Izzy's on the West Side of Town.

We have a lot of restaurants in Little Rock that are hot right now... and restaurants that are good... and restaurants we recommend. But then there are some places we forget about until we're gently reminded, and then we nudge our memories and ask our brains why that one didn't come up.

Izzy's is one of those.

Colorful, huge and sprawling out on The Ranch out on Highway 10, this current incarnation of the long-standing friendly restaurant stands out almost at the edge of town. It used to be on the edge of town decades ago when Bob Isbell ran it, and it got moved further out after he passed it on to his son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Heather Isbell. I keep wondering, now that it's surrounded by neighborhoods again, if Izzy's is going to move even further out Highway 10. Much further and it'll be in Lake Maumelle.

But Izzy's has always been a comfortable place -- friendly, brightly colored, safe for kids. And the tamales are one of the most underrated food experiences in town -- tasty but not too spicy, fat and served with additional bits, whether

it's cheese dip or salsa or chili. I have been known to go dine on just one with the chili... and crackers, of course. Shooting at Izzy's never produces studio-style pictures, of course, with every table having a different melange of photos and memorabilia under its surface.

Somehow, though, I'd neglected to take Grav out there, so we went on a frigid December day. I told him about the teas, the marvelous houseblended loose-leaf teas that you savor there and then take home for later. Izzy's teas are the bomb-diggety, I tell you what.

But Grav's not a big hot tea drinker like I am. He did, however, manage to spot a combination that I hadn't before. He noticed the frosted mugs for beer and requested his root beer in one. I honestly think he's smarter than me. Sometimes.

Now, deciding what to eat may be the hardest thing to do at Izzy's. It's full of choices -- not just for me, but for anyone with a crazy food sensitivity. Izzy's offers special menus for vegetarians and for those practicing a gluten-free diet. There's a lot of meatless offerings and a whole lot of different flavors. And when we asked for cheese dip, our waiter didn't even bat an eye when I asked for potato chips for

half instead of tortilla chips. Nor did he make a fuss when he came back to find Grav preferred potato chips with the dip, too.

The cheese dip at Izzy's is deep gold, almost orange, not very spicy but with nice deep and sharp Cheddar tones. It's a little runny for ruffled potato chips but that was all right. It's rather good.

The Nutty Bird comes with chips, but you can also have sweet
potato fries instead.

We debated over different choices while we nibbled chips. Grav asked about the Nutty Bird, which is turkey and cream cheese with sunflower seeds. I've had it before. It's pretty good, especially if you're wanting a cool sandwich in the summer. I told him about the Salmon Nicoise, which is a poached salmon fillet with salad. We discussed the tamales, and he pretty much stuck with it.

Now, tamales. Izzy's has two different sorts of tamales, beef and a vegetable tamale that's full of black beans and a smattering of finely chopped vegetables. Those tamales are served in all sorts of combinations. You can get One Big Tamale as an appetizer -- either the beef or the veggie -- with chili for the beef and cheese dip for the veggie. Or you can swap around -- salsa and guacamole are also

acceptable substitutes. You can also get a platter of two and either mix-and-match or get two of the same. This is what Grav did this time around, choosing chili-topped beef tamales served with more cheese dip. I think he was surprised just how filling they were.

Me? This time I decided to go for something I've wanted to try for a long time but always demurred. I went for the Wild West Chicken Pizza. Yes, I knew I'd be taking it home.

That's all right. This is a thin crusted fork-ready pizza that comes with a salsa base, with chunks of grilled chicken, red bell pepper and purple onion, black beans and bits of cilantro and mozzarella and provolone cheese, and jalapenos. There's not a lot of cheese on this pizza, but the crust edges are crispy and strong enough to be dumped in the cheese dip. The rest of the pizza, though, becomes soft with the salsa, and it's really meant to be eaten with a fork. It comes with sour cream, which is a good balance to the jalapenos -- but I found myself drizzling more cheese dip over the whole thing. Did I mention I really like the cheese dip?

One of these days I'll finally get the cheeseburger at Izzy's. I never get there. There are way too many dang fine menu choices and when I get to the line about burgers I sorta glaze over. I shouldn't, though -- they come highly recommended. And at some point I have a feeling Grav will be back for the Super BLT, which includes a slathering of -- you guessed it -- cheese dip.

The kids menu for Izzy's isn't quite the predictable usual items you get with a kids menu. Rather than the standard chicken nuggets and corn dogs I see everywhere, Izzy's offers bowls of pasta -- noodles with Alfredo, marinara, meat sauce or butter ("naked"), a grilled cheese sandwich or a cheese quesadilla. But if you have an adventuresome child like mine, consider getting them the One Big Tamale.

We didn't get desserts this time, but Izzy's does make a fine Key Lime Pie. I also forget that milkshakes are offered, and I need to try those sometime. Then there's the All-American, two scoops of vanilla ice cream on a brownie, drizzled with hot fudge and whipped cream. It's a two person dessert, and if you don't think so then more power to you, *I* can't eat it all by myself on a good day. It is righteously decadent.

That's the Salmon Nicoise I was talking about.

As I mentioned, you can find Izzy's at The Ranch... which, if you're not from Little Rock, that's not going to do you any good. It's off Highway 10 west of I-430 several miles, and it's behind Osaka (which is pretty fine Japanese-style eating). It's open 11 a.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and is closed on Sunday. You can also buy tea leaves there to take home.

Izzy's Restaurant
5601 Ranch Drive
Little Rock, AR 72223
(501) 868-4311
izzyslittlerock.com

14 Better Desserts To Represent Arkansas Than Red Velvet Cake.

The marvelous sweet potato pie with real
whipped cream at Wilson Cafe, Wilson.

About once a quarter, there’s another insane creation put out on a website or in a magazine, that quantifies each of the 50 states by a particular food item or idea. As you may recall, I took Thrillist to task for overlooking a heck of a lot of great Arkansas start-up chains in this particular piece. Today, my target is Slate, which has chosen Red Velvet cake for Arkansas’s signature dessert. Slate is wrong.

Mind you, I like Red Velvet cake. I really do. But it’s quite clearly a Louisiana food. We have no need to borrow desserts. We have oodles of our own.

The problem I have with lists like these is that without significant research they’re, frankly, crap. I can understand where the poor reporter who was assigned this story was going through. Chances are, this was a quick assignment that didn’t cover travel expenses. I’m sure there was some scanning of the web and some juggling around, and maybe even a conversation with other people who like to eat desserts. However, without visiting a place or knowing its cuisine, how the heck can you make some blanket determination about what sort of dessert should represent that state?

So, Slate (and fans of Arkansas food), here’s a quick list. Yes, there are a lot of pies on the list. Hello? Please comment with your suggestions. Perhaps we can educate folks everywhere about some of the glorious bounty of sweets we produce right here in Arkansas.

And no, I’ll save possum pie til the end. You know it’s coming.

Cinnamon Roll at Your Mama's Good Food, Little Rock.

Cinnamon rolls. A classic that came along long before biscuits-in-a-can, the cinnamon roll (along with fudge and smoked meats) once lined our highways with one stand after another, claiming to have the largest and best. There are still numerous amazing cinnamon rolls across the state, from the largest at Burl’s Country Smokehouse in Royal and the almost-as-large at Ferguson’s in St. Joe to the icing-less variety served with every meal at Calico County.

Chocolate rolls at Misty's Shell, Leslie.

Chocolate rolls. Searcy County in the Arkansas Ozarks has named itself the Chocolate Roll Capital of the World, and for good reason. This long-time homegrown favorite has recently emerged as a contender for great dessert across Arkansas. Similar to a cinnamon roll, its cocoa-and-sugar essence has become the must-stop food for folks traveling through Leslie and Marshall. Get yours at Misty’s Shell on U.S. 65.

Butter roll at now defunct Madea's Kitchen, West Memphis.

Butter roll.  If you have no clue what a butter roll is, I am so very sorry.  A divine combination of cream, butter and flour elevated to the highest essence of richness, it is a divine dessert you will rarely find on a restaurant menu.  Created from a biscuit-type dough rolled out, dolloped heavily with real butter and sugar and nutmeg, rolled up and baked and then smothered in more cream, sugar, butter and nutmeg (and sometimes cinnamon) and let to rest until every sweet drop is absorbed, then often topped with MORE cream, sugar, butter and nutmeg... this Arkansas delight is incomparable.

Fried pies at Rhoda's Famous Hot Tamales, Lake Village.

Fried pies. Oklahoma cannot have fried pie. It ain’t happening. Yeah, it’s sweet, the little story about the lady who fried pies. We have dozens of those stories. Our fried pies have been made in the Delta for generations.

Butter cake at Bonnie's, Watson.

Pound cake or butter cake. The first recipe my mom taught me to bake was a pound of flour, a pound of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of eggs. She simplified this for me as a cup of flour, a cup of sugar, a stick of butter and an egg. Pound cake, or butter cake, became part of my life early on, and to this day I keep seeing it in restaurants, at potlucks and wherever. No one else has it, let’s claim it.

Coconut meringue pie at Papa Joe's, Humnoke.

Meringue pie. Generations of home cooks in Arkansas have beat the hell out of egg whites in efforts to create the perfect halo of essence over a variety of creamy fillings for these angelic pies. While Ed and Kay’s Restaurant has closed, ending decades of its fine standing with Mile High Pies, purveyors such as Brothers Cottage Café in Van Buren and Charlotte’s Eats and Sweets in Keo still serve up slices of marvelous meringue pies, from the traditional chocolate and coconut pies to caramel (Charlotte’s), peanut butter (Southern Grill, Batesville), cherry cream cheese (Hillbilly Hideout, Ozark), lemon (Neal’s Café, Springdale) and more.

Peanut butter pie at Overcup Diner, Overcup.

Peanut butter pie. We can’t claim to be the original home of Skippy Peanut Butter, but in Little Rock we make tons of it. Whether that has anything to do with the plethora of peanut butter pies offered across the state or not, I don’t know. You can find it on restaurant menus a little bit of everywhere, from Jonesboro (Gina’s Place) to Mabelvale (Three Sams BBQ).

Even Governor Mike Beebe loves Yarnell's Ice Cream.

Ice cream. Yes, I noticed that not a single one of the Slate state suggestions covers ice cream. Sure, there are desserts that contain ice cream, but none that cover the creamy goodness. So sure, we’ll claim that. We have Yarnell’s, which produces such delectable and honestly scrumptious flavors such as Homemade Strawberry, Butter Pecan and Ozark Black Walnut. Thank you, just put ice cream on that list for us now.

Lemon icebox pie, Skillet Restaurant, Mountain Home.

Lemon icebox pie. How can there not be an icebox pie on this list? The simple, easy to make marvel should have made the list somewhere, and as many cooks who delight in this cold confection as there are, let’s choose to name it a source of Arkansas pride.

Watermelon. I realize that yes, this is a fruit and not a created dessert, but WATERMELON.

How can you deny watermelon as a great dessert after seeing this face?

Chocolate chess pie at Alley Oops, Little Rock.

Chocolate chess pie. Virginia can lay claim to chess pie… after all, it’s just pie… but we’ll take the credit for putting chocolate into that baby and baking it up. Impossible to resist, simple to make and a frequent guest on restaurant menus all across the state.

Blackberries on the vine, Faulkner County.

Blackberries in sweetened condensed milk.  Another item you will never find on a restaurant menu, this simple yet decadent sweet is well known to kids who have grown up in rural Arkansas.

Pies in general. There is no other state that reveres pie like we do. And we do it so well and in so many different combinations: PCP (Pineapple, Coconut, Pecan), Dang Good (Pineapple and Coconut), Bourbon Chocolate Pecan, Tang (yes, the astronaut drink), grape, Grasshopper (chocolate mint), old fashioned

Chocolate and coconut cream pies at the Ranch House
Restaurant, Harrison.

fried (cocoa-sugar-butter filled), lemon-coconut, Black Bottom, blackberry, cherry cream cheese, Dreamsicle, strawberry icebox, strawberry cream, strawberry cream cheese, baked strawberry, peach, peach cream cheese, peach-blackberry, blueberry, Turtle, Almond Joy, caramel apple nut, Karo nut, sugar pecan, sweet potato, chocolate pile, chocolate cream, chocolate chocolate chocolate, possum pucker, raisin, shoo-fly, pecan, oatmeal, cushaw, four-layer, toasted coconut, caramel, coconut pecan, Bradley County pink tomato, chocolate caramel cream, brown sugar, egg custard, hot fudge, walnut, pineapple cream, banana cream, lemon custard… I could go on all day. Pie belongs to Arkansas. We are the pie state.

Possum pie at Stoby's, Russellville.

And of course, that brings me to possum pie. I direct you hither to more. Or to the book Arkansas Pie: A Delicious Slice of the Natural State. This one eponymous pie has been seen all over Arkansas and appears in menus across the state. It’s simple (here’s the recipe). It’s definitive. It probably should be considered as the state dessert, in my opinion.

What do you think? Have a better choice for Arkansas’s definitive dessert? Share it, please.

***NOTE***
For this piece, I did my best not to duplicate other desserts listed in Slate's article.  There are a lot of other Arkansas desserts that could be considered, including but not limited to: pecan pie, apple pie, hummingbird cake, chocolate gravy (more of a breakfast item than a dessert), Earthquake cake, dutch oven cobbler, strawberry shortcake, sweet potato pie, apple dumplings, peach cobbler, strawberry shortcake, strawberry cobbler, mayhaw jam on biscuits (also another breakfasty thing), banana pudding, coconut layer cake, Pig Lickers (chocolate covered bacon), Ozarkies (more of a candy than a dessert), peanut brittle (same thing), cream pies and plain juicy, syrupy peaches.