Smile Bull's Sweet Surprises Seem Serendipitously Smart.

Fort Smith is full of culinary gems, restaurants that offer great value and great flavor. Smile Bull does a fantastic job of living up to the city standard with an array of Asian favorites and homegrown surprises.

How Do You Roll? That's How We Roll... in Conway.

If you've been reading Tie Dye Travels any length of time, you've probably picked up on the fact that my daughter is a sushi fanatic.  We're not talking California rolls and tempura shrimp... we're talking octopus salad, seaweed and eel.  Hunter Robinson is a sushi freak and has been since her first bite of solid food (which was, not intentionally, wasabi paste).

She sings the praises of her favorite sushi spots, Tokyo House in Little Rock and Umami in Conway, constantly.  The former offers her the luxury of pieces of a dozen different rolls in a sitting.  The latter has a Black Dragon roll they don't even need to ask if she wants when she goes.  She has become such a familiar at both places that they welcome her by name.

Sure, we have other sushi haunts, such as Igibon and Mt. Fuji and Sushi Cafe... but we have been pretty regular about hitting just those joints as of late.  So, on a recommendation, we decided to try Conway's hip, chic How Do You Roll? on a Saturday lunchtime.

Like many of the Hendrix-area eateries that have popped up in recent years, How Do You Roll? is incredibly hip and trendy, with all the straight clean lines you'd expect from a 2010s era hotspot.  Its menu is formidable, but not in the average sushi list sort of way.  Instead, you pick up your menu and make your decision before you ever make it to the register.

That, in itself, could be troublesome to newcomers, since the place's big draw is choose-your-own sushi.  As in, pick your protein and three vegetables (which includes cream cheese, tofu and seasonal fruit) and a topping to go on the top.  Or inside, if you're getting a hand roll, er, CONE as they put it.  There are, in fact, so many items on the menu that for a first-time visitor, I found myself staring dumbfounded at the menu while Hunter debated her own choices.  No Black Dragon roll here, she soon discovered.

This lead to the possibility of, well, anything.  Which, if you know exactly what you want, is a great thing.  Or, if you're like me on a Saturday where V8 has been the only thing consumed since five in the morning, you stare dumbly and hope the hipsters and college students who slide by to the register don't think you're too much of a square.  Is the term "square" still used that way?  I haven't a clue.

Any time I have cash in pocket and a big menu, I tend to over-order, and this indeed was the case.  Hunter had finally picked out her create-your-own roll, and stumped the lovely young lady at the cash register by asking for Ramune, which she could see in the cooler behind the register (the young lady said they just referred to it as Japanese soda) and ordered an eel-avocado-carrot-cucumber roll with tempura bits.  I went for a Bento, which at first seemed a bit high at $13.  Seemed.  We were given a card with a number on it to put on a stand wherever we sat.  It had trivia on it.

Hunter got her beverage and I went and filled my glass with tea.  She decided we needed to sit at the lower tables by the couch... I suppose that makes much more sense to her, having shorter legs than mine.  I watched as she attempted to pop the marble into her Ramune before smashing it down in myself.  The lychee flavored beverage is all right, but I'm perfectly happy with iced tea, thank you very much.

As we waited, we chatted.  Hunter got excited when she heard the music overhead switch to the new Fall Out Boy's tune called Centuries, which

samples Suzanne Vega's Tom's Diner.  I regaled Hunter with the information that Tom's Diner was a hit when I was in high school.  She seemed interested in that fact, but I wondered if she once again realized just how old I am.  Probably not.  She's six.  She has about a decade to get cynical on me.

Our food was soon delivered.  Hunter's plate was simple -- a rice-sided roll sliced into eight bite-sized pieces, covered in a mountain of tempura bits.  She eyed the mess as she struggled to pop her chopsticks apart,  I don't think that's what she had expected, but as I reminded her, she hadn't asked about eel sauce.  I did make sure that what she had on top wasn't French's fried onions (yes, that's happened before) and helped her sweep some of the tempura off the top.  Once she dove in, though, she happily consumed most of it.  As I said, she's six.

This was a pretty long roll.  The custom rolls, by the way, are
$8.

The Bento I'd ordered was.... well, the portions were larger than I thought.  How Do You Roll?  offers their bentos as a roll, a hand roll -- er, I'm sorry, cone (they call it), and two appetizers.

I wanted a good ginger side salad and a little seaweed salad.  I got a LOT of seaweed salad and some lovely dark green lettuce topped with a sweet but clear ginger dressing completely unlike what I was expecting.  I am not complaining in the slightest.  This ginger dressing, though rather

sweet, wasn't a puddle of pink watery emulsion like is often experienced when a Japanese restaurant lacks care in preparation.  It was thicker than it looked and it clung to the leaves, and I liked it.

Hunter, of course, was all about my seaweed salad and helped herself to plenty of it.  And still, between the two of us, there was just too much.

Now, I was trying whatever came along, so I chose the Beefinator for my roll.  I guess I was expecting something more similar to The Cowboy at Sushi Cafe or the Beef Roll

at Igibon.  This was neither.  While it did have a nice teriyaki sauce to it, it had a rather overcooked piece of beef within, which gave me the rather odd sensation of having a very solid, very chewy version of southern-style beef and rice with some sweet stuff on top.  I really didn't get much of the avocado and cucumber, but I sure got a LOT of Japanese mayo and sesame seeds.  I think I'll order something different next time.

I got the Rockin' Shrimp for my... sushi cone... okay, yes, that's REALLY bothering me because I am a handroll enthusiast... egads... but this was pretty good. Couldn't really tell a difference between "yum yum" sauce and Japanese mayo, but the tempura shrimp was ample and the cucumber was crunchy.  I was completely not interested in one of the other... cone... options that consisted of chicken and waffles, but I may have also been pretty off that day, too.  After all, I'd just come off the epic 2100 mile nine day roadtrip (which you'll be hearing more about next week) and I was pretty beat.

We ended up taking half my roll, a piece of Hunter's roll and the seaweed salad home for later, which made a great late afternoon snack for her while I was getting laundry done.  I think we're going to go back soon, to try some of the other rolls on a day when I'm not fall-down tired.

So, when we left, I pulled out my phone and played Tom's Diner on it.  I haven't listened to it in about a decade or more.  Strangely, it struck me as maybe more my writing style.  I mean, after all, she doesn't really talk about the food.



That has very little to do with anything, but there you go. Go see what you think about How Do You Roll? and share your thoughts.

How Do You Roll?
1700 Altus Street Suite 105
Conway, AR 72032
(501) 504-6989
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Sushi Thursday: Gold Town Korean BBQ.

Good sushi isn't limited to Central Arkansas.  The northwest part of the state has a surprisingly strong sushi-loving community, and there are several great places to get fresh fish and rice throughout the I-49 corridor.

Of these, Gold Town Korean BBQ in Bentonville is my favorite.  Tucked into the back corner of an unassuming strip mall at SE 14th and J Streets, it doesn't look like much.  There's also the whole term Korean.  Don't worry about it.  You're going to like it.

There are lots of options, including a fantastic bulgogi and bi bim bap, but if you're going for sushi, go for lunch.  The Sushi Lunch special is $10..95, and it's five pieces of nigiri plus your
choice of one of ten rolls --

California, Crab Stick, Tuna, White Tuna, Salmon, Red Snapper, Vegetable, Spicy Crab, Spicy Tuna and Philadelphia -- and it comes with miso.  For a quick lunch, it's nicely priced and quick.

Other possibilities include a Sashimi Lunch and a Roll Combo -- or you can go for the Sushi Special for $8.50 -- which is two rolls from the list above.

We liked the freshness of our rolls.  However, we were a little confused on our first visit.  You order at the front, pay, and then find your seat -- more like a dairy bar than a sit-down restaurant, really.  We were also each given a tiny pajeon upon sitting, a little pancake with zucchini and scallions, a pleasant little surprise.

Our favorite dish from our visits has to be the jalapeno bombs -- fresh jalapenos seeded and stuffed with cream cheese, raw tuna and roe, battered and deep fried, drizzled with hoisin sauce and Japanese mayo and sprinkled with a little green onion.  Amazing.


Gold Town Korean BBQ has an extensive menu, and if we lived closer, we'd probably spend a lot more time in its dark interior.  Give it a shot when you're in Bentonville.  And check out the extensive menu before you go.

Gold Town Korean BBQ
1100 SE 14th Street
 Bentonville, AR 72712
(479) 172-1000

Satisfying Sushi at Samurai Japanese Steakhouse.

This week's sushi outing took me to another place I haven't been before - Samurai Japanese Steakhouse in west Little Rock.  Mind you, I recall about four years ago when it moved into the same long building as Panda Garden (on the other end)

- and I assumed it'd be pricey.  Of course, at that time I wasn't doing as well as I am these days, so anything over the price of Panda Garden's buffet was going to be right out for me.

Being a sushi adventure, Grav and I passed up the chance for a hibachi dinner (which, since it was about 1:15 p.m., would have been weird anyway; there weren't any diners we could spot on that side of the restaurant) for a sushi lunch.  We were given menus and sushi sheets and decided to split a Three Roll Bento and one specialty roll.  Being at Samurai Japanese Steakhouse, the Samurai Roll seemed the obvious choice.

Most of the restaurant is dark, thanks to blinds and recessed windows.  We did get a seat at the brightest corner in the space (we were actually asked "sushi or hibachi?" and this was the sushi section, I'm guessing) and relaxed in a booth with a shiny black-topped table.

I'm guessing the folks at Samurai are used to folks sharing.  Our waitress didn't even bat an eye when I placed the whole order, and she somehow knew to split our starters (the soup to Grav, the salad to me). The miso was lightly cloudy and a hint more salty than what we've experienced at other local restaurants, while the ginger dressing on the salad was particularly creamy, but still pleasant.

The rest of the order all arrived at once.  The Three Roll Bento is just that -- three rolls of choice from the menu (choices include California, Yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, tuna, avocado, shrimp tempura, crunchy crab, eel, cucumber, spicy

salmon, and Alaska rolls).  We had selected a simple tuna roll, shrimp tempura and Alaska rolls.  The simple tuna roll was exactly that -- we noticed the rice wasn't very sticky but it worked all right, and it was very clean and fresh.  The Alaska Roll was filled with crunchy

crab, masago and cucumber, split and half covered in salmon, the other half in avocado.  This was a little unusual for us, but we liked having different choices.

The shrimp tempura roll confused us a little.  I was expecting a simple roll with just shrimp tempura within, but what we received also contained avocado, cucumber and eel sauce and was topped with masago.  There's no description for the shrimp tempura on the sushi menu.

The bento came with two
gyoza (pork dumplings, which Grav seemed to like) and half an orange.  

While the bento was acceptable and satisfying, we both preferred the Samurai roll.  The salmon on top was very fresh and nicely cut, balanced well so the pieces were easy

to maneuver with chopsticks (at least for me).  Packed with a lot of spicy crawfish and some crabmeat as well, it was tightly rolled and topped with the aforementioned salmon and more masago, drizzled with two sauces.  One of those was the typical eel sauce, the other something Grav

mentioned tasted like "kickin' chicken" sauce.  It had a slight barbecue-ish flavor to me, but it worked on this orange-palette roll.  

Samurai Japanese Steakhouse isn't really a standout -- how could it be, with so many other amazing sushi restaurants in town?  But it is steady and the quality is where it should be.  Our lunch came out to $31 before the tip, including our beverages.  Not too bad for a quick lunch.

Samurai Japanese Steakhouse

2604 S. Shackleford Rd, Little Rock, AR 72205

(501) 224-5533
www.samurailr.net

Plenty For Everyone at Tokyo House in Little Rock.

If you'd asked me five years ago what I thought of buffet sushi, I'd have told you to keep it.  Most places around Arkansas that served sushi on a buffet focused very little on the rolls, and in some places the age of said maki was an unknown element.

I'm glad to say my mind's been changed, thanks to Little Rock's (and as far as I know, the state's) only Japanese buffet, Tokyo House.  The venture that went in where other businesses failed to thrive has become a must-stop for sushi lovers -- and one of our two go-to restaurants for lunch when we're indecisive (Star of India being the other choice).

Thing is, every other buffet in town has at one point or another disappointed me.  They start strong, but will lag or even just completely fail later.  Not Tokyo House.  And believe me, we should know.  Couple of times a month, it's lunch.  It's a weeknight dinner at least once a month.  Hunter insists on getting her sushi fix here -- and has been known to talk other people into taking her there.  But why?

Could be that it's not just sushi. The lower level (the buffet is so large there are two separate rooms of it -- one with cold items and sushi, one with hot items and soups and desserts).  There are a lot of usual suspects on the hot buffet -- a shrimp dish with zucchini's one of my favorites.  There's usually

hibachi steak or ribeye, beef wrapped green beans or asparagus, coconut shrimp (pretty sweet), pork chops, some variety of warm fish (usually salmon or a whitefish of some sort), shumai (dumplings), fried rice and either thin noodles

or udon.  There's also often roasted duck or lamb (or both!), volcano roll and grilled calamari.  And there's always spring rolls and long, panko battered shrimp with tempura and duck sauces for dipping.

There are also the often overlooked soups, white rice and fried noodles in the back corner.

Desserts include a variety of fruits (melons, pineapple, grapes, oranges), tiny delicate cakes and cream puffs and three to four colors of Jell-O.

But that's not you're looking for when you see sushi in the title.  There's a whole 'nother section for that.

On the square buffet upstairs (no worries, it's just two steps or a long

ramp away), you'll find salads (seaweed, octopus, traditional lettuce with ginger dressing), cold vegetables and pickles and ginger on one side, cold items such as soba noodles with crabstick and evening-only items

like cold oysters, crab legs and peel-and-eat shrimp on a second.  The other sides are the crowded ones, though -- and at times, it's an elbow-to-elbow match to see who gets what first.

The maki side always has a ton of options, almost always including these rolls: vegetable, shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, rainbow and Spicy Mama.  There's an ever-rotating selection of handrolls -- these go so

fast that it's rare to see more than three at a time in the rack.  And then there are the other rolls that are switched out throughout the day -- Pink Queen, banana-strawberry, Hello Kitty, Little Rock, Superman, softshell crab... during the day, you'll often see Rock N Roll, Green Dragon, Crazy Lover and Philadelphia.  In the evening (when the price point is higher), you may see Long Island, Spicy Titanic, White House or Digital Dragon rolls.  There are always at

least ten rolls available.

The fourth side always has nigiri -- from simple salmon, tako (octopus), ebi (shrimp), tamago (egg), ika (squid), tuna --

plus those marvelous little seaweed pockets (gunkan) of rice and roe.  In the evening, you can also find several varieties of sashimi (that's just the raw fish), tataki, thin slices of raw peppered beef and more.

There are always two and sometimes three sushi chefs working during mealtimes, and at least one during that slow time weekdays

2-4:30 p.m.  They do take some requests, and if you're a regular, they might surprise you with a favorite (such as a plate of very, very fresh salmon nigiri).

So we went last week, Grav and I.  His favorite thing is the grilled calamari.  Alas, this time

it wasn't there.  Grav mentioned this, and within a few minutes an entire platter of grilled calamari was delivered to our table. I'd say it was marvelous, but I only got a tiny piece.  Grav was very, very happy.

One more awesome thing about Tokyo House?  At the end of the meal, you're offered ice cream.  I'm not 100 percent sure on all the favorites, though I believe they include chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  But Grav always gets the green tea and I always get the mint chocolate chip.

Considering how much is offered, the $11.45 lunch buffet at Tokyo House is a STEAL.  Dinner is $16.95 during the week and $20.95 on the weekend, and weekend lunch buffet is $13.45.  You can also order takeout (the takeout menu is very tokyohouselr.com.

reasonable!) but I can't quite imagine why -- unless you're ordering for someone who has no way to get there.  Call (501) 219-4286 or check out

Tokyo House
11 Shackleford Drive
Little Rock, AR 72211