Tag: lunch

Food Review: Milford Track Restaurant- The Best Homemade Pasta Around!

I’ve eaten in central Arkansas my whole life, but have never even seen a sign for Milford Track nor driven by it. So, I  was clueless about this hidden gem. I finally heard about it through another local food blogger and added it to my list to try.
On my first trip back out into the restaurant world since quarantining and only living on cooking and the very rare take-out, I put a lot of thought into where I would meet my mom for lunch. Looking into Little Rock’s best patios, because I still don’t feel comfortable eating indoors, I learned Milford Track has a great one, so this was an easy decision. Here’s the breakdown:

LOCATION:

This restaurant, or more like a lunch eatery, is located in the Executive Center Plaza 2 building in the Westlake Corporate Park. Google Maps brought me to this parking lot, where I just had to walk around to the other side and enter where you see the large patio and tables. It faces a small pond and is a great area to enjoy a meal.

MENU:

Milford Track has so much to offer! Besides a daily special and many family dinner options each week you can order to take home, there is a large breakfast menu and a very large lunch menu of sandwiches, soups, salads, and HOMEMADE PASTA.

I must explain how awesome this pasta menu is. First, you pick your pasta (flavors today were spinach, lemon pepper, rosemary basil, whole wheat), then you pick your sauce (flavors today were basil pesto, tomato pesto, cilantro pesto, low-fat alfredo, parmesan parsley, pepper garlic, marinara, black bean, or Raphael). For just the pasta and sauce, it is $8. Or you can add grilled veggies OR chicken for $10. If you want both chicken and veggies, it is $12.50. or you can get salmon and veggies added for $16.
No matter what, the portions are HUGE. Both of us easily had two meals out of this.

FOOD:
*I must mention this is no quick lunch stop. It took about 25 minutes for everyone’s food to come out, without a crowd. So, just be prepared.*

Rosemary basil pasta with pepper garlic sauce and added veggies:

The pasta was cooked to perfect aldente and the veggies were charged perfectly with a lot of flavor. The pepper garlic sauce definitely was not very garlic-y, but was still tasty. It tasted more like an alfredo sauce with a slight kick.

Rosemary basil pasta with cilantro pesto sauce with veggies and chicken:

My entire dish was unbelievably good. The pasta was again, perfectly aldente. The veggies were the second best part- so much flavor and cooked perfectly. The chicken was good, but there wasn’t very much of it. The cilantro pesto was very flavorful, I loved it! I didn’t even have to add any salt or pepper, which says a lot.

There was so much food, I had this much to take home to Drew after I was stuffed.

OVERALL:

I loved this place! It was perfect for patio seating (though they do have limited indoor seating as well) if you have an hour for lunch or breakfast. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to order one of their amazing sandwiches or salads, because I HAVE to order the pasta always. So, let me know if any of their sandwiches are a must-try.
The service was slow, but friendly. The food and prices just couldn’t be beat!

Food Review: Arandas Tacos Isn’t Foolin’ Around

In recent years, Branson’s food game has really started to diversify. Today, there are Thai restaurants, a few sushi restaurants, an Indian restaurant, and now there is a fantastic, very authentic, Mexican restaurant. Arandas Tacos is not your typical tex-mex joint. Rather, there are options such as tongue tacos or chorizo tortas or tripe sopes. If these sound scary, don’t worry,  they also have chicken and steak options, too. Here’s the breakdown:

The Environment

This restaurant is located in a small shopping center, directly across the street from the Tanger Outlets entrance.
On the inside, it is nothing special. Sort of small, but clean. We arrived for lunch around 1:15, and we were almost the only people there at that time.

The Food

There are two things that are immediately different about this restaurant than any other Mexican restaurant I have been to.
1. You don’t get chips and salsa once you are seated. Rather, you get a basket of “duros”. I had never had these before, but they were pretty tasty. They are simply fried dough, but they are very light and crispy.

 

 

Duros, free appetizer

2. There is a toppings bar!!! This is my favorite aspect of this restaurant. There are multiple salsas and toppings, such as mango salsa, cilantro, lettuce, chopped onions, etc, to put on your tacos or any other dish you order.

Tacos

Since the toppings bar is available, when you order tacos, you simply get two small corn tortillas filled, pretty heavily, with whichever meat you choose.

I ordered 4 tacos for $7.99 and tried the chorizo, cabeza (beef cheek), lengua (tongue), and al pastor pork.
The al pastor was my favorite. It was very tender and not heavy in grease. The chorizo was my second favorite. It was very flavorful, and again, not too greasy. This is usually the problem I find with chorizo. In third place came the lengua. I have had great tongue tacos before, but these were not good, at all. They were a little chewy, probably overcooked. Lastly, the beef cheek was disgusting. It was so fatty I couldn’t even swallow one bite.

Anyway, after trying all of the meat, I headed to the toppings bar to make my tacos pretty and tasty.  I put a light green salsa on all of them. This salsa was flavorful, yet mild, and helped break up the savoriness of the meats. I put mango salsa on the al pastor, onions on all tacos, and tons of cilantro. Yum!

Taco Salad

This was, by far, the best taco salad I have ever had. It was pretty large and only $7.99. I ordered it with chicken, which was perfectly tender and well-seasoned. The toppings were so generous that I did not even have to visit the toppings bar. Three sauces also came with it: a traditional red salsa, sour cream, and a spicy ranch. The spicy ranch got dumped all over the taco salad because it was very tasty! The crunchy bowl was fried perfectly as well, I love those things!  I will definitely come back to order this taco salad every time I am in Branson!

Overall

This restaurant is one of my favorites in Branson now. It is unique enough to give you a new type of Mexican food experience, but not so different you aren’t sure what you are ordering.
The staff was very nice as well. Our waitress answered questions about what certain dishes were and offered to refill our duros and waters in a timely fashion.
There is even a coupon in one of those Branson coupon books I picked up from my motel lobby that had 10% off here, so the price was great, too. I will definitely be back…many times.