News
Chef and owner of Southern Salt Food Company Lauren McCants is now working the kitchen at long-time dive bar White Water Tavern. McCants is cooking up Southern Salt favorites on the weekends, plus Tuesday and Thursday nights. Of course, the Cuban Reuben is there, as are jerk chicken nachos, chicken mole quesadillas, and sweet potato and avocado tacos. Fans of the food truck, don’t fear: McCants is pulling double duty and still gets out around town in the truck. She is scheduled to appear at Harvestfest in Hillcrest on Saturday, Oct. 22.
Before the Little Rock location could even open, Tacos 4 Life has announced it’s also coming to Saline County. The popular Arkansas restaurant will open its fifth location in Benton on Alcoa Road. The grand opening will be in spring of next year. Also, Tacos 4 Life has another reason to celebrate; it recently donated its 2 millionth meal to charity. With every meal purchased, Tacos 4 Life donates a meal to Feed My Starving Children, a mission that helps battle child hunger in the countries of Honduras and Swaziland.
Little Rock’s only distillery is expanding its lineup. Rock Town Distillery has added small-batch flavored vodkas in grapefruit, basil and Mandarin orange. Rock Town master distiller Phil Brandon says these vodkas are great for mixing or just enjoying with a splash of club soda. The suggested retail price is $14 for a 750 mL bottle. They are on sale at the distillery and several liquor stores around town.
South on Main will play host to the Oxford American’s annual fundraiser on Friday night and will not be open for regular business. Chef Matthew Bell will be serving up a southern barbecue buffet for the event, which is ticketed at $200 each. But even more impressive than Bell’s excellent cooking is one of the items up for bids in the auction that night. Attendees will be bidding on a pair of boxing gloves autographed by none other than boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Tickets are still available, but seating is limited, so move quickly if you want to go.
Last week, Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom put a special cheeseburger pizza on the menu to help raise money for employees of Midtown Billiards who are out of work after a fire badly damaged the historic bar. The response was so strong that Raduno is keeping the special going again this week. I got a chance to try it last week, and it was well worth seeking out. Be sure to stop by between now and Sunday for a very good pizza and a chance to help those who need it.
It’s not really news, but I found it amusing: after the first attempt at imploding the Broadway Bridge failed, Cregeen’s Irish Pub in Argenta sold their Irish car bombs for only $4 until the bridge was in the river. It was five and a half hours after detonation that the bridge finally collapsed.
The Blue Plate Special, the annual fundraiser for the Thea Foundation, will be held this coming Monday, and Rock City Eats has two free tickets to the event. Click here to enter the giveaway contest.
Take it from me, the place to go for your post-shift stress reliever this fall is Big Orange Midtown. I had a chance to sample the excellent new cocktail menu and found it worthy of very high praise.
And it’s no secret that Northwest Arkansas’ food scene has exploded in recent years. We put together a quick guide to great food when travelling to watch the Hogs play this fall.
Events
[ecs-list-events limit=’8′ excerpt=’300′ ecs-list-events venue=’true’ contentorder=’date,title,venue, excerpt’]
Specials
Yellow Rocket Concepts has released its specials for the month of October:
- Big Orange: Turkey Bacon Brie Burger, Red Velvet Cake, and Caramel Apple Pie Shake
- Local Lime: Grilled Fresh Gulf Oysters
- Zaza: Market Pizza with Autumn Squash and the Apple and Endive Salad
