Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [105]
Desserts include fine Arkansas fried pies and peach or blackberry cobbler.
Craig’s Bar-B-Q
Hwy. 70 W
870–998–2616
DeValls Bluff, AR
LD | $
Craig’s is a shack so unrepentantly dumpy that you’ve got to love it. Dim fluorescent lights hang over a half-dozen rickety tables. Pinned to faded wallpaper with a ducks-in-flight pattern are business cards and hand-penned ads who-knows-how-old: Lost Black Lab named Cache; 12 Gauge Steel Shot Cheap; Deer Processing; Emergency Gas and Rescue Assistance; Joyce’s Beauty Salon. Diners’ attire ranges from still-wet camouflage waders to pressed pinstripe suits, and includes an amazing number of giant-size overalls on great big farm folks. The close quarters mean that conversations are wide open among seated eaters as well as take-out customers hovering around waiting for their food. We shared thoughts with Arkansawyers about political vice and bird-dog virtue.
The chopped pork is spectacular, certainly the best between Memphis and Little Rock: alternately soft and crunchy, deeply smoked and brushed with thick, orange sauce that is big on spice and nearly sugarless. To balance the devilish sauce, which is available ultra-hot if specially requested, sandwiches are constructed with a layer of sweet coleslaw inside the bun; dinner plates include beans and slaw. The only other available side dish is a bag of chips. And the only proper thing to drink is iced tea—very sweet, of course.
Doe’s Eat Place
1023 W. Markham St.
501–376–1195
Little Rock, AR
LD | $$$
Doe’s is one of the worst-looking restaurants we love. It looks a little derelict from the outside, but inside is even worse: the linoleum floor is worn through; tables wobble; plates are flea-market quality.
Steaks are some of the best anywhere. Porterhouses, T-bones, and rib eyes are served family-style by weight. Family-style means that the cut of your choice comes hot from the kitchen already sliced, along with tongs for everyone to hoist their own from the serving plate. Are you stumped as to whether you need a three-pound porterhouse or a six-pound sirloin? No problem. The menu advises, “If you are a new customer at Doe’s and wish assistance ordering, our experienced staff will be glad to help you.” In fact, we want to mention that the staff at Doe’s is amazingly friendly and obliging, even those times when the place is mobbed, as it is on weekend nights.
Along with succulent, charred-edge slabs of beef come skillet-cooked French fries. And before the arrival of the meat you get a bowl of memorable salad slick with garlicky, lemony, olive oil dressing. There are serious appetizers, too, and we highly recommend them for those of limitless appetite. Fried or broiled shrimp are available by the half-dozen, and Doe’s hot tamales with chili are legendary (but also very, very filling).
Ed and Kay’s
15228 I-30
501–315–3663
Benton, AR
BLD | $
Best known for its showstopping pies, Ed and Kay’s also happens to be a great place for a hamburger with good onion rings or a yeomanly plate lunch. There may be only one or two hot entrees any day—stuffed peppers, fried chicken, ham, pork chops—but the list of side dishes is awesome, including mac and cheese, purple hull peas, creamed corn, and skillet fried potatoes. Most people get an entree and two or three vegetables, but it is possible to forgo the main course altogether and have a wonderful meal of four different side dishes.
Meringue pies are amazing-looking, their tops a perfect volcano shape that is two or three times the height of the filling itself. Of course there are chocolate cream, coconut cream, and lemon meringue. Our personal favorite from this phylum is peanut butter cream. But neither should one ignore the non-meringue pies. Pecan is masterful, and the one known as PCP is the ultimate, its initials standing for pineapple, coconut, and pecan. We recently received