood. 

My favorite was the Chicken Qorma.  It was really good and actually hot, too!  They also had a Chicken & Mutton Biriyani, something called Nahri (I hadn't heard of that one before) and some Egg Curry.  The owner came around and brought us some fresh Samosas and fresh buttered Naan.  They were both excellent.  Overall, the flavors were good and some dishes had a lot of spice!

It's a bit hard to judge the restaurant because we were still eating the leftover lunch buffet.  But that was good enough for 4 stars.  Provisionally, they might even go 4-1/2 stars for the fresh buffet.

Note: They do take credit cards, but the receipt did not have a tip line.

Note: Photos to be added.

Pho Thanh

This place is in the old Taco-Tico building on Walton Boulevard.  It's a bit bare bones.  There are napkin dispensers on the tables and small tables throughout the area.  Classic rock was playing when we were there.

I often measure restaurants by their tea.  The ice tea here was a bit off, but not too bad; I could drink it.  We ordered spring rolls which come with a peanut sauce.  They were good, and had lots of shrimp in them.  I prefer fish sauce with my rolls so we got some of that too.  It was really good - I was actually wondering if was home made.

For dinner I had the Grilled Pork and Shrimp Bun (noodles).  It was pretty good.  It came in a big bowl with veggies and I poured a lot of fish sauce over it.

Frank had a soup with pretty much everything in it.  It was a dark broth, but it was light and rich.  Frank said it had a good flavor and wasn't Americanized.  There were a variety of textures too, so he felt it was done properly.  He liked it a lot better than the Chinese/Vietnamese place on College in Fayetteville (Red Saigon?).

Overall, it was pretty good.  There were a lot of Asians eating there, which I always think is a good sign, and a lot of people coming in to pick up orders.  And there was a ton of food.  We really enjoyed it, and have gotten takeout several times since them.  Four stars.

Note: Photos to be added later

Who Knew? NWA

Be sure to check out my new blog: Who Knew? NWA.  I'm compiling a list of parks, fairs, festivals, lakes, caves, etc. that you can visit in Northwest Arkansas.  I'll also post my reviews after I've visited them.

Zary's Acropolis

I love gyros and hummus (although I prefer Lebanese) so I've really been wanting to try this place.  I went with my mom and my cousin, right in the middle of lunch, on a weekday.  The place has booths around the outside, with tables on the inside, and it was seat yourself.  There was also a bar at the back.  It was a little warm inside.  It wasn't full or anything, but the server was not that friendly.

We ordered 3 chicken gyros, ice tea, and hummus.  The tea was a little bitter.

The hummus was a bit bland, by our standards.  My mom said in her experience the Greek hummus is blander than the Lebanese hummus.  We added lots of lemon juice to it.  The pita bread was warm and a bit thick - it was good.

The gyro came with french fries, which were fine.  The gyro had chicken, lettuce, onion, tomato, and sauce on it.  It was okay, but nothing special.

Overall, if you're looking for Mediterranean food, I would eat here.  But I did find it a bit generic.  3-1/2 stars.

Panda Express

I go to the one on Walton Blvd.  And after reading the reviews on Urban Spoon, I was really shocked!  Most of the reviews were negative, which is completely the opposite of my experience there.  Granted, I only use the drive-thru, but even those reviews were negative.

I've been to this Panda a number of times over the last few months, and every time they've been friendly and courteous, and relatively fast.  Occasionally they've heard my order incorrectly over the speaker, but I put that down to being new and training people.

Their food is relatively good.  I don't like all of it, but I love the Orange Chicken.  It's a little sweet and has some spice to it too.  The fried rice is okay, but I didn't like their noodles.  I usually just get the steamed rice.  The egg rolls are a bit generic, but not bad.  Frank has eaten a number of different dishes from there and liked them all.

On the back of the receipt is a phone number for a survey, which only takes a minute or two and gives you a free entree, if you order a 2-entree meal.  I've been so pleased with Panda Express, especially considering that it's fast food, that I'm giving them 4 stars.  It seems like I'm going to a totally different place than everybody else.

Eastern Hibachi and Grill Buffett

West Monroe, LA

In general, I'm not that fond of Chinese buffets.  In my experience, they tend to be rather bland and Westernized.  That said, this one is okay.  They have the usual Chinese decorations and red tassels, there are booths and tables to choose from, and there was some kind of Chinese sounding instrumental flute music playing.

Food-wise, they had large and small noodles, which I appreciated.  There's sushi, which seems to come standard on Chinese buffets these days.  Overall, the food was okay, the ice tea was okay.  It was your regular generic Chinese buffet.  3 to 3-1/2 stars.

Updates

I have several new restaurants to add, hopefully next week.  (I've been really busy with school.)  And I may be starting a weight loss blog too!  Stay tuned!

Pink Slime Sucks!

I felt the need to weigh in on this issue, because I'm really tired of hearing companies talk about how "finely textured beef" is healthy and the same as regular beef.  Well, it's not!

I used to live in Louisiana, in a small area where I couldn't get a lot of healthy foods (at least that I could afford).  My main source of meat was beef in those 5 lb. "chubs."  Those long tubes of meat.  I ate that for several years, until I moved to Northwest Arkansas.  Here, I started shopping at Harp's, which actually has butchers and doesn't add solutions, etc. to their meat.  Imagine my surprise when I tasted the beef - it was wonderful!  I couldn't believe that it tasted so much better than the chubs I used to get. 

After a few years in Arkansas, I went shopping one day and saw the old chubs that I used to buy.  One of them had been opened and sliced into thick patty shapes.  And it looked so disgusting I couldn't believe that I used to eat that crap!  Now, I don't know for certain that it has pink slime in it, but that was the only reason I could come up with for the difference in taste and look.

Another reason for no pink slime - health.  My health has improved dramatically since I moved to NWA.  So if you want my tips for a healthier you:

• Stop drinking sodas!  High fructose corn syrup is not healthy, and neither are artificial sweeteners.
• Stop eating fast food.  Or at least limit it to once a week.  If you can go for a solid month without fast food, your taste buds will start working again and you may never eat fast food again!
• Buy meat from somewhere with a butcher, and No Pink Slime!

It really does make a difference.

O'Charley's

Monroe, LA

This is one of those chains that I generally try to avoid, but my mom said they had some good salads.  I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken Salad that comes with honey mustard, and mom had the 1/2 Club with a side of Chicken Tortilla Soup.

I don't know if the picture shows how truly massive this salad was.  We were there a little after 2 pm, after the lunch rush, and I think someone in the kitchen decided to just dump all the salad leftovers into my bowl.  My salad was part Southern Fried Chicken, part Pecan Chicken Tender salad, and part California Chicken, and came with the latter's balsamic vinaigrette.  Don't get me wrong, it was pretty good!  Just not what I expected.  It had fried chicken tender pieces, romaine lettuce, cranberries, mandarin oranges, pecans, and bacon pieces.

My favorite part of places like this has to be the bread though!  I love those yeasty bread rolls.

The ambiance is fairly generic for these types of chain restaurants, but I did appreciate the mural on the back wall, depicting local history and schools.  (Bet you didn't know Delta Airlines started in Monroe!)

Overall, it was okay.  Like a said, it is a chain in the eastern US (except for the Northeast).  The salad was pretty good, but mom's soup was only okay.  The tea was slightly bitter too.  Say 3.5 stars.

Red Top Bar & Grill

Tallulah, LA

After a long day of genealogy, I stopped by with mom and her sister.  Unfortunately, I was so hungry that I forgot to take photos.  The Red Top has wood paneling, a bar, and a fireplace.  The floor is cement, and there are booths and tables.  There's old tools on the wall as decoration.  They use those little individual wine bottles if you order a glass.

I ordered the shrimp salad, grilled, with honey mustard.  They were 6 large shrimp on my salad, and I mean actual Louisiana large shrimp, not the ones you see in the super market that are bite size.  The lettuce was ice berg and romaine, and there were tons of tomato wedges on it.  They also brought me 4 of those little plastic tubs of salad dressing!

Mom had the cheeseburger.  She said it was okay, but the texture was too fine.  It tasted more like a pre-made patty, not a home-made patty.

My aunt had already eaten, so she had the fried asparagus, which turned out to have a dipping sauce of crawfish bisque.  She said the asparagus were lightly breaded, and crispy not soggy.  And really good!  I guess they must have been because she wouldn't share!  I've never had fried asparagus, but now I really want to try it!

Overall, not bad.  My salad was good, asparagus great, cheeseburger okay.  3.5 stars.

Rowdy's Family Restaurant

Vicksburg, MS

I went there with my mom in the middle of the week, during the lunch rush.  This is where my grandparents always ate when they were in Vicksburg.  And according to the menu, Rowdy's was voted Best in Vicksburg from 1996-2012.

This is a catfish joint, so, of course, we had the catfish.  You get two options though: regular or thin and crispy.  We both ordered thin and crispy, with fries, cole slaw, hush puppies, and cornbread.  And unsweet tea.

The catfish was excellent!  The fries were great too.  I didn't like the cole slaw as much - it was sweet and a little generic.  The hush puppies were good but not great - they were a bit dark on the outside like they were borderline burnt.  The tea was good too.  We were so full by the end that we couldn't eat the cornbread!

It was a little noisy inside, but it wasn't very crowded.  They have old newspapers on the walls, in frames, as decorations.  I mean, actual newspapers from the 1950s and such.  There are booths and tables, and both are wooden.  As a larger woman, I found the booth a bit tight.

Overall, the food was good, the service was good, atmosphere was a little noisy.  Great catfish!  Four stars.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

My mom was in town and we were running around Promenade mall, so we decided to try Five Guys.  She'd been to one before, so she explained to me that I probably wanted the Little Cheeseburger, not the regular Cheeseburger, because that has one meat patty instead of two.  We both got cheeseburgers, and they do have some good options.  I got mine with fried onions and fried mushrooms.  We decided to split an order of french fries, because they're big, so we ordered the Cajun Fries. 

Cheeseburger

Cajun Fries

We were there right after the place opened, so it took a few minutes for our order to get going.  The cheeseburger was good, with lots of toppings.  And the fries were fresh and good.  I didn't like the tea though.  They use Gold Peak tea in that separate machine, and you push one button for sweet, the other for unsweet.  I had unsweet and it tasted like your typical fountain tea, which means it sucked.

Overall, it was alright.  The burger was good, but it was nothing special.  Ditto for the fries.  My mom was upset because the music was too loud (it was) and it was tuned to a Spanish station playing pop music.  The place wasn't bad and I would eat there again, but I wasn't impressed.  3.5 stars.

[When I say I wasn't impressed, I should probably explain that to me, most fast food burgers taste like crap.  I generally don't eat them at all.  I'm guessing it's because of the pink slime.  I would eat Five Guys again.]

Ron's Hamburgers & Chili

It had been awhile since we'd eaten out, so we decided to check out Ron's, in Lowell.  We went there about 1:30 pm on New Year's Day.  It was fairly empty, and the server told us to seat ourselves.  The place looks like your typical generic restaurant, with booths around the outside and tables on the inside.  They also have 2 TVs.

The napkins are in a dispenser at the table, along with ketchup, Tobasco, and Louisiana Hot Sauce.  There was also something that looked like seasoned salt.  And of course, the usual salt, pepper, etc.

I ordered the 1/5 lb. Cheeseburger and Fries, with a sweet tea.  The burgers come with the option of regular onions or grilled onions, which I thought was great - I love grilled onions!  The tea was a bit odd.  It wasn't bad, but the sweet taste was a bit funny.  I'm really not sure how to describe it better.  The fries are homemade, with the skins still on.  They were alright.  My basket of fries didn't seem that fresh when it came to the table.  I think it was sitting on the counter for a bit while they finished the rest of our order.  The burger, however, was really good!  It had a nice quantity of lettuce and tomato, and small grilled onions on it.  Yummy!

Frank had the Chili, Jumbo Cheeseburger (1/3 lb.) with grilled onions, and unsweet tea.  He said the chili had a some warmth to it, not a lot, but a good flavor.  He put it as, he wouldn't go there just for the chili, but he would eat it when he did go there.  He also loved the burger!  He wasn't sure about the tea.  It had an odd taste.  It wasn't astringent like most tea is, so he wondered if maybe it was made from a syrup or something.  Or maybe it's a mild-flavored tea instead of the usual ones.

Here's a comparison of our burgers:

An interesting point about Ron's - they have the Who's ur Daddy?  It's a 2 lb. cheeseburger, 1 lb. fries, and a drink.  If you finish it all withing 15 minutes, it's free and you get your photo put on the wall!  Frank lamented not being 10 years younger so that he could go for it.

Overall, we liked the place.  It's got a kind of diner feel, the server was friendly, and it also has free Wi-fi.  Our total bill was about $17 which is pretty good these days.  I'm going to give a range of 3.5 to 4 stars, because the fries were okay, the chili was fine, but the burgers were really good.