Little Rock, AR

What!? Yup. Seems like I only travel for conferences, thus you get food reports from the random places I end up.

So, Little Rock. True to (some) stereotypes of the south, people were really nice, for example, the shuttle drivers and everyone at the hotel (La Quinta). Seriously, this woman walked by me, I shifted a little, and she apologized for being in my way. It was ridiculous.

But anyway, the shuttle driver recommended we eat at Rumba. It is sort of Latin-ish, with tapas and stuff. Anyway, the best tapas dish we had was this chimichurri beef thing. Yum!! The plantains were also good, but the pork was a little bland. I also ordered enchiladas, which were fine. I don't know... I wasn't too excited about the other things on the menu. There were a lot of sandwiches that sounded good, but I'm not big on sandwichees for dinner. And then there was a lot of adventurous stuff--like fruit in savory dishes, which... I don't know... I guess I wasn't in the mood for... or I didn't necessarily trust the place with that kind of thing. It seemed like a very hip restaurant and... I guess I didn't feel like being the audience for their hip experimentation.

We also had drinks. Three of us had a drink with sugar cane liquor, which was very strong! Another girl had a mojito, which probably was not as strong and probably tasted better. We also sat on the porch, which was awesome, except when the mosquitoes came out.

We also had two meals at The Flying Fish. Mostly fried stuff, mostly seafood, really excellent. Other folks were really excited about the catfish and seafood sandwiches like the lobster roll. I tried my friend's catfish and learned that I don't like catfish, but even the chicken strips were good. The batter was just excellent. I think one kind of food Hawai'i may be missing is southern-style fried chicken. Of course Hawaii's got Korean fried chicken and all that, but as far as the southern-style, I think the best we have is Popeye's, which I am a fan of, but I can see that there is room for growth.

Our meals also came with hush puppies, which were so awesome! The only other place I've had these were at that New Orleans-themed food court restaurant. Needless to say, these were completely different. The texture was like andagi, with the crispy layer on the outside, but of course with a more savory flavor.

We also got side orders of fried okra and pickled green tomatoes (not fried), which were both awesome. The shop also offers fresh lemonade and lots of hot sauce!

We had drinks at The Flying Saucer, where my friends realized how much I like beer. I had a UK/Ireland flight that ended with the lovely Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I think there was a Harp's in there. I forget, but they were all excellent. The beer menu was super long. There were at least a few other flights to choose from, plus Snakebites and other combos. And even a wheat-free beer.

The one down-side to this place (or up-side, depending on how you look at it) is that there were way too many guys. In fact, this whole town seems to have way too many guys. Just walking down the street, guys unabashedly check out any woman who walks by. In the bar it seems even worse though. Maybe cuz it's a bar? Maybe cuz all the hostesses are dressed like school girls, which seems like it would sort of encourage the gawking?

We also spent some time in a coffee shop. Of course I can't remember what it's called. It had "bread" in the name. Anyway, the coffee was awesome as were the sandwiches and soups. It was sort of a fancy soup and sandwich place. I had a tomato-based soup which was really yummy and a huge vegan sandwich with hummus and all kinds of yummy veggies on really good bread. Of course. I got a half sandwich, which was still pretty big, and it also came with potato chips. Huzzah!