Food Review: Tallgrass Bar and Grill in Harrison, AR

Wow! I’m going to start by saying this is the best restaurant I have eaten at in Arkansas in a looong time. This eclectic spot has so many healthy, beautiful, DELICIOUS options. I wish I could eat every meal here. So, let’s dig in.

 

***Before you get too excited, this restaurant is NOT open on Saturdays and Sundays. Only Monday-Friday, so plan accordingly.

 

ENVIRONMENT

This adorable restaurant is connected to the newly named “Almond Branch”, which sells Patagonia attire, and lots of health-centered items like vitamins, herbs, local soaps, etc. Both this shop and Tallgrass face away from the street and have a huge parking lot that allowed our camper to drive through. Thank you!

The interior of Tallgrass is so modern, clean, and adorable. There’s lots of little details that really spruce the place up. For instance, this little succulent garden that floated next to our table was so cute!

You order at a counter and then find a seat and they will serve your food to you there. I must say, I was so impressed with their cleanliness. They are definitely concerned about keeping their staff and customers healthy. Thank you, again! Each time someone brought out food or cleaned a table, they changed their current gloves for new ones. If you need a refill, they bring you a clean glass because dirty ones aren’t allowed in that area. I’ve not seen such close attention to cleanliness detail and I so appreciate it!

 

FOOD

The menu is pretty large and it took me a good 15 minutes to decide what to order, because I wanted it all. You can find their menu on their facebook page here.

Overall, for lunch and dinner, there are many pita sandwiches/ gyros, tacos, burgers, regular sandwiches, many delicious looking salads with homemade dressings, and pita pizzas. It must be noted that the pitas are house-made, as much as many other menu items.

What did we get?
1. The Berkenstock Plate, $7.50: house-made sundried tomato hummus, broccoli, cucumber, tomato, avocado, and feta with seasoned crispy pita chips.
We took most of this home since there was so much else we got, but it was delicious. Best pita chips I’ve ever had. they were so flavorful!

2. Cup of the soup of the day (pumpkin chicken chili), $3: This came with a couple of those delicious pita chips and the chili was divine. It was creamy and not too spicy at all, but with a rich pumpkin flavor and tons of shredded chicken and blended in beautifully. I loved it. I even tried to make it at home the next day, but my version can’t touch theirs! This was also a very heft bowl for $3!

3. $1 side salad with fresh greens, tomatoes, and choice of house-made dressing. I went for the ranch, which I regretted. It tasted more like greek yogurt than a ranch. However, their pesto vinaigrette sounds delicious and I’m going for that one next time.
And who else sells a fresh salad with field green and tomatoes this size for $1??? No one. This is amazing.

4. Lemon Chicken Gyro and fries, $13: Sun dried tomato hummus, lemon pepper chicken, tomato, onion, cucumber, lettuce, feta, and tzatziki sauce.
I saved the best for last. This gyro was absolutely perfect! It was massive, first off. The pita was grilled, so it stayed crispy through the entire experience. Nothing peeves me off more than soggy bread. Not a problem here! The chicken was flavorful and so juicy and tender. The veggies and tzatziki sauce were of the perfect amount. I swear they made this gyro just for me.
The fries are fresh cut and seasoned, but they weren’t my favorite. They were a little soggy and greasy, so most of those were left uneaten. Next time, I’ll request a different side, but I will always order this gyro.

 

OVERALL

I loved my experience here. I left full of house-made, healthy, absolutely delicious food and enjoyed my hummus plate later that evening, with those delicious crispy pitas and veggies.
The staff was so kind. The place, even the bathrooms, were immaculately clean. And for the food I got, it was surprisingly cheap. I can’t find a place like this around Little Rock that is so fresh for these costs.
Go check this place out if you’re in the area on a weekday and let’s encourage them to be open on the weekends!

Food Review: Hokaben Japanese Kitchen Maumelle

Hokaben is the new-ish Japanese place for take-out here in the Maumelle. It replaced the Captain Express Hawaiian BBQ place, which originally replaced Dominos Pizza. While we have plenty of Japanese food options here in Maumelle (2 food trucks and 1 full restaurant), this new addition has a few items no one else has…and I’m loving it!

MENU

The expansive menu can be found on their site. There are plenty of appetizers, a ton of sushi options, poke bowls, bento boxes, and then the typical hibachi dinners with one exception: you can get noodles instead of rice!

While I haven’t tried one yet, the bento boxes are supposed to be so good! I just can’t bring myself to not order those hibachi noodles!

FOOD

OMG Roll: $12.
Description: Sushi rice, spicy tuna, crab stick, avocado, topped with crunchy, sriracha aioli, eel sauce, scallion

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I’m a sucker for a fried sushi roll, so this is easily delicious! Even though it was packed hot, it was still plenty crunchy at home.

Spicy ahi poke bowl: $11.50

Source: https://hokaben.square.site/

This was such a great surprise. While I love making my own poke bowl so I can add to it what I like, this had just about everything I could want!  There was salmon in a spicy sauce, seaweed salad, avocado, onions, roe, wasabi, scallions, and more on top of a bed of rice. It was spicy! If you want a fresh, healthier option, go for one of these poke bowls. They are quite large, as well.

Hibachi Shrimp with Noodles: $10.25

While I love fried rice, these noodles are even better! So saucy and flavorful, plus they give you extra yum yum sauce to use as you please. I just dumped all of it over the noodles, veggies, and shrimp and mixed it all up. Absolutely delicious!!! These made for amazing leftovers, reheated in the microwave, as well….for days. This is a HEAVY box, full of more food than you would ever expect.

Hibachi Chicken with Noodles: $9.75

Everything I said about the shrimp holds true here. The chicken was perfectly cooked and so tender and flavorful. There was a lot more chicken here than there was shrimp in my shrimp box, so I’m going to stick to the chicken hibachi from now on.

Side Order of Grilled Vegetables: $4.75

I always order extra veggies to put with my leftovers so I’m not just eating noodles only for lunch.

Overall, you can’t go wrong here. There’s still so many things I want to try on the menu, but I’ll always have to get those hibachi noodles! I’ll get a bento box soon, though!