Eat Pie All Through Arkansas's River Valley!

Love pie?  Arkansas has more than its share of great pie places.  No matter the part of the state you happen to be in, there’s a great pie ahead of you. And if you're close to US Highway 64 in western Arkansas, you're in for a LOT of pie.

Let's Go Back to The Old South in Russellville.

The last of a great restaurant chain that began in 1947, Russellville's venerable Old South Restaurant still offers a steady, sturdy diner experience today.

Russellville: Taco Villa is Consistanty There.

When it comes to dining like a local, and being a RussVegas local, that local Tex-Mex joint you visit is Taco Villa. And for those of us who have ever spent time at the little brown shack on 4th Street, the flavors at this place will always bring back memories.

Umami brings fusion cuisine to Russellville.

If you were to tell me when I went to Arkansas Tech that you could find good sushi in Russellville, I woulda laughed you out of the room. Sushi? Russellville? Wasn’t going to happen.
Of course, we’re talking 20 years ago now. Things have changed. And yes, you can find sushi in Russellville these days. And it’s even good sushi. Spicy, yes, but good.

What’s more startling to me is that you can find it in a very suave environment complete with black and red fixtures, downtempo music and trendy booths. It’s like a piece of urbanity has taken root in a town best known for being the home of “Redneck Tech.” That place is Umami.

I tried it out on a whim a few weeks ago. It was a nice kicked back weekday night and I wanted something refreshing and cool. The place was hopping but my dining companion and I were quickly ushered to one of the rare corners with a little light. If there’s anything Umami lacks, it’s light.



We decided to try a little bit of this and that, deciding to share a couple of rolls and some hibachi grill. We split the starter bits — my dining companion’s miso was on the typical side but good; my salad with ginger dressing was rather heavy on the ginger dressing but was also good. There you go.

We shared some Vegetable Hibachi ($11.95, with the soup and salad) and paid the extra couple of bucks for the fried rice. It was a nice fine collection of vegetables, including some rather plump mushrooms and substantial bits of zucchini, which I enjoy way too much. Umami isn’t outfitted for teppankayi cookery at the tables, but everything came out nice and hot, and the rice was pleasantly nutty.

And then there were the rolls. Now, I have to say this: Umami is an Asian fusion restaurant, unlike its sister restaurant Onami across town over by Tech. The sushi is spicier. MUCH spicier. We shared the simple Spicy Tuna roll ($5.75) — which was a bit overly spicy for my taste but paired up with a bit of cucumber in the roll for a little heat control. It was more than pleasant.

What we really adored, though, was the big fat Rich and Famous Roll ($11.95), a fat and handsome oversized roll similar to a Rainbow Roll, but filled with lots of fish. It took the beautiful colors of a traditional Rainbow and tied them all up and about with salmon, tuna, eel and avocado, stuffed with smoked salmon, crab and avocado. The big pieces were almost too heavy for chopsticks, but they were thick and plentiful and a meal in themselves.

I do plan to return at some point and try more food — it had been the intention to try more things on this trip, but the food was extraordinarily filling. I am curious about the Bayou Bites ($7.95 for crawfish battered and served with lime sauce), Japanese Curry ($5.95 served over white rice) and the Sake Six Pepper Ribeye ($17.95 for a 10 ounce ribeye and fixings). I’m also curious to see whether they actually manage to sell any Baja Tacos — tacos made up with fried crawfish and mango salsa. And seriously — I have never seen Sausage Fried Rice anywhere else.

You’ll find Umami on North Elmira north of Main Street, a block south of Parkway. Check out the Facebook page or call (479) 967-8889.

Burger joint of the week: CJ's Butcher Boy Burgers

• GRAV WELDON
• MADE FROM SCRATCH: CJ's burgers aren't smashed until you arrive and order

• GRAV WELDON

How could I go naming all these great burger joints and leave out CJ’s Butcher Boy Burgers? To be honest with you, I’ve been putting it off a while. I figured I’d save it for later.

Or something like that. You’ve no doubt read what I had to say about the place on Serious Eats last year. I still feel the same way… though I absolutely love and adoreFeltner’s Whatta-Burger, I have to hand it to CJ’s for turning out an excellent, decent burger, the best you can get in the city of Russellville. You can’t get any better than fresh.

And you can't get any fresher than CJ's.

• GRAV WELDON

Fresh is exactly what you get when you walk through the door at CJ’s. It’s clean, full of red and white décor with a free jukebox in the corner. The burger is in the cooler up front, right where you can see it — balls of freshly ground chuck laying next to chuck steaks that are about to be turned into ground chuck. There are slices of cheese, fresh tomatoes and lettuce and onions.

When you place your order at the counter, as you order fries the potatoes are picked up, put up in the top portion of

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a slicer and pressed down, instantly turning into 3/8 inch straws of raw potato. They’re delivered to a fryer basket, dunked to cook, pulled out and checked and dunked again before being liberally sprinkled with the house spice

• GRAV WELDON

(which flavors somewhere between Cavender’s and Cotham’s house seasoning). The fries are never bright yellow. They’re a golden brown, sometimes a little darker than might look appetizing but always hot and fresh.

That burger when you order it hits the hot griddle and gets smashed down flat, seasoned a little and allowed to cook in its own juices. Maybe you go for some grilled

• KAT ROBINSON

onions or mushrooms with it, and those get cooked there too.

• GRAV WELDON

The bun’s toasted and set out waiting for the meat. Cheese is applied when the meat nears doneness for that nice melty sensation. It’s all slid over onto the bun — a little squirt of condiment of your choice if you ask for it, then the grilled vegetation and the patty with or without the cheese, the lettuce and tomato and onion on top with a little condiment glue holding the top bun on. The burger’s usually sat a little sideways in the basket to accommodate the fries.

And then there are the shakes, thick hand-pulled shakes in chocolate, strawberry or vanilla (though if you ask nicely you can get a half-and-half). They’re spoon-thick and icy cold and you’ll probably finish your burger before you’re able to smoothly suck it through a straw.

• GRAV WELDON

CJ’s has gained some renown. It’s also right off the north side of I-40, on the west side of Highway 7. It’s a good place to stop before you make the curvy trek northwards into the Ozarks. It’s also a nice place to listen to Percy Sledge bellow out “When A Man Loves A Woman.” Take a date or the family.

• GRAV WELDON

If you really like the spice that goes on just about everything except the shakes, you can pick up a shaker-full to take home. Just don’t drop by on Sunday, CJ’s doesn’t open on the Sabbath. (479) 968-2300.

And if you’re wondering why the sign you see from the interstate says “CJ’s Burger Boy,” that’s because up until the mid-90s it was a Waffle House. I once spent a Christmas Eve there. But that’s a story for another time.

Side items star at Pudgy Pig BBQ

• KAT ROBINSON
• RING OF SMOKE: Under the "crust" on Pudgy Pig's beef brisket

The Russellville contingent of Eat Arkansas fans have been after me to go check out this new barbecue place in town. Problem’s been, every time I’ve pulled up in the parking lot of Pudgy Pig BBQ, the place has been deserted.

Monday I gave them one last shot. I figured, I’d been there too early one day (they open at 11 a.m.), too late one evening (they close at 7 p.m. on weekdays), too wrong day (they’re never open on Sunday) and just unlucky all the way around. Maybe it was a sign.

Still, I was relieved to see the OPEN sign lit above the door when we drove up. I did go check the front door to make sure it was open before the family poured out of the vehicle, though.

• KAT ROBINSON

Inside, we found a pretty big restaurant. There’s a wooden divider up by the door, so it was hard to tell just how big the place was, but behind it the store goes straight back a ways. You could get a crowd of 40 in there.

We were the only customers that early afternoon, coming in after 2 p.m. The menu is written on chalkboard above the counter. There was a daily special — a medium pork sandwich, one side and a drink for $8.29.

We each ordered something different. Paul’s dad went for a large pulled pork sandwich (not pictured) with crinkle cut French fries and coleslaw for $9.69. The sandwiches listed on the board are Pudgy (for pork) and Moo (for brisket) and each comes in one of three sizes with a choice of that or a basket.

Paul went for the pulled pork BBQ Meat Platter ($8.29) and I chose the same but with beef brisket ($9.29). Both came with two sides and two triangles of Texas toast. We sat down and our beverages were brought to the table.

I thought it was cute — the restaurant has a high chair but no booster seat, but the proprietor (whose name escapes me right now) brought out a t-shirt box for Hunter to sit on. It was the perfect height.

He was the only one working at the time, his wife having taken off for a break. I gathered that the business is just the two of them, which explains the hours. He told me he comes in at six each morning to start the smoker.

Our lunches were delivered a few minutes later. I’ve never seen barbecue brought out on a square “fancy plate” before, but no matter, it’s still barbecue, right?

• KAT ROBINSON

So first the meat. Paul found his pulled pork to be rather soft and juicy, nicely shredded but not very smoky. It was tender, though. He tried it with the regular sauce and liked it. He also tried it with a special mustard sauce that the owner calls “pork sauce,” a mustard and brown sugar concoction that was very, well, mustardy. Paul pronounced it a better sauce for the meat.

• KAT ROBINSON

I suppose I should mention those sauces. There are three on the table 

• KAT ROBINSON

— the mild, which comes across as a honey-based sauce with plenty of good rub spices like paprika and black pepper. There’s the spicy, which is a kicked up version of the mild, just as sweet and about on par with the average mild sauce elsewhere. And then there’s the cayenne, which we were told was based on Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. The “pork sauce” is available on request.

My brisket was pull-apart soft, no knife required (or provided, I probably should ask). It was a tiny bit dry but had a very deep red smoke ring. I found it went best with the spicy sauce — enough sweetness to augment the beef and enough spices to give it depth.

• KAT ROBINSON

While the meats were good, the side items were fantastic. Utterly fantastic. The traditional coleslaw wasn’t too milky. The Cajun coleslaw, though — well, you need to try it. It’s a blend of cabbage, green onions, Granny Smith apples, Craisins (sweetened and dried cranberries), a little bit of green Jalapeno and a little hint of cayenne. 

• KAT ROBINSON

We got a sample of it and were just overjoyed.

Then there were the two different potato salads. Paul tried the Home Style Potato Salad — which includes bacon, green onions and little pieces of tomato. He pronounced it good for a mayo-based potato salad, the caveat being he prefers his potato salads with mustard. The chunks of skin-on red potato range up to half an inch and are firm but not quite mash-tender.

• KAT ROBINSON

I tried the Country Potato salad, which was also mayo based but which featured skin-off potatoes with bits of red onion and celery. This is a very smooth potato salad, and I ended up losing about half of it to Hunter, who could not get enough of it. She chose it over the Home Style version.

• KAT ROBINSON

And then there was the Fried Corn on the Cob. I’ve had versions of Fried Corn on the Cob before, and every other time it’s been battered before being deep fried. Not here. The frozen cobbettes are thrown directly into the deep fryer, drained and buttered. And they’re good… the deep frying caramelizes the corn, making it firmer and sweeter. I got in a few bites before Hunter decided she wanted it. It was funny to watch — she consumed all of the kernels and then went to town chewing on the cob. If we hadn’t taken it away from her she would have undoubtedly started to take chunks out of the woody part.

In all, we were pleased with our visit. The price range seems a bit up there compared to Old Post BBQ across town, but the quality of the side items makes up for it. Baked beans, fried okra and green beans are other side item options. All sides are $1.75 for a single, $3 for a half pint and $4.75 for a pint. I think I’ll be getting a pint of that Cajun coleslaw and the County Potato Salad next time I come through.

You can also have a baked potato, baked sweet potato or side salad with your meal but it costs a bit more.

• KAT ROBINSON

One more thing… when I went back to my notes, I noticed that there were other items I’ll have to try. The pork ribs have been highly recommended and I’ll have to get a human guinea pig to give them a shot. There are also sausages (Polish, bratwurst and hot links), smoked turkey breasts and stuffed baked potatoes — I’m going to have to ask if beef can be substituted for the pork listed with them. I also need to ask about the Rib Scraps for People for $3.99 — would that be four-legged people? Hm.

I also missed out on the Triple Layer Bars at the front… $2.25 for these big hunks of chocolate, coconut and peanut butter. Maybe next time.

You’ll find Pudgy Pig BBQ a block east of Weir Road on Parkway (geez, they just built Parkway when I lived there in the early 90s!) — so it’s an easy off-and-on from the interstate at the new Weir Road exit. They’re open Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-7 p.m., an hour later on Friday and Saturday and like all proper barbecue restaurants closed on Sunday. (479) 967-6062.

Burger joint of the week: Feltner's Whatta-Burger

• KAT ROBINSON
• SISSY: Whatta-Cheese with Lettuce, Tomato, Mayo

There's likely not much more I can expound upon when it comes to Feltner's Whatta-Burger... same flat burgers, same American cheese, same big bag of fries that you've been picking up for years when in Russellville for Wonderboy games. So I'm not going to. However, not mentioning Whatta-Burger would be akin to not mentioning The Butcher Shop for steaks or Star of India for Indian food. There are just some thing that are a given. Read what I had to say about Feltner's at Serious Eats.

Shine On.

Contrary to my husband’s assertion, I am not a Christmas Nazi. He believes since I manage to haul out the Christmas tree about every other year that I’m obsessed with holiday music, Christmas card exchanges and the best Dirty Santa gift possible. He’s rather wrong about most of that.

I do admit, I love to bake for Christmas and will start in on that the first weekend in December, baking one loaf of banana nut bread after another until everyone in our social circle who wants one has their very own loaf. But I avoid Christmas music to the point of abandoning the stores during the holidays. I’m lucky if I get Christmas cards out each year and can’t remember the last time I was even invited to play Dirty Santa.

My one big joy is Christmas lights. I don’t actually partake of the phenomenom -- me, ladders, the roof and electrical wiring should never mix. But I applaud efforts all around. I also sometime feel a boggle of the mind comparing the daytime appearance of a home to its illuminated glory at night.

Nowhere have I ever seen does quite a great a job as Russellville. From Tanglewood to Skyline there are residents that do their best to share their holiday spirit by creating almost immaculate, imaginative yard decorations. I’ve enjoyed these ever since the early 90s, when I’d find myself delivering pizzas to homes in neighborhoods neatly outlined in luminarias, the oversized colored bulbs on the roofs carefully measured out for the best appearance from the street. In other neighborhoods thousands of lights in different colors would be strung over homes, trees and anything else not expected to be mobile in the month of December.

You think this might have been limited to the more upscale neighborhoods, but some of the finest displays I encountered were in trailer parks and in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, efforts by those who were probably spending a bit more on their electric bill that month than their budgets probably should have allowed.

We’ll drive up to Russellville at some point during the season to visit relations and friends and to take Hunter on a twilight drive through the same neighborhoods, to listen to her call out her surprise and wonder. My husband and I will giggle at each other, recalling our courting days in the River Valley town. It’s a family bonding moment I’m looking forward to.

Why, though, are we culturally inclined to love these tiny blinking lights and illuminations of the dark? There is a history of such things… The spread of tract housing in the 1960s seems to have brought the advent of the outdoor home light display -- which means I’ve never known a time when illuminating one’s house with tiny lights wasn’t considered somewhat normal. Eastern Europe saw its share of candle-clad trees (and I’m sure the appropriate number of Christmas tree fires) dating back to the 17th century, and the first electrically-lit Christmas tree appeared in the White House in 1895. But I believe this phenomenom might go back further to something primal, the desire to cluster around light and heat as the winter closes in.

But I digress. As a younger woman it was no weird thing for me and the hubster to drive all over a town looking for light displays -- we had more time than money and all we were spending was 99 cent a gallon gas. Age and parenthood has eaten our time. That’s why I’m thankful for events like the Holiday Trail of Lights -- the statewide effort to light up downtowns and neighborhoods so everyone can enjoy the show. You too can check it out at the Department of Parks and Tourism page. Knowing us, there will be at least one night here in Central Arkansas when we bundle up Hunter, curl up in the van and drive to Burns Park, through downtown Little Rock and up to the State Capitol, just to see the splendor and hear our little girl ooh and ah.

A Restaurant Love Affair.

Ah, Stoby’s. I’ve had a 19 year love affair with the place, not for its eponymous cheese dip but for its breakfasts, corned beef and pies.

See, people know the name Stoby’s because of cheese dip… in-state they see it in stores (I recall the hubbub when it went into stores some time back) and out-of-state because of Kris Allen, the American Idol guy who’s the lucky goose for getting that lifetime supply of Stoby’s cheese dip. Stoby’s yellow dip just won second place at the World Cheese Dip Championships. It’s that good.

And I like the dip -- more concisely I like the yellow dip, the white dip’s okay but I can’t get my head around it being Stoby’s dip. But that's not all there is to the restaurant. In fact, there's a lot more than just the Stoby sandwich, too. There's a whole lot of food on the menu.

My favorite meal at Stoby's is breakfast. Now, usually I go for The Northerner ($6.49), corned beef hash and two eggs with a biscuit and hash browns. I ate it when I went to school at Arkansas Tech in the early 90s, I ate it when Stoby's opened up briefly while I was living in Jonesboro. And I still eat it sometimes when I can make my way up to Russellville in the morning hours.

But there are other good breakfasts, paired with fabulous biscuits, moist and a little cakey, soft and hot. I could already sing the praises of Stoby's housemade strawberry jam, which comes served up in a squirt bottle for easy application along with a bottle of squirt Parkay. The biscuits are just salty enough to make your mouth water; the jam reminiscent of homemade strawberry compote for shortcakes, that bright red that almost doesn't seem natural.

I like the Ole' Omelette ($5.80). How could you go wrong with Stoby's chili, cheese and such. The chili and the cheese do fine together with the egg, in a stick-to-your-ribs sort of way. Paired up with a hearty bowl of grits, and you have a meal that won't leave you craving lunch. And if you beg really hard, they’ll bring you some cheese dip with it.

There’s lunch at Stoby’s which often includes the Stoby ($5.65) -- three meats and two cheeses of your choice on the bread of your choice. The Stoby can be just about anything -- ham, turkey, summer sausage, salami or bologna in any combination; American, Swiss, Provolone, Mozzarella, Pepper Jack or Monterrey Jack cheeses; sourdough, rye, wheat bread, pita, bun or croissant for the bread. Because of this it’s really hard to photograph the perfect Stoby.

They do a mean Reuben ($6.55) with sliced corned beef on fresh baked rye bread with the thousand island dressing and kraut. It can be offered with mustard instead.

I dig the Hickory Burger ($6.85), which comes with Stoby’s own hickory barbecue sauce and Cheddar cheese and a couple of strips of bacon. I usually get the bacon on the side and let my dining companion du jour have it. Something about that sauce and burger meat just goes together so well.

Paul usually goes for the same thing, every single time -- the Stoby’s Nachos, ($5.95) with chili and Cheddar cheese and pico and lettuce and jalapenos served up on those thick yellow chips.

I’ve had both variations now -- you can also have Chicken Fajita Nachos ($6.95) that come with sautéed chicken, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes and the spicy white cheese dip on those chips. They’re both pretty good.

But Paul's also been known to go for a burger, and if he does the burger he gets the super-hot Jamaican Jerk Cheeseburger ($6.85) with its hot Jamaican Jerk sauce. You can almost see the steam rising from his ears when he eats it.


There are the pastries, too -- especially the Colossal cinnamon rolls ($1.85) for breakfast. They‘re not always available -- if there‘s a rush on them early in the morning you‘re going to miss out. They‘re fresh baked confections of rolled dough and cinnamon, topped with a gooey frosting and pecans. And they are to die for.

Of course, Stoby’s isn’t just Stoby’s any more. It’s also PattiCakes Bakery -- both the Conway and Russellville locations have PattiCakes sitting across the parking lot. It’s named after Patti, David Stobaugh’s wife -- that’s the owner of Stoby’s, in case you weren’t aware. And their fudge is to die for. I’m a huge fan of pistachio nut. They also do doughnuts -- and the Red Velvet cake doughnuts? Aw, man. PattiCakes does those baked goods for Stoby’s like the buttery huge croissants. Right there. That’s it.

You know, I still prefer the Russellville location, even though I’m closer to the Conway store living in Little Rock. It’s that whole college-age nostalgia going on there. I like getting a booth and watching the trains pass overhead. So does my daughter.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Possum Pie. PattiCakes provides a lot of desserts to the stores, including a nice selection of cakes and several pies. Possum Pie is my favorite -- with its layers of chocolate, sour cream/cream cheese and whipped cream. It's tart and chocolate all in one, my favorite.

You'll find the Russellville Stoby's on Parkway (wow, seems weird not to call it "D Street") a block west of Arkansas. In Conway, it's on Donaghey north of UCA. Oh, heck, just go look at the website.

My favorite breakfasts: Stoby's.

• KAT ROBINSON
• STRAWBERRY JAM: Homemade, squirtable at Stoby's

Now that the list of the best breakfasts in Arkansas is out — I can share with you my favorites. Consider this a countdown.

I've written many times about Stoby's... and frankly, Stoby's has a leg up on most of the competition with PattiCakes right across the lot at both locations. I ramble on about the Ole Omelet, pastries and cheese dip over at Tie Dye Travels.

Next: Chocolate plus pancakes equals awesome.