So Much Pasta at Roma Italian Restaurant in Jacksonville.

Some Italian restaurants offer truly tasty food. Some offer gigantic portions. For Roma Italian Restaurant in Jacksonville, both apply. Take a look at what we dined on during our most recent visit.

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.

Hoo-boy, there's some gator on the menu.

This restaurant has closed.

• GRAV WELDON
• CRABBY: Stuffed crab at Cayenne's Cajun Cuisine

Until I started doing this for a living, my husband and I would take a week each year and travel to New Orleans — where we’d eat. Seriously. We went on a culinary vacation every year to New Orleans, usually in October, a few times in December from 2000 to 2005. That year we decided to go in March for some crazy reason. And then there was Katrina.

We still go down and eat from time to time. There’s just something about Cajun and Creole flavors that just make me happy, a need to satisfy that Trinity and Pope obsession (that Trinity being bell pepper, onion and celery, the Pope being garlic). Even now we try to build a few days in the city any time we’re passing from point A to point B.

It’s good to find flavors like that here in Central Arkansas. I’ve actually been pretty surprised over the years that we haven’t seen more Cajun restaurants in the area. Finding out about Cayenne’s Cajun Cuisine meant I had a new place to check out for my Louisiana fix.

We dropped by on a Friday afternoon and decided to split on our meals. My dining companion would try the buffet advertised that night for $15.99. I would choose from the menu.

• GRAV WELDON

My choice — the Seafood Platter ($16.99), which seemed like a goodly amount of food to share between myself and the girl child. While my companion went for his first trip to the buffet, I was presented with a seafood gumbo with a deep brown roux and a lot of 30-45 count size shrimp (about quarter-size). It contained small bits of crab, green onions and a soft smash of trinity throughout. It was served with a bowl of rice on the side. The gumbo was served hot and was nicely spicy, but mild enough my daughter had no issue with it.

• GRAV WELDON

My dining companion returned with a plate of food from the buffet. The hodgepodge included barbecue pork riblets, fried shrimp, dirty rice and — of all things, a softly stewed dish of alligator. The only gator on the menu is fried alligator bites; this was gator served with a nice blend of Cajun spices, slow-cooked like a roast, with a flavor between pork and chicken. It had a tougher texture than chicken and strung out like a red meat, but it had a lot of flavor that was only enhanced by the goodly amount of fat on board.

• GRAV WELDON

The dirty rice, a side item on the menu, is a real winner. Full of bits of meat and spice, it’s a deliciously hearty side that conjures the bayou in the mind.

• GRAV WELDON

My platter was delivered, and immediately everyone at the table realized I’d receive the better deal. It was a big mess of fried, sure — but it was also varied and full of fresh cooked and tasty morsels. There were several nicely fried oysters at the bottom of the heap. Flat pressed shrimp were properly breaded with cornmeal and fried to perfection. An additional shrimp had been stuffed with a slightly spicy crabmeat dressing and given the same treatment. There was a stuffed crab with a little extra kick to it, a whole mess of fries (mashed or baked potato, dirty rice are other side options) and some dark fried, densely packed barely sweet hush puppies.

• KAT ROBINSON

And there were a couple of delicious white fish fillets… white fish. That did throw me off. They weren’t catfish. I woulda just assumed catfish, but no, white fish. Not that I minded. Catfish can be a little too muddy for me.

The girl child could not get enough of the fish. She ate a whole fillet and got halfway through the other. I was glad I at least got a taste.

• GRAV WELDON

Even with the two of us eating on the platter, we still took about half of it home. Heartier appetites might do better.

My dining companion did manage to try the peach cobbler, but wasn’t all that impressed. It was cobbler. The best things on the buffet were meaty things. If you like some varied fried meats supplemented with a little barbecued hog, the buffet is the choice for you.

Cayenne’s offers its buffet any time it’s open. The prices vary. I hear they have crab legs on Wednesday — I could do some real damage there.

You’ll find Cayenne’s Cajun Cuisine on John Harden Road in Jacksonville — north of the air base. (501) 241-2121 or check out the website.

Dinner and Pie.

Home cooking restaurants may seem to come a dime a dozen. But Stout’s Diner goes a lot further than the average, and I'm sure glad for that.

The former gas station north of Gravel Ridge sits on the east side of Highway 107, a white building with a little flea market on the side. Inside, the unassuming eatery’s dining area takes up a considerable amount of space, packed with mismatched booths and tables. Some eccentricities are noticed right off the bat, such as the gigantic mural across the back wall, or the fact that there’s a handbell on every table. There's a sign over the large table in the back that says "The Boneyard." There's a clear case up front with a cake stand on it. This is one of those places where you expect to see folks in bib overalls hunkered over a plate. Those can be the best sorts of restaurants, though.

I've been there many times -- it's not far from my mom's place, and we like to drop in in the middle of the afternoon, sometimes with my brother and almost always with my daughter. They have a pretty good menu with a lot of different options, burgers and sandwiches and plates and the like.

The Sampler Deluxe ($6.99) is a good start -- mushrooms, fried cheese sticks, Jalapeno poppers, empanadas, and chicken wings served fried up together on a platter. Most of the fare is normal, but I really like the empanadas -- little meat-filled pockets of Mexican spiced beef. You could order this for dinner and probably be happy.

Zack and I like the burgers. The Cheeseburger Basket ($5.65) comes with a number of potato options and a drink. Bacon is a dollar extra, and another patty is $2 more. Order the seasoned fries and get a double handful that;s a lot more than you'd get in any fast food establishment. Burgers are big and handmade to order -- as in hand-patted and spiced right then, just like if you were at a cookout at your parent’s house. Hefty chunks of red onion, pickle, tomato, and lettuce rounded out the healthy portion of the burger. As far as the meat goes, this could be the best burger in Pulaski County… it’s that good.

On Friday the daily special is the Catfish Dinner ($7.95 with two sides, a drink, and dessert). The fish is cornmeal battered and firm. Hush puppies are sweet, and the side order of fried cabbage brings back memories of a South Arkansas childhood, sweet and slightly tart. On another occasion, we came back and tried the same dinner with white beans and fresh tomato slices and were not disappointed.

Another Friday option for the same price -- shrimp, a little on the salty side under the cornmeal coating but still very good, especially with a side of soft-on-the-inside fried squash.

Then there are the pies…
good heavens, the pies.
Stout’s does something that no other place we have visited in Arkansas has done -- handmade pies from scratch when they’re ordered.

A selection of said pies is up on the wipeboard when you go in, and you’d best choose what you want right then, in case someone else decides they want it and it runs out. That being said, there’s a large variety of everything from fresh strawberry and blackberry to lemon and chocolate custards to specials like Snickers bar and Key Lime. The dough is cast when you order, filled, sealed, and deep fried to delicious perfection, then dusted with sugar and (depending on the pie and what you tell them you’d like) squirted down a little with chocolate or caramel or even strawberry syrup. The biscuit-like dough is a little salty and not very sweet, but a perfect encasement for the filling you choose. We have now tried enough of these pies (both on dine-in visits and ordered to pick up as we pass by on our way to other places) to be embarrassed to admit the number, and have yet to find one that isn’t worthy. Pies, by the way, run you $2.45.

Stout’s also does a mean breakfast, with omelets and pancakes and the like. The Larger Order of Biscuits and Gravy ($2.75) is massive. The Chicken Fried Steak meat-and-egg combo ($6.95) is crispy and generous. And go for the home fries over the hash browns -- you won’t be sorry.

Stout’s Diner is located at 26606 Highway 107 (north of Gravel Ridge) in Jacksonville. They don't have a website, but you can call them at (501) 983-0163 or (501) 416-1763. They're open Monday-Thursday from seven to six, Friday and Saturday from seven to eight, and Sunday seven to two.