You Need These Mamma Z's Tortilla Factory Tortillas In Your Life.

You haven't tasted corn tortillas until you've sampled the extraordinary, organic version created by Mamma Z's Tortilla Factory in Bentonville. These tortillas aren't created from cornmeal from a sack. They're made from masa ground on-site from organic whole corn, and they are the tortilla you need for your next taco.

A Walk In The Woods - Chihuly In The Forest at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

We're all looking for a little connection. One November afternoon, Grav and I took a walk in the woods to see what it would bring. Mind you, it was $10 a person and we were going to look at a famous glass sculptor's work, but still...

Squirrels A Whirl at World Championship Squirrel Cookoff in Bentonville.

One of Arkansas’s strangest consumable items has to be squirrel.  Grav and I check out the insanity and wonder of the World Championship Squirrel Cookoff in Bentonville.

Walnut Pie at The Station Cafe in Bentonville.

Station Café may be known best today for being a couple doors down from the Walmart Museum. But a singular food item should earn it a spot on your hallowed pie trek agenda.

Two Hours Within Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

When Hunter and I set out on our Spring Break tour of US Highway 71 through Arkansas, I had a destination in mind. Come join us for a photo essay of what Hunter and I encountered at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.

A Visit to Walton's 5 & 10 - The Walmart Museum in Bentonville.

The nation’s largest retailer, Walmart, is based in Bentonville. The museum dedicated to the ubiquitous company is a lot of fun for kids and adults alike. Let's go take a look inside.

A Child's Eye View of the new Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville.

Take a look at the new interactive center just for kids, which offers physical activities, educational opportunities and the chance to play with (fake) dinosaur bones, food and water in Bentonville's up and coming museum district.

A 24 Hour Museum in Bentonville at 21c Museum Hotel.

Museums abound all over Arkansas, ranging from historical to artistic to just plain weird. But just one museum I’ve found manages to stay open all the time. That’s the museum at the 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville.

Burger Joint of the Week: The Hive at 21c Museum Hotel.

Art galleries and major museums are fantastic facilities for observing the visual arts; but often the fare served in the obligatory café or restaurant within fails to achieve such lofty aspirations.

Fortunately, The Hive at the new 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville exceeds the expectation.  That matters doubly for the house burger.

Bentonville: Glasgow's Restaurant Suspended in Time.

Bentonville is full of new, trendy and opulent restaurants.  But one of its oldest remains just east of Rainbow Curve, a bastion of the original Ark-Mex eateries that used to cover the state.  

Glasgow's Mexican and American Foods, when it was first constructed, was located south of the main portion of town on U.S. 81.  

Tavola Trattoria, Bentonville - Fresh, New, Bright.

Bentonville's exploding with fresh new restaurants.  A new and diverse palette of flavors can be found in its downtown -- from Matt McClure's The Hive at 21c Museum Hotel with its ever-fresh emphasis on

regional produce and flavors to the rustic "let's see how many animals we can eat in a sitting" adventure of Tusk and Trotter.  The Italian representative in this new wave happens to be next door to the latter, the airy and distinctive Tavola Trattoria.

Opened in 2011 by the folks that brought the esteemed Table Mesa modern Latin restaurant to the Bentonville square in 2008, Tavola's sleek lines and even sleeker dishes are respectable upscale dining.  Honestly, here's your date night right here. Carl Garrett's second venture offers a new take on traditional Italian classics, and he's dubbed the efforts "modern Italian cuisine."

We dropped by on a suddenly cold September lunchtime for a quick bite -- and to pick up a little more research for the Pasta Week project.  Our seating in the front window of the restaurant was delightful -- a small area of four tables slotted in-between windows facing north and east, separated from the main dining room by sail-light sheeted curtains.  No tablecloths -- this was a lunchtime, as I mentioned -- but still refined.

We chose two specialties for the meal -- that took some doing, since the menu is very, very long.  Meals are offered in individual or family sized portions.  We chose to go with signature dishes, choosing the Tavola from the pizza menu and the Ravioli Tavola, partly because of the descriptions but partly because we were at the "everything looks good" stage and decision making wasn't going to be strong with any of us.

Actually, that's not entirely fair.  Hunter's the one who decided on the Tavola pizza.  She loves gorganzola cheese and she adores pears and once she read that on the menu she had to have it.

I do need to mention the tea -- which was nice and robust and clean.  A beef I have with many restaurants is how tea is made and kept.  I can pretty much tell when the tea is old, or when the tea leaves or bags have been left to sit in the water.  Neither was the case here.  The tea was refreshing and not stale.  Okay, that's it for my tea-nerdiness.

Our dishes arrived together, and they were delightful.  Hunter's choice of the Tavola pizza was spot-on.  The pesto base and the buttery crust were fragrant with parsley and rosemary, nicely nutty.  The pears and the onions had been caramelized together and had merged into a lovely tangy-sweet and savory union.  The arugula gave a tangible crunch to the compilation, and the pecorino and gorgonzola

cheese came together well with that little bit of mozzarella to create the perfect bright and fresh pizza.

Still, even with that, I liked my ravioli better.

The delicate pockets of thin-rolled pasta had been filled with blue crab meat and parmigiano-reggiano cheese with a hint of white wine and cream -- that I later found to be parsnip cream.  I like parsnips.  They were topped with a parmesan cream sauce, shaved parmigiano-reggiano and dried herbs and served not only with asparagus (the menu calls for seasonal vegetables) but a magnificent red pepper cream sauce

expertly traced along the inside edge of the plate... along with a single tomato.  The presentation was absolutely perfect.

And it was utterly delicious.  I've had many a frou-frou plate set before me that delighted me with flavors but disappointed me in satisfaction, and this was not the case.  The plump pouches weren't oversized but they were filled within a squidge of bursting and the flavors they contained were fantastic.

Tavola doesn't seem to have a separate lunch or dnner menu -- but that's all right.  For a romantic dinner, it'd be absolutely marvelous.  Sharing the experience with my daughter was pretty dang magical, and I can report she highly approves of this restaurant.

I really want to come back and try the Polpettone, the Wagyu beef in parmesan cream sauce and Buffalo mozzarella -- along with the Veal Osso Bucco (which I would have ordered, had it not been only offered at dinner) and the Tavola Ratatouille with butternut squash and goat cheese.  And I absolutely have to come back for the poached Chianti pear.

Tavola Trattoria
108 SE A St, Bentonville, AR 72712
(479) 715-4738
tavolatrattoria.com

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

Fred's Hickory Inn - Sam's Favorite Spot for Sirloin.

Many of the restaurants I have covered over the years were started by young folks who had a vision. Fred’s Hickory Inn started with a couple who were retiring at the end of other careers.

Kansas City Transplant Brings Fine Dining To Bentonville.

Kansas City’s loss is Bentonville’s gain. Four star restaurant chef Al Rubaie has opened up Rubaie’s Café on the south end of the shopping center at Walton and Macy. Now Rubaie is offering up splendid dishes made from scratch to diners for lunch and dinner.

Rubaie spent 30 years in the restaurant business. One of his restaurants in Kansas City made Esquire Magazine’s list of the Top 100 New Restaurants in America back in 1982. He came to Bentonville two years ago at the insistence of family and friends and opened up shop. He didn’t come alone. His son, Al Junior, works alongside him in the kitchen.

Rubaie’s concept is simple. “I wouldn’t fix anything for a customer I wouldn’t eat myself. Everything is top grade, high quality, daily made. It’s a la minute,” he says, “nothing here is pre-cooked.”

That’s what we found when we went back into the kitchen. Everything was impeccably clean and put away when we arrived, yet moments later Rubaie was already cooking, pulling out fresh ingredients from cabinets and refrigerators and creating his dishes from scratch. As we watched he created Salmon with Lobster Sauce, gently cooking the salmon to the perfect doneness. He whipped up a homemade Fettuccini sauce and added shrimp, tossed some noodles in and finished off the dish. At the same time he managed to flame a ribeye steak to perfection, adding in an herb sauce at the critical moment. There’s no question Al Rubaie is a comfortable genius in the kitchen.

His concept is simple -- good European food served at accessible prices, all made from scratch when it’s ordered. There are influences of Greek, Italian and French echoed throughout the menu -- which features such dishes as Lobster Tail Thermidor; a charbroiled lamb chop with French gravy, almond and cilantro; and a fabulous Rib Eye Garlic served with fresh herbs, garlic sauce and mushrooms.

Dinners like this in a big city would run you around $50 a person, but you can feed two for that for dinner here. Lunch is even more accessible, with everything on the menu under $10.

About his son, Rubaie says “he’s a good kid. Wants to be a restaurant man.” The younger Rubaie is in the kitchen rather than the classroom, learning the tricks of the trade from his dad.

Rubaie’s Café has a full liquor license, making it one place you can get just about anything you want to drink with your meal.

You can find Rubaie’s Café on South Walton Boulevard at Rainbow Curve, 3404 SE Macy Road Suite 20 in Bentonville. (479) 271-7858. The restaurant is open for lunch Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and for dinner Monday-Saturday 4:30-9 p.m.

Petit Bistro, Jewel of North(west) Arkansas.

There’s a little jewel of a restaurant in the far northwest corner of the state. It’s a diminutive little restaurant on a large plot of land, and it’s offering up a lot of big ideas and dishes.

The place? Petit Bistro, open since April 2010 on Walton Boulevard on the north side of Bentonville. 30-year old executive chef Dane Main of Winfield, KS is creating dishes for just about every budget.

Photographer Grav Weldon and I sat down with Chef Dane on a blustery Friday evening to discover what makes the guy tick. We talked over iced tea and the fabulous dip of the night, a honey mustard garlic dip strong on fresh garlic, served up with crispy shards of breadsticks.

Main has been shining his culinary star since his college days. He progressed through culinary school in Charleston, SC and on through the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Main did some time at Big Guy’s Subs and Bakery before this break. Owner Dario Amini asked Main if he’d be interested in a new operation, and in April 2010 the two opened up Petit Bistro on Walton Boulevard north of Bentonville’s downtown district.

The house itself dates back to 1903. Before life as Petit Bistro, it was a smokehouse joint. The Bistro sits in the front of the nearly eight acres of the property. Out back there’s a patio bordered by a spring that originates on the property, that’s 52 degrees year-round. During the summer months smooth jazz and laid back tunes grace the open space. It’s a creative use for this little property, a creativity that matches up well with Main’s funky mix of cuisines and cultures.

“It’s really eclectical, a mix of French dishes, food that resembles Mediterranean cuisine, an Asian influence,” says Main. “We’re not pinned down to one sort of idea.”

Part of Main’s ability to keep such a fresh and inventive menu going comes from the boss, who’s allowed him to shape his own sort of menu. “I have 100 percent creative control over the menu. But I still take suggestions.”

One of those suggestions came from Amini, who came up with Petit Burgers -- three adorable Kobe beef burgers seasoned with mint, salt and pepper served up on diminutive custom Brioche buns with Bleu cheese and caramelized onions, topped with cherry tomatoes and tiny dills. They’re one of the menu items that will stay; Main plans to change the menu four times a year, with just a few items remaining from one season to the next.

That’s not to say that Main sticks strictly with the menu. He’s been known to dilly-dally with impromptu specials. The complimentary dip he serves up with breadsticks changes almost every night -- some nights it’s an olive tapenade, other nights a red pepper coulis, still others a fruit compote. He also has a great time with desserts.

“A lot of the operation is in the show, and a lot of it is instinct,” says Main. “If the night is perfect and the group is right, I’ll come out with my Bananas Flambé. The bananas in flame, the sugar sparking, that’s the sort of thing people remember when they leave. It’s not just good food, it’s the presentation.”

It’s one thing to be given creative control in a big city kitchen. But the kitchen at Petit Bistro is smaller than many home kitchens. Main and his sous chefs operate in a space that’s absolutely claustrophobic; a well choreographed ballet between the chefs combined with a fastidiously organized workspace that extends upwards through the use of multiple shelves is all that’s keeping the kitchen symphony from disintegrating into cacophony. Still, the chefs managed to allow Grav and I a chance to experience the constant motion of the tiny space without a single collision.

And what you’ll find in that kitchen… while we were standing there, we noticed mussels, shrimp and pasta being sautéed and flipped gently at the stove. Tiny Kobe beef patties were charbroiling on the tiny elevated grill. One chef put his touches on the tightly composed mountain of Steak au Poivre before sending it out.

Chef Main has been very interested in the locavore movement, reaching out to suppliers and searching out items to bring into Petit Bistro. “We try hard to use local products and our Farmers’ Market. We’re hoping to start our own herb and vegetable garden. Imagine vegetables picked and cooked on the same day.”

Grav continued to watch and shoot while Chef Main and I sat to chat some more. We shared notes about our children; he has two daughters, eight year old Aliya and two year old Jaelyn. Main came to the area after his culinary education to rejoin his family, who had moved from Kansas to northwest Arkansas in the intervening years. He brought with him his childhood sweetheart, Melinda, who he dated from the age of 16.
But Main’s interests haven’t just been in the culinary arts. He’s had a country band, which he describes as “red dirt” --- and a couple of years ago he performed in front of 16,000 people during semi-final rounds of American Idol. “Two years ago I decided to give it a shot. I was 28 -- that’s the cut-off age -- and it was something I’d always wanted to do.” Main actually made it through the second round of judging.

He has a pipe dream. “I’d love to be able to head in the direction of Nashville in five years with my music.” Main’s band was quite active before Petit Bistro started up, but the busy life of a restaurant’s executive chef has kept him from performing these past few months.

For now, it’s all about the restaurant. Petit Bistro recently added lunch. Main says he has a great team of chefs and bartenders who have been with him since the start of the endeavor. They seem comfortable and friendly not just with the clientele but with each other.

Grav caught one of the girls making up the restaurant’s signature cocktail -- a Basil, Mint and Rosemary Martini full of lime juice. The levels of green are pretty on their own below the sugar-encrusted glass rim; one is first struck with the fresh flavors of basil before the bite of rosemary becomes apparent. The vodka based martini finishes cleanly.

Main says he loves having musical acts come in on the weekends. There’s a patio out back perfect for basking in a sunset during the summer months with a nice smooth jazz trio or quartet. Main says he and his boss have fiddled around with the idea of getting a jam group together for the holidays. I can see that; the team the two have put together flows well in the tiny space.

I noticed something while we were there… over the two hours of our interview, customers flowed into the space… and stayed. There’s no rush to clear tables for new seatings at Petit Bistro. In fact, a group of eight were already into their cups when we arrived and stayed until the eatery closed much later in the evening, the constituents rambling and laughing together over small plates and drinks, obviously enjoying themselves. I asked the chef about this. “We’re casual here. This is a place for people to come and enjoy themselves. We’re not concerned with getting them in and out in an hour.”

You’ll find all sorts of folks inside the restaurant -- couples enjoying a romantic dinner, friends out for a drink, executives from northwest Arkansas’ power companies breaking bread together. The wine list accommodates them all -- from the $19 a bottle LaVielle Ferme Rose to the $883 Chateau Margaux-Bordeaux 1998 Premiere Grand Cru. Main confirms the Chateau’s not a red herring; it’s purchased on a pretty regular basis.

Menu options are similarly varied in price. We sampled a few of the chef’s dishes -- a Caprese Salad ($9) generous on the Mozzarella was an early favorite. The Escolar Puttanesca ($19) was a surprisingly hearty whitefish dish; the firm and buttery escolar held well against a bed of cilantro-enhanced Basmati Jasmine rice, paired with roasted asparagus and topped with a sautéed mélange of grape tomatoes, sliced garlic cloves and capers.

But our favorite dish, hands down, was the simple yet beautifully composed Spinach Pear Salad ($9), a salad inspired by a popular dish from the now defunct The Sanctuary Restaurant. It’s a sliced pear poached in a fantastic aged Madeira with cinnamon and nutmeg, served on a bed of baby spinach with candied walnuts, fine Bleu cheese and dried cranberries drizzled with a Chambord vinaigrette. Chef Main specifically designed this dish as a challenge to strike balance with all flavors -- sweet, sour, savory, salty. This dish has it all. That pear alone is the most fantastic thing I’ve put in my mouth in a long time.