Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [106]
Family Pie Shop
Hwy. 70 W
870–998–2279
DeValls Bluff, AR
Erratic hours; call ahead | $
Mary Thomas, who used to be a barbecue cook for Mr. Craig at Craig’s Bar-B-Q on the other side of Route 70 (Arkansas), opened her little bakery in 1977, and while it is merely a cinder-block garage hidden from easy view, aficionados consider Mary’s the finest pie stop in the state: high honor hereabouts, where pie consciousness is as elevated as Iowa’s.
Mary’s dining facilities are minimal: four stools at a short counter in a disheveled storage room next to the kitchen. Most people get whole pies or small ones for two to eat in the car or at home. Mary told us that when Bill Clinton lived in Little Rock, he stopped in all the time and ate pie at the counter with his friends and family. He didn’t have a favorite. “He liked them all!” she confides.
We love Mary’s simple sugar cream pie and her luxurious “Karo nut,” aka pecan, and the sweet potato pie is platonic. But filling almost doesn’t matter; crust lifts these heavenward. Honey-brown, ready to flake with slight pressure from a plastic fork, the crust’s savor is amplified in Mary’s version of the Arkansas favorite, fried pie—apple, peach, or apricot filling inside a crescent of pastry dough that is deep-fried until brittle. “Lard! That is the secret,” we proclaim as we crunch into a hot fried pie at the counter.
Mary shakes her head. “I will not speak of crust.” She does allow that there is no lard in it, but she is mum about details of the recipe, a legacy from her husband, who was a Mississippi riverboat cook. Sitting at her counter, we ate two of Mary’s individual-size meringue pies, then took one full-size egg custard pie to have in our Little Rock hotel room that night.
Feltner’s Whatta-Burger
1410 North Arkansas
501–968–1410
Russellville, AR
LD | $
Feltner’s serves the best hamburger in Arkansas. There are Whatta-Burger shops throughout the Southwest, but none like this one, known for “custom made hamburgers,” gorgeous French fries, and milkshakes served in cardboard flagons that are more like buckets than cups.
In addition to big and good meals, Feltner’s offers the kick of an only-in-America fast-food experience. The instant you enter the low-slung brick building, an order taker virtually accosts you at the door to find out what you want. At the head of the line, you convey the precise details of your order, from a simple Whatta-Burger (that’s a quarter-pound patty on a five-inch bun) to a Whatta-Burger with double meat and double cheese. At the end of the line, you pay and receive your meal on a tray in a white bag, beverage on the side. Find a booth in the big dining room, where the walls are lined with humorous and inspirational homilies: “We guarantee fast service no matter how long it takes” “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get” “Cherish yesterday, dream tomorrow, live today.”
Feltner’s is the town burger joint, a favorite for families, teens on dates, and Arkansas Tech students. We well recall our first visit when we shared the dining room with a happy stampede of approximately three dozen fresh-faced six-footers attending basketball camp at the college, each of whom carried a tray with a brace of double-doubles (double meat, double cheese) and a heap of French fries.
Little Chef
1103 E. Michigan
870–673–7372
Stuttgart, AR
BLD | $
The Little Chef is a Quonset hut in the Rice and Duck Capital of the World. It looks stark from the parking lot, but inside, it’s cozy small-town café all the way. The dining room is decorated in antique memorabilia, and cakes of the day are appealingly set out on the counter. For breakfast, we’ve enjoyed biscuits with sausage gravy and pancakes with country ham. We’ve had excellent four-vegetable plates, including buttery mac ’n’ cheese (such a swell vegetable!), greens, beans, and rice and gravy, and first-rate fried chicken, super moist inside its envelope of golden crust. All meals