Brown's Country Store and Restaurant: 40 Years, 100 Feet and Growing.

It is very possible that I had my first real restaurant experience at a place in Benton.  It’s likely, considering that’s where my parents lived in the early 70s, around the time that Brown’s Country Store and Restaurant was just starting to bud.

Editorial: The Raw Milk Bill.

One of Kent Walker's marvelous cheeses.  (Grav Weldon)

I have a confession to make.  I love cheese.  I mean, we’re talking serious affection here.  If I had to choose between giving up cheese or chocolate for the rest of my life, there would be no choice – I’ll take salty, savory and even musty cheeses over the finest cocoa nibs. 

I’m also a big fan of Arkansas foods… homegrown, native, created and shared.  The seeds of the locavore movement planted in the past decade have blossomed into readily available fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy year-round.  Not only can I take home these locally produced ingredients, but I can also dine on creations from these same products in an expanding number of local restaurants.  After all these years, there is now the possibility and reality of truly “eating Arkansas.”

At least, to a point.  There are some things we cannot change.  We’ll always be a landlocked state, which means saltwater seafoods are just not something that comes from here.  I doubt we’ll ever have syrup-producing maple.  But there are some things we can change.

Now, a disclaimer.  I’m not a political animal.  I spent too many years trying desperately to follow the Cronkite model in a succession of newsrooms.  For the most part, my politics are my own and are relegated to my voting booth experience.  Food is the one arena in which I will speak out – whether it’s the production, the promotion, the availability to others and the feeding of the hungry. 

That’s why I have to talk to you about House Bill 1536 in the Arkansas Legislature.  Please, stick with me.  It’s just a few lines of government-speak, but it’s important.  The measure reads:

AN ACT TOI PROMOTE THE USE OF LOCALLY PRODUCED MILK PRODUCTS; TO ALLOW THE INCIDENTAL SALE OF LOCALLY PRODUCED WHOLE MILK THAT IS NOT PASTEURIZED; TO ALLOW THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH TO MAKE RULES FOR THE SALE OF LOCALLY PRODUCED WHOLE MILK THAT IS NOT PASTEURIZED; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

The subtitle of the measure:

TO PROMOTE LOCAL MILK PRODUCTS; TO ALLOW THE INCIDENTAL SALE OF WHOLE MILK THAT IS NOT PASTEURIZED; AND TO ALLOW THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH TO MAKE RULES FOR THE SALES.

Chilled milk. (Kat Robinson)

The measure, known commonly as The Raw Milk Bill, would amend Arkansas Code 20-59-248, which currently allows only for the sale of raw goat’s milk – to the tune of just 100 gallons sold per farmer each year.  The changes proposed would extend the same to dairy cattle farmers and such, who would be allowed to sell up to 500 gallons of raw cow’s milk each year.  That increased limit would also apply to goat’s milk.

That may seem like a lot of milk – but if you think about it, it’s really not.  The average American drinks 20.1 gallons of milk a year (2010 numbers, compared with 44.7 gallons of SODA each year), according to the USDA.  500 gallons-worth could conceivably just cover 25 people…. 

What would be done with this unpasteurized milk?  Well, if the measure passes and is signed into law, raw cow’s milk becomes available to the consumer in a variety of ways.  The obvious answer is that it may appear in local markets, probably for a higher price than what you pay for regular milk.  It also becomes available for other applications.  The one I am interested in, is cheese.

Yes, you can make cheese out of pasteurized milk.  I have good friends who do this on a fairly regular basis, creating a soft cream cheese from whole milk with the addition of vinegar or lemon juice.  I’m also a fan of Kent Walker’s fine artisanal cheeses.  Kent’s been creating some marvelous cheeses right here in Little Rock at Trinity Cathedral Episcopal Church, in its kitchen (which has become a fine incubator for locavore pursuits as of late).  He’s already reached beyond Feta to hard cheeses like his Bluff Top Gouda, Habanero Cheddar and Ophelia – a lovely goat milk cheese that could best be compared as a fragrant variant of French Munster.  Thing is, he makes Ophelia out of raw goat’s milk – and it is fabulous.    

Most of the milk you can purchase these days is homogenized – which means it’s the milk of so many cows all poured in together and pasteurized together, giving it a very uniform flavor.  The non-pasteurized raw milk we’re talking about that’s covered in this bill would be the milk from small local farms, where cows get to graze outside on grasses and which will each have their own flavor.  To some it will be slight; to others, significant.  That might freak some of you out.  But imagine the cheeses that could come from that.

There are some big foes against raw milk and cheeses made from it, I have to tell you.  There are even websites that talk about the dangers – and if you are interested in reading them, you can find some of those warnings here.  You can also find information about why raw milk is a good thing, here.  There are good arguments on both sides of the case.

Thing is, passing this measure won’t mean you HAVE to drink raw milk or consume raw milk products.  The milk you get from most of those commercial operations will still be the same product you buy today at your local grocery.  But the bill will open up the possibility of purchasing these items yourself. 

It’ll also help these small dairy operations to flourish – which, in the age of the growing locavore movement, seems like a no-brainer.  Helping these farmers create markets in which to sell their products can only benefit them and encourage others to follow suit, offering more local dairy options for the discerning consumer. 

When it comes down to it, it’s a matter of choice.  I’ll be watching the progress of this measure in the days to come.  It’s currently set to be heard Friday morning in the House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development.  You can follow it here.

Spudnuts: Potato Flour Goodness.

This is one in a series on historical restaurants in the state of Arkansas. For a look at the Arkansas restaurant timeline, click here.

South Arkansas boasts two bakeries with a similar product – a singular item that ties them to a 70+ year shared history with more than 600 other locations.

Mr. Spudnut

A Spudnut.  (Kat Robinson)

Spudnuts were the creation of Al and Bob Pelton, two Salt Lake City boys who first encountered potato-flour doughnuts in Germany. They came back to the States in the late 30s and attempted to recreate the addictive rounds themselves – and succeeded with a recipe they started utilizing in 1940 – which became the heart of their Spudnut Shop franchise. Six years later they had 200 stores that utilized their dry spudnut flour in the making of golden rounds. 20 years after that they were stretched coast to coast with more than 600 outlets.

Spudnut stamp in Magnolia (Kat Robinson)

Spudnut was a big deal… but big deals lead to the end of that franchise. It started with the Peltons selling their company in 1968 to National Oven Products, owned by Pace Industries. Pace turned around a few years later and sold off National Oven Products to Dakota Bake-N-Serv… which itself went away after some bad business by its owner. The company and its company and Spudnuts the franchise all evaporated with a conviction of fraud and conspiracy in 1979. Franchisees were left holding the bag and most disappeared within 10 years.

But not all of them. Two of the franchises held ground here in Arkansas – one in Magnolia, opened in 1959 – and the other in El Dorado, opened in 1948. The two stores have differently styled buildings and different vibes… but they both still sell the golden rings six mornings a week.

The El Dorado location (via Facebook)

Daisy Stringfellow started the one in El Dorado. She discovered them on a trip to visit relatives in Oregon, and visited one of the original Salt Lake City Spudnut Shops on her way home. By the time she arrived back in LA (Lower Arkansas), she had decided she wanted to own one of those franchises. Her daughter Nancy Varnell and son-in-law William Varnell are co-owners today – and Bud McCann is still the only manager the store has ever had.

The Magnolia location (Kat Robinson)

The El Dorado store is more art deco, more stylized on the outside with a tiny dining room within. In Magnolia, it’s more of a country-style diner. Magnolia’s store sells more than pastries, though… in fact, they do sell something called Pigs which seem to be a pastry-wrapped turn on the traditional pigs-in-a-blanket. They also do some weird varieties of Spudnuts, such as peanut butter and jelly – and bacon maple. Indeed.

Spudnut making in Magnolia

While the two stores have a different atmosphere, they do share their mix with each other when one or t’other is running low. That’s saying a lot – since it has been made from scratch since the franchise disappeared.

If you haven’t gone for a Spudnut before – you start with the plain Jane glazed round. For one, Spudnuts seem to be thicker to me. Not in the consistency, mind you, but in the fluff. That potato flour fluffs up high. One bite, and you get it. There’s a substance to it – yes, it still melts on the tongue like all good doughnuts, but you feel as if you’re eating something more than just sugar and air.

Spudnuts are the sort of doughnut that prefers coffee to chocolate milk or cocoa. The round has heft. It has delight.

It has an addictive quality that doesn’t leave your system. Nay, I have indeed heard time after time about individuals who have driven three or four hours to arrive while a Spudnut shop is still open. I know – I’ve been one of them.

Other Spudnut creations (Kat Robinson)

Spudnuts and coffee: it's
what's for breakfast.
Kat Robinson

Here’s the other thing about a Spudnut: they don’t keep.
After six hours you might as well give up on them, put what you have left in a bread pudding or something. The same pliancy that makes the rounds rise so high also pulls them back to Earth and makes them chewy.

Strange Magnolia Spudnut creations

Hungry now? Good. Tomorrow morning get up early and drive to either El Dorado or Magnolia and have yourself one. The Spudnut Shoppe is at 810 West Faulkner in El Dorado, (870) 863-9914 – or find the other Spudnut Shop in Magnolia at 612 East Main Suite B, (870) 234-2005.

If you’re a Spudnut fan, do yourself a favor and check out this website. And you might be interested in this website if you are a home cook.

Minute Man: Smoke on the Burger.

This is one in a series on historical restaurants in the state of Arkansas. For a look at the Arkansas restaurant timeline, click here.

At the end of 56th Street, the cut-through to University Avenue, there was a Minute Man restaurant. It was on the south side of the intersection, across from Zimmerman’s gas station, and from time to time if we could afford it I could have a nice, mean and hot burger on a toasted bun. And if I was really good, I got ice cream.

There was also a Minute Man on Broadway, and it was there through my high school years. I recall going in as a little girl with my mom. They had just introduced their first kids meal called the Magic Meal (this is the late 70s) and my first one had come with a little green army man. The second one, my mom pulled out the burger and I took a bite and started to cry. There was a piece of gristle inside, or maybe some hard cheese or something – and I thought they’d put the little green army man on the burger and it had melted.

My memories of Minute Man come from childhood. Today they’re all gone, save for one lone holdout in El Dorado – too far for me to grab a #2 on my lunch break. You remember the #2, right? The smoke burger? Char-grilled and dolloped with a liquid smoke goo, never equaled by Sonic (funny, I don’t think they offer a smoke burger any more, either). I can still recall that exact slightly woody flavor.

UALR Center for Arkansas
History and Culture

Vernon Rodgers and Wes Hall.
(UALR Center for Arkansas
History and Culture)

The original location at 407 South Broadway in Little Rock was a low-slung building sitting out back of a parking lot. Raymond Merritt remembers it was originally the Lido Minute Man, but I was born significantly later and only remember it as Wes Hall’s Minute Man. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Hall opened the place on May 26th of 1948 as a 24-hour coffee shop with three partners that he

Courtesy Raymond Merritt

eventually bought out before franchising the operation.

It grew, first to Hayes Street (named University Avenue by my time) and then onwards and outwards, eventually spreading to seven states with 57 different restaurants. And the ideas it seeded out spread through the fast food industry. That Magic Meal? It came along before McDonald’s Happy Meal. The #12, known as the “Big M,” was a great double-pattied burger that came along

The #12, or Big M. UALR Center for
Arkansas History and Culture)

before the Big Mac. And about half the burgers if you ordered them as they came (which really was the deal before Burger King started telling people to “have it your way” in the 80s), came with a smattering of “relish sauce” on the bun instead of mustard or mayo – relish sauce being very close to the Thousand Island-type sauce slathered on the Big Mac today. Oh, and if you wanted the lettuce and tomato on a burger like they’re all about served today, you had to order the #6 – the salad burger.

Minute Man was also one of the three restaurants to receive Raytheon’s experimental Radar Ranges. We’re talking a microwave oven – in 1948. While McDonald’s chain restaurants had their fried pies back then (IMHO superior to the baked pies offered today), Minute Man had the Radar Deep Dish Pie – a pot pie that if you were smart you ordered when you got your food so it had enough time to cool on the inside as to not burn your mouth. I only ever remember apple being offered, though the menu Merritt has on his website also shows peach, cherry and strawberry – “Served with Real Butter CREAM 5 cents Extra.”’

Courtesy Raymond Merritt

My mom and I moved to Little Rock in the mid-70s, and I grew up half a mile away from one of the University Avenue locations. It was absolutely as far as I dared to walk from the house, being on the other side of Geyer Springs Elementary by about three blocks. One of those most poignant childhood “fails” I recall was when the place started serving hard-scoop ice cream out the window. I was thrilled to get an ice cream cone with two scoops, side by side in what I believe was called a Sweetheart Cone. I remember going up to the window and waiting while my mom sat in the car. I paid for the treat (I think it was a dollar), turned around and promptly faceplanted on the concrete. Saved most of the cone – except for the very bottom. There was a rush to finish the ice cream before it melted out onto my lap, I remember.

Courtesy Raymond Merritt

By the time I was driving, the Minute Man still open in Little Rock was a block up from the original at 311 South Broadway. The building, if I recall correctly, was painted a pungent green. The interior was dark, and it was often quiet… unless you went at the lunch hour, when generations of traditionalists and Boomers squeezed in for a pick-up order or to quickly manage to consume a burger and fries. It closed for good in June of 2002 to make way for the new Federal Courthouse expansion. By that point, most of the other franchised restaurants had also met their demise – with the exception of that lone El Dorado holdout. Wes Hall didn’t live to see the end of that dream – he passed away a month beforehand.

The El Dorado Minute Man location. (Roadfood.com)

Will the Minute Man ever come back again? According to a posting on Roadfood.com’s forums, the El Dorado restaurant is still serving the same recipes up (I know it also serves cheese dip and burritos, which I don’t recall from the original) – and there was as of December 2012 someone considering opening a new Minute Man in Little Rock. I’m sure if the recipes are followed, that old smoke sauce is brought back and the prices are reasonable, the crowds will follow.

One more note. There's a man who's claimed to have raised me... that'd be the newscaster known as Craig O'Neill. One of these days I'll tell you why. For now, here's a link to the report he did for THV 11 (my old station) about Minute Man and its place in Arkansas history.

Burl's Country Smokehouse: Cinnamon Rolls As Big As Your Head.

This is one in a series on historical restaurants in the state of Arkansas. For a look at the Arkansas restaurant timeline, click here.

Early Arkansas travelers knew a thing or two about "fast food."  While drive-thru restaurants wouldn't appear in the state until the 1970s, the earliest travelers were usually prepared for a meal along their route.  It would usually include shelf-stable items such as hard biscuits and jerky.

A traditional meat counter inside Burl's. (Grav Weldon)

Once the automobile became king and our highways saw pavement, long-distance travelers got used to having a stopping-in place.  Almost every major highway traversing the state through the wilds and the forests had at least one smokehouse to stop at.  And at these you could always find some marvelous baked goods, made-to-order sandwiches and of course... jerky.

There are plumbed facilities
within the store. (Grav Weldon)

Burl's Country Smokehouse didn't start up til 1981, but it's still carrying on that roadside tradition.  The complex on the north side of US 270 between Hot Springs and Mount Ida on the outskirts of Royal in the Ouachita National Forest is a strange collections of buildings that include old cabins, barn-like structures, an apparent depot, a "jail" and even an outhouse.  Inside the main building, under wood-beamed rafters, there hangs the scent of smoke.  The residue of more than 32 years worth of smoking fine meats has left an indelible mark here.  Wander the store and see everything you might wish out of a country cupboard:  Amish jellies, sundries, souvenirs and... jerky.

Ham hocks, hog jowl and smoked bologna.  (Grav Weldon)

That jerky I keep mentioning is different at Burl's than just about anywhere else.  Unadulterated with a traditional marinade, the folks at Burl's instead let the smoke do the talking.  Without that addition of pepper or spice before the smoking itself, the jerky retains a flavor of nothing but smoke and meat, much like you'd encounter at fireside all so many years ago.The sandwiches come piled high with your choice of meat -- pork loin, beef brisket, Genoa salami, turkey, Canadian bacon, pastrami, corned beef and roast beef.  There are cheeses involved, and you would be well advised to choose one that has had its smoking treatment.  The Swiss and the cheddar are both of impeccable quality.

Yes, that big.  (Grav Weldon)

But Burl's big claim to fame might come in the cinnamon rolls offered at checkout.  Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, the rolls are compact spirals of pastry and sugar and spice in a package as big as your head -- or at least as big as mine, as you can see here.

Burl's ignores the conventions of a traditional roadside attraction with seasonal hours -- instead, it's open throughout the year.  Drop in on your way to dig crystals next time you're in the area.

You'll find Burl's Country Smokehouse at 10176 Albert Pike (Highway 270) way out from Hot Springs.  No website, but you can always call them at (501) 991-3875.

Leo's Greek Castle: Classic in Hillcrest.

This is one in a series on historical restaurants in the state of Arkansas.  For a look at the Arkansas restaurant timeline, click here.

When I was growing up in Little Rock, there weren’t many opportunities to get good Greek food.  In fact, I didn’t know how to pronounce “gyro” until I was a teenager.  My experience and exposure was usually limited to the Greek Food Festival and the Arkansas State Fair.

And then there was Leo’s Greek Castle.  Nestled in front of a shopping center in Little Rock’s Hillcrest district, the blue-awning adorned building has been perched along Kavanaugh since the 1920s.  Since the 1970s, it’s served up a combination of traditional Greek dishes, burgers and one killer Cincy dog to locals who mostly have kept it to themselves.

The tiny oddly shaped building started out life as a gas station, oddly enough.  There’s still an empty storage tank located under the place, I’m told.  In the 1950s it housed a barbecue joint come drive-in that offered take-home family packs and curb service. 

And then some time in the 1970s Leo’s was born.  Gyros and such were new and unusual for a lot of the folks living in Hillcrest, and hummus even more so.  But the restaurant’s ice cream and burger offerings kept people coming in.

I ask folks about Leo’s from time to time, and people who lived in Little Rock for only a short time will recall the place – even if they only passed through the area once or twice.  Some talk about the tiny triangles of baklava, some about that Cincy dog.  All of them will tell you the same thing – unless you don’t mind literally rubbing your elbows with the folks at the next table, place a take-out order.

That’s because the diminutive eatery’s dining area is about the size of a single car garage.  Within, there are six tables leveraged in to the left of a counter and ice cream case.  

But it has its high points.  It’s the only place in Arkansas I’ve found that serves honest to goodness pastichio (also called pastitsio) with the béchamel sauce and the oh heavens it’s so rich but it’s so good and all that.  It’s also the only place I know where you can get a “Greek Omelet,” an omelet filled with gyro meat, in the state.  And I love both.

Leo’s has gone through several hands over the years, but it has found stability under Hector Parodi, who I believe has owned the place since 1996 (I was told 14 years by a staffer, but those numbers seem off).  With so many other ethnic offerings brought in over the past decade or so, you’d think it might have suffered.  No.  Leo’s is still going strong.

You’ll find Leo’s Greek Castle at 2925 Kavanaugh Boulevard in the Hillcrest district in Little Rock.  (501) 666-7414 or check out the restaurant's Facebook page. 

Kitchen's Corner Cafe: A Century or Better at Heth.

This is one in a series on historical restaurants in the state of Arkansas.  For a look at the Arkansas restaurant timeline, click here.

There’s not a whole lot that can be said about the flat piece of ground where Highway 70 meets with Highway 79 just south of Interstate 40… other than it’s a four-way intersection you cross to head south to the tiny town of Heth. Oh, and there’s a single building there.

I suppose that building deserves a little interest. It’s been standing since 1905, and it’s housed a grocery non-stop for more than 100 years since. It’s been other things at the same time – one side used to be a liquor store, and the front part used to be a gas station – and even today, it’s also a bait shop and restaurant.

What it is, is a place you should stop and get yourself some breakfast.

For the past seven years, it’s been known as Kitchen’s Corner Store Grill and Deli (and Bait Shop, by one sign). Before that, it was run by most the same folks as Boles’ Grocery. Seems one of the Kitchens boys married into the Boles clan some time back. Boles’ Grocery goes back even further… 45 years further, back to the sixties.


The place is a mish-mash of every type of backroads gathering place you’ll find in the Delta… with a meat counter, apothecary-style cabinetry, beverages and supplies and sundries. There’s also an open kitchen with a bar for diners. The grill starts up at 5 a.m. and keeps going until 5 p.m. Everything’s made right there in front of heaven and all creation.

As can be expected for a blue collar, working man sort of establishment, meals are on the large side. What’s served? “Slammin!” barbecue made on-site. Daily lunch specials. Philly cheesesteaks and deli sandwiches. A half pound burger. You get the idea? 

Breakfast is a must – with a good thick sausage-roux gravy made in a skillet over home-baked biscuits, with plate-sized pancakes drizzled and formed on a well-seasoned grill and with big flat envelope-fold omelets that swamp a platter. They’ll even throw a thick slice of bologna on the grill to go with your toast if you ask nice.

There aren’t a whole lot of places you can find yourself in a casual conversation with a duck hunter, a tractor-riding soybean farmer and a Memphis businessman in a suit at the same time… but this is one of them. Get off the interstate at exit 265 and stop on in, six days a week (closed on Sunday, of course). Oh, and if you need it, you can get your hunting and fishing licenses at the store, too. (870) 735-5648.

Emmy's German Restaurant: Of Love and Spatzel.

One of Fort Smith's great additions to the Arkansas culinary lexicon has its roots in a love story. Let's look at Emmy's German Restaurant.

The Arkansas Restaurant Archive: A Project.

It's been more than five years now since I set out on this quest... a quest that started out as a journey to figure out my next step in life and which has blossomed into a life of writing.  It's had its highs and lows, and there have been a whole lot of words.

Arkansas Pie:  A Delicious Slice of the Natural State isn't the culmination of all of that.  It's a step.  Now with my first book under my belt, I'm moving along to more research.  That project:  delving into Arkansas restaurant history and creating a usable database of information and stories surrounding those locations.

A few weeks ago, I posted a simple question on my Facebook page:

If you could wish for the return of a single restaurant in Arkansas, which one would it be?

More than three hundred comments later, it was clear to me that there should be a one-stop-shop to discover the answer to all sorts of Arkansas restaurant questions, something more than just a place to see what other people think about the food.

The Oark General Store may be the oldest
non-continually operating restaurant in Arkansas.

What it comes down to is that our restaurants aren't just places where one can obtain sustenance.  They are each the culmination of something -- a family plan, an individual's dream, sometimes a need for simple employment.  These restaurants, the ones that survive, do so not just because there's food available but because something else is created -- a memory, a destination, a community, a legacy.

Does Arkansas hold a claim to the fried chicken crown?

There's also a lot of talk these days about foodways.  Indeed, the fact that this past year's Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium sold out in less than a day shows there's heavy interest in the subject.  We talk a lot about farm-to-table and how what's grown from our soil influences our diet.  I humbly submit that with the 20th century comes the reverse influence -- how the people who prepare our food influence our diet and our preferences, and how restaurants can preserve the heart of a culinary culture.

Are Arkansas-created fried pickles of culinary importance?

Reuben sandwiches can be found at many Arkansas restaurants.

Which comes to this -- the very seeds of what I'm planting.  On this link and under the Timeline heading on TieDyeTravels.com, you'll find a growing list of Arkansas restaurants that are 20 years old and older, with their start date and community.  Where I can, I have linked to stories I've done, or indicated that I talked a little about that particular eatery in Arkansas Pie.  Under the list of current restaurants, you'll see a list compiled of responses to my Facebook post and from conversations I've had with folks about the great restaurants that have closed.  I'd like your assistance.  I'd like to pick your brain.  I'd like to hear your stories about the restaurants you remember from your past, your favorites and those that left an indelible mark on your tongue.  I'm going to be collecting these stories in my free time, and I'm going to figure out how best to share our Arkansas restaurant history.  Please feel free to send me your additions to the Timeline, and your stories as well, to kat@tiedyetravels.com.  Or if you'd rather remain anonymous, feel free to leave a message in the comments.

And if you'd like to join in this conversation, please add me on your Twitter @TieDyeTravels.com -- or "like" my Facebook page.  Thank you.