Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Keeping Fayetteville Funky
I love Arsaga's. It's such a cool place to hang out alone or with friends. The coffee is great, the food is good and the staff is genuinely friendly.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Not So Soul Food
The date for this visit was actually March 6, 2010.
I decided to go to Wilma's yesterday for lunch with Kaylon. I'd heard so many things about the food and I just had to try it for myself. I've been in Northwest Arkansas for almost five years now and there are only two places that I know of the classify themselves as "Soul" restaurants here in town. Mama Dean's and Wilma's. I've eaten at Mama Dean's. Let's just say that I am willing to give her another chance.
I heard about Wilma's a couple of years back while working in sales at AT&T. At that time they were located near Drake Field on the south side of town. They've since moved to a location on North College Ave. Prior to eating here I had not been impressed by "Soul" Food restaurant offerings anywhere even back home in Chicago. Well when the opportunity presented itself to me to try out the place I decided to go ahead and do it. We got there and were promptly seated at a table in a small but open dining area. There were two large wooden tables that reminded of my grandma's house and Thanksgiving at first glance. We were given the lunch menu, even though we arrived after 2, and then the standard menu. I think that there was every dish in the Soul Food category being offered at Wilma's. They have the dishes split up in categories based on, I'm assuming, prep time. Word to the wise. Don't go there on your lunch hour if are not sure of what you want to eat. The wait time here is the absolute worst!! I will go into more detail later. After checking the menu out I wondered how they were able to offer so many different and complex items every day. They had greens on the menu but funny thing is I didn't smell greens in the restaurant. As a matter of fact I didn't smell anything. Odd. In my kitchen and every other "soul" kitchen, if greens are cooking you will smell them. Well anyway Kaylon and I placed our drink orders, Wilma's "famous" Sweet Tea. There is a disclaimer of "extreme sweetness" before the order is actually written down on paper. Odd. After getting it and taking a sip I understood the reason for the warning. This was the sweetest tea that I had ever had any my life. Diabetics beware. This puts a black eye on Southern Sweet Tea. I think that at least one cup of sugar is poured in each 12oz glass of tea. After recovering from sugar shock we went ahead and placed our orders. We both ordered what we thought would be safe, pork chops, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn bread. I mean there were at least thirty choices on this menu and two people working, the waiter and Wilma. I didn't want to overwhelm her with anything too complex. After 5 minutes of conversation and two more sips of brown sugar water I began to wonder why I still couldn't smell or hear my food "cooking". Odd. I did hear the sounds of buttons being pushed and the opening and closing of what sounded like a microwave. Yellow flag. We're approaching the 10 minute mark and Kaylon and I were starting to become concerned about our orders. The waiter came by and assured us that our orders were on the way and offered more tea. We respectfully declined. More water please, thank you. 20 minutes still no food. 25 minutes no food. There was one other party in the restaurant at the time and they had already ordered their food before we arrived. Midway between placing our order and receiving it their food arrived at their table. Our meal finally arrived after nearly 30 minutes of waiting. It wasn't worth the wait. Wilma came out to greet us and asked how everything was going. A sweet and humble little woman with a very pleasant personality. She reminded me of my grandmother. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the service sucked and that the tea was horrible. I hadn't tried the food yet so I went the easy route by saying "everything looks great!" She fired back by saying looks are great but she wants it to taste great. I wonder if she's ever eaten her own cooking. For the length of time that we waited I had high expectations for the quality of the food. I was let down hard!! Bland flavor with little to no heat. When I order hot food I expect it to be hot not warm. The food was at least palatable. The worst part about the entire experience was receiving the bill. Can you say ROBBED? Needless to say this place will not get a second chance. I've heard about their wait time and experienced it first hand, this alone will prevent me from going to Wilma's Home Cooking ever again.
Don't get caught by my poison pen!
DiDiOnTheStreet
I decided to go to Wilma's yesterday for lunch with Kaylon. I'd heard so many things about the food and I just had to try it for myself. I've been in Northwest Arkansas for almost five years now and there are only two places that I know of the classify themselves as "Soul" restaurants here in town. Mama Dean's and Wilma's. I've eaten at Mama Dean's. Let's just say that I am willing to give her another chance.
I heard about Wilma's a couple of years back while working in sales at AT&T. At that time they were located near Drake Field on the south side of town. They've since moved to a location on North College Ave. Prior to eating here I had not been impressed by "Soul" Food restaurant offerings anywhere even back home in Chicago. Well when the opportunity presented itself to me to try out the place I decided to go ahead and do it. We got there and were promptly seated at a table in a small but open dining area. There were two large wooden tables that reminded of my grandma's house and Thanksgiving at first glance. We were given the lunch menu, even though we arrived after 2, and then the standard menu. I think that there was every dish in the Soul Food category being offered at Wilma's. They have the dishes split up in categories based on, I'm assuming, prep time. Word to the wise. Don't go there on your lunch hour if are not sure of what you want to eat. The wait time here is the absolute worst!! I will go into more detail later. After checking the menu out I wondered how they were able to offer so many different and complex items every day. They had greens on the menu but funny thing is I didn't smell greens in the restaurant. As a matter of fact I didn't smell anything. Odd. In my kitchen and every other "soul" kitchen, if greens are cooking you will smell them. Well anyway Kaylon and I placed our drink orders, Wilma's "famous" Sweet Tea. There is a disclaimer of "extreme sweetness" before the order is actually written down on paper. Odd. After getting it and taking a sip I understood the reason for the warning. This was the sweetest tea that I had ever had any my life. Diabetics beware. This puts a black eye on Southern Sweet Tea. I think that at least one cup of sugar is poured in each 12oz glass of tea. After recovering from sugar shock we went ahead and placed our orders. We both ordered what we thought would be safe, pork chops, mac and cheese, collard greens, corn bread. I mean there were at least thirty choices on this menu and two people working, the waiter and Wilma. I didn't want to overwhelm her with anything too complex. After 5 minutes of conversation and two more sips of brown sugar water I began to wonder why I still couldn't smell or hear my food "cooking". Odd. I did hear the sounds of buttons being pushed and the opening and closing of what sounded like a microwave. Yellow flag. We're approaching the 10 minute mark and Kaylon and I were starting to become concerned about our orders. The waiter came by and assured us that our orders were on the way and offered more tea. We respectfully declined. More water please, thank you. 20 minutes still no food. 25 minutes no food. There was one other party in the restaurant at the time and they had already ordered their food before we arrived. Midway between placing our order and receiving it their food arrived at their table. Our meal finally arrived after nearly 30 minutes of waiting. It wasn't worth the wait. Wilma came out to greet us and asked how everything was going. A sweet and humble little woman with a very pleasant personality. She reminded me of my grandmother. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the service sucked and that the tea was horrible. I hadn't tried the food yet so I went the easy route by saying "everything looks great!" She fired back by saying looks are great but she wants it to taste great. I wonder if she's ever eaten her own cooking. For the length of time that we waited I had high expectations for the quality of the food. I was let down hard!! Bland flavor with little to no heat. When I order hot food I expect it to be hot not warm. The food was at least palatable. The worst part about the entire experience was receiving the bill. Can you say ROBBED? Needless to say this place will not get a second chance. I've heard about their wait time and experienced it first hand, this alone will prevent me from going to Wilma's Home Cooking ever again.
Don't get caught by my poison pen!
DiDiOnTheStreet
Never Again!!
Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! I have never experienced a moment at a restaurant like the one that I had at my last visit to La Huerta on north College here in Fayetteville. It all started with me looking for a convenient and inexpensive place to eat. Ok, I am going to say cheap place to eat. A brother is unemployed and on a budget right now. Well anyway, I had a choice between my soon to be favorite Mediterranean restaurant on College, Tangiers, or the old stand by La Huerta. Now I've had some harrowing gastronomic experiences at La Squirtcha but I've somehow held a soft spot in my gut for them. Not any more! So because it was hot as sin outside and I was too lazy to trek .5 miles to Tangiers, I settled on La Squirtcha. As usual I was greeted with the standard hellos and welcomes and shown to my table. The service I have to admit is extraordinary. I haven't had a bad service experience in all the times I've ventured there. Moving along. I was handed the menu and my drink order was taken. No margaritas for me today. They're not that great there anyway. My drinks arrived and I then I placed my food order. I settled on the steak fajitas. It's difficult to decide what to eat at a restaurant when everything there pretty much looks and tastes the same. My food arrived in less than 5 minutes. Which is typical for any dish that you order there. It doesn't matter how small or large your party is they are FAST when it comes to preparing your food. My serving was pretty big. I could have shared it with at least one more person but I would not have wanted to experience the guilt of doing so. There was pico de gallo, refried beans, spanish rice, salad, a scary looking toxic green colored guacamole, and a huge dollop of sour cream to accompany the entree. I ate a forkful of beans. . .what is that strange feeling in the back of my throat. I tried the rice. . .there it is again. Now, I've been through this before at La Squirtcha but I've always ignored it and covered it up with a swig of whatever beverage I was having at the time. I decided that I didn't want to venture in that realm anymore because I am very familiar with the three strike rule. So no more rice and beans this trip. I had already written off the toxic guac and the sour cream. Been there, done that. Now on to the entree. I made my first fajita, I added the juice of a lemon to the meat in an effort to change things up a bit and a little pico. I was thinking as I was eating it. Just two more tortillas and you will be done. I fixed the second fajita. By this time I'd called my server over to bring more lemon and drink refills. Things weren't going so well at this point and I actually began to regret my decision to eat there. As I was making my third fajita, I'm hurrying along because I was anxious to leave, that same feeling from that I got from the rice and beans returned. I ignored it once more. I took a loooong swig of Coke and proceeded with making my fajita. I took one bite. I began to chew and all of a sudden my mouth started to water and I felt the contents of my stomach trying to escape. No not here, not now! I was saying this to myself in the split second this all took place. I let out a barely audible gag but I was able to control my breathing and eased my tortured stomach. As soon as I saw my server I requested the bill. I felt embarrassed and ashamed but soon got over it since there was no one there to witness what could have happened. I left the table with a good portion of my meal untouched and I thought. Wow, there are kids starving in America and I'm leaving all of this food. Trust me kids you wouldn't want to eat that shit either. Never again!!! Lesson(s) to be learned: Cheap is not always good and ALWAYS listen to your GUT!
Don't get caught by my poison pen!
DiDiOnTheStreet
Don't get caught by my poison pen!
DiDiOnTheStreet
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Tangiers
I am so hungry. I am about to walk to Tangiers for grub. Maybe I'll go to La Huerta instead.
Don't get caught by my poison pen!
DiDiOnTheStreet
Don't get caught by my poison pen!
DiDiOnTheStreet
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