Guido's Pizza

Guido's is one of my favorite pizza places of all time.  I've been eating at the Fayetteville location pretty regularly for about 5 years.  A few years ago they had some problems for a while, but they rebounded.  And now it looks like there's some kind of management change.  I read a review from over the summer saying there was a change in ownership, which explains why they are changing the name to Bariola's, starting November 1st.

The pizza is still really good!  We always drive through and pick up our order, we don't eat in, so I can't really speak for the decor.  In 2006 it looked like a 1970s pizza parlour, which I like.  The pizza has a flat, crackery crust, with a small edge.  We almost always get pepperoni, which is also my way of judging how good a pizza is (like ordering vanilla ice cream).  The pepperoni is good, and a little spicy, not bland.  The sauce is light, which I prefer, and the cheese is real mozzarella - "just enough cheese to hold everything together" according to Frank.  Overall, it's a very nice pizza.  Tasty, and a little spicy.  Four and a half stars.

Note: If you join on Facebook, they have coupons and deals. I'm not sure what will happen when they become Bariola's.

Braum's

This isn't a regular review, just about their ice cream and milk shakes. And if you haven't had Braum's ice cream, you have no idea what you are missing! First of all, Braum's has their own dairy herd, so they make their own milk. Which has no rBGH in it (I don't care what the FDA says, it makes a difference). Their milk is delicious and they use it to make their own ice cream. Secondly, Braum's has real ice cream. Their ice cream is like the premium ice cream you pay a lot of money for in the supermarkets, except that Braum's ice cream costs about $3 for a 3 pint carton (which seems to be the standard ice cream size now) and is yummier.

Now, take the delicious milk, add yummy ice cream, blend, and you have a milk shake! Available in small, medium, or large. I had a vanilla shake, which is how I judge between different places; keep it simple. It's been too long since Steak'nShake, so I couldn't tell for certain that this shake was better, but man was it good! Golden vanilla ice cream, almost too thick to suck through a straw.

A note here for all of the people who think McDonald's and their ilk have good shakes - you're wrong.  Your taste buds have been corrupted by fast food and you wouldn't know good ice cream if it bit you on the butt.  Now, don't yell at me.  Save your breath (and your money) and don't eat fast food for a few weeks.  Then get your regular milk shake, and a Braum's shake, and compare them.  You'll be surprised.

I visited my mom a few months ago and we got a free frosty at Wendy's . . . and it was disgusting - I couldn't even finish it.  She drove through McDonald's and we got hot fudge sundaes.  Again, disgusting.  It wasn't even regular soft serve, it was some kind of ice milk.  Sometime over the last few decades, fast food restaurants have cut even more corners and are serving crap as ice cream.  So do yourself a favor and go to Braum's.  Choose from one of their many many different flavors.  Get a cone, get a shake, get a frozen yogurt.  You can thank me later.  Four and a half stars!

Eddie Haskell's Patio and Grill

Apparently I'm old, because my first thought was that the actor from Leave It to Beaver had started a restaurant.  When I tried to look the place up online, I ran across the Wikipedia article, which says that "Eddie Haskell" has entered the modern lexicon as "an archetype for insincere sycophants,"  although I have to wonder if anybody under the age of 40 really knows or even understands that.

Anyhoo, Eddie Haskell's is a bar and grill in Rogers, in the Pinnacle Hills area west of the interstate; it's kind of behind Cold Stone Creamery.  I was there for a BlogHer meeting, so Frank wasn't with me.  It's not bad.  Definitely a bar vibe, and it was a bit noisy.  It's divided up into several different areas, that are all open to each other: there's the main bar area, two side sections, another section around the Karaoke machine, and outside is a big patio section.  I got there around 7 pm, and shortly after they dimmed the lights.

The food selection was pretty good, because they have a full menu, not a bar menu, with everything from salads to burgers to steaks.  I ended up ordering the appetizer chicken tenders with fries.  And, of course, my ice tea.  The tea was brewed, with just a hint of bitterness.  The chicken tenders had a bit more breading than I like, but they tasted good and the chicken was moist.  The fries were seasoned, which are my favorite, even if these looked like they came out of the freezer.  They were good too.  The ladies at the table with me ordered chips and queso, and potato skins, which they said were really good, and they looked it.

It was Karaoke night, so at 8 pm the machine started up and a guy passed out song books.  At that point, moist of the noise was from music, instead of bar buzz, although no one was singing by the time I left.

Overall, I actually liked it.  I can't tell you how many years it's been since I was in a "bar;" I think the last one I was in had pool tables.  Of course, in those days they were still full of smoke, which I really hate.  The food was good, service was pretty good, and the ambiance wasn't bad either.  I'd say 3-1/2 out of 5 stars.

Mordour's Pizza

We didn't eat at the restaurant, Frank got us a pepperoni pizza to go. We weren't sure if we were going to get one or not, because they seem to play a little loose with their hours, sometimes. They're supposed to be open from 5 pm to 5 am Monday through Saturday.

The pizza was good! It's what I generally refer to as "hand-tossed." The crust was a bit dry on the outside, but still good. The pepperoni tasted good too. There was a nice amount of sauce, not too much, like some places, and it had a slightly sweet taste to it. And I thought the amount of cheese was appropriate. I don't like too much cheese or extra cheese on my pizzas.

Overall, we thought it was slightly generic, but the good kind of generic. Frank and I both rank them on par with Eureka (we think they're generic-okay). I'd say 3 to 3-1/2 stars out of 5.

Steak 'n Shake

Frank has been eying Steak and Shake for a while, so we finally dropped by. I was impressed! They are a chain, and I was expecting another version of McDonald's. Nope! They have a sit down area inside, which is an actual restaurant. The servers wear white shirts with bow-ties, and aprons. And the decor is a little retro looking. I had a cheeseburger with fries (around $3.50) and $1 sweet tea, and Frank had the Bacon and Blue cheese burger, with fries and a shake.

The burger patties are 100% beef, and small and square shaped. You can get whatever you want on them. I had a thick slice of tomato, thick onion slice, and big piece of lettuce that stuck out the side of my burger. The fries are small, like the potato sticks that you buy in cans, but fresh and hot. The tea is made with real sugar and is very large. Frank said his burger "was really good. And there was plenty of blue cheese."

The shakes deserve their own paragraph, because they are amazing! The last time I had a good milk shake was at a Tastee Freez, circa 1994. I don't know what that soft stuff is that comes out of machines at McDonald's and other places, but it ain't ice cream and they don't make good milk shakes. Steak and Shake uses premium ice cream and milk, and you can taste the difference. Frank's shake was so good that I had to order one too. (Frank loved his shake, but swears that Braum's is actually better!) They have specialty shakes too, like Butter Pecan or Caramel Apple.

Overall, I thought Stake and Shake was really good. I prefer their burger patties to Braums, but Frank likes Braum's better. But he still says that Stake and Shake is good. They are way better than fast food places. We've eaten at both of the ones in our area, and the service was fast and polite at both, even during a dinner rush. I'd give them at least 4 out of 5 stars, maybe 4 1/2. They also have all of their ingredients listed online, and happy hour for drinks AND shakes is 2-4 pm and 2-4 am.

TG is still great!

From September 22, 2010

A few weeks ago, Frank and I went back to Taqueria Guanajuato and I am happy to say that it is still really really good. I had the same dish as last time, but this time Frank had some kind of pork enchiladas. He said they were "very good."

Taqueria Guanajuato

From May 23, 2010

This is a new restaurant on Wedington Avenue (by Rupple). If you've heard me talk about the Philippino restaurant and grocery in the strip mall, well, it's gone. There's now a Mexican restaurant, grocery, and hairdressers there instead.

Since the name is Taqueria Guanajuato, I'm assuming they're from the Mexican state of Guanajuato (see mandatory Wikipedia article).

TG is a bare bones type of place. It's L-shaped, with tables in the short part and booths in the long part. The walls are brightly painted, but they didn't have a whole lot of decorations up. The booths are basic and seemed a little small. There were two girls working as servers when we arrived. One was definitely a teenager, the other more college-aged, and she had English as a second language.

We sat down, and they brought out salsa and chips. The salsa was nice and fresh tasting, and there was hot and mild, although hot wasn't that hot. The chips were really really good! They're thin and crispy, no salt. Yummy! I had ice tea, of course, but ordered unsweet. It was alright. Not the best, but definitely drinkable.

Once our food arrived, we realized that this was an actual Mexican restaurant, not a Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex restaurant. Yay! I had a combo plate: 1 steak taco, 1 pork tamale, rice, and beans. Without cheese of course. My mom had the same, but with cheese. I was impressed by the steak taco. It was small pieces of beef, on 2 small corn tortillas (4"), lightly oiled and heated. There were onions and cilantro on top, and I squeezed lime juice on it. It was delicious! My mom had cheese on hers, and Frank said it looked like actual queso fresco, not Monterrey Jack. The beans and rice were a little plain, and a little small, but I mixed them together and they were good too. No salad on the plate. The pork tamale was a regular shredded pork tamale, with red sauce, in a corn husk rapper. It didn't look like a lot of food, but it was filling and it was only $5!

Frank had the Cubana torta, which appeared to be one of those pressed Cuban sandwiches, but wasn't. The bread was just thin (and raised) but it wasn't pressed. It had pork, cheese, and ham on it, as well as lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado. There was also some kind of sauce. The sandwich was oval, about 4" x 8". Frank said it was "all kinds of good." I think this is his new favorite nearby place to eat.

The menu is pretty interesting. Most items on the menu are a la carte. They have different categories: tacos, burritos, sopes, tortas, quesadillas, gorditas, and huaraches. Under each category they have the same basic meats: grilled steak, beef head, beef tongue, spicy sausage, marinated pork, ham/bacon/beef/cheese/pineapple, pork intestines, pork stomach, chicken, and pork. They have specials every weekday, and menudo on the weekends. They're open from 8 am to 10 pm, 7 days a week. They also have some specials, some breakfast food, a kids menu and ceviche.

Overall, we really liked it. If you want some kind of fancy place with margaritas, this isn't the place for you. But if you want good food, for pretty cheap nowadays, give Taqueria Guanajuato a try.

India Corner

From September 12, 2009
NWA Has Indian Food ?!?

When did this happen? The last time I saw Indian food here was at a hotel in Bentonville, and it wasn't that good. Well, apparently a place named India Corner has been around for about 2 years now and serves Punjabi style food. It's located in Rogers, approximately the northwest corner of S. 8th Street and Poplar. If you're coming from the interstate, take exist 85 (Walnut St.) and then turn right when you get to S. 8th.

The restaurant is a little building in the U section of a rundown motel called The Traveler's Lodge. I think it was originally a Mexican restaurant. It has booths and tables, and was playing country music when we were there. They're closed on Mondays. They have a decent-sized menu and take-out, but we went for the buffet. We were also the only non-Indians in there, which I consider a good sign.

The buffet is small but good. And when I say small, I mean small even by Indian buffet standards. This isn't a 100 item Chinese buffet! There was rice, nan, some kind of bean dish, some kind of chicken dish, some dish I really couldn't recognize, saag, and rice pudding. I think it was $11, but it was worth it! When the server saw us eating nan he brought out a freshly cooked plate of it. The chicken was probably a vindaloo. It was pretty good, although it was a bit spicy (for those of you from the Mid-West, I believe that translates as Oh My God This Is Hot).

The saag was incredible! Saag is a spinach dish, and we're used to saag paneer (the spinach-cheese version) which is creamier. This one didn't have any cheese but the flavor was amazing! It was much spinachier [is this a word?] than we're used to. Next time Frank is getting the lamb saag. The last dish was the bean dish, for you vegetarians out there. It was kidney beans, with onions and stuff, in a soupy mixture. It was also really really good! The beans were whole, but almost melted in your mouth they were so creamy. This dish had very little heat but lots of flavor.

In general, all of these dishes had an underlying sweet tone to them. What I call "normal" Indian food doesn't have that, so I guess I've never really eaten Punjabi before. It was good though. It's not a sugary sweetness, just a sweet undertone, like from carrots or sweet potatoes. I would give this place 4 out of 5 stars. The food is great, the ambiance is generic. The glasses were a bit scratched up and water-stained, which may bother some people. It's sort of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in some ways. But we plan on going back soon!

J & H

From August 9, 2009
Chatham Chilidogs

Okay, so my current travels aren't abroad, they're in Louisiana. And the best chilidog I've had in a loooong time is at J&H in Chatham. Their dogs are those nasty looking red hot dogs. I like mine with chili and mustard and onions. And they are absolutely delicious! I'm not sure if they're really that good or if it's partly nostalgia, but I don't care!

J&H started as a small stand, but now they have a bigger place. There's still a walk-up window, but there's also a sit-down area inside, and some plastic tables outside. And, of course, their sweet tea is excellent!

Lyn D's Cajun Gypsy Cafe

From February 15, 2008
Yes, Virginia, there is a Cajun restaurant . . .

Got another review: Lyn D's Cajun Gypsy Cafe

First of all, this place is run by people from Lake Charles, Louisiana (west of Lafayette) so it's actually around Cajun Country. It's a no-frills type of place, and boy do I mean no-frills. You walk in and place your order and pay. They give you a number and you go sit down in the dining area. There were about 7 tables (2-person and 4-person) in the dining area, plus another room with 2 larger tables. They do have sweet and unsweet tea, but you have to get it yourself. They have red plastic cups, a big metal ice pail, tea, lemon wedges, and a roll of paper towels. So it's partially a bus-yourself type place. The tea is Luzianne, but they really need to wash out their teapot. It was a bit off. Still drinkable though.

We got there a little after 11:30, and placed our order. The menu is small, but it's a small place. They also have daily specials. It was only a few minutes for our food to come out. It comes out on a styrofoam plate with a fork or spoon, depending upon what you ordered. I had the Crawfish Etouffe. Frank had the Combination Gumbo. The gumbo came out in a styrofoam cup, and they brought him a large bowl so he could combine it with the rice.

Crawfish Etouffe: My plate had Crawfish Etouffe over sticky white rice (like it should be!), a garlic pistolette (roll cut open with garlic butter inside), and a slice of lemon pound cake. The crawfish were good. They were a good size and I could taste them! The etouffe was a bit creamier than I'm used too, and tasted like it might have had Worcestershire in it. It was also hot. It was pretty good, and the garlic roll was very good. Heck, even the store-bought lemon pound cake was good. Oh, and there were chopped fresh green onions on the etouffe as a garnish.

Gumbo: The plate had sticky white rice with fresh chopped green onions as a garnish, garlic pistolette, and potato salad. If you're wondering why it came with potato salad, in some parts of South Louisiana they put that in the bottom of their gumbo. I didn't think the potato salad was that good, but I tend to judge potato salad by Boar's Nest standards. It was homemade though, and it had olives in it. The gumbo was dark, which is traditional, and pretty tasty.  They had seafood gumbo; chicken and sausage gumbo; and combination, which is a mix of both. Frank said it tasted pretty good. And there was a lot of it.

Overall, there was a nice atmosphere. I like hole-in-the-wall type places, as long as the food is good, and it was good! They had Cajun music playing, and the walls had nets, traps, and posters of Mardi Gras and New Orleans on them. It actually reminded me of some places I've eaten at in Louisiana. There was even an "attack turtle." And if you've ever wanted to try alligator, they do have fried gator there. We got out of there a little before noon. And they do bus the table after you've eaten, you don't have to do that. Yes, overall it was pretty good, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants Cajun food.

Edit:  I haven't been there since 2008, but this place would get 4 stars in my current rating system.

Meaux Dad's

From February 8, 2008
If'n Y'all's Desperate

Yes, it's another restaurant review. The title is courtesy of Frank, who insisted I use it.

For those of you who don't know, Meaux Dad's is a Cajun-themed restaurant in front of Target; they took over the old O'Charley's building. At first glance, it's not bad. There are a lot of booths, which I like. There are televisions, but they are confined to the bar area, which I also like. The place is decorated in a Mardi Gras theme, but it's not overdone like Benigans, Friday's, etc. And the music is very good - blues and jazz. Unfortunately, that was most of the good points for the meal. The place tries to be slightly more upscale by not having ketchup on the table. They do have Louisiana brand Hot Sauce (not Tobasco! another good point) and Meaux Dad's own Bayou Garlic Sauce. The iced tea was great! They have sweet and unsweet. We got the unsweet which was very strong and came without a slice of lemon (another good point - I hate lemon in my tea). From there, it went downhill.

The menu is very thin - 2 facing pages, single column, with desserts on the back of another page. We ordered the Natchitoches Meat Pies appetizer, with Creole Remoulade Sauce. The sauce was mustardy and not bad. The meat pies were okay. They were small, which I expected from an appetizer, but they were a bit generic. If you've ever tasted a real Natchitoches Meat Pie, you'll know what I mean. For the main meal, I ordered the Fried Crawfish and Frank got the Chicken/Shrimp/Andouille Jambalaya. Frank said the jambalaya was okay, but unfortunately it wasn't jambalaya. Jambalaya is a dish of rice with some kind of meat cooked in it. This was an okay-tasting combination of meat and vegetables over white rice. Frank said it wouldn't have been bad if they hadn't called it jambalaya.

My crawfish were a different story. The crawfish were coated in a strong batter. There was a lemon flavor, some cayenne (a bit of heat), and what Frank thought was either a strong herb flavor or burnt flour. The coating was dark, so it could have been a bit burnt, or it could have been the seasonings. The main problem was that I couldn't taste the crawfish! Just the coating. The dish came with fries, which are hard to screw up, and Jalapeno Corn Fritters. Yes, instead of hushpuppies there were corn fritters. Frank said the texture was not right for fritters, it was more like inbetween fritters and a hushpuppy. And it had pieces of corn and jalapeno in it. Somewhat generic.

So, overall, I won't be going back. Remember though, that I'm from Louisiana so I have high expectations. According to Meaux Dad's website, he went to college in Monroe, Louisiana, and that's where he got the idea for this restaurant. Let me tell you, Monroe is not Cajun Country, it's Country Country. But if your idea of good Cajun food is the Cajun entree at Applebee's, then you'll probably love Meaux Dad's.

Thai Diner

From January 27, 2008
Great Thai

We've lived in this town a long time, and the entire time we've been meaning to try the Thai food. Both of us love Thai food, but on the list of Asian food it comes in around #4, so we haven't gotten around to it yet. Well, today Thai Diner held a benefit to raise money for a school house in Laos, so we figured this was as good a time as any to finally try some Thai food. And it was delicious! It looks like it's in an old KFC building, and it has a sushi bar too, but that's it. There's no buffet or anything like that, and the sushi bar is an actual sushi bar. Today they had some tables set out with a tinfoil buffet set up (big tinfoil food containers). Our favorite was the Pad Prik - really really good. Lots of basil and some heat. It reminds me of the Basil Squid at the Thai place in Albuquerque. The green curry was good too - it tastes like the curry that we make from the tins, but it wasn't deadly just delicious (if you've tried the green tin then you know what I mean!). So we are now converts, and if anyone comes out to visit (hint, hint) then we have an okay Chinese place, not bad Vietnamese place, and a good Thai place. Hopefully we'll try the Korean place soon.

New Blog

Okay, so I've been doing more restaurant reviews, and I've gotten some comments about spinning those off onto a separate blog. So here it is! I'll copy all of my old reviews over to here, so they're all in one spot. Which is convenient, since there are a few reviews on an old blog.