(4.25 out of 5)
(4.00 out of 5)
I have not blogged in many days. But a great food night deserves the space. I wanted everyone to know that Ashley’s at the Capital Hotel continues to turn out some of the best food ever! Lee Richardson has a beautiful Farmers Menu that is all supplied by local farmers. His menu is the crème de la crème of Arkansas. There is a great 49. price fix that is some of the best food you ever eat. I am not a fan of chicken livers, however when my husband ordered the Oat Crusted Chicken Livers over Fresh Greens, I tasted them and don’t regret it one bite! My Sable fish was the tenderest and sweetest fish I have ever had. My husband beat again with his desert, Banana Cream Brule and Cake served with Browned Butter Ice Cream. The fact that everyone treats you like you are the Stephens is another reason to go to Ashley’s and the Capital Hotel. They even had our names on the menus because it was our anniversary, Wow! You really can’t beat and the wine pairing was only 20.00 with the meal. A great bargain for some amazing wine!
So lately I have really been shouting about slow food and buying local. And then my 24 year old daughter, Brennan, (who lives out in the idyllic world of Oakland,CA where going green is the only way to go and buying local is expected ) says, ‘there is not a Slow Food Chapter in Central Arkansas, you should start one!’ As much as I am in favor with The Slow Food Movement, I can not put one more thing on my plate. Also, I think it would be much better served if the Chapter was formed by a real food expert, say a farmer. She also told me about a very cool movie, Food Inc. , that has changed the way she eats and buys food. So, there is lots of press out there right now that looks at what we are eating and where it is coming from. EAT & BUY LOCAL!
We just returned from a trip to Madison. MS, just outside of Jackson. This is a very social community that is supposed to be a hotbed of activity. We had a great pizza Saturday night at Soulshine Pizza Factory in Ridgeland. Super place and very busy. The Pizza was great! The next morning we were going out for breakfast and found three restaurants in the area closed, as in “we are not going to open again”. You can see where the economy really has effected the local restaurants. I kept thinking, is it this bad in Little Rock? Well I know that one of the first things folks cut from their budget is the eating out part. There are lots of jobs out there that depend on the eating out. So if you are going to eat out, support your local restaurants and let’s keep people employed!
Buy Local! There are so many great new places in Little Rock right now that you can buy anything you need locally. The ones that come to mind are Maddie’s Place on Rebsamen Park Road. Great cajun po’boys and a Parmesan bisque that will make you weep. Also Patio Pizza and Beer Garden. A super pizza and believe it or not, banana pudding that will make you think you are at your grandmother’s house. Last, but not least, is the Station Grocery & Deli on the corner of Markham and Kavanaugh with some of the freshest produce you could possibly want. So support your local stores & restaurants!!! What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that you don’t have to go to chain to great food, as a matter of fact the local places are always better than the chains. You will always get fresher more local food. We were just in Oakland,CA to see my daughter and I did not see a chain restaurant for miles. The local places are all trying to out do each other in the local market and boy are they proud of where they get their meat, veggies, etc. The best part is that these places are thriving! So do your self and your community a big favor, BUY LOCAL!!!
So this is my first attempt at blogging! There are many times when I wish I had a space to really let my listeners know what I discover about Arkansas cooks, restaurants, chefs, you name it! I think this is my space.
The times that I am traveling is when I think of my listeners the most often. I am fortunate that my show leads me to more food sites than you can imagine.
The one perk that I really like is that both Chronicle Books and Harvard Common Press send me cookbooks! I love cookbooks and I get others, but these two suppliers are the most generous with their gifts. People often ask me about the books I receive and I want people to know that I give lots of them away at the bi-annual Public Radio beg-a-thon. I read many of them and skim through all of them. I have reported on many and panned a few. My goal is to keep you all posted on the ones I really like. I also buy about a cookbook a month, so a review does not come with only the books I receive for free. I want to give my listeners a wide variety of cookbooks and food resource books to pick from.
The other thing I buy on a regular basis is food magazines. I recently fell in love with Clean Eating. It is a fairly new publication with only 6 or 7 issues under their belt. They come out 6 times a year so you will never feel overwhelmed. The magazine focuses on healthy food from local choices and whole foods rather than lots of chemically enhanced foods. The catch phrase they use is “improving your life one meal at a time”. I can’t wait to see what else is new in the next addition.
I also get Cooks Illustrated. This is a tried and true magazine that really stands the test of time. The recipes are always tested and they are good solid standards that anyone can do.
I have lots of traveling set for this year and my first trip is to see my daughter in Oakland,CA. I do have a dinner reservation at Chez Panisse in Berkly,CA (Alice Water’s restaurant), and I am so excited. My daughter and I have had lunch there before, but the dinner menu is supposed to be even better. So I will report back. It has been called the finest restaurant in the world. They actually did a story on Alice Waters last week on 60 Min. I have a trip to Las Vegas and then to Oregon, so it should be an exciting summer. More later I am sure.
- Mary