Arkansas Dairy Bars: Neat Eats and Cool Treats, ready for pre-order now.

Coming October 5th, you'll be able to order your own copy of Arkansas Dairy Bars: Neat Eats and Cool Treats, the culinary travel guide to all 94 of The Natural State's currently operating homegrown dairy bar establishments. Here's how to order your copy.

The Arkansas Food Hall of Fame - Celebrating the Great State of the Plate.

It's time to recognize Arkansas's classic eateries, cooks and festivals with the celebration they deserve. I'm thrilled to be able to tell you about the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame.

Murry's Restaurant, The Holy Grail of Arkansas Delta Catfish.

The roots of this Delta classic run back through two owners and several decades. Still a cash-only operation, Murry's Restaurant remains the must-visit culinary destination of the middle Delta.

Every Day, All Day, Gene's Barbecue in Brinkley.

The long-running eatery is the jumping-off point for a day in the Big Woods, a duck hunting trip or an expedition to sight the elusive Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Gene's offers sustenance and some mighty fine tips before you head out into the world beyond.

Herman's Ribhouse Endures as Fayetteville's Oldest Restaurant.

Herman’s Ribhouse… the latest restaurant in a building that rightfully claims to be the oldest continually operating restaurant in Fayetteville.  Let's look back at the checkered past of this Arkansas classic.

Once Again, Spudnuts in Magnolia.

The potato-flour goodness of that particular breakfast treat, the Spudnut, is once again available in Magnolia. See what else is happening at the Spudnut Shop and Deli.

A Messy Chili Cheeseburger at Sam's Olde Tyme Hamburgers in Rogers.

I could say I've never met a burger I didn't like... but that would be a lie.  There have been some disappointments out there.

But not at Sam's Olde Tyme Hamburgers in Rogers.  Oh, no.  What I encountered at the red-awning decked shop on the east side of town was a messy, gloppy marvel of excellence, with a perfect patty beneath.

Taco Mama, Freshest Mexican In All Of Hot Springs.

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Mexican restaurant in Arkansas… whether it’s authentic, Tex-Mex or Ark-Mex. Some are good, some are decent, some you wonder how and why they survive.

But no one ever asks why Taco Mama survives. They already know. It’s magnificent.

This Is The Juan That You Want - Lunch at Amigo Juan.

Sunday lunches can be hard to find.  Many restaurant owners and managers choose to close for the Sabbath, while others bring in heavy post-church crowds.  At Amigo Juan's in Hope this past Sunday, we were lucky to find a parking spot.

The restaurant alongside North Hervey Street is bright and colorful, just like the three other locations (Texarkana, New Boston and Atlanta, all in Texas) and on this particular Sunday there was a ten minute wait to get in the door.  We marveled at the Great Danes captured in brightly colored

porcelain in the entranceway and the neverending bursts of color throughout the restaurant.  It wasn't long before Grav, Hunter and I were shown to a booth, where we dallied a little before placing our appetizer order.

Amigo Juan was originally opened by Sergio and Maria Rodriguez in 2003 in Texarkana.  The couple fell in love when they were 16 and 15, respectively, in Chihuahua, Mexico.  Shortly before they married, Sergio came to Arkansas to stay with Maria's relatives, and they decided to make a home here.  Their restaurants feature family recipes and they've been quite successful, which is why there are four Amigo Juans today.

We came in hungry, very hungry, and decided to order the Botanas Platter and then wait to get our own separate dishes.  We were greeted with rich, fresh and chunky red salsa and bright yellow chips (there were even bright green chips, but Hunter claimed them all) which were quickly

consumed.

The Botanas Platter seemed a good bet, and it had a little bit of everything on it.  There was a small quesadilla packed with nicely grilled chicken that had a lot of flavor to it.  There were both corn tortilla taquitoes and flour tortilla

flautas stuffed with beef.

There were nachos... which were created in the manner I recall them being served when I was growing up.  No pile of chips with dumped-on toppings here -- each of these were sculpted bites of ground beef, beans and

cheese carefully baked onto separate chips for easy eating.

And there were the wings... Caliente Wings, to be exact.  They were exactly what was stated on the menu -- very hot, almost Buffalo-like soaked chicken winglets doused in an incredibly pungent and hot sauce.  I couldn't handle them, but Grav was pleased.

In the center of it all was a green tortilla bowl filled with golden yellow cheese dip, which we eagerly set chips and fries to (I ordered the fries, which came out crispy).  There were also scoops of sour cream and guacamole and a bed of lettuce with pico de gallo on the side.

With this feast in front of us, we wondered if we needed anything else, but went ahead and ordered anyway.  Hunter's choice

of a soft taco came to the table packed with tomatoes, beef, lettuce and cheese with a pool of refried beans she immediately consumed and a portion of Spanish rice she also liked.  But she made us a deal.  She really, really wanted that green bowl with its remainder of yellow cheese dip, so when her taco was gone, she dug into that, too.  Her meal also came with a drink and a free toy or ice cream... but she forgot to ask for either one at the end of the meal.  Please don't remind her of this... we'll have to drive to Hope and pick up a toy and for heaven's sake...

Grav's choice was the Supreme Bean Burrito.  I questioned him about this, equally concerned about his lack of protein in his entree and the state of the car we'd be traveling in over the next hour and a half or so.  He assured me his gustatory additives to our enclosed environment on our homeward push would

not cause olfactory concern.

I thought it looked grand, coated in queso blanco and stuffed with beans, cheese, lettuce and tomato. He pronounced it adequate.

I think he was just jealous of what I'd ordered.

Also, it was very, very cheesy.

I went for the Chimichanga Grande, and got a rather large, tubular protrusion upon my plate, a golden cylinder guilded with queso blanco that touched both rims of an oblong platter.  Inside, steak chunks, beans and

cheese packed the length of the monster.  I did wish I'd have chosen the sour cream sauce instead of the heavier queso blanco (red sauce and yellow cheese dip are the other options) but I was still mightily pleased.

As you might imagine, this was far more food than we could handle.  It was marvelous, but I regretted that I didn't have room for sopapillas, since the ones I saw delivered to a nearby table looked incredible.  Maybe next time.

You'll find Amigo Juan in Hope off exit 30.  Head towards town.  It's open at 11 a.m. every day.

Amigo Juan
1200 North Hervey Street
Hope, AR 71801
(870) 777-0006
Website

Quick Sip: Chocolate Malt at the Charleston Dairy Diner.

There is nothing, nothing in this world that satisfies like a good, old fashioned chocolate malt.

Arkansas Highway 22 parallels US Highway 64 from Fort Smith to Russellville, rolling south of the Arkansas River through some of the most picturesque settings in the River Valley.  Great stretches of quiet farmland are interrupted by small, charming towns and unique locations, such as Subiaco Academy and the town of Paris.

When you're traveling this route, it might be easy to overlook the tiny town of Charleston.  Located between Ratliff and Barling just northeast of the far corner of Fort Chaffee, the diminutive town's residents have a lot to be thankful for -- including King's Fried Rice (a Thai/Asian shop in an old gas station), Main Street BBQ, and the breakfast-and-lunch diner Kat's Kitchen (I need to review that place some time, eh?).  There's a brand new state-of-the-art middle school, and a brand new Walmart convenience store on the west side of town.

But across from the Middle School, you'll find the Dairy Diner.  Open since at least the 1980s, this white-washed building with the impressive car-fin style sign overhead is divided into three, with a kitchen

separating the dine-in section from an old fashioned video arcade.


(Pardon me while I pause and reflect my old age and the fact I just called a video arcade "old fashioned.")

The Dairy Diner, like so many other community dairy bars across Arkansas, serves burgers and fries and soda and ice cream.  Its menu may not seem unusual, nor should it - with its hot dog and dressed burrito and tater tots.  A nod to more recent times, the chicken wrap, is offered, but still, this is steady, normal food you'd expect anywhere.

However, its friendly young hostesses manage to pull off a beautiful example of such a simple, fussless creation, the chocolate malt.  Yea, though I have toured all over the state, dining at establishment large and small, expensive

and cheap, I have found a distinctive lack of malts offered throughout the land.  Perhaps the malted barley flavor fell out of favor with the majority of diners here - or, I more strongly suspect - the simplicity of offering fewer flavor combinations, reducing options to chocolate, vanilla and the occasional strawberry - became the norm.

This homogenized frothy creation did cross the counter in Styrofoam topped with plastic, with paper-wrapped straw accompaniment, in exchange for $3.45.  With good graces and smiles, we were out the door and soon in the car to our next destination, our shared chilly malt experience bathed in sunset's glow, We both voiced our surprise at the creamy yet hearty flavor within our grasp.

Six miles down the road, as I determined our next turn-off, Grav grasped my hand and muttered wantonly... "if you don't sip some more I'm going to finish it off right now."

Something so simple, yet so decadent, a marvelous finale to a burger-and-fries meal or even as a between-repast beverage to cut the edge of hunger, or even a shared beverage between affectionate companions, should be celebrated.  In Charleston, the place to fete the pedestrian yet beloved malt, is at the Dairy Diner.

Dairy Diner
420 East Main Street
Charleston, AR 72933
(479) 965-2254

A Wee Bit of Wee Betty's Cafe in Jacksonville.

Okay, I'm going to start off with this - can I really call a restaurant cute? I mean, diminutive is pretty descriptive, as is ethnic or eastfacing or blue, but cute? Okay, I have found a cute, and it helps satisfy my Doctor Who-inflicted cravings.

I speak, of course, of Wee Betty's Cafe.

One of my friends, Alex, suggested this place to me, and so Grav and I wandered out that way to meet up with Alex and his friends.  He's apparently a regular.

Wee Betty's has been open since July of 2013, and it's a grand yet tiny shop packed with British canned goods, tea and tiny round tables, perfect for two. Well, there were five of us, so we mashed together between two tables and scanned the menus.

I'll be honest, I was getting to know my new friends and didn't do what I needed to do as far as taking photos went.  Neither did Grav. We were enjoying the company and our tea, which came to the table the proper way, with milk!

I loved that the menu stated this as a good place for "a wee cuppa tea and a blether."

I also love that the menu's appetizers, or Lite Snacks as it said, included (I kid you not), toast and tea, toast and beans, toast and cheese - because of course, toast. I bit back the thought of asking if they'd cut the toast into tiny soldiers and arrange them according to rank. I've spent too much time lately watching Red Dwarf, apparently.

So we're all talking, and I get an order of curry chips. Because of course I do. Because to me, the true test of a British restaurant is whether or not it gets curry. Yes, I have had proper Indian curry sauce served to me on fries, and while delicious, it's not right. 

I didn't have anything to worry about here. Yes, clearish curry sauce on fries. I could eat this all day. Really I could.

But I didn't, because we had other things to try, like the Scotch pie that came to table. Is this not the epitome of a cute savory pie? Especially with that perfect bubble of gravy?

Gravy!  Yes!

Alex and Grav both went for the fish and chips, and this is where Wee Betty's truly shined. Mind you, it took some time for our dishes to make it to table, owing to the single cook operating both kitchen and register. But this nice curled cod is just proof that the Wee Betty's folks know what they're doing. And of course, malt vinegar was involved.

But my delight for the night was the Cornish pasty. With beans. Because... okay, yes, my Arkansas friends, this looks like someone put beanie weenies on a fried pie. And essentially, that's what it looks like at first.

But it is not. No, these beans in their lovely tomato sauce were a nice starchy addition to a pie already stuffed with vegetables and beef. Oh my. I am quite pleased.

I need to make a return trip and do a proper review, but as I said, we all got to talking. These things happen. And how wonderful it is to share dinner with friends. That has to happen more often.

Wee Betty’s Cafe is located at 1336 John Harden Drive in Jacksonville (501-765-3531). There's a Facebook with news and such. I'm coming back for scones, y'all.

Should You Eat The Widowmaker Burger? The Answer May Surprise You.

Okay, I'll let the cat out of the bag.  Unless you're 14 and have hollow legs, probably not -- unless you have a friend to help.

The Widowmaker is just one of several options available at Perryville's relatively new downtown stop.  Mustang Sally's opened two years ago, and it's starting to cultivate a following.  Housed in the building that was once home to Rankin's Cafe, the yellow exterior belies a thoroughly updated interior with plenty of booths and tables for gatherings.  There's even an ample counter to sit at... which we did on this particular trip.

I've been to Mustang Sally's before, when I was dabbling with the idea of book pitches.  Someone had suggested I go get a burger and a fried pie.  Which I did.  I found the burger pretty good and the pie, a fried peach pie, to be the best rendition of a hand-held cobbler I've still had to date.  The folks were friendly, and I made

a note to dine there again next time I was in town.

Grav and I dropped in one day on the way to the Heifer Ranch to grab a much-needed bite before working on the afternoon's big story.  We went in thinking we'd eat small... and that lasted right up to the point where Grav read about this monstrosity on the menu.  And I quote:

Can You Tame The Widow Maker?

$12.95

Saddle Up and Take Your Taste Buds for a Ride.

In the legendary Old West, a widow maker referred to a very unruly horse, also called an "outlaw," or one that cannot be tamed to ride. At Mustang Sally's, our Widow Maker features Two Mustang Sally Burger Patties – with a layer of Mozzarella Sticks between them, dressed to kill with Bacon, Cheddar and American Cheeses, Pickles, BBQ Sauce and a Fried Egg all stuffed between Two Grilled Cheeses.

Please allow 25 minutes for preparation and plenty of room in your belly for consumption.

We both wondered who'd take on something like that for a few minutes, before it dawned on us. We'd do it.  Of course we would.  After all, we'd already conquered the Excaliburger and shared the Five Pound Cheeseburger (with others) -- this would feed both of us and give us a story as well.

So we ordered it.  And we waited.  We knew we'd need to wait, so that wasn't an issue at all.  We sipped our drinks, caught up on Facebook, checked messages.  And then here it came.

We asked for bacon on the side to add to Grav's half once it was split, and so it came.  The egg was dribbling down the side of the

burger, and the whole thing smelled like a carnival.

So, how'd it taste? Well, Grav's the better judge of that.  He managed to smash down the sandwich and unhinge his jaw enough to get a bite in that included everything between those two grilled cheese sandwiches.  And he pronounced it good.

Me?  I wasn't crazy.  I ate mine with a fork.  I loved the mozzarella cheese sticks, though I felt guilty the entire time we were dining.  The egg was a bit salty, but that was likely just a little seasoning error in the kitchen.  The barbecue sauce worked with it.

We didn't finish it all -- I know, you're disappointed, but dang it that's two half pound patties, two grilled cheese sandwiches... that's a ridiculous amount of food.  But we can say we've done it now and we have a good story to share.

So, what would we recommend?  Battered and fried jalapeno slices, as far as I'm concerned.  Maybe an onion ring or

two.  I mean, if you're going to be audacious, be audacious.  Still, if you think about it, you're getting the equivalent of two burgers with bacon and extra cheese and half an order of mozzarella sticks.  That's not bad.

I should also mention... the produce at Mustang Sally's comes from Heifer Ranch up the road and from Van Dalsem Farms... when it's in season.

Next time I go, I'm getting the cheeseburger sliders with the Mustang sauce, jack cheese and fried onion strings.  Next time you go, let me know and I might go with you.

Mustang Sally's
303 West Main Street
Perryville, AR 72126
(501) 889-1501
Website