W'ave talked about griddle-smashed and kitchen char-grilled burgers a lot here. But what about a smoked burger?
That’s what you get when you order one of the burgers on the menu at Fred’s Country Cooking in Boles, AR — that’s north of Mena and south of Waldron on US Highway 71. Yes, it’s way the heck out there. But it’s got good eats — like catfish, fried pies, barbecue and, well, burgers.
Now, I have to say — the burger my traveling companion ordered on this trip was not what I might normally have ordered. Burgers are priced by the stack as it were — hamburgers start at $2.95, cheeseburgers are $3.25, all the way up to the Double Meat Bacon Cheeseburger at $6.95 — which my companion ordered. For the record, burgers come with a choice of potato. He chose the home fries.
The burger comes out, and it’s big and tall, with American cheese melted right onto the patties. One sniff, though, and there was this acknowledgement that this was one different burger. It smelled of hickory smoke, and it smelled wonderful. The seedless lightly toasted bun was a little wrinkly, as if it had been slightly steamed as well. The burger patties nestled right under the top bun; below, iceberg lettuce and a couple of slices of tomato along with ridgy hamburger dills and white onion ringlets sat on a little mayo on the bottom bun.



The coleslaw was a long-cut version, non-sweet but with a nice chew to it. I assumed it was formulated in such a fashion to be best for serving up on BBQ sandwiches. I liked it, though. The French fries, sadly, were very typical and yellow.



So we got ready to leave to beat a storm moving in, and decided to pick up a fried pie to take with us. This little apple fried pie reminded me of the days when McDonald’s had a fried pie worth mentioning. It was just right for one hand, with a cinnamon packed crust and very tender apples. I must try another.
You’ll find Fred’s Country Cooking at 16538 Highway 71 in Boles. No website, but you can reach them at (479) 577-2676.
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