About the Restaurants

Arkansas’s culinary landscape is becoming increasingly diverse. Dining options range from finger-licking barbecue served at picnic tables to haute cuisine prepared by James Beard–award-winning chefs. Traditional Southern fare, like fried catfish with all the trimmings or meat-and-three (sides), are popular throughout the state. College towns and cosmopolitan areas feature more ethnic food choices plus a variety of farm-to-fork menu offerings. More unusual dining venues include an old-fashioned drive-in, a grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, the floor of a cave, inside a hand-dug 1800s wine cellar, a historic general store, and one where you belly up to a mammoth orange.