Grub's Uptown Bar and Grille - Fayetteville, AR

There are not alot of locally owned restaurants that can branch out and open a 2nd location. In fact, you can count most of them on one hand in NW Arkansas. JJ's Grill and Chill being one of the most recent restaurants to venture out and do so and do it successfully. Some people were skeptical of the local Grub's restaurant announcing they were going to open a 2nd location in the old O'Charley's and the soon after defunct Meaux Dad's. Both failed in the spot in front of Target fairly quickly. But I said if anyone could do it Grub's could because they had built a great brand and reputation in their first location off Dickson Street. They have had the perfect mix of good food and great drink specials since day one. And after their first month in their 2nd location they have lifted the curse off that location. Everytime I have been or gone by there it's packed. The atmosphere is great, tons of 42" plasmas, and as I stated before good food.

Robyn and I ventured out a couple of Saturdays ago with our baby boy Grayson in tow. Here's what he thought of the atmosphere......

Slept the whole time. :)

 Strip Basket

Four large hand breaded strips. Lightly seasoned and very tender and juicy. Hands down the best chicken strips in Northwest Arkansas.

Basket is shockingly priced at only $6.50!! You can't beat that anywhere.

9.5 clucks out of 10


Fries

Nothing to write home about or really blog about. Need some type of seasoning badly.

Eh

6 out of 10 fries

One of the managers told me they will be adding a patio soon. They are just trying to decide what side to put it on and get city approval.

www.grubsbargrille.com

Northern Exposure Bar and Grill - Fayetteville, AR

New sports bar and grill in the old Smokey Bones BBQ joint. Nice bar and 60 inch plasmas throughout the restaurant. They have $1 Bud Light drafts ALL DAY long. Which meant alot more to me a month ago before my little boy was born. :)
Also a little side note. The waitress's here are dressed like....well they aren't really dressed at all. This place make Hooters look like Chucky Cheese.
On to the reason why we are here.... the Chicken Tenders

3 very large hand battered chicken tenders and a TON of fries. All for $8.99.

Very seasoned tenders. Juicy. And I can't get over how big they are. Buddy of mine got the Steak Burger and it was huge. It seemed from other plates around us that all entrees are served with very large portions.

7 out of 10 clucks

The Fries

Seasoned fries. Light batter. Very very tasty. Not like any other fries I've had in Northwest Arkansas Different and I liked that.

8 out of 10 fries

The Rudi Tender Shack - Springdale, AR

Special treat for you this week. One my favorite things and my wife's favorite things to do is make homemade tenders and fries. Yes I know. Shocker isn't it? Our fryer recently went out on us and we ordered a new one. We were extra excited about this new fryer because it has a oil drainage system in the bottom. You can drain your oil after each use and wash the container and basket and then fill it back up. Very cool. Check out this bad boy.......

Nice isn't it?


The Rudi Tenders:

We always do different combinations on the seasoning on these. This time we did paprika and greek seasoning mixed up with the flour.
And the end product looked like............

THIS!

They turned out perfect. Light breading and yes it's the kind that falls off the chicken tender when you take a bite.

Very juicy. We were thrilled with the end product. I love new fryers!

8 out of 10 clucks (I've still got some tweaking to do)

Rudi Fries:

Hand cut idaho potatoes. I blanched them for the very first time. That's where you drop them for 2 minutes and then pull them out for a minute and then drop them again to finish them. And they turned out like this......

 Cooked evenly throughout fry and nice and crispy. I added some Old Bay seasoning during the blanching process and then put it on after they were finished cooking as well. Tasted so so good. Robyn said both tasted fantastic and were the best I've done yet. :)


8 out 10 fries (Same as above, more to tweak and learn)

If you would like to try them please call for reservations.

Sugar Bowl Fan Fest - Chicken On A Stick Booth- New Orleans, LA

One more stop in Louisiana country. At the Sugar Bowl Fan Fest in Champions Square outside the Superdome they had a concert, bars, and all kinds of food booths a few hours before the game. We made our way down there from Bourbon Street about 4:00 a few hours before kickoff. Very well put on event. The best pre-game bowl atmosphere and bowl game festivities I've even been to and I've been to all of them. Except the Las Vegas Bowl. Glad I missed that horrible game.

So anyway I was a beverage run for the guys and I come across a stand with a sign that says "Chicken On A Stick." For reals. I LOVE chicken on a stick. It goes all the way back to my Pine Bluff days. There was a Shell gas station that had chicken on a stick. Large boneless breast fillets on a stick. Mmmmm good. Here she is.............

Not even close to being as large as the Bluffs stick. Served luke warm with pretty heavy batter on both sides. Okay taste just not enough of it. Needed seasoning. You think I would have some left from the 4 alarm fire I had in mouth from the day before. Nope.

5 out of 10 clucks

Vieux Carre Chicken Wings & Tenders - New Orleans, LA

My friend Dave and I flew down to New Orleans last week to watch the Hogs give the game away to the Buckyes last week. As we were walking down St. Louis street one of the many side streets that connect with Bourbon Street my friend Dave said "Hey you have to do a review while you are here." Actually he said it with a little slur. :)
He then points out this little place called Vieux Carre Wingery. It's a very small little walk in restaurant with a very small area to eat. So I decided to get some to go as an appetizer for our upcoming dinner.

You get a 5 piece for $5.75. Not bad. They were large hand battered tenders. You can actually watch the guy dip them in the flour and seasoning as you order them. He put a ton of seasoning on them. I asked them what it consisted of and he just said "secret cajun recipe." Ohhhhhhh okay.
Well let me tell you it was one hot and very spicy receipe. My mouth and lips were on fire as we walked to our next stop. They were tasty though. Just hot. Damn hot.

8 out of 10 clucks

No fry on the side on this little adventure.

I hope we are back next year in the Sugar Bowl. If we are it means we will be playing in the national championship. Go Hogs!

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/