Scenic Seven Survives VI: Breakfast in Jasper.

Writer Kat Robinson and photographer Grav Weldon head into the hills in search of what’s brought a stretch of Scenic Highway Seven back to life.

An abridged version of this article appears in the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of Arkansas Wild. Click through for a downloadable copy.

After the night at The Hub and Grav’s descent into Dogpatch USA the following morning, we found ourselves staring at 10am hungry and ready to get back to work. I had a tip to follow up on and needed to go find breakfast back at the Ozark Café.

The crowd was just as hearty at ten in the morning as it was in the just-after-noontime hour. The same booth we’d occupied the day before was waiting for us.

I’d already decided on my breakfast before we’d headed up the highway. I was going to tackle the Ozark French Toast ($5.49), reported to me by Jasper-returning readers as the thing to get for breakfast in town. Grav wasn’t so certain. All he knew was that after the hike down into, around, and back up the hill from Dogpatch was that he needed hydration in a bad way.

“Ma’am, I’ll drink as many Mountain Dews as you can bring,” he told the waitress when she came to take our drink orders. I asked for my usual unsweetened iced tea and she disappeared, grinning. We looked over the newspaper-borne menus and salivated a bit.

I knew we had a good one when she plopped a whole pitcher of Mountain Dew down in front of Grav with a straw in it. That was worth an extra dollar’s tip for certain.

We hemmed and hawed over what Grav was going to try. Our conversation that morning on the way down from Marble Falls had been all about breakfasts in Arkansas and what constituted a true Arkansas breakfast -- and chocolate gravy had come up. Now, I have to admit that I didn’t have my first serving of chocolate gravy until I was an adult -- and even then it was in Missouri, not in Arkansas. But readers had been naming chocolate gravy as something purely Arkansawyer. Seeing it on the menu ($4.49) just sparked our curiosity more, and Grav (who’d never had it) decided it was a good day for experimentation.

Our food didn’t take long to prepare, and I think he was a bit surprised when out came this big bowl of what appeared to be chocolate pudding and a couple of biscuits. The biscuits themselves were flaky on the inside but had a nice strongly buttery sheen about them, almost a coating of it, as if someone had thought about frying them long and hard before deciding to thrown them in the oven instead.

And that chocolate gravy? Well, it was chocolate pudding, and then again it wasn’t. There was something to the consistency that reminded us both of Jello-brand, but there was also a flavor of flour and butter-rue and salt to it. And it wasn’t half bad. In fact, for what it was, it was quite tasty. It’d take us three more months and dozens more breakfasts before both of us could safely conclude that we weren’t fans of chocolate gravy -- but that we could both tolerate it.

But I was going to tell you about this Ozark French Toast. It was… good. It was four slices of Texas toast that had been lightly battered, skillet-fried in butter and drizzled with caramel and powdered sugar. It was served with a side of Log Cabin maple-flavored corn syrup, but we couldn’t divine why -- the simple little dish was just perfect, custardy and sweet and didn’t need a thing. Buttery.

I wouldn’t realize until a few weeks later when I was looking at the photos that there wasn’t a single damn pecan on the whole thing… and it had been advertised as being covered with them. Well, I guess it’s all right. But if you go back, go demand some pecans. You deserve them.

***

Following our morning repast, we went back on the square to look around and do some shooting and visiting. One of our first stops was in the Chamber of Commerce shop. Jasper’s the only place I know of that has an entirely volunteer CoC, and it’s funded with the proceeds from the consignment shop slash visitors center on the square.

From there we went to Emma’s Museum of Junk, a block off the main square and so odd it always attracts eyes. Grav having never been before, I shooed him into the oddness.

Emma’s is something truly Ozarkian. You can get something or anything inside. We saw all sorts of weirdness -- painted eggs, fishing lures, incense, decorative plates,
baskets of piles of old match books, cookie cutters, random keys,
old bug spray canisters (“Gulfspray Kills!” one cheerily announced),
mouse traps, cast iron coffee mug trees,
rusty vegetable peelers, fossil shark teeth, brass bells, hand-thrown pottery, glass bottles, quilts, cabinetry, stone and shell beads, glass ornaments, antique lamps, Coca-Cola glasses, military gear, Boy Scout mess kits, birdhouses, stained glass window hangings, faux jade Chinese dangly things, painted toilet seats, rusty bicycles, old paint cans, porcelain dolls, hairpins, old and new Mason jars, unusual wire sculptures, bedpans, electric kettles, old sewing machines, stepstools, ashtrays, marble figurines, old baseballs, comic books, Funk and Wagnall’s, bird nests, marbles… the cacophony of strange sights inside was worth the trip alone.

After wandering a bit more and discovering the still functioning but ancient city jail and an old abandoned movie theater, we took off for higher elevations once more, still searching out those almost fabled riders that were alleged to have brought back this little burg in the hills. We headed south.

Date night at Bruno's Little Italy in Little Rock.

I’m not sure why, but when romance is in the air it usually involves Italian food in the belly. I wholly contribute this to seeing Lady and the Tramp as a child; there are many cuisines out there that are just as romantic.

Still, finding ourselves with a rare child-free date night, the hubster and I found ourselves on the doorstep of Bruno’s Little Italy for dinner Saturday night. Well, it is one of the best places to soak up some Sinatra-and-Co. music-laden air, as well as some thick red meaty sauce with white bread.

We were seated in the window at our request, just as the sun was preparing to set over Bowman Curve. The windows were polarized behind the curtains, leaving a light glow echoed by the small flickering candles on each table.

On each of those tables was a bottle of wine, a candle and various shakers. The walls were green with posters here and there; tables were topped with red and white checkered tablecloths. Our section was vacant when we arrived, the perfect little corner to enjoy a quiet meal together.
Bread was delivered to the table for us to consume while we were debating over what to order. Like most Arkansas-based Italian restaurants, butter was served with the bread, a small crusty loaf that could be cut with a knife.

We started off our meal with the Toasted Ravioli ala Lauren Weintraub ($7.95). These hand-made raviolis are a bit irregular, but they are stuffed with a blend of ricotta, parmesan and I believe provolone cheese with a little spinach and Italian spices. These pockets of joy are very crisp on the outside but firm and packed with cheese inside. They’re served up with your choice of the house marinara or meat sauce — both are excellent, very mature of flavor. It was about the best thing I’d eaten all month.

Our entrees were equally appetizing. Paul went for the Ravioli Sorrento ($14.95), more cheese stuffed ravioli under a choice of marinara, meat or mushroom sauce covered in mozzarella and baked. Paul went for the meat sauce. The raviolis in the dish were much larger than the ones in the appetizer — one seemed to be nearly four inches square, all irregular in the way only handmade pasta can truly be. Baked, the raviolis achieved their classic texture.

I chose the Vegetable Manicotti ($14.95), a melange of all sorts of vegetables wrapped in pasta sheets and baked. I asked my server about the sauces, and though my husband thought it was a little odd I had my manicotti baked with meat sauce. I’m not vegetarian but I love vegetables, and our waitress told us lots of people ordered the dish that way.

The manicotti came to the table in a bubbling stew of hot meat sauce. Underneath, I found small cut vegetables tucked in with the cheeses in the manicotti rolls themselves, lots of broccoli and zucchini and peppers along with spinach and squash and eggplant. I found myself reaching for the bread to sop up the generous sauce, thought I didn’t think to grab some Parmesan until I was about done. It was hot, it was filling, and I didn’t feel guilty about it. Better than a V8.

We had a little time before we needed to head off to the movies, so we decided to split a dessert. I gave Paul no choice — though I knew he would want something chocolate-y, it had been a long time since I’d had Zabaglione ($6.50). I wanted that warm sweet creamy beverage, and Bruno‘s really delivered. The careful balance of sugar, cream, eggs and amaretto is heated and served with ladyfingers. It’s rich — I’ll give you that. It’s decadent. If I had two of these by myself I wouldn’t be safe to drive. I want another right now.

But I digress.

We don’t eat out quite so extravagantly on a regular basis, and it’s rare these days to get a date night where we can enjoy a good Italian meal. For what we were looking for, we got a nice romantic meal and a spectacular dessert in an hour and a half and made it to the movie on time. Can’t beat that.

Those toasted raviolis and the zabaglione were so good, I’ve declared them the best thing I ate in the month of October. No joke.

Want to experience it? You have to wait til dinner. Bruno’s Little Italy is only open 5-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The menu and more on the website, or you can call (501) 224-4700.

UPDATE: Bruno's Little Italy has moved downtown to 310 Main Street. Check out the new website or call (501) 372-7866.

Capi's changes its menu.

• KAT ROBINSON
• INCOMPARABLE: Capi's frothy and sharp Queso

A reader alerted me to the menu change that struck last night at Capi’s. I was surprised about the change, to a point. I loved the idea of a small plates restaurant here in town. But…

Before we went out there last night, I dropped an email to Brent Peterson and asked about the change. Like many Central Arkansas restaurants, receipts were down in August and September. He had a brainstorm about using dishes Capi was known for over at Trio’s, and discovered she’d had similar thoughts. The new idea was explored, a menu was born and here it is.

Brent explains the new menu this way:
“Capi and I have both traveled extensively in Mexico, New Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The cuisines of these locales rank at the top of our list of favorites. We like bold flavors, and Capi is masterful in developing these recipes to let each of the ingredients ‘speak for themselves’without allowing the subtle flavors to be overpowered by heat from too many chiles. You will see a broad selection of enchiladas, tacos, tamales steamed in banana leaves and fajitas; plus, pozole, tumbada (paella), two types of queso, two salsas, a garlic shrimp and Cuban picadillo from the original Capi's menu and some healthy, substantial salads. Capi and I both speak Spanish, and for some time she has frequented the local Mexican markets to find fresh ingredients for our Trio's specials. Now many more ingredients will be provided by these local merchants.”

My curiosity piqued, the hubster and girlchild and I headed that way last night.

The décor is relatively unchanged. The wait staff is the same, the aura is the same… only the menu has changed. Instead of a dozen small plates the menu now features a selection of enchiladas, tamales, tacos and fajitas. We went ahead and ordered the Queso Fundido Poblano ($7) right off the bat; Hunter was hungry and she loves dip, no matter what sort of dip it is.

• KAT ROBINSON

Out comes this queso that frankly is like nothing I have ever tried. The white cream was almost frothy, light and airy with notes of Oaxaca and sharp Cheddar, almost a Feta flavor in the background. A heavier poblano-honey mixture was piped in on top, warm but not spicy. The thin tortilla chips were just strong enough to carry the load. It was slightly heavier than a crème fraiche, but so good.

Paul went for the Carne a la Parilla ($12), a half pound of flank steak strips with green bell pepper, onions and hunks of tomato, served up with handmade tortillas, sour cream and lettuce. The tortillas were a treat, soft and pliant. I liked the flank steak. It had the mouthfeel of a soft sirloin instead of what you expect from flank steak. He liked it, he ate it… he just didn’t feel he was eating anything special.

• KAT ROBINSON

He shoulda had a tamale. I chose the Chicken Mole Tamales ($10.50), and on delivery I was overwhelmed with the scent of chocolate that rose from the banana-leaf wrapped packages. Easily unwrapped, the soft mesa and finely shredded chicken concealed strips of poblano pepper, red bell pepper and onion. It tasted like home. I mean, it tasted so familiar, so comfortable, I could cry. It didn’t LOOK like a mole creation, but the scents of chocolate blended so well with the tamale’s flavors… I like this dish. I hope it’s kept.

• KAT ROBINSON

• KAT ROBINSON

The one thing I was worried about was the dessert selection. One of my favorite things about Capi’s has been that there’s always at least four choices of great ever-changing desserts. No worries here. There were six selections — a raspberry cream cheese torte, crème brulee, flan, and chocolate pecan pie among them. The hubster of course chose the Triple Chocolate Pie — it was, as always, a rich chocolate custard and fluffy top. I got one decent shot before Hunter tried to plant her hand in the center of it. I barely got a bite.

• KAT ROBINSON

Me? I’m really glad I ordered the Peanut Butter Patty. The concept — a pie rendition of a Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patty cookie — is deliciously executed. It was a thick peanut-butter-sandwich-cookie crumbled crust (I am assuming from the flavor) topped by a light peanut butter custard and a quarter inch thick slab of semi-sweet chocolate with an unsweetened peanut butter drizzle. Now, I did sorta smash into it — the chocolate on top was so thick that when I turned the edge of the fork on it the peanut butter custard underneath gave way. Flipped over, it was easier to eat. And extravagant. And rich. I took half home and had it for breakfast this morning and it was still rich. Desserts are $5.75.

So, the verdict? I’m going to miss the small plates concept. I liked it a lot. But that tamale and the queso were so good I think I could get past it. Paul feels otherwise — he liked the food but felt that there are so many Mexican restaurants in the city he’s concerned it might not survive. I have hopes, though.

Capi’s is still in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center, and you can still check out their website or call them at (501) 225-9600. See what you think and let me know.

Gauchos, Jerry B's and Arthur's shares space.

• KAT ROBINSON
• THREE IN ONE: Gaucho's moves in, shares space

Had an interesting lunch yesterday. I was heading out to Koto on Chenal Parkway, but discovered it’s closed for renovation. So I headed further out to Rahling Road.

• KAT ROBINSON
• FIESTA BURGER: A pile of toppings

First thing I noticed was that Gaucho’s had moved downstairs and over a building to the space that had been occupied by Jerry B’s, next door to Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse. I knew it was a smaller space, and I was surprised that the city’s only churrascaria has been shrunk down. The OPEN signs were on and I was hungry, so I decided to go in and find out what was going on.

But while I did go under the Gaucho’s sign, I didn’t get to eat Gaucho’s for lunch. That’s because there’s a little identity crisis going on in the house that Jerry Barakat built.

• KAT ROBINSON

Inside the doors, there’s still the lush dark hardwoods and red leathers of Jerry B’s. That’s what it says on the menu and the name the waiters call the place when you walk in. So what’s the deal?

It’s a case of space-sharing. Been seeing this more often lately — Lilly’s Dim Sum Then Some and B-Side are another example. One restaurant that specializes in one meal shares space with another restaurant that does a later meal. Economically it makes good sense.

There seems to be little sense, though, to the menu at Jerry B’s. There are a selection of sandwiches and burgers, some deluxe salads, and then three Chinese inspired dishes and some pasta. It’s a business lunch concept that covers the spectrum, and the selections cover the spectrum of restaurants that Barakat has operated over the years, such as Sesame's and Tico's.

While I was tempted by the Mongolian Beef and the Signature Chicken Salad, I settled on the Fiesta Burger ($6.50) because frankly I was in a burger sort of mood. The overhead was playing 90s pop tunes and the crowd was a mix of business suits and tech workers that I assumed worked out at The Ranch on Highway 10, but who can tell? The tea was strong and the sky outside was growing grayer by the moment.

• KAT ROBINSON

My burger arrived. It was a hodge-podge of all sorts of toppings — a white cheese melted directly onto the patty, grilled onions, roasted yellow and red bell pepper strips, cold avocado slices, purple onion slices, tomato, hamburger dills and green leaf lettuce. The bun was warm but not really toasted. The fries were shoestring with a little seasoning, and the plate was served up with mayonnaise and ketchup.

There’s a certain unspoken rule of thumb about how many different sorts of ingredients you put on a burger. Usually you keep things in the same family — peppers with onions or mushrooms, avocado with bean sprouts or black olives, that sort of thing. These items should not work well together. But they did here. The avocado provided the binder the burger was needing between its hot ingredients and its cold ones. Even the pickles worked.

• KAT ROBINSON

Still, “fiesta” seemed like it should have a Mexican influence to me, and this didn’t. But that was okay.

A couple at the next booth had ordered the white queso (you can also have yellow) and the bowl was big, a good eight to ten ounces of dip with a big basket of really thin chips. It’s $5 and definitely something to share with someone else.

So I stopped the waiter before I went and asked about the space. He says yes, the whole Gaucho’s red/green cards and meat-on-a-stick thing was happening still in the evenings, and that Arthur’s was still doing its thing next door (there’s a doorway between the two similar spaces). Arthur’s is also serving dinner on Sunday’s now.

Maybe it’s a sign of the economy. Think about it — three years ago Gaucho’s was closer in town on Shackleford Drive, then it moved back to its original home and there was Rockston’s. Like a reverse Big Bang, everything’s shrinking back to what’s essentially one Rahling Road property.

Do any of the businesses deserve to survive? Well, yeah. While I haven’t enjoyed a dinner at Arthur’s (frankly, it’s out of my price range), Gaucho’s is my husband’s favorite celebration restaurant. And Jerry B’s? Here’s the thing. You order a salad, sandwich or entrée at the place and your iced tea or soft drink is included in the price. My ticket came to $7.12 with tax for lunch — a lot cheaper than a lot of lunch places I have visited for what was essentially an upscale half pound burger and some really decent fries. I happily handed over $10 for the good service and for the fact I might have accidentally flashed the waiter — that’s a long story I don’t have time to get into now.

Location is going to be an issue — while the three restaurants share space right across from The Promenade at Chenal, there’s not much signage on Chenal to direct people that way. Maybe it’s also an advertising issue.

Or perhaps the whole upscale idea is just tanking while people try to save their bucks. Who knows.

Anyway, Jerry B’s is worth checking out for lunch. I think next time I’m going to give one of their massive salads a try. The ones I saw coming from the kitchen looked excellent. The lunch menu runs 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

You’ll find Jerry B’s, Gaucho’s and Arthur’s Prime Steakhouse on Rahling Road right off of Chenal Parkway. They’re all located at #27, all facing the road now. Worth a shot. (501) 821-1828 or check out the Arthur’s website.

You Too Can Be An Author.

I bit the bullet the other day and signed up for NaNoWriMo. No, that’s not some exotic location off in the wilds of Timbuktu. It’s a journey, though, one I’ll be taking with thousands of other prospective authors across the United States.

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. This is the eleventh year for the project. A guy by the name of Chris Baty had this idea -- to combine the power of the Internet with the talents of young writers and see just what could come out of thirty days of writing. There were 21 writers who joined him that first year. Last year 165,000 writers jumped in and accepted the challenge, and 30,000 of them actually made it past the 50,000 word mark. That’s about 175 pages of writing -- or a decent sized novella.

Like so many other aspiring authors, I’ve wanted to see my name on the front cover of a book for some time (as the author, not the subject of some fantastically awful true life crime story, of course). I’ve taken stabs at writing books; I even have a completed novel that I need to start shopping around seriously to prospective agents and publishers. I know published writers, like my friend Suzi Parker, whose Sex in the South: Unbuckling the Bible Belt is a notoriously good (and honest) read. I have a bit of envy over Kevin Brockmeier’s works; in fact, seeing his A Brief History of the Dead on the New York Times bestseller list was like a mental kick in the solar plexus -- both a warning for me to get off my butt and encouragement that yes, another Parkview Class of 91 graduate might be able to do it, too.

I have no doubt I’ll be able to reach 50,000 words in a month. The editors at Sync know I’m notorious for violating my 675 word limit almost every time I send them a column. I've probably given the Arkansas Wild folks coniption fits with my 6000 word articles. The book I started in December 2008 grew to 200,000 words in 80 days and, if I’m lucky, will end up being three separate books when I finally finish the editing process. The challenge with NaNoWriMo is to start fresh and write from scratch, quickly. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes or allow gigantic plot-holes to develop, as long as you’re writing and pulling that thread of a story out of your head.

The challenge comes in what to write. I don’t subscribe to the theory that there’s a book in everyone -- some people have a series of short stories, others have a book that would challenge Stephen King’s The Stand in length. After a whole lot of thought, I’ve decided to tackle the story that’s been in the back of my head for more than a decade -- a story set in mid-90s Jonesboro. I have a little knowledge about that time and space. You should write about what you know, after all.

And there’s the time. I have a lot of assignments that will come due in November, not just my column here but the two blogs I handle and the oodle of different publications whose editors will expect some completed work. I might not have a brick-and-mortar job, but I do have a toddler that keeps me on track and a series of travels to complete to such exotic locations as Stuttgart.

But I think I can do it, by getting up earlier than my normal 6 a.m. start and pushing myself just a little bit harder. In the end, the self-satisfaction of actually committing a story that’s been rattling around in my head for a decade to the electronic safety of a computer file will be worth it.

Will you join me? It’s a worthy endeavor, and best of all -- it’s free. Just start by signing up over at www.NaNoWriMo.org. And if you want to buddy up for some encouragement, drop me a line at kat@tiedyetravels.com. Yeah, it’s a challenge, but it has the potential to be a lot of fun.

Around the internet.

• NAO UEDA
• PERFECT PICKINGS: For pesto

I have a lot of competition out there, so I have to stay sharp. And I have a soft spot for our local blogs, too. After all, if it wasn't for Max's benevolence (and perhaps my utter persistence) chances are I'd still be writing Tie Dye Travels in relative obscurity and be begging for any sort of mention in Eat Arkansas.

Michael Roberts is stepping up over at Arkansas Foodies. He went out and covered the Guns & Hoses Chili Cookoff this past weekend. There are reviews and recipes to be found on his site. Pretty good job.

The anonymous Fort Smith Eats just came out with a Readers Choice for locally owned restaurants, based on the idea of each reader picking their three favorite restaurants to spend money at in the city. It's a pretty interesting idea — go read about the whole 3/50 idea.

More blog recommendations on the jump.

• CHET ROBERSON
• PIZZA DIP: Town Pump's creation

Another new entry in the local food blogger movement is Knife Fight Food Blog with Chet Roberson. As far as food photos go, Chet's pretty decent, and you can tell he tries just about everything he can get his hands on. It's more of a manfood sort of blog than I could righteously write, but that's not a bad thing. I'll be watching this one with interest.

I really meant to get to Nao's latest post over on GreenAR By The Day up last week, but life got in the way. She's got another great one, this time preservation methods for homemade pesto. Fabulous.

Did you know the state of Arkansas has a culinary blog? Indeed, you can find it here. See, there are other people who explore around the state in search of good food. I'm not nuts, right?

I know Rex has been busy, so I won't get onto him for not doing a whole lot of updating on his Southern Fried Blog. But I will point out this post that'll take you down memory lane. Stay tuned, Rex — I'm gonna talk about one of those places tomorrow.

An interesting new find for me has been the Real Food in Little Rock blog by the folks from the Weston A. Price Foundation. Full of good recipes and good ideas about eating locally, I'm going to head back here on a more regular basis. This bit on an all-Arkansas chicken dinner is a winner.

Eastern Edibles at Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine in Little Rock.

Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine in the Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center is a demur little place, with six booths and six two-person tables pretty much fill up the dining room. Rustic dark woods and sage green seats complement the red and gold pendant lights and the wall-sized mosque image on the back wall.

The menu includes sodas, several varieties of hot tea, and both regular (American) and Turkish coffee amongst its beverages. When in Istanbul do as the Istanbulites, as the saying goes, so we gave the latter thick, syrupy beverage a shot.

As we enjoyed our appetizers — cacik (mint, cucumber, and spices in yogurt, pronounced kah-SEEK), dolmas (grape

leaves stuffed with rice, beef, onion and Turkish spices sautéed in olive oil) and a somewhat sweet red pepper hummus — the restaurant filled up around us, with not a seat to spare. The meager staff (of three, it appeared — cook, hostess and waiter) scrambled about, apparently surprised at the sudden onslaught of customers. Our orders came out in dribbles and drabs. Fortunately, plenty of hot, almost crispy pita wedges were continually passed along to our table in baskets, along with real butter in bowls. Butter on pita was new to me, but perhaps it's this restaurant's version of the

traditional Arkansas appetizer of Club crackers with butter or margarine.

One of our cohorts ordered the Cigar Pastry, a surprisingly good Turkish-style version of mozzarella sticks. The salty, gooey hot sticks of feta and mozzarella wrapped in phyllo dough are eight inches of happiness in a flaky shell and are sure to become a favorite.

Entrees come with soup (tomato or lentil) and salad, rice or fries. We enjoyed the almost creamy lentil soup. The tomato was light and almost as good with a sprinkling of mozzarella. We realized after we left that we'd never received our salads, but believe that was just an oversight (we did receive two appetizer trios instead of one).

A companion chose the doner kebab. Similar to

gyros, the meat is a blend of beef and lamb spiced and spit-roasted. Like most of the other dishes we sampled, it was served up with a thicker version of pita wedges and cacik, sliced tomatoes, rice and sumak salad (an onion relish that was both sweet and tart). The meat was a bit juicier than average, but when you get down to

it there's not that much difference between other gyro-style offerings around these parts.


Another in the group had a variation on that dish, the Iskender kebab, served with a rich tomato and sweet cream sauce.

The kofte kebab and the beyti shish kebab looked similar, but the five small beef patties of the kofte dish were more like tiny Turkish burgers compared to the sweeter, almost steak-like beyti. Both were well received.

We were disappointed to discover that the Noah's Pudding wasn't available yet (not all of the items are, but we were assured that they would be soon)

so we ordered the profiterole, chocolate custard-filled balls drizzled with more chocolate and dusted with coconut. They appeared to be the sort of thing you find in the frozen foods case at Sam's Club, but were surprisingly smooth and slightly spicy. Our companions enjoyed the apparently house-made and tasty baklava.

Istanbul is not as fancy as Capi's two doors down one direction and not as casual as Cheeburger Cheeburger three doors the other way, but the meal was satisfying. We'll make a second visit once the eatery has a chance to fully establish itself.

Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine
11525 Cantrell Road Suite 914 (Pleasant Ridge Town Center)
(501) 223-9332
Website

Scenic Seven Survives V: The Hub Rises.

Writer Kat Robinson and photographer Grav Weldon head into the hills in search of what’s brought a stretch of Scenic Highway Seven back to life.

An abridged version of this article appears in the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of Arkansas Wild. Click through for a downloadable copy.

So far we’d been in the area for six hours and had seen a mere handful of people on motorbikes. The idea that the area had been saved by these two-wheeled tourists wasn’t standing up. We needed to find out for certain.

There’s still a spur that goes up to what was once the Dogpatch USA admission style and gift shop. Turning on the spur of Highway Seven that eventually becomes County Road 206, you see a sharp hill on the right, topped with cabins and chalets that overlook the road below. Years ago these were homes occupied by people who worked at Dogpatch. Twenty years ago most of them were in ruins, but individuals have revitalized them and made them into something special.

At the top of the hill, there’s an expanse of parking lot that goes on for what appears to be forever. This was the backend of the old Dogpatch parking lot, and trams would run this far out to pick up people from their cars or from the motel on the lot. That motel is now The Hub. It sits behind a round building that’s also part of The Hub, the old Dogpatch Convention Center converted to a restaurant and multi-use facility.

We drove around to the motel and I went in and met Randal Phillips. Randal’s a nice guy, but from first glance you might thing otherwise. He fits the stereotype for what television has taught us a biker should look like, but he was agreeable and full of good information. He checked us in and invited us to meet him and his wife for dinner at Scooter’s that evening.

After getting our photos loaded down into the computer and updates loaded to the web, we did just that, and got a tour of the convention facility to boot.

Randal and Debbie Phillips are high school sweethearts. They met at Valley View and entangled their lives together with each other. They share a passion for many things, and one of those things is riding.

Their motorcycle club did recognize one thing that was strongly needed for the clubs that rode Scenic Seven -- a rally point, a destination for clubs dusty from the road, somewhere to eat a good meal and grab some kip before rolling on the next day. The Phillipses and another member of their group got together and came up with a plan.

They had seen the ruins of Dogpatch and knew the property was up for sale. The location was prime, a jumping-off point for riders who wanted to take Scenic Seven and its side roads and enjoy the curves and valleys. They purchased the old motel and convention center in 2005 and started work on rehabilitating the property. Soon the Phillipses bought out their other partner, and they’ve watched the blossoming of their businesses as more bikes roll onto the property.

But when we had come up, there were very few bikes or anything else in the parking lot. I asked them about that.

“Well, it’s not the right time. Usually it starts on Friday afternoon when people start rolling in,” Randal told us.

We found out that most of the year, hotel customers are mostly limited to the weekends. It’s too hot in the summer for a lot of vacationers, and too chancy with the weather in the wintertime. But every weekend there are weekend warriors -- members of motorcycle clubs from Arkansas and all over the United States -- that roll in and stay a night or two. And during the late spring and throughout the fall it’s hard to find an empty room.

Business is up for Randal and Debbie, by 30 percent this year alone. Most of the advertising is word-of-mouth and not many people outside the area or the motorcycle community has heard of The Hub. That may change as the reputation grows.

The rooms at The Hub are not fancy, but they’re clean and they’re well equipped. I found on check-in that there was a small stack of torn towels on the dresser, with a cardboard sign that read “Bike, Boots & Etc. Rags.” I can honestly say I’ve never seen this amenity offered before, but considering the clientele it makes sense.

I had to ask the question. “So, are the folks who come up here just motorcycle enthusiasts, or are they bikers, one-percenters?”

Randal and Debbie looked at each other before she responded. “They’re folks, just like us. They love to ride and they have families.”

“So, weekend warriors, then?”

Randal laughed. “That’s a strange term. But yeah, just people like us who like to take their bikes out and ride on the highways.

“We don’t get to ride all that much any more because of the business. But we meet a lot of people who are like us who want a nice, clean place to sleep and somewhere to meet up.”

And The Hub is good for that, not only for the motel but for Scooter’s Restaurant. Four days a week the place is open, offering what some might call road food. That’s fitting, but it doesn’t cover how good the food really is.

We dined twice there, on Thursday and on Friday nights. I got a ribeye and Grav chose the Mushroom Swiss Chicken the first night… but the real star of the show for us was something Debbie’s come up with called Road Rash. It’s a spicy ranch-based dressing that we discovered went well on potatoes and fries, steak, salad and even green beans. The closest I can relate it to is a Cool Ranch Doritoes with cajun seasoning. It’s dang addictive.

We had to return for Friday night’s dinner, even though we’d planned to be back on the road earlier that day. Debbie had told us about the prime rib, and I am a sucker for prime rib. At Scooter’s it’s hand-cut by the cook, seasoned well and just… well, it’s one of the best prime ribs I’ve ever had in my life. You can even have it grilled and it still comes out remarkably good.


We also had to stay to finally see the bikes roll in. The next day in-between interviews at Little Switzerland Cabins and the Chamber of Commerce we caught shots of hogs on the pavement -- parked in front of Jasper stores, riding Scenic Seven and rolling into The Hub. The first group was out of Kansas City, in for a meet on the top of the hill. There were members from the B.O.B. Club and an event for a gathering called the Muffins and the Silver Foxes. Between dawn and dusk the Jasper area growled quietly with riders coming in and settling down for a full Saturday ahead.

And when we left out of The Hub in the late-afternoon light, there were dozens of bikes and a few cars, not the seas of vehicles that once populated the Dogpatch USA parking lot but plenty to stay the night and have a good meal. As we wandered down Scenic Seven past cabins and through Jasper and on past Scenic Point, we noted all the bikes and cars. This area is no longer dying off. It’s thriving again.