Category: Food Review

Food Review: Mockingbird Bar and Taco in the SOMA District

I finally tried Mockingbird Bar and Tacos (previously known as Dos Rocas), a new-ish restaurant in the South On Main district of Little Rock. Here’s the breakdown:

Atmosphere:

The restaurant looks small from the outside, but is rather large. It was very modern, yet homey inside, with many plants and colorful features.

I was dining with two companions and around 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday, it only took about 5 minutes to get a booth.

Menu:

You can find a link to their menu on their website or here on their Facebook page: Menu. There are many options, but mostly it consists of Central/ South American cuisine. What I love about the menu is everything served is local or in-house. There are also plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, as well as plenty of meat-lovers options.

Food:

We started with two appetizers:

Orange Salad ($5)
Description: Slices of orange seasoned with cumin and paprika, topped with toasted pumpkin seeds and shaved pickled red onion

I ordered this dish because it was nothing I would have ever thought to create on my own, and I am so glad I did. It was delicious and refreshing! I would definitely get this again.

Deviled Eggs ($6)
Description: Locally farmed eggs with Farmer Fin with arbol hot sauce and tortilla crunch

My friends agreed this may be the best deviled egg in Central Arkansas. It was flavorful, only slightly spicy, and the crunch added a nice texture.

Our meals:

2 Taco Plate ($9)
Description: Served with a side of beans and a small side salad
Taco: Chorizo: spiced pork sausage from Rabbit Ridge Farm
Taco: Fried Fish: masa tossed AR  striped bass with tomatillo chow chow, chipotle crema, cilantro, and onion

I ordered the chorizo taco and fried fish taco. I can’t pick a favorite. They were both delicious! The house-made tortillas held together perfectly and the fillings were very tasty. I can’t pick a favorite. It would be hard to not order these again.

The side salad was delicious, topped with a homemade dressing and pickled onions.

The beans were very flavorful and I devoured them.

Butternut Squash Salad ($9)
Description: Raw and pickled butternut squash on a bed of fresh local greens with avocado, queso fresco, toasted coriander, pickled onions, and cilantro-lime vinaigrette.
*vinaigrette contains fish sauce

My friend ordered this HUGE salad. It was definitely the item worth it’s price. There were so many fresh spring greens with delicious toppings, that it was hard to mix the salad on the given plate. My friend even had to get a large to-go box to take her leftovers home. I may have to order this next time!

Taco, a la carte ($3.50)
Smoked Tofu: smoky grilled tofu, grilled pineapple pico, and guajillo adobo

My friend ordered these and enjoyed them, but said the seasonal vegetable empanada was better. Sorry, no pic.

Empanadas: ($3 a la carte)
Description: Ground Beef: traditional street-style recipe with cumin-spiced ground beef from Rabbit Ridge Farms, green peppers, onion, and chopped eggs from Farmer Fin
Description: Seasonal Veggie: Local vegetables grilled and tossed with arbol salsa

I REALLY wanted to try the empandas, but was full, so I ordered three to go. 2 beef and 1 seasonal vegetable.

I love that these are fried! (The only way to really enjoy empanadas). The beef was good, but a little on the bland side. The seasonal vegetables was surprisingly flavorful and my favorite of the two. The green salsa on the table and the pickled onions that came with the order really helped the flavors pop.

Overall:
This dinner took about 2 hours from start to finish, so this is no place for a quick meal. However, the food was delicious and priced well. I will say, that after the orange salad and two taco place, I was not full. That’s not a bad thing. However, you may want to purchase more than a two taco plate to get your fill.

Food Review: Newfangled Love Kitchen in NLR

Newfangled Love Kitchen is a brand new restaurant that opened up next door to North Bar on JFK Blvd. in North Little Rock. It is owned by the same people that own North Bar and Lakewood Fish and Seafood Lounge. Pretty much,  these people are running all of the local restaurants in NLR these days.

The thing that makes this restaurant stand out is its menu:

       

The menu features mostly breakfast/ brunch items, along with a few burgers.  This is great for people like me that love breakfast for lunch and dinner, because they serve these dishes all day.
More importantly, there is a large selection of gluten free options and vegan options.

I decided on the gluten free eggs benedict.

This dish replaces the typical english muffin with a hash brown cake. I am not gluten-free, personally, but I love hash browns! These were crispy and mixed well with my pan seared ham, perfectly poached eggs, and the large amount of tangy, rich hollandaise sauce. I thought it was delicious! Plus, it was only $10. I’d definitely get this again.

My friend ordered the Kung Pao steak salad, which I also had my eye on.

At $12, she got a pretty large salad with a good amount of medium-rare (as she requested) ribeye. However, there wasn’t much seasoning on it and there was no spice whatsoever in the salad nor the dressing. She ate it, but would not order this again. It needs some heat and more flavor to be considered “Kung Pao”

Overall, everything ran very smoothly for a restaurant that opened officially about a week ago. The service was good, the food took about 20 minutes to get once ordered, and our waters were refilled in a timely fashion.

There are many other menu items I’d like to try, so I’ll definitely be giving this place another try soon.