Breakfast, Lunch and Chatter at Gadwall's Grill.

I know Gadwall's Grill is a classic.  I have memories, ever so long ago, of being a teenage bridesmaid in a particular October wedding where the reception was held in the back room of the then-somewhat young new restaurant in North Little Rock's North Hills restaurant.

My teenage years -- and that black bridesmaid dress -- are nothing but memories today, but Gadwall's Grill saunters on. Karen Bryant and Jane Schubert, a couple of sisters, sold their Wal-Mart stock in the late 80s and bought the former Rob's Place restaurant building on the dividing line between North Little Rock and Sherwood.  Named for a particular breed of duck, this neighborhood bar and grill manages to keep people coming in, year after year.

That's probably why on my latest visit there wasn't a table to be found... a late Saturday morning breakfast foray into the eatery atop a hilltop found few places to park, every table in the place taken and a few folks even waiting by the door.

Being on my own, I managed to grab a seat at the bar, where a copy of the statewide paper was sitting out and where a young man had a full mug of coffee in front of me before I'd even located a breakfast menu.  Not that I was going to need it.  I'd come with a particular dish in mind.

This happens to be it.  This is the Gut Bomb, scrambled eggs piled high with chili, jalapeno peppers and cheddar cheese.  You can have hash browns or breakfast potatoes with it, a biscuit or English muffin or toast as well.

Why was I so eager for

this concoction?  Masochism, I suppose, The sheer number of jalapenos tightly placed in a thick layer between cheese and chili would flatten even the most earnest diner.  Most of these ended up on the side of my plate... and my waitress asked if I wanted to save them for dessert.

But that chili... oh, man, that chili.  Gadwall's Grill actually offers two types, a white chili and one that's called Woman Made Chili, which is a beany, beefy cumin-laden concoction worthy of lone enjoyment.  I won't turn down beans for breakfast, and this ample serving that about obliterated the obligatory eggs beneath was substantial. I skipped lunch after this grand repast.

Of course, I have to mention something else.  This breakfast came with dessert -- I ordered my plate with the biscuit option and a side of chocolate gravy.  Now, I can take or leave chocolate gravy.  The Arkansas-based condiment is often abused and even outright replaced with soupy chocolate pudding some places.  It's often too salty or too sweet and sometimes outright unwelcome.  But that's not the case at Gadwall's, where the syrup-thick roux is buttery with the perfect sweet to salt balance.  It's the best chocolate gravy I've had in any restaurant, and 'twere not for the audience you get of cooks and wait staff when you sit at a restaurant's bar, I might have been better tempted to drink it straight from the bowl.  Doused as it were on pliant, thick biscuit halves, it was a marvelous end to a meal and a perfect coffee accompaniment.

But wait, there's more.

So, Woman Made Chili.  I can and indeed have eaten it on its own and with crackers.  As far as I am concerned, it's the reason Gadwall's continues to exist.  Gadwall's has been many things over its 25 or so years... with a brief expansion to West Little Rock and a span of time

with a next-door eponymous pizzeria.  I know there are individuals who would rather swear on the Great Northern bean and chicken breast white chili, and it's more than adequate.

But Woman Made Chili is Gadwall's raison d'être, a substance that permeates the menu on Bonsai Nachos and short chili dogs.  It is simply hearty, delicious eats.

Grav and I recently stopped in for a bite, where he tried the Chicken Nachos, a platter-sized mound of tortilla chips slathered in cheese dip (of the yellow, spice-packed variety), gobs of shredded chicken, black olives, jalapenos and tomato chunks.  An impressive site to behold, and far more than one individual should undertake in a sitting.

I did rather enjoy the Old Fashioned Cheeseburger, a mustard-accented griddle smashed burger on a toasted seedless bun with a hunk of white onion amidst the customary lettuce, tomato and pickle.  But my best enjoyment came from dipping it in my bowl of accompanying Woman Made Chili.

Lest I get carried away with all this chili talk, I should mention the desserts.  Gadwall's Grill offers a substantial selection of fried pies and a daily cobbler.  But it also offers Brownie Under -- a frosted housemade

brownie crowned with vanilla ice cream, sweet and very thick and gooey and more than you expect.  Brownie Under is the proverbial "waffer thin mint" for diners -- I suggest sharing as your only recourse to painful overfilling.

Gadwall's Grill is not a trendy place.  It is stuffed with memorabilia of a quarter century or better of north-of-the-river life.  The wait staff is friendly and the regulars are thick.  You'll find a good comforting meal within.

Gadwall's Grill
7311 North Hills Boulevard #12
North Little Rock, AR 72116
(501) 834-1840
Website

Burger joint of the week: Pig & Chik Bar-B-Que

It was a call to check out a mammoth burger that brought me to the door of the Pig 'N-Chik in Sherwood. Mind you, I wasn’t crazy enough to try one of the places’ four pound Sarge burgers, but I was willing to give a half-pound hubcap a try.

The Pig 'N-Chik is a standard in the area for barbecue… with a sweet honey sauce and fall-apart ribs. People have recommended the place to me for the excellent catfish, both the cornmeal-battered version and Friday’s special of smoked fish. One of these days I’ll venture back over to find out more for you on that.

But this burger… came with a lot of recommendations. So I went in one afternoon and placed my order.

I have to tell you, I’m glad I had a clue what I was going to order first… because the menu is a front-and-back melange of every sort of Southern prideful item — po’boys, BBQ nachos, chicken salad sandwiches, smoked sausage, PurpleHull peas, a Reuben, country fried steaks and a range of fried rice dishes. On the board was the daily plate lunch special (Roast Beef with two sides) and an array of desserts including blackberry cobbler and lemon ice box pie. The oversized dining room was well-stocked with blue collar workers, seniors out for the day and BS artists telling fish tales in the corner.

I watched order after order come through the window, dispersed to the appropriate tables with an almost clockwork precision. The kitchen sounded busy behind that window.

Didn’t take me long to get my burger, a plate-eating hubcap on a big seedless bun, a big thick smoky-scented burger atop a pile of shredded lettuce. The toasted bun had mustard on the top bun (a little much for my taste), mayo on the bottom, ridgy hamburger dills and just a hint of tomato. It comes with thick yellow fries and American cheese for $5.75. We’re talking a lot of food for a good price.

So how’s the burger? It’s big. It’s eight ounces and seems like more. Better yet, it’s char-grilled and has a nice smoky flavor that could only come from hardwood smoke. Somehow it’s picked up some of that fabulous flavor from the smoker (proximity? Perhaps.) and taken it through to a nice finish.
If I’d realized I’d had a choice of cheese I’d probably have gone with Swiss. Cheddar, Hot Jack and Mozzarella are other options. The fries were typical but not too bad.

Yes, I will be back. I have this feeling of doom that before the year is out I will do a story on the most outrageous burgers in the state, and the Sarge (four pounds of meat on a one pound bun, $19.99 or free if eaten within 30 minutes) sounds like a contender. I won’t eat it alone, though.

You’ll find the Pig ‘n-Chik on Highway 107 in Sherwood. It’s open Monday through Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.. (501) 834-5456 or check out the website.

Candy lovers should love Sweet!

• KAT ROBINSON
• SWEET AND COLORFUL: Suckers at Sweet!

Let’s hear it for candy stores. I was thinking about this the other day, and it seems we don’t have a whole lot of them any more — at least locally owned and operated ones where there’s locally made stuff. In fact, since Cocoa Belle went online only I’ve missed out on my truffle fix. I have to go to Kopper Kettle or Martin Greer’s or Pickles Gap when I’m on the road to get a little chocolate.

So hearing about a brand new candy store over in Sherwood was great news for me. And I tell you what, I can’t wait until Sweet! is really going strong.

I dropped by the other morning, their very first morning, just to get a vibe on the place. It’s right next to Scrumdiliumptuous… which is tempting enough. Candy and ice cream all in one location? Oh, man.

• KAT ROBINSON

Turns out the inspectors had just finished doing their thing that morning, so when I walked in I was just the third customer. The case where truffles will dance was empty, alas, but that was just because the Anthonys were just getting started on chocolate making and such.

What they did have ready were brownies — walnut and non-walnut — big inch-and-a-half thick bars of goodness individually wrapped, four inch brownies for $3. Yeah, you know I took one home with me.

• KAT ROBINSON

The whole place smells sweet, and it should. There’s candy everywhere. There are shelves containing those great round candy jars with everything in them — specialty chocolates, maple walnut chews, every type of imaginable candy bar, Jelly Belly chocolate dipped things, classic candies, hard candies, gummy candies. There was a huge display of those colorful and bright suckers you think of when you think of suckers with the big swirl and all those colors.

• KAT ROBINSON

And there were the adult suckers, too — Sambuca, Amaretto, Champagne, Lemon Vodka, Rum Punch. Those were tempting.

There will be much more. The Anthonys were telling me they would be doing fudge and truffles and white chocolate coated popcorn and whatever else they come up with. I could get into so much trouble.

• KAT ROBINSON

I’ll be back in a few weeks to see how they’re doing. Want to check up on them yourself? Sweet! Is located at 8000 Highway 107 in Sherwood, Suite 8. They’ll be open noon until seven every day except Monday. Yeah, you should go. Tell me what you think.

Oh, and hopefully Tim will be wearing his Willy Wonka outfit. He’s a dead ringer. Check that out, too.