Tag: arkansas

Food Review: Copper Mule Table & Tap in Bryant

The Copper Mule Table & Tap is a relatively new, exciting, and popular restaurant in Bryant, AR. It’s been on my list to try for a couple months now and I had a wonderful experience last night! Here is the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

The Copper Mule is located in a new shopping center and isn’t anything too fancy.

It’s modern with the beams showing and metal chairs, and I love that they serve their food on metal trays. They have two dining areas and a bar.

 

MENU

Drinks:

   

There is a large menu of signature drinks: different versions of Arkansas mules and then their own specialty cocktails are the main event.
There is also Happy Hour Tues- Friday from 4-6, where the drafts and mules are $1 off and the specialty cocktails are $2 off.
We went during happy hour, of course!

Food:

The menu is mostly Cajun fare, including jambalaya, voodoo pasta, crawfish mac and cheese, etc. However, there are a few sandwiches to choose from as well, such as po’boys, fried bologna, and burgers.  There are also fried baskets of all sorts, including fish and chicken strips. There are salads, but not too many options. What sounded the most exciting to me are their starters, which include fried boudin balls (mule balls), fried pickles, fried crawfish tails, and more.

 

FOOD and DRINKS

Head Hunter ($7 during happy hour) and Blueberry Mojito ($6 during happy hour)

The Head Hunter is two different rums, vodka, blue curacao, lemon, lime, pineapple, and Demerara simple syrup. It was delicious and tropical, just like I imagined.

The Blueberry Mojito was exactly what you’d expect. It had rum, simple syrup, club soda, lime, mint, and blueberries. It was good, but nothing too unique.

Strawberry Basic Mule ($8 during happy hour)

This drink was our favorite of all three. It has strawberry vodka, basil vodka, ginger beer, grenadine, lime, and strawberries. It packed great flavors that really worked well together to make a nice, refreshing drink.

Fried Green Tomatoes ($7, or $10 if add spicy crab on top)

We voted to get ours plain and these were pretty good. Perhaps a little greasy, but come on, we are eating fried green tomatoes. The remoulade sauce was so delicious, though! We kept the leftover sauce to put on whatever other food was headed our way next.

Fried Berkshire Chop with Lemon Caper Sauce plus Fried Okra and Greens ($18)

This was the best meal of the evening. Everything was so good, but especially that massive, perfectly fried bone-in porkchop. It was very thick, and cooked perfectly. It was so juicy and flavorful. The crust was perfectly crunchy. Though, the sauce gave it that extra punch of flavor that I loved. It was so big, I took half of it home.
The fried okra wasn’t anything special, but it wasn’t greasy and that is a good thing!
The greens had almost as much pork in them as they did greens, but that doesn’t bother me. There was so much porky flavor, it was delicious.

Chicken and Andouille Gumbo Bowl ($12)

This bowl was massive! It came with two scoops of creole potato salad, like they do in New Orleans. Overall, it was good, but it needed more seasoning for sure. It was a little bland. Thankfully, not only do they put salt and pepper on the tables, but there’s also a house spice blend you can sprinkle on whatever you like. We put all three on this one and it was much better.

Fried Shrimp Basket ($12)

I didn’t get to try this, I was too full from everything else. Though, my mom enjoyed it. The shrimp looked perfectly fried with a light batter and crispy. Again, nothing was greasy here. It came with that delicious remoulade sauce, so that made it worth it no matter what.

 

OVERALL

The whole experience was great because the service was top notch. Our waiter was so kind and friendly and knowledgeable about the menu, both food and drink. There wasn’t a hiccup all night and our food came out with perfect timing, piping hot and fresh.

I think this place is a real winner and have no doubt they’ll be around for a long time. I will definitely be back, probably to get that pork chop again.

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.