Author: amywes5_wp

Food Review: Naru in Conway

Environment

A shopping center used to be seen as a place no good restaurant could be found. Maybe it still is to some people. However, I have found many good restaurants across the U.S. that are amazing and found in shopping centers. While this one isn’t amazing, it is worth checking out.
The interior, though…lime green walls everywhere, even the bathrooms. The specials were written on dirty chalk boards and were barely legible. However, at 3 p.m. on a Sunday, several of the seats were full. I thought…this should be interesting.
Once we sat down for a couple minutes, we all realized we were freezing to death. I am very hot-natured and I was shaking. We all went to get coats out of the truck pretty quickly.

Menu

                   

WAY too big. I swear it took us over 30 minutes just to decide what we wanted. There is sushi (way too many of those to choose from as well) that includes fried rolls, baked rolls, specialty rolls, and then the usual basic rolls and sashimi.
Then, there’s everything from salads and fried rice to Thai dishes and bibimbop. I didn’t know where to go with this place!
On a positive note, I am sure there is something for EVERYONE here.

Drinks

Hallelujah! 2 for 1 ($6, so $3 each) margaritas, on the rocks only, at a sushi/ Thai/ who-knows-what-else restaurant? I’ll take it! They made each one by hand and the regular margaritas were pretty good, and a nice size for $3. The strawberry one should probably be avoided, unless you love that fake strawberry syrup.

Food

FREE Onion Soup

I love anything free, but this soup was pretty large and very tasty. Plus, it was very warm, which warmed us up quite nicely in the frigid environment.

FREE Fried Spring Rolls

Something else, free? This is great! While there was no sauce to dip them in, as our other eating companions complained, I don’t care. Dipped into just soy sauce, these were light and crispy and very appreciated.

 

House Salad, $4.95
Description: Fresh Lettuce, cucumber, daikon, and sesame seeds with ginger peanut dressing

While this was a nice sized salad for $5, big enough to split as a started between two people, this house salad was nothing special due to a pretty inferior dressing. I love ginger dressings at most Japanese restaurants- whether it is thick or thin, I love that gingery twang. This definitely lacked that. It also lacked any real peanut flavor. It was just a unique tasting vinaigrette. Not my favorite. Though, I liked the pickled daikon on the salad, I would not order this again.

Thai Pineapple Spicy Fried Rice, $14.95
Description: Fresh spices and pineapple with beef, chicken, shrimp, and fresh vegetables.

This was by far my favorite thing (even though I didn’t order it) ordered at our table. It was HUGE and piled high. This was probably the most flavorful fried rice I have ever tried. It didn’t need any extra soy or spices, it held up all on its own. The yumyum dipping sauce didn’t go ignored, though, because it’s yumyum sauce!
There was also a ton of steak, chicken, and shrimp, all cooked very well. The veggies were also perfectly seared but still al-dente.
Plus, this came with a side salad with that same vinaigrette and just some iceburg lettuce, so nothing special, but a nice addition.
For $15 (almost the same price of many of the rolls on the menu) this is a great deal. I’m sure there are 3 meals to be had in this one dish.

Hendrix Roll, $13.95 (Top)
Description: Thinly sliced and marinated beef, crab, daikon, tamago, cucumber, avocado, and spinach

Especially for the price, I was a tad disappointed. Mostly because I hate rolls with the seaweed on the outside, it is so hard for me to eat. If I had known that, I would not have ordered it, even if it were only $5.
However, the beef inside was very flavorful, though a little chewy. And I pulled the insides out to eat it and I swear there was only beef, cucumber, and daikon. I couldn’t find any tamago, crab, avocado, or spinach?

Hollywood Roll, $11.50 (Bottom)
Description: Tempura shrimp, crab, and cucumber. Topped with white tuna and tobiko with spicy aioli and creamy sauce.

This  was my favorite roll I tried (besides these two and Lori’s two, mentioned below). It tasted very fresh and the cucumber gave it a little crunch, which I need in a sushi roll. Though, it was nothing to write home about, so I would try other rolls next time.

Miami Roll, $12.95 (Top)
Description: Baked roll with crab, avocado, and cucumber, topped with scallop, crab, masago, and spicy aioli

While I love a good baked roll, mostly because of the top with baked scallops and crab and sauces, this roll was just a little mushy for me. Again, I have to have some texture balance in sushi and there wasn’t enough here. But if you have never had a baked roll, you must try it, they are some of the best!

Crunch Munch Roll, $9.95 (Bottom)
Description: Spicy crab and avocado topped with cooked shrimp and crunch

First of all, I don’t believe this was the roll that was ordered. This roll lacked both shrimp and crunch and was just a ball of mush. No thanks.

Overall

*IMPORTANT*
We were told by the waitress that now on Wednesdays and Saturdays (11-9) they have 1/2 off sushi.

This changes everything. I will definitely be back to try different sushi rolls, to get those cheap margaritas, and to get a take home box of that Thai fried rice!

 

Food Review: Best Sandwich Ever? I think so….Heidi’s Ugly Cakes in Norfork, AR.

Update: I have since been to Heidi’s about 4 more times since I wrote this. I am updating and adding what other awesome desserts we have had.

Have you heard of Norfork? Me neither. However, it is about an hour away from  Mountain View, where we were camping this weekend. We went on a day trip to see some places in-between, but the lunch we had at Norfork was the highlight. If you Google food in Norfork, Heidi’s pops up…multiple times. Apparently she has the best reubens around, so clearly I had to stop in. And it was SO worth it! Here’s the breakdown:

Environment

This quaint town is a perfect place for this quaint restaurant….but there’s one problem. It is too far from Maumelle, where I live. But the restaurant is small,  decorated with tons of cute decor I’m sure Heidi picked out herself.

Heidi used to be in a different building, but now she is right in the middle of downtown Norfork, on the main highway. With the pandemic, she added on a very large outdoor eating area, with spaced out tables. She even has an outdoor window for contact-less ordering!

You can still walk in, order, and eat indoors as well. On my last trip (which is probably the 5th time I have visited Heidi’s), dhe let us know that it was “bake sale day” and all baked items were half off. I believe this is every Saturday!

The Menu

As small as this menu seems, it definitely will find a hit with any picky eater. I, personally, find no reason to offer anything other than the two sandwiches we tried…more on that in a minute, but I always find a smaller menu means each of the items are perfected. And they are. Sandwiches is what you will find mostly here, besides a ton of ridiculously luscious desserts.

The Food

Fried Bologna Sandwich with chips; $6.50, comes with whatever toppings you want.

I have had a pretty great fried bologna sandwich with a medium egg at Skinny J’s in Argenta, I would definitely get that again. But this one was even better. Every aspect was perfect. Buttery, toasted bread, thick, griddled bologna, “yolk-y” egg, crisp veggies, perfection! I couldn’t put it down to even try my half of the reuben, it was too good.  Definitely order this!

The Reuben with chips, $6.99

When I made it to the Reuben, with high expectations, it did not disappoint. Even without cheese, it was so juicy and tender and buttery…ugh, I’m drooling now just thinking about it.  It was definitely the best (or tied for the best) Reuben I have had. The only other contender is the Burger Barn in Ozone, AR, though the owner, who has recently passed, was a hard man to deal with…and who knows how their food is now that he isn’t cooking it? Drew agreed this was the best Reuben he has had.

Now where I got in trouble was with these desserts. There was a refrigerator full of cold “ugly” cakes and pies and also a shelf of baked hand-pies. I am not a dessert person. I never order dessert. But they were half off (originally $4.50 a slice…a huge slice) so for this review, I had to. It’s your fault.  Since I couldn’t pick just one, we ordered three.

We tried (and ate for 2 days) the coconut cream cake, the peanut butter pie, and the “holy cow ” cake.

The coconut cream cake was my favorite. It was like a tres leches cake, sooo moist, not too sweet, but utterly decadent. The peanut butter pie was very dense and rich and definitely hit the spot. The “holy cow” cake was chocolate cake with a delicious caramel, topped with a great vanilla icing (again, not too sweet) and butterfinger crumbs. While it was my least favorite, it was still delicious! If you visit Heidi’s, you MUST try a dessert, you won’t be disappointed.

Past Trips Food Report:

I ALWAYS get the fried bologna with an egg. I have decided I like that better than the reuben, so that’s my official favorite sandwich here.
As for desserts, I can’t pick a favorite, but I’m working on trying them all!
One time, this was our line up:

Cinnamon roll, “holy cow” cake, and banana pudding cake.

This was, no doubt, the BEST cinnamon roll I’ve ever had. I don’t like even one bite to be missing out on icing. This one was encrusted (it was fresh earlier that day) in a perfectly large amount of sweet cinnamon-y goodness. The roll is thin, but soft, so you get bites full of bread, cinnamon, and icing. It didn’t even need to be reheated it was so good. I’ll get these everytime!

The holy cow cake was still rich and delicious!

The banana pudding cake is my favorite cake now. It was SO moist! It tasted like the perfect banana pudding mixed with a delicious yellow cake. It blended wonderfully.

On my last trip, we got the coconut cream cake again, the peanut butter pie again, and tried the lemon icebox cake and the amaretto carrot cake.

The peanut butter pie cake was still super rich and tasty. The coconut cake was a little drier than previously. I think I’ll stick to corner pieces from now on. The amaretto carrot cake- wow! I have never liked carrot cake, but this was a dense, moist, flavor bomb. Delicious! The amaretto paired perfectly with the spices in the cake. I’ll have to make a carrot cake with almond extract to replicate this! The lemon icebox cake was exactly what you’d expect, in a good. Sour, moist, and very light!

Overall, I will drive here if I am ever within an hour again. It was the highlight of my weekend and Heidi was the best. While the reuben was amazing, I am longing more for that fried bologna sandwich, so I’ll probably never try anything else.

Those of you close to me know that I have been dieting all year and this may seem like I “fell off the wagon”. Don’t worry, I didn’t. I jumped off the wagon! And it was worth it.