United States
Journalist/Book Collaborator. I've covered politics and tourism in Louisiana. Finance in New York City. Health and wellness in Los Angeles. Now, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, I write about the area's exploding cultural and culinary scene. Contact me at: [email protected]. I teach journalism courses at the University of Arkansas' School of Journalism and Strategic Media.
Finders, Keepers In an ever-expanding culinary world, foodies far and wide are seeking inspiration a little closer to home Come rain, mushrooms grow. Reds, whites, yellows, browns. But daunting as it might be to parse the edible from the definitely-not, sometimes all it takes is a little guidance to realize the best stuff is right under your nose.
Mack of All Trades How did Glenn Mack, a guy who's lived in more than a dozen countries, wind up at the helm of Bentonville's new culinary school? Yeah. We wondered, too It's Sunday dinner at the Mack household in a quiet pocket of downtown Bentonville, and the patriarch, Glenn Mack, is MacGyvering a smoking hot Big Green Egg into a backyard tandoor.
First Taste: The Preacher's Son It's not just easy on the eyes (but damn, it's easy on the eyes) It's quite the night-to-day experience, climbing the stairs from the craft cocktail bar in the basement of The Preacher's Son, a Gothic church turned restaurant in Bentonville, to its main dining room.
Above the Fold How an internationally acclaimed handmade-wallcovering firm came to be in Witter There's a rhythm to it that's hypnotic. Dab. Swoosh. Dab. Swoosh. Dab. Swoosh. With her paintbrush, she marks the shimmery yellow-gold paper with the darker brown-gold resin. With a quick flick of his blade (a Japanese razor I'm later told), he disperses her marks.
Something's Brewing in Bentonville DESPITE A MUCH-HERALDED cultural and culinary transformation, downtown Bentonville tends to stay drowsy after dark. So when I swing open the door of the recently opened Onyx Coffee Lab in the new Midtown Center on Second Street, I'm taken aback by the level of activity within.
The Sweetest Thing The scoop on local craft chocolate, from bean to bar It's almost dinnertime, but Lauren Blanco seems way more interested in dessert as she sets the table for her company's holiday gathering. Dozens of colorfully wrapped and meticulously arranged chocolate bars are the centerpiece of the long conference table she's fussing over.
Saiwok Pushing boundaries and bringing folks together in Rogers It was the cheese fries that did it. Saiwok's smoked-pork-belly fries, to be specific. It's kind of ironic, when you think about it, that it was a plate of fries-or rather, a close-up shot of the dish posted to Reddit (or the food "subreddit" if we're geeking out) by a user named Tatowtot-that propelled the Rogers Vietnamese restaurant into viral territory.
Luke Wetzel and I are making the rounds of the Bentonville Farmers' Market on a shockingly cool Saturday morning in late June, and as we weave our way through the maze of tented stalls, my heretofore laid-back shopping companion becomes prone to sudden outbursts. I've been waiting on eggplant! Beautiful!
Butcher & Pint A Bentonville mainstay beefs up with the help of locavore Travis McConnell Y'all ready to order?" asks Elizabeth, our friendly waitress, pen poised and ready to go. I'm pointing at the item I want on the oversized menu in front of me, but I just can't bring myself to say the words out loud.
LET'S FACE IT: Mexican food has been Americanized more than any other international cuisine, becoming, more often than not, a Tex-Mex mash-up of dishes that aren't indigenous to Mexico. Which isn't to say that what most Americans know as "Mexican" isn't delicious, because it is. The problem is what gets lost in translation when the...
IT'S A SATURDAY in mid-January, the sky is gray, the temp is 30 degrees below what I deem acceptable, and I'm in desperate need of a pick-me-up-something to pull me out of the downward spiral of post-holidays/ pre-spring doldrums. So I press pause on researching cheap flights to Mexico, re-hide my January survival stash of...
HAVE YOU BEEN to Mike Robertshaw's new food truck in downtown Rogers yet?" It was the third time I'd been asked that question in as many days. I understood what all the excitement was about. I felt it, too. It'd been roughly two and a half years since I'd first gotten a taste of what Chef Mike Robertshaw could do.
First Taste: MOD Ozark cuisine goes modernist in Bentonville "Y ou've just got to try it," William McCormick tells me with a wry smile. It's a Wednesday afternoon at MOD (short for "Modern Ozark Dining"), one of the newest additions to the downtown Bentonville restaurant scene, and MOD's executive chef and I are talking through his menu.
The Buttered Biscuit Rising to the occasion in Northwest Arkansas Where I come from, all for-serious home cooks have a specialty, that one dish that's lauded as simply "the best" by all who know them. As in, "Aunt Sally makes the best potato salad-probably because she puts Italian dressing in it."
Rock of Ages This year, as George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville fetes the big 9-0, we revisit the storied venue. Tucked among the mishmash of memorabilia on the faded brick walls of George's Majestic Lounge is a kitschy framed print by Mississippi artist Larry Wamble.
Siloam Springs Listening to the talk of the town I like to take my time and do my due diligence before I make a judgement call-one way or the other-about a place, but it takes Siloam Springs a mere 15 minutes to turn my head.
IT'S AFTER 10 P.M. on a mind-blowingly warm Saturday in January, and even though we're damn near comatose after scarfing down pimiento cheeseburgers at The Hive, the thought of a nightcap propels us forward. But when we sidle up to our destination in the section of downtown Bentonville dubbed "The Arts District," it's quiet.
Authentic Indian food comes to Northwest Arkansas-by way of Texas ON A BONE-CHILLING FEBRUARY AFTERNOON, I reluctantly tear myself from the toasty warmth of the car and make a mad dash for the door of Khana Indian Grill.
You can take the foodie out of Brazil-and then that foodie will turn Arkansas tacos upside down TWO BROWN HORSES, one regular-sized and one miniature, stand head to kneecap in a patch of grass just yards away from where we've pulled up.
Forget the foams and froths and dig into the down-home dishes at Fayetteville's newest farm-to-table restaurant BEING THE TRAFFIC-PHOBE that I am-a decade of Los Angeles freeway gridlock will do that to a person-the last place you'd think to look for me at 4 p.m.
In his new film, Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Larry Foley allows us to walk in the footsteps of baseball's greats In 1918, on a spring afternoon in Hot Springs, a 23-year-old Babe Ruth hit a grand slam that at 573 feet might very well be the farthest a baseball has ever been hit.
On learning to love the outdoors. It's a perfect August day -sunny, not too hot, not too humid-and I'm stalled on a small wooden dock on the edge of Lake Norwood in Bella Vista, working up the nerve to hop into the water.
"What would Frank do?" It's a question that a group of folks at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art found themselves pondering again and again this past year.
American Estates' Jesse Weegens is breathing new life into forgotten cast-offs When Jesse Weegens drove past a heap of old, battered wood lying next to a dumpster in Springdale in the fall of 2013, he felt compelled to pull over.
CHAROLETTE TIDWELL DIRECTOR OF ANTIOCH FOR YOUTH & FAMILY "I'm a good shopper!" Charolette Tidwell says as she winds past crates stuffed with loaves of bread and stops in front of an enormous box of potatoes. It's a pronouncement anyone with many mouths to feed on a tight budget might make when showing off their purchases.
On a chilly evening in the middle of November, dozens of University of Arkansas at Fayetteville students participated in a scavenger hunt. Included on the list of items to track down were the name of at least one pose practiced during a student-led yoga session, the location of the pressure point that helps reduce test anxiety and one calming oil associated with aromatherapy.
STEPHEN LUONI DIRECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS COMMUNITY DESIGN CENTER Stephen Luoni, director of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, is eager to show off one of his recently completed projects in downtown Fayetteville: the new UACDC office.
Glenn Mack, executive director of Northwest Arkansas Community College's culinary program, which is called "Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food." Mack is overseeing the implementation of a first-of-its-kind culinary medicine curriculum, which is expected to play a siginficant role in the program's development.
In the past decade or so - spurred on by the patronage of the Walton family, state and municipal government cooperation and good, old-fashioned grassroots organization - the mountain biking culture in Northwest Arkansas has exploded.
Justin Calvert, from left, Sammy Townsend and Vince Pianalto, owners of Fayetteville restaurant Bouchee Bistro, stand at the countertop at their soon-to-open retail space, Bouchee Kitchen. After the lunch rush on the Saturday after New Year's Day, Vince Pianalto, co-owner of Fayetteville's Bouchée Bistro, and his two partners took a seat at a table at their restaurant for an important meeting.
Heading west for a walk through history I'm practically giddy as I wind my way down Interstate 49 toward Fort Smith. Having lived in Arkansas for only eight months, I'm eager to add another Natural State city to my growing collection.
Oh, Buoy Banking on our state's finest rivers, lakes and swimming holes We're not just talking any ol' ponds or streams here, folks. These are truly Arkansas' most superlative bodies of water-the biggest, the coldest, the most hashtag-worthy. And while we don't intend to make waves, there's certain to be some debate regarding any definitive listing.
Book Collaboration/Editing Projects
Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips [Kris Carr, Sheryl Crow] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Actress and photographer Kris Carr thought she had a hangover, but a Jivamukti yoga class didn't provide its usual kick-ass cure. A visit to her doctor confirmed her "liver looked like Swiss cheese