Black Angus May Be Little Rock's Most Overlooked Classic Burger Joint.

Through three locations over 56 years, Black Angus has served up charcoal burgers and hot dinners to its customers. And yet somehow, it's so often overlooked when it comes time to eat.

Burger Joint: Allen's Burger Center in Fouke.

When is a burger joint more than a burger joint? When it's a sandwich shop and catfish joint, too... and those are separate businesses.  Welcome to Allen's Burger Center in Fouke.

Burger Joint of the Week: Ed Walker's Drive-In.

There are a lot of places around the state that proclaim the largest this-or-that. When it comes to single-patty burgers, you won’t find one larger than the Giant Hamburger at Ed Walker’s Drive-In in Fort Smith.

Burger Joint of the Week: Wink's Malt Stand

There are a lot of dairy bars and drive-ins out there that could be interchangeable. That’s not to say the burgers from such a place aren’t any good -- they usually are. Those sort of burgers are marked by good quality meat, a nicely seasoned grill, a smashed patty, fresh toppings and a traditional bun wrapped in wax paper.

Wink’s does all that and more. The burger stand, which has been around since 1968, serves up a series of amusingly-named burgers, plate lunches, tamales and such with pie, shakes and malts and whatnot for dessert. It’s located in an old yellow building at the corner of Washington and Redwood in North Little Rock. I ventured there on a Monday afternoon looking for something good to eat.

Wink’s only does walk-up service, the sort that comes with a number on a small tab of paper. If you stand at the front of the building after you order, others are likely going to think you are in line. In fact, I was the only person who sat outside my car waiting on my order. The day was too pretty to waste in my opinion. That lead me to stare directly at a coconut meringue pie set exactly at eye level on the other side of the glass. Until this point in time I was unaware that Wink’s did pie; I knew only of the legendary malts, and thanks to my current diet that wasn’t on my menu for the day.

My order took about 15 minutes to prepare. My number was called, I picked up my white paper bag and headed for the car -- where I pulled out my burger and fries and photographed them before dumping half of said fries all over the passenger side seat. Well, there you go.

Now, Wink’s sells burgers and cheeseburgers by name -- Small, Jumbo, Elephant and Whimpy. The Elephant, with its three four-ounce patties, is actually heavier than the half-pound Whimpy, so I chose that. I mean, let’s go with the visual appeal here. The Elephant with cheese cost me $4.80, while a small order of fries ran $1.90.
I could have gone with tator tots, onion rings, fried okra, slaw, bean, spicy corn nuggets or fried green beans instead. The fries are crinkle-cut and golden brown. I have a soft spot for crinkle-cut fries, even though I know they come frozen. Something about the extra surface area gives them the perfect blend of crisp and soft, and these were good examples. They came with four ketchup packets and a packet of salt, the latter of which was completely unnecessary.

The burger? The wax paper was already shining from the grease within. Once I released its toothpick I could see three patties that weren’t quite the width of the bun, organized to cover that bun-space. They sorta looked like sausage patties when you flatten them with a spatula. There was a slice of American cheese melted onto one of them, and they sat between buttered toasted seedless whitebread buns on top of an ample bed of lettuce, tomato, pickle and white onion. Mayo was the default condiment.

It looked like a burger that could have been conjured elsewhere -- but it was not. There was a flavor to the patties, a nicely varied but not overdone spice heavy on the onion powder and reminiscent of Cavender’s Greek Seasoning -- but still not Cavender’s. I suspect, being a 44 year old dining establishment, that Wink’s has its own proprietary spice blend. It was marvelous.

Still, the Elephant Burger lived up to its name. I got through a third of it and wrapped the rest for a later date. I’m going to have to go back some other time for my chocolate malt, and perhaps a piece of pie -- Wink’s sells coconut meringue and lemon icebox every day, and sometimes it sells egg custard, peanut butter, caramel and something called peanut butter luster.

You’ll find Wink’s at 2900 East Washington in North Little Rock. It’s open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10:30am to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. (501) 945-9025.

Burger joint of the week: Mojo's #1

Some sailors have a girl in every port. I have a burger in every neighborhood, and years ago my MacArthur Drive burger was the burger served up at Andy’s Drive-In. Well, times have changed and so has the name, but there are still great burgers to be found at that old location -- now home to MoJo’s #1.

Yes, there is a MoJo’s #2, in Rose City. Both of them serve up soft serve ice cream, burgers and fries, and both are dependable for smashburgers served up on toasted buns with lots of melted cheese.

I ran over to MoJo’s #1 for lunch the other day. The weather was perfect and I wanted to eat on a patio. What I didn’t know was that the little dairy shack has expanded and now has a tiny indoor seating area -- that you have to go through to get to the patio.

I placed my order up front, waited for my number to be called and took my bag-o-burger with me to a nice comfortable seat at the end of the patio where I could watch the line of cars pull up and pull out as the lunch rush ebbed on. When I took my seat there were seven cars parked nose-in along the front perimeter. Windows were down, radios were on and the scent of hot meat on a griddle permeated the air.

The bag felt heavier than I had anticipated; I’d gone for a #1 special, the Jumbo Double Cheeseburger with French Fries and a Drink for $5.99 advertised on the front of the building. I figured since it was a dollar more than the regular double cheeseburger that I’d be getting my money’s worth. Still, I guess I wasn’t thinking how heavy that bag might be for the price.

The fries were on top -- yes, pre-cut fries, but salt-dipped fries that were extraordinarily crispy on the outside and mellow on the inside, addictive sturdy fries that could be appetite busters. It took all my self-control not to eat them as I photographed them alongside the burger and the cup of Hunt’s ketchup that went along with them.

And that burger... a heavy burger. I would estimate ⅔ lb. of beef between those seedless, toasted buns, wrapped tight the old-fashioned way with wax paper. The default for the burger was a butter-sweated bun, a nice toasting, a slick of mayo, a smattering of iceberg lettuce and white onion pieces under a round of tomato. No pickles here, a small surprise.

The twin third-of-a-pound patties were likely pre-formed but of a top quality beef that didn’t need much seasoning. What little it had, it had undoubtably picked up from the griddle itself, with a bare background taste of long-charred cheese and a crusting that belied a little salt in its makeup. Speaking of cheese, it was American, and the melted-on slices glued the patties and bun together delightfully.

This burger was of the juicy/greasy quality you’d expect from a good drive-in, and required every bit of that wax paper to keep the wetness from rolling down one’s arms. Moreso, napkins were required (and provided in-bag) for sopping up the runaway juices that formed just about everywhere.

An enjoyable, unfinishable by the normal person burger, once the fries were added in. I walked away from the rest of my fries and the burger remnants guiltily. They were good, but I was unwilling to injure myself to consume it all.

You’ll find Mojo’s #1 at 3801 MacArthur Drive in North Little Rock -- and Mojo’s #2 in Rose City. I will have to go back for a banana split someday. (501) 753-4445.
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Burger joint of the week: Grand Kibb's BBQ

On some occasions in my burger quest, I’ve headed out to cover one story and ended up with another. In this case, I went to the exact place I needed to be -- 6230 Baucum Pike in North Little Rock -- and came across a completely different restaurant.

I was heading out to investigate whether Dub’s Hamburger Heaven still offered this Fundamental Burger that was supposedly made of bacon (at least, that’s what the Times review, which I did not write, said). It had a long standing following, and knowing it was offered at a drive-in I knew it had to be decent.

Dub’s is gone, but don’t you wail. The folks from Kibb’s BBQ in Pine Bluff have bought the place, and now the little beige drive-in is Grand Kibb’s BBQ... and you need to mark it on your map.

I stopped in for lunch the other day... as I mentioned, looking for Dub’s. Passed it up and ended up at I-440 first, then turned back around and double checked the address. Before I could even confirm that, I knew I had to get out of the car. The air smelled lovely, with nice sweet and piquant barbecue notes hanging in the air.

There were a number of different signs upon the building -- and the old arched letters proclaiming the place “Hamburger Heaven.” The mass bit of the menu was posted quite clearly on brand new signs on the front of the building: “Cheeseburgers and Hamburgers With or Without Fries;“Smoked Beef or Pork Sandwiches With Mustard or Mayo, Pickle, Lettuce and Onion, No Sauce;” “Bar-B-Que Beef or Pork Sandwiches Hot, Mild or Medium Sauce;” and “Bar-B-Que Ribs and Rib Tips Large or Small Orders, Hot, Medium or Mild Sauce.”

Inside the windows, it’s clean and a little empty, most of the smoking work being done in the back, presumably on a smoker such as this one spied around the side of the building. There was a help wanted sign in the window and all sorts of sheets of paper written on here and there with the prices of different things. A cheeseburger and an order of fries, for your information, came out to $6.11 with tax. There’s no fountain, just a cooler full of 20 ounce beverages.

I placed my order and went and sat in my car. Others were also waiting in cars, windows down on the delightfully perfect 68 degree spring day. A Coke truck pulled up and started unloading bottles.

When my order came out, It came out with a smile, and I walked back to the car excited to see whether that smoky scent would follow me when I left the property.









It did. I drove out to a park and pulled out my bagged noontime bounty for photographing and consumption. First thing I noticed were the fries -- skin-off handcuts that seemed to have more of a Yukon gold sort of flesh than the traditional Idaho, Russet Burbank. They were just crisp on the outside but nice and soft inside, good with the Hunt’s ketchup provided. They were barely salted, and the flavor tasted a little reminiscent of peanut oil. Best of all, they were plentiful, and I couldn’t finish my order.

But that smoky scent wasn’t coming from the fries. It was coming from the burger -- which, unlike most burgers I have encountered, came on a bun that had been toasted both inside and out. In fact, there was a nice sheen to the whole affair, a big flat white bun buttered and toasted to a golden hue, almost crusty on the inside and a bit mushed all the way around. Under the bun, a layer of salad dressing (think Miracle Whip) and then the loosely packed half pound of burger. The black pepper spiced round carried with it the scent of a good sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, yet that sweetness wasn’t in the taste itself, just the smoke. It was a juicy burger, though cooked to medium well, with hints of paprika and maybe even honey to it. It was quite excellent.

The patty rested atop a pile of shredded lettuce, a little pickle and some hair-thin ringlets of white onion. There’s no tomato on this burger, but that’s all right. Every ingredient just added to the whole barbecue sandwich feel of the thing. the lettuce took the place of that slaw we’re so used to here in Arkansas; the salad dressing gave a tiny bit of barbecue sauce-like tang.

It’s one of the most memorable burgers I have encountered in a while, and that’s saying something, considering all the burgers I consume.

Oh, I mentioned I had acquired a cheeseburger, right? The expertly melted American cheese was barely evident on inspection, thanks to an application while the meat was still on the grill. It had fully incorporated into the burger itself, and brought the whole concoction up to the level of extremely satisfying.

Grand Kibb’s BBQ has been open now since November. They keep putting out that good food, they’re going to be there a while! It’s open 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Like all good barbecue restaurants, it’s closed on Sunday. You’ll find it between Rose City and I-440 on Highway 165. (501) 955-1110.

Burger joint of the week: Doe's Eat Place

It must have been 20 years since I set foot in Doe’s Eat Place in Little Rock -- or close to it. I was a young ‘un, nearly 19, 10 feet tall and bulletproof and hanging with the young bloods that wanted to see the Guv’n’r go to Washington. I can recall sitting elbow to elbow with five or six other people, mostly in shirtsleeves, packed around a four-top table one evening. I was too young to drink but I was the only one not partaking of brew that night. I listened to stories told as I sucked down a Dr. Pepper and picked at the rather greasy-wet steak dropped in front of me. The one thing I really took away from that night was that if you ordered a salad there, you were a sissy.

I’ve dined in most all of the city’s establishments since then, excepting a few of the more uppity places, and I’ve made friends with folks who work at Doe’s and who frequent the place. Yet it did not occur to me recently that my burger trek should have me heading that general direction.

I went on a hot, sweltering March afternoon -- those words should NEVER be put together, but such are the weather patterns of late -- to feast upon a burger and enjoy some memories. I was stricken right away by how damn bright the place was. I guess not having entered during daylight hours, I had the preconception that it was one of those great back-lit night spots where rumors were started and beef was consumed. And that it may be.

Every wall is decked with memorabilia -- from Clintonesque things to general bits here and there about the food, a Reader’s Digest of grub lit to partake of if one is just a-standin’ around. I... was not. I found my table with its slightly torn plastic red and white checked tablecloth and sat my butt down. Eventually a waitress found me and asked what I wanted to drink.

Click to see a large menu

The menu for lunch at Doe’s is simple -- hamburger, cheeseburger, chili dog, catfish, ham & cheese sandwich, grilled cheese, broiled chicken breast sandwich, grilled turkey and swiss. The “world famous” hot tamales are $4.25 for three with chili, $7.25 with a salad and $6.75 with fries. And then there are the legendary steaks -- a 2-3lb. T-bone for $16.50 a pound, a 2 ½-3lb. Porterhouse for $19.50 a pound and a 3 ½-6lb. sirloin at $15.50 a pound. They’re served up with marinated salad, French fries and Texas toast. I can’t even comprehend eating that much meat in a sitting.

There’s also a hamburger steak, spaghetti and meatballs, spaghetti with chicken, a catfish platter and chicken pasta -- and, a surprise to me, a Garden Chicken Salad. Well, I guess you can order a salad at Doe’s. How about that.

But as I mentioned, I only had eyes for burgers, and I ordered my cheeseburger ($6.25 with fries) straight-up how they make it. Took about 10 minutes to get it, in which time I watched a fellow diner consume an abnormally fat packed ham and cheese sandwich and another pick at a salad while she talked to that dude. No one ordered a steak while I was there, but I did notice several chili-stained tamale plates.

While I was waiting, I had myself a fine selection of Arkansas appetizers to choose from. This is a joke, of course. For some reason -- and I have commented on this before -- the older eating establishments around these parts feel compelled to bring out a basket of crackers -- sometimes Saltines, sometimes club -- to sate your appetite while you wait for your food. It’s no different at Doe’s, except this time there was no butter or salsa offered. Which was fine. I wasn’t there for the crackers.

I was there for the fine cheeseburger that was delivered to my table, a half pound of medium-well cooked beef on a white seedless untoasted bun, pasted to that top bun with a slice of American (not pasteurized-processed) cheese. The bun was chilly, the meat was hot and the big pile of iceberg lettuce on the bottom was cool and crispy and coated with the mayonnaise that also covered the bottom bun. A hearty slice of tomato and some somewhat thick ridgy dills accompanied. There was nary an onion slice to be found.

That, I assume, is because there are tidbits of onion in the meat, the only spicing I could determine in that nicely crusted beef patty. Nay, mayhaps there was just a slug of Worchestershire sauce in its inception, but the patty itself was devoid of all but the slightest enhancement with salt, pepper or spices. In fact, the high quality of the beef itself was the star, unencumbered by the fine quality American cheese that it carried. A fine burger, even if the bun did become smushy from its lack of toasting.

The fries bore their own need of mention -- firm, fresh-cut fries brought up to a defiant golden brown and enhanced with only a little table salt. They were nice and mushy in the center and firm on the outside, just a bit crispy, ketchup-soaking fries that were irresistable, a whole Idaho potato cut skin-on and, I am guessing, double-fried. I’d go back just for those fries.

So, the verdict? Good burger, good fries, and there’s a lot more light in the daytime than at night when you’re packed shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of twenty-somethings with big dreams. Though, for the true evaluation of that last bit, I need to make a night visit.

You’ll find Doe’s Eat Place down from City Hall and the police station in downtown Little Rock at 1023 West Markham. It’s open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner Monday through Saturday. Check out the website or call (501) 376-1195.

Burger joint of the week: Tidwell's Dairy Bar

A reader’s recommendation took me out to Lonoke for a bite -- out to Tidwell’s Dairy Bar, a community standard. It’s been there at least as long as my contemporaries recall, and it’s been highly recommended as a burger joint.

Now, it’s a dairy bar, not a bar bar, so there’s no alcohol. No dining room, either, just a smattering of picnic tables. There is a pretty large interior... and considering all the different things on the menu like salads and catfish and stuff, I had to agree -- the room inside was justified.

Fortunately, it was one of those perfect spring days where the thermometer was just touching 80 degrees at one in the afternoon. We pulled up and headed for one of the two service windows, looking for burgers.

Cheeseburgers were definitely on our agenda, but a quick glance at the menu revealed a childhood favorite of mine -- a brown derby for just 99 cents. I ordered my chocolate dipped cone when I ordered my meal and enjoyed it first. There’s just something about smooth and creamy soft serve encased in a chocolate shell that’s perfect for eating outdoors.

Our hot items would take a while to prepare, so we found seating over beside the restaurant. We enjoyed our ice cream and watched other customers: a couple of women who apparently walked over with their small children in strollers; a group of three blue collar workers taking a late lunch; a man and his young daughter and her tiny puppy. It was a varied crowd.

Our orders came out in the order they had been received. The first, one of my dining companions had chosen a cheeseburger with nothing but pickle and ketchup, “junior burger” style. His burger basket came with French fries and cheese dip. The fries were thick and

substantial but not out of the ordinary; the cheese dip served with the fries, was. Cheese dip and fries is a favorite of mine! And they worked well together, though the dip was just a smidge runny to go with the fries. It was a Velveeta-type dip, though the tomato or Rotel within had apparently been pureed so that only the slightest bit of tomato matter was still cohesive. It was spiced with chili powder, and I believe there was an element of sour cream in its making. A nice dip I’ll have to add to the Arkansas Cheese Dip Primer.

His burger came with a slab of processed American cheese, likely Velveeta or one of its substitutes, apparently hand-cut. As he knoshed his meal I grew more hungry for my own.

My other traveling companion had chosen a footlong dog with the works, minus chili. We were glad for this -- we were on a long car ride and beans... well, beans just didn’t need to be part of the equation. The footlong came with a sweet slaw similar to KFC’s but chopped much finer. It came topped with that slaw, finely chopped red onions, sliced jalapenos and a slathering of cheese dip. The combination of ingredients produced a complex flavor, very wet on the bun. It was indeed a fork-and-knife footlong. The weiner itself? About average.

So I had been waiting all this time, and finally my burger basket was done. And as I opened it my heart raced with joy -- or anticipation of the cholesterol it was about to endure. The third-of-a-pound patty was nicely smashed and charred, a lovely bit of caramelization apparent on one bare edge. Every other edge was consumed with a copious amount of melted Velveeta-type cheese. It glued everything together -- the lightly toasted sesame seed-encrusted bun, two big ring sections of red onion, a handful of dill pickle slices, a hearty slice of tomato and some hand-shredded lettuce. The default condiment, mayonnaise, was barely apparent thanks to the slathering of cheese.

Thank goodness for that wax paper binding -- since without it my hands would have become coated with all that cheese. It was everywhere. And even though I am not usually a proponent of pasteurized processed cheese, it worked here. The meat was salted just enough to complement the cheese and other components, and there was just a hint of black pepper in it.

I ate the entire burger and got about halfway through my fries. I found the best method for those was to wait until the cheese dip developed a light skin and then pick the skin up with a fry. That happened quickly on the windy day.

You’ll find Tidwell’s Dairy Barn in Lonoke on US Highway 70 on the west side of town. It’s open 10 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 7 p.m. on Saturday. It’s closed on Sunday. (501) 676-2812.

Burger joint of the week: Daisy Queen.

I have friends and family all over Arkansas, and one side of my brother’s family comes from Searcy County. So I have been familiar with the Daisy Queen since my adolescence.

The little dairy shack on the east side of Highway 65 in Marshall has received a little facelift here and there over the years, but it’s still serving up burgers, shakes and all the things a little community like Marshall might want to eat.

I stopped in on my way back from a trip further north recently to enjoy a classic burger and kick a little road dust off my shoes. Almost changed my mind when I saw the men. It’s been a little while since I dropped in, but I had forgotten about the variety of items at the place. The menu is posted overhead on these old yellow signs, completely packed with dining options. And then there are whiteboards below with even more options. What’s offered?

All these things: sandwiches (BLT, BBQ Beef, Turkey Club, ham Club, four types of chicken sandwiches, a Pizza Burger (a local favorite), a veggie sandwich, Chicken Fried Steak, a grilled chicken wrap, Catfish, Chicken Strip, Fish, Ham, Ham & Cheese, a Patty Melt, Swiss Steak), hot dogs (short or footlong, with or without chili, cheese or slaw), stuffed jalapenos, fried pickles, nachos, Bosco sticks (what?), chicken nuggets, broccoli bites, cheesesticks, chili, burrito, popcorn chicken, corn dogs, french fries, tator tots, mushrooms, seasoned fries, onion rings, hush puppies, pork tenderloin, a taco salad deluxe, more sandwiches (grilled turkey hotrise, grilled turkey club, grilled chicken club, grilled chicken hotrise), baskets (chicken fillet, shrimp, catfish), salads (taco, chef, turkey chef, chicken strip, grilled chicken, combo)

-- and then there are the ice cream offerings -- shakes, malts, floats, frosties, sundaes, cones, Oreo cake sundae, Sundae Delight, a banana split and an apple pie a la mode. Shakes and malts and sundaes come in strawberry, cherry, pineapple, butterscotch, blueberry, chocolate, hot fudge and vanilla.

I haven’t even made it to the burgers. They come in single, double or triple sizes, with or without cheese, bacon or chili. And there’s something called Jeff’s Bigmouth Burger (8 ounces of Fresh Angus for $4). I won’t even go into the kids’ meals, the chips, the beverages (except to say they carry a large number of diet beverages) or such. Lots of options.

I bet the menu is so large because Marshall doesn’t have a whole lot to choose from when it comes to dining. There’s a Pizza Hut and a Subway north up the road, and a little diner south a bit. And there’s the Harp’s grocery store and a couple of convenience store. All these things have come and some other things have gone since the Daisy Queen opened in 1966.

So, about my lunch. I ordered and had a seat, relaxing a bit. It was a Sunday afternoon and there were a few people in the place, including a family of four that were sharing burgers and onion riings at the next table over. The lady I’d ordered from at the counter called me over and handed me my iced tea and I enjoyed a few more moments soaking up sunlight coming in the west-facing window.

And then she got my attention again and passed over a red tray. On that tray were two wax-paper wrapped bundles. One of them contained some hot fresh battered and deep fried mushrooms with some Ranch dressing in a little cup. I knew the mushrooms were likely from frozen, but they were good and hot. And they were cheap, too -- $1.40 for a tray of eight.

And then there was the burger, pretty much unchanged from the sort I’d had as a teenager. The seedless bun had been lightly toasted on the griddle, the salt-and-pepper seasoned patty topped with a slice of American cheese and allowed to melt before being placed on top of the stack of vegetation on the bottom bun -- top to bottom dill pickle slice, tomato slice, iceberg lettuce and white onion. Mayo was the default condiment.

And that burger had the flavor of a consistent favorite, with just the right amount of griddle char on the meat and the right amount of mayo skimmed onto the bottom bun. The folks who make these burgers could probably make them in their sleep. It’s a classic quarter pound of drive-in delight.

If I had not been watching my calories, I might have made it out of there with a chocolate malt, which I also remember as being quite splendid from my younger years. As it was, I took part of my meal on the road with me.

Daisy Queen is located on highway 65 North in Marshall, within spitting distance of Harp’s. It’s open 8:30 a.m.- 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on the weekends. (870) 448-2180.