The Grove - Kitchen and Cocktails - Rogers, AR

Two blogs in three weeks? What?? Yep. Never happens. The Grove in Rogers is a new restaurant that has been open less than a year. Owned by a buddy & local businessman, Dave Bass. Some of you may remember Dave from his Dave's on Dickson days which was a great music venue off Dickson Street back in the day. He also owns a few bars still on Dickson Street. This new place is very modern and just a cool atmosphere with great food and plenty of televisions for your sports viewing pleasure.

My Friday lunch buddy crew and quite of few from my Tusk to Tailgate crew went up recently to try out their chicken strips. I must confess I had gone before to try their hamburgers and saw they had hand battered tenders on their kids menu so of course I had to try them. So I ordered them as a "side." Ha. They were fantastic. I told Dave you have got to put these on your regular menu as an appetizer or entree and he said he would think about it. Well just a few short months later he added them as a appetizer. He has received great reviews and is now one of his favorite new items.

One more thing. Dave recently added Kids eat free everyday to the restaurant with an adult purchase entree. A great thing to see that Grub's, Allen Brumett at Sassy's, and Jody Thornton with JJ's also offer this option.  Kids eating free is the best thing you can do in marketing in the restaurant world. Because how many of my fellow parents don't actually think about that for a minute when you are considering going out to eat with the kids? Well done guys.


The Tenders

Eight juicy tenders came out. It's an $8 appetizer and they are very good.

These are marinated in buttermilk overnight close to 24 hours. Seasoning is garlic and onion seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Hand battered strips of heaven.

9.5 out of 10 clucks


The Fries

These are fresh cut fries. Cooked evenly throughout. No sogginess here at all. Sea salt and parsley sprinkled over them.

8.5 out of 10 fries.

The Grove. Huge menu and great selection of popular american dishes. Worth the trip north.

2600 W. Pleasant Crossing Drive, Suite 60 Rogers, Arkansas

https://www.facebook.com/thegrovekitchenandcocktails

Until next time. Happy Holidays!

Razorback Pizza - Springdale, Arkansas

Hello fellow tender lovers. I'm back. Razorback Pizza in Springdale. You probably are saying to yourself uh that's a pizza place Todd. And yes you are right but I discovered at a pizza outing they have more than just pizza and one of those items is hand battered chicken strips.

My buddy Chadd Claybrook and I went for lunch there recently to check these out.

3 large hand battered chicken strip and a big portion of fresh cut fries for only $6.99. You can't beat that price.

Strips were lightly battered and juicy but did not have any seasoning whatsoever. But when dipped in a sauce very good.

7 out of 10 clucks

The Fries

Fresh cut and evenly cooked but no seasoning whatsoever again. Deja vue. Add that and they would be great. 6 out of 10 fries.

Oh by the way they have great hamburgers as well.

Til next time! Hopefully not 3 months. But....it is football season.

Dugan's Pub - Little Rock, Arkansas

It's been such a long time fellow chicken strip lovers.

The family and I went down to Little Rock one weekend and we tried out an Irish Pub downtown in the River Market district. My step father Rich and my mother had recommended it and said they had fantastic chicken strips. Naturally that's all I needed to hear and we were there within 10 minutes. :)

The place is called Dugan's Pub.

These are beer battered chicken strips. Not heavy coated.

Very juicy and had a hint of a seasoned salt in them that gave them a nice flavor. You get four strips in the basket along with the fries.

Grayson had them also. Like father like son. :) He gave them an official thumbs up!

9 out of 10 clucks. Good stuff.

On to the fries................

I loved the fries. They were a thicker cut fry and absolutely delicious. Evenly cooked throughout and not over crispy.  I even had to steal a few from Grayson. Had Bay seasoning on them and were fantastic.

9.5 Fries

Grayson was so pleased with the chicken strips he had to do a little dance with his Grammy. He put on a nice show for the other guests of the restaurant.

8.5 out of 10 stars for the two getting their groove on.

Dugan's is located at the corner of 3rd and Rock in the River Market district in downtown Little Rock..
http://www.duganspublr.com/Duganspublr/Welcome.html

Until next time....