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.