Tag: heber springs

Food Review: Food Geek Taco in Heber Springs

Food Geek Taco is one restaurant in Heber Springs that is getting pretty great Yelp reviews online, so I had to check it out. Here’s the breakdown:
ENVIRONMENT
Tucked into a small shopping center, next to my favorite Chester’s in the Road Runner gas station, on Hwy 25, there is a newly opened Food Geek Taco Company. The outside is nothing special, but the inside is modern and clean.
Food Geek Taco was originally a food truck in Mississippi. In 2016, they moved to Memphis with a new food truck and made the Best Food Truck list that year! All over the restaurant, you can see pics of their old food truck(s) and Memphis, as well.
You go to the front to order and pay for your food before finding a place to sit.  A large television displays the menu at the counter, but there are also paper menus at the entrance. Plus, a special’s board on the counter (and one outside) let you know what the daily special taco is.
 Today’s special was the curry chicken taco!
While I didn’t order a soda, the only options are those from the Stubborn Soda Co, such as Agave Vanilla Cream Soda, Black Cherry with Tarragon, Classic Root Beer, Lemon Berry Acai, and Orange Hibiscus. While I was tempted to break down and actually drink something besides water, I couldn’t do it, knowing I was about to eat the mess out of a hoagie sandwich and tacos. Maybe next time…
Once we sat down, we noticed that all tables came with five different hot sauces to do what you will with. Some included a pineapple sweet heat, a sriracha hot sauce, a 901 Memphis original hot sauce, and so forth. I am not a huge hot sauce person, but I tried them all but the ghost pepper one. I was scared….hey, I’ve eaten hot sauce that hot once and couldn’t taste anything for days, besides the fact is was PAINFUL!
MENU
The menu is great, there are so many options I want to try! I narrowed it down to the Banh Mi Torta/ Sandwich (duh, my fav!) and the special of the day for only $3, the Curry Chicken Taco, the Smoked Salmon taco, and the Chimichurri Steak taco, all for Drew and I to share.
However, the sides sound amazing: coconut curry rice, roasted corn salad, chipotle ranch potato salad, hand crafted coleslaw, and black beans all are on my “must try” list.
They also have salad OR rice (your choice) bowls that sound great, like the grilled blackened shrimp with cabbage, roasted corn salsa, avocado, diced tomato, queso fresco, and crispy onions. Yep, I have to come back to try these.
THE FOOD

Banh Mi Sandwich ($8.45 with no side)
Description: Pulled pork, pickled onions, carrots, and daikon radishes, cilantro, and garlic wasabi aioli on a hoagie.

I am starting off with what went wrong here. I have never had a banh mi sandwich I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. They are always moist and porky, with a vinegar-y zing and a sweetness from a sauce. But this was the first version I did not enjoy.
The bread was too much, too thick, and that helped dry the sandwich out. What also helped dry it out was how dry the smoked pork was. Plus, there was hardly any sauce. Supposedly, there was a garlic wasabi aioli, but I couldn’t taste it. The veggies were crisp and flavored well, though.
Don’t get this one. In fact, I’m not sure if I’d ever trust a sandwich here….especially when their tacos are so good!
P.S. This is not a $9 sandwich with no side included, even if it did taste better.

Curry Chicken Taco- the middle taco ($3 special of the day price)
Description: Smoked chicken with curry yogurt sauce, golden raisins, cilantro, green onions, and slivered almonds.

 This taco was good, but was my least favorite of the three. It was not as full as the other two, though it was cheaper since its $3 price was the daily special. The chicken was tender and smokey and the sauce made it moist. However, I didn’t get any curry flavor from it. And I am not a fan of raisins, so naturally, I didn’t love it. Drew did, though!

Smoked Salmon Taco- the left taco ($4.45)
Description: Smoked salmon with spinach, lemon dill aiolio and fresh pico de gallo.

While I am picky about salmon- meaning I usually hate it, unless it REALLY doesn’t taste fishy and it is absolutely not dry AT ALL, Drew likes it and this taco sounded incredible. And it definitely was good for being packed full of salmon. The bites where there was more dill available were delicious. Others were a little fishy and dry, but I was still very impressed! It was very unique and very tasty! I would get this taco again.

Chimichurri Steak Taco- the right taco ($4.25)
Description: smoked brisket, cilantro chimichurri, crispy onions, queso fresco, and roasted corn relish.

I saved the best for last- and this taco was definitely in the top three best tacos I’ve ever had! There was so much sliced brisket, it was well worth the price. Plus, the brisket was tender and juicy! It can be a challenge to find brisket that isn’t dried out, but they delivered!
The chimichurri was so flavorful and delicious, it gave a great herby kick to the taco. Though, there wasn’t too much to overpower it.
The corn relish was fresh and pulled together everything so well. Oh yea, I ordered mine without queso, I don’t eat cheese.
This taco was SO good. I loved it and will order it every time.

 

OVERALL
Besides the banh mi, everything else I had was very impressive. The tacos are unique and bold, there are so many other items I want to try on the menu, that I’ll probably have to come back a few times.
The service was great as well. Even though you order at a counter, the man that brought us our food kept checking in, refilling our waters, and then cleaned up after us. So, yea, I like this place. I may even have to give up my favorite chicken livers next door a few times to come get take out from here instead.

Food Review: Mack’s Fish House in Heber Springs, with guest blogger, Lori!

I was so excited Lori said she’d help me with this blog when we visited Mack’s Fish House for our second time. What was even more exciting was how great the experience was! Here’s the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

Mack’s Fish House is located behind my all-time favorite Chester’s Fried Chicken, found in the Road Runner gas station on Hwy 25. It is technically on Hwy 110, but can be easily seen at the intersection of these two highways.

The inside is large and open, with some nautical themed decor. The looks of the inside are not what will get you in the door, but the free “bean bar”, pretty decent salad bar, and pie display help you realize quite quickly that you made a good choice for your meal….more on that later.

THE IMPORTANT STUFF

When Lori agreed to help me write this blog, she quickly wrote up her own take the place, and there really isn’t anything I can add to it! I completely agree with her, so here’s her take:

Lori:

This is our second visit here, but I am definitely more impressed this most recent time than I was my first trip. First of all, our waitress was amazing, so sweet and attentive but not annoying at all…even though we asked her several times what dishes came with the bean bar, because we were determined to eat the beans! I’m not a food expert, by any means, I mostly just like to eat! I think they called the beans “brown beans” so I have no clue what kind of beans they actually are, what I do know is, they’re delicious! They are cooked perfectly and have big chunks of ham and onion, and I like to add just a little pepper and they’re perfect.

Then our server brings out the free FREE basket of hush puppies. I could eat those beans and hush puppies everyday, they’re that good! The hush puppies come out so fresh, you can tell they’re constantly putting those in the fryer. Between the three of us, we polished off the pretty large basket in less than ten minutes (judgement free zone right?!). She politely asks, “Would you like another basket?” We all try to keep our manners and say, “Yes, please.” While inside we are thinking, “Are you mad, woman? Of course we do!”

By this time, we have zero room left for our entrees, but alas, they’ve already been ordered. So we solider on, I had the catfish at my last time, this time I opted for the fried shrimp po boy. ($8.99 with regular fries.) It came out on this delicious fresh toasted hogie bun with mayo, lettuce, onion and tomato. The shrimp were the baby variety, perfectly fried and the sandwhich was loaded with them. I cut the po boy in half, knowing even that was ambitious. The shrimp was flavorful and the bread didn’t overwhelm everything else, the way I’ve seen some po boys served on a huge bun and with just a tiny amount of meat. The fries were good, very fresh and seasoned nicely, but nothing too special.

We were way too full to consider dessert, but I wouldn’t mind trying some of the delicious looking pies or cakes on a visit soon.

I would come here just for those beans and hush puppies, everything else is icing on top. Both times I’ve been here, I left full and happy and ready to return. The place itself is no frills, has a small town and extremely friendly atmosphere, where anyone will feel comfortable. I look forward to returning before summers end and I hope some of you make the trip while enjoying the lake and river nearby!

Amy:

The only thing left to mention is the food Drew and I got,  plus a little extra service we got from our waitress. I ordered a two-piece catfish with grilled veggies instead of fries. ($8.99 with regular fries, but $1 more for a different side). Drew ordered a three-piece catfish with sweet potato waffle fries instead of regular fries. ($10.99 but also a $1 more for the sweet potato fries.) Here’s where the service went above and beyond!

When we received our dishes, we both got a three-piece catfish, thank you for the extra piece! Though, there were regular fries on our plates.

The waitress realized immediately the mistake, apologized for messing up, and said she would bring out of ordered sides momentarily.
So, how was this dish? The fish is okay, and pales in comparison to everything else we had this trip…hushpuppies, beans, the sides, etc. It is cooked well, not greasy, it just lacks a little seasoning.  Though the tartar sauce it comes with is delish!

The sides we ordered came quickly, and they were both more than we expected. The waffle fries were in a huge basket, came with some honey, and were delectable.  By this time, we were so full on everything else that we couldn’t eat but a couple of them each, so they came home with us.

My grilled veggie side was truly tasty. These veggies were fresh and were just seared enough on a grill to give them a good char without losing their textures. They needed no extra salt or pepper, they were perfectly seasoned. I finished those.

When it was all said and done, the waitress did not charge us the $1 extra for each of these sides, which the menu makes clear: any other side besides the regular fries costs $1 more.  So, we not only got more food than we could ever possibly eat, we weren’t charged since our waitress didn’t get the order perfect on her first go-round. Wow! I haven’t had service that good in a while.

Oh! Don’t let me forget another important aspect of the bean bar…Drew’s favorite part! The bean bar also comes with cole slaw, nothing special, didn’t tasty homemade. Finally, it comes with pickled green tomatoes, which are very tasty. I had never tried these before because they sound gross. Drew convinced both Lori and I to try them, and they were surprisingly good. They have a little tart kick but a refreshing aspect to go along with all of the heavier items on our table.

OVERALL

Overall, we love the food here, even if we have to leave with half of it in to-go boxes. The hush puppies and beans, though, are what will keep calling us back. Plus, great service and nice people really top it all off. Thanks, Mack’s Fish House, we will be back!