Primo Neighborhood Bar & Grill - Fayetteville, AR

A fantastic neighborhood bar & grill on Crossover. Primo. My 2nd stop in this area. Great food, cold beverages, and great atmosphere. Northwest Arkansas needs more neighborhood bar & grills. I hope this is the first of many. It's in the old Bizy's restaurant and they redesigned the whole inside to a very cozy place. It was packed on the Friday night we went.

Primo Tenders:

You get 8 fairly large hand battered tenders. Very impressive because these days it's usually about 4. All for $6.95. They are lightly battered with a seasoning with a little kick to them. They remind me of the tenders Fuzzy's Bar & Grill used to serve before it closed in the late 90's. (Side note: If you ever used to get the famous beef eater at Fuzzy's I've been told they are serving the exact recipe at On the Mark Bar & Grill.)

9 out of 10 clucks

Fries:

Gotta tell you these were wonderful. I think the best I've ever had. Not kidding. They are fresh cut fries. Spicy. The chef told me he uses Old Bay seasoning and some light baking dust. He does blanche the fries. Which is dropping the fries in the fryer for about 30 seconds and then pulls them out. Then drops them again to finish frying them. This process ensures the fries are cooked perfectly on the outside all the way through to the inside. Freaking awesome. You have to go and try them!

Drum roll please.......................

10 out of 10 fries

I'm out

Cafe at White Oak Station- Fayetteville, AR

Something a little different this week. Tenders from a gas station. Yeah I said tenders from a gas staton. One of my favorite places to grab some chicken tenders in college was the old Lindsey's Mercantile on Crossover. They were known for their tenders and burgers. And for a potato log I would die for called "Arkies" Very yummy. Mrs. Lindsey was always in there eating lunch and eating some Arkies. Anyway, they eventually disappeared around 2000. And Lindsey's Mercantile closed a few years ago when Walgreens forked over some cash for that land.
Now the Mercantile is back across the street in a new White Oak Station on Crossover. The name just says Cafe. I stopped by to get gas there the other day and noticed they had a burger bar. Checked it out and then noticed there were some nice looking hand battered tenders staring me in the face in the food case. Needless to say I had to try them out.

Hello my friends hello. It's good to see you again. (I think that's some of the words to a old Neil Diamond song) I gotta tell you they were just as good as the ones I remember, Like I said hand battered and cooked perfectly where the breading falls off the meat. Heaven. Chicken Tender heaven.

$1.29 a tender. But they were big and juicy!

9 out of 10 clucks. My best rating yet my friends.

Fries

 Fries were not the old Arkies but regular batter fries. They had some type of seasoned batter on them and were surprisingly very tasty. And I think my friend Kyle who writes the blog Gibby's French Fry Report would agree very well cooked. He says that is the hardest thing to find with fries is properly cooked fries. I think these were. They also have potato wedges but I did not try those this time around.

7 out of 10 fries

Check out Kyle's french fry report here: http://www.gibbysfrenchfryreport.blogspot.com/

Neal's Cafe - Springdale, AR

One of my favorite places to eat made a recent decision to add Chicken strips to their menu. Not only chicken strips but homemade hand battered chicken strips. I was a little worried that they may go for the easy frozen out of the bag strips. They didn't. They wanted to put the hard work in to do it right. They have. On a anonymous tip (my friend Jack) alerted me that I need to go try these out. So Robyn and I ventured out one Sunday afternoon to check them out. I've seen the chicken strips on the menu before but have not ordered them before due to their tasty fried chicken. It is up there with Monte Ne chicken. Neal's and Monte Ne are two of the only places I have found that serve the pulley portion of the chicken. 
This is the wishbone portion near the chicken's head that spans the two breast halves. SOOOO GOOD!!
On to why we are here..........the chicken strips!!

I was pleasantly surprised with these. As I said they are hand battered. The chicken was fried perfectly where the breading almost falls off the chicken. I love that. Had a pretty good taste to them. I think they could have used some more seasoning for sure. Very juicy chicken though. That's a good thang!

8 out of 10 clucks

Fry Time

Straight out of the freakin bag crinkle cut fries. Enough said.

5 out of 10 fries because they were at least crispy

Front Porch Family Diner - Springdale, AR

My buddy Jack and I heard about this place out on Robinson Avenue in Springdale. We headed there for lunch last week. It's in the former Catfish John's location. We arrived and waited 10 minutes for someone to take our drink order. Of course after 10 minutes of waiting we were ready to order as well since we had 10 MINUTES to study the menu. :)

Ordered the hand battered tenders and fresh cut fries and here is what they set before me..........

What in the?????  Jack and I just kind of looked at each other. I've never seen batter like this before. Caked on and very tough. Also the fries. They looked undercooked and by darn they tasted undercooked. I think the cook dropped them in the fryer for like 60 seconds. So we sent them back.

Tenders were actually not bad but not great. Had a good taste to them but not good enough. Just a very odd texture. Jack thinks they were just dropped in flour without anything else and a little overcooked. I agree. We actually saw other tenders on customers plates on the way out and they all looked different. Weird. So I guess the cook is still learning how to cook. Not a good thing since they had only been open a few weeks. And you only get one first impression.

5 out of 10 clucks

Now onto the fries.............

The fries actually redeemed themselves It's amazing how much better they can taste when they are actually cooked properly. These were cooked perfectly. Fresh cut again with a good amount of seasoning. Great comeback.


7.5 fries out of 10

Krazy Mike's Shrimp N Wings - Little Rock, AR

Well someone needs to get better at actual blogging. Sorry it's been a month. I've come to find out when you have a pregnant wife, work, dj business, and Hog football every weekend there is not alot of time. :)
I'm going to do better I promise.

So........... Krazy Mike's in the Rock. I visited this establishment back in early September when the Hogs were playing down there. I went with Robyn, my mom, and Rich my step dad. Had seen a story in the Arkansas Times about it and on KATV.com. It had gotten fantastic review.

Come with a empty stomach because they give you a TON of food. Not even kidding. It was little too much for a lunch.

The Tenders:

 First I was taken back by the price. $11.50 for the meal. But you got 5 large tenders and a enormous amount of fries. Plus coleslaw, garlic bread, and hushpuppies. So it was worth the $11.50.
Tenders were hand battered. Not heavy but lightly battered. They had a nice dusting of seasoning and spice.

7 out of 10 clucks

French Fries:

I hit the mother load on the fries.  Probably 150 fires. I'm not joking. They were just about perfect. Fresh cut fries(my favorite) cooked to almost perfection. Not too crispy and not too jellowy. There's a new word jellowy. You know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you get those fries that look like they are cooked on the outside but when you bite in to it they are undercooked. JELLOWY. These were heaven.

9 fries out of 10 (I can't give a ten yet can I?) Too early. :)

Krazy Mike's Shirmp N Wings is on Bowman Curve in Little Rock. No website that I can find.

Sassy's Red House - Fayetteville, AR

What a perfect night to sit out on one of the best decks in Fayetteville. Sassy's Red House on College Avenue has it. Night before the first Arkansas home football game and 78 degrees with family and friends. Perfect. Sassy's Chicken Fingers were ordered and I got two sides. So since I have a little fry one the side in my blog title I decided why not order up two sides of fries! Fresh Cut Fries and Seasoned Waffle Fries.

First up the chicken fingers. Hand battered and lightly seasoned fingers. I got 4 large fingers. First thought was this might not be enough for me. It was. :)

First bite. It was a wonderful. Juicy and not too crisp and overdone. Seasoning was very light and could use a tad more but none the less very tasty. 

Cluck scale: 8 out of 10 clucks

Now for the fries..................

Fresh cut fries first up. There's nothing better than fresh cut fries. At least in my book. I LOVED these. They some great seasoning that give them a little kick. Very tasty!
On a scale of 1 to 10 fries. 8.5 fries out of 10

I had a malfunction and did not get a shot of the waffle fries. They are very seasoned and have a much bigger kick that the fresh cut. Still very good. I have to give them a 8 out of 10 fries.

Check out Sassy's Red House on College Avenue. Alan will take care of you.
http://www.sassysredhouse.com/

About this blog

Since I was a little kid I've been a Chicken Tender/Strip fanatic. I'm always looking for the best hand battered chicken tenders around. So I'm going to start reviewing and showing pix of some of my favorite tenders I love to devour. Along the way I will also talk about some of my favorite french fries. I've looked out on the great wide world of the web and have not seen any chicken tender blogs out there. Some fries but not tenders. So I hope you enjoy this little adventure with me called Luv Me Tenders with a little fry on the side.....Don't mind if I do!