Cotham's (Scott AR)

My husband and I both love Civil War stuff. There was a Civil War Campaign in Little Rock. We have a numbered map of the places to go. He told me last week to find a place to eat on this "trail". It took us right to Scott AR. There is only one place I could think of in that area to eat...Cotham's! We had never been there but the friend that was with us had.

It's an old mercantile store. Lots of old stuff on the walls to look at. We ordered the fried green tomatoes for an appetizer. Oh my, what a treat! They were awesome. They had a cornmeal crust and were cooked to perfection. I love the tang of a good fried green tomato.


Cotham's is famous for their hub cap burger. My husband got that and it was huge! He ate all of it except some of the bun. Friend and I had regular size cheeseburgers but they were still pretty good. These are made from scratch, hand-formed patties that taste just like what they are...real beef! Instead of fries, we all opted to pay the extra buck or two and get the onion rings. To quote Rachael Ray "oh my gravy"! They were great. They had a very light, crispy batter. The onions were so sweet it was almost like they had sugar on them.


Believe it or not, we had room for dessert. I had something I had never heard of before even here in the south. I don't know why other people have not made this, fried sweet potato pie. It was delicious. I wish now that I had brought one home. Husband had the peach cobbler and friend had Mississippi Mud pie. I tasted the peach cobbler and it was delicious.


I can hardly wait to go back for another burger and fried pie.

4 out of 5 stars

The Diner (Cabot AR)

My friend talks about this palce all the time. Her 5 year old will wake up on Saturday morning and ask to go to Children's Church first then when she tells him it is Saturday he says 'wanna go eat at The Diner!'.

We are both off on vacation this week but not by a plan. We seldom get to spend time together without spouses and kids so...we met for breakfast this morning.

They have an extensive breakfast menu but I can never resist a short stack and bacon! It was delicious. I added some hash browns and they were great too.

The coffee was wonderful and when I mentioned it, I was told it is Folgers. Whatever they do when they make it, makes it really good coffee. And they have 1/2 & 1/2 which I LOVE in my coffee.

Service was great. I recognized some wait staff from a place I used to eat in another town. Prices were reasonable. I will definitely go back.

4 out 5 stars

Rib Crib (Searcy AR)

Just want to tell you about a very underrated place to eat...Rib Crib! We love it. The ribs are excellent. I highly recommend the shrimp/rib combo. The shrimp are large and very crunchy. The ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender. I prefer the mild sauce but they do have a hot and a Carolina mustard sauce.

We shared some tater skins tonight. They are great with the mild bbq sauce on them.

If you just want a quick bite of bbq, give them a try. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Oh, don't forget to try the smoked bologna (it rocks!).

3 1/2 stars

Olive Garden - NLR AR

Decided at the last minute to go to the mall right after church on Sunday. Gotta eat, right? We went to Olive Garden, one of my husband's favorite places. It's just OK to me. I can make better spaghetti and fettuccine Alfredo at home from scratch. The interesting thing is that neither of us got what I would consider Italian food.

Husband ordered the same thing he always gets...Mixed Grill. It's chicken and beef on skewers with roasted potatoes and grilled veggies. He loves it.

I wanted something that was not pasta. I highly recommend the dish I had. It was the Chianti Braised Beef Short Ribs with Portabella risotto(I LOVE RISOTTO!) The meat was so tender I didn't even have to use a knife but did since I was in public. The rice was wonderful. The sauce on the meat was smooth and flavorful.

Son ordered the Seafood Portofino and discovered that he loves mussels! That's my boy!

Over all it was good. The only problem was getting a table. I told them 5 adults and one infant but they heard and wrote down 5 total including the infant. Just miscommunication. They took care of as quickly as they could even after we let them know the other 3 weren't not joining us and we now needed a table for 3 instead of 6.

3 out of 5 stars

Roper's in Opal AR

I haven't been anywhere new this week. I thought I would blog about one of our favorite places to eat close to home.

Roper's has a wide variety of food. You can get anything from sandwiches to pizza to steak. Let's talk about pizza first...two words...THE ROUNDUP! This is the BEST pizza ever. Thin crust, lots of toppings. The slices are "heavy" because there is so much stuff on them. Don't get a salad to go with it because you want to be able to enjoy more than 1 or 2 pieces. Yummy!

Steak! Yes, you can get a great steak at Roper's. The 6 oz. fillet is wonderful. It is always cooked perfectly and seasoned well. When it gets to your table, you think that it will not fill you up but trust me on this one, it will.

My third favorite meal is the Italian sub. This is one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten. it is loaded with meat and toppings. The Italian dressing just makes it even better. Sometimes I can eat the whole thing and sometimes not. It comes with chips and a pickle but they also have fries and onion rings(which I love) you can substitute.

My son loves the chicken strips but he gets those everywhere we go!

Give it a try...Oh! I almost forgot...the Cheese Pizza is awesome too!

Michelangelo's (Conway AR)

August 8, 2009

What do we want for dinner? "I want to try something new". So, we ended up at Michelangelo's in Conway. I had Lobster Ravioli with shrimp, clams, muscles and bay scallops. It was delicious! The presentation was amazing. The ravioli were perfectly cooked and very light. The sauce was a simple butter/lemon sauce with tarragon. I could have licked the plate for that sauce! Our waiter offered to get me a roll for sopping...yes, that is a technical term! David order a fillet but received a ribeye. The staff was wonderful to fix the mistake and did not ask us to pay for either steak. That is customer service!

Of course, I had to have dessert. No, not creme brulee this time. I had 4 (yes, 4) tiny cannolis. The filling has a hint of orange zest. They had a very tasty chocolate sauce on one end that was also rolled in nuts.

Overall, I give this place 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. The atmosphere is wonderful with great colors!