Taste Archives | At Home in Arkansas

Connection Through Cooking

February 8, 2021 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Food for Thought: With the launch of her cookbook, this Northwest Arkansas blogger continues to inspire togetherness through milestones large and small

For Little Rock native Abby Turner, food is a way of building community. Now a resident of Rogers and marketing professional at Walmart, Abby developed this philosophy as she moved across five cities in four states while establishing her career. “I was living in Birmingham, Alabama, about five or six years ago and was the loneliest I had ever been,” she recalls. “I was having a really hard time finding friends. I was working all the time, and I felt that I needed people and community. My mom threw out there, You need to invite people over, you need to cook! So I did.” Abby made dinner for three guests, squeezing everyone around her two-top table, and soon she found she had a circle of friends. “I made cheese tortellini—and it was terrible,” she laughs, “but they wanted to come back over and do it again.”…

Creative Mixology

January 4, 2021 by Tiffany Adams

Shaken or Stirred: Cozy up with a cocktail made with Fox Trail Distillery’s coffee liqueur

Fox Trail Distillery is more than your average distillery. While distilling, aging, and bottling multiple lines takes place at its Rogers headquarters, what sets this producer apart is its on-site bar. Here, carefully crafted seasonal cocktail menus allow patrons to sample the brand’s products in interesting ways. “As a bartender, I’m always trying to curate an experience that either explores new possibilities or revives cherished memories,” says beverage director Brendon Glidden. “As a spirits producer, we have the ability to achieve those goals on a larger scale.” To this end, Brendon and the staff at Fox Trail are constantly playing around with ingredients to create new cocktails that “contextualize their products,” he says.

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Picture-Perfect Pastries

July 2, 2020 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Berry Good: We talk learning to cook, food photography, and summer galettes with Savya Kuncham Ramesh of Wickedly Whisked

Scrolling through the mouth-watering images on Savya Kuncham Ramesh’s Instagram feed (@wickedlywhisked), you’d never guess she’s not a baker by trade. As an industrial engineer, Savya hadn’t even tried her hand at cooking until it was entirely necessary. “I lived in India until I was 22, and I had never entered the kitchen—like, never,” she laughs. “I decided to do my masters in the United States, and before I moved, my mom was so worried because she knew I loved to eat, but didn’t know how to cook!”…

The Sweetest Thing

May 30, 2020 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Homemade ice cream is a staple of summertime get-togethers. Here, our editor shares the story behind her family’s tropical take on the chilly treat

My earliest memories of homemade ice cream involve my family gathered on the back porch of my childhood home, my grandfather feeding the ice-cream maker ice and salt, then more ice and salt, until the sugary base finally hardened. He had two very eager and sweet-toothed little girls waiting and watching over him; I’m sure my sister and I asked more than once when it would finally be ready to eat. Decades later, after trying my hand at the family recipe for the first time, I learned why the task requires some level of patience—even for adults….

Cooked to Order

April 26, 2020 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for the father-daughter duo behind Hillcrest Little Bakery

Little Rock locals who have frequented Hillcrest in the past year may have noticed the transformation of a small, nondescript residence near Markham Street into a bustling neighborhood bakery. That’s thanks to Scott Loye and his daughter, Zara Schmidt, who celebrated the opening of Hillcrest Little Bakery earlier this year….

All Fired Up

December 30, 2019 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Fresh, seasonal ingredients and innovative methods are the recipe for success at Bentonville’s Oven & Tap

Luke Wetzel and Mollie Mullis, owners of Oven & Tap

Bowls of fresh arugula, artichokes, olives, and torn mozzarella line the bar of the open kitchen at Oven & Tap. Owners Luke Wetzel and Mollie Mullis alternate chopping herbs and tossing discs of dough, each adding a drizzle of oil here and a handful of sliced peppers there before sliding finished pies in the nearby oven for a couple of minutes. The whole process, start to finish, takes five or so minutes. “Our food is very simple, delicious, and straightforward—there’s nothing extraneous,” Luke says. “We serve a very honest product.”

Before moving to Bentonville in 2012, Luke was working at the revered Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. “That experience certainly had the biggest impact on me, as far as the idea of cooking fresh and seasonally,” he says. However, as a Little Rock native, he was also paying attention to buzz about a growing food scene closer to home. “The more my wife, Katherine, and I heard about Bentonville and thought about the town, the more it became intriguing,” he says. “I fell in love with wood-fired cooking in California, and we moved here in hopes of opening a wood-fired restaurant.”

Luke worked for several years as executive sous chef at The Hive, 21C’s highly regarded restaurant, while “dreaming and planning” his own culinary concept. There, he met and became friends with Mollie, and as his plans for Oven & Tap started to solidify, he approached her about being his partner.

Now looking to celebrate five years in May, the ethos of Oven & Tap has remained true to “honest” food that utilizes the wood-fired oven as much as possible. “We’ve become very creative with what we execute and what we can do in the oven—not just pizzas, but also apps and other entrees,” Luke says, citing examples like wood-fired edamame and rib-eye steak. “The fire forces you to think about food in a different way. It’s very romantic and also challenging.”

Here, the Oven & Tap team shares recipes for two simple, flavorful sauces similar to those used at the restaurant. “What’s pizza without a delicious sauce?” Luke asks. “These are both really simple, but well-seasoned and will complement any pizza.”…

The Dessert Table

December 3, 2019 by intern

Homemade gingerbread and peppermint sticks are as much a part of the holiday season as Christmas carols and presents under the tree—that’s why we asked three Arkansas foodies to share their recipes for delicious holiday treats. From tried-and-true cookies to tiramisu, here are five ideas for your own table

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Taste Test

October 31, 2019 by intern

A plant-based chef who grew up in a barbecue restaurant shares his take on a vegan lifestyle along with an easy weeknight dish

Michael Qandah of Happy Bear Cooking didn’t grow up going to the garden to get dinner. Rather, he came of age in his family’s Benton barbecue restaurant, Smokey Joe’s. “I started bussing tables early on and then got more and more responsibility—by high school I was working there three or four nights a week,” he recalls. As he grew older, his love for meat continued when he began a career as a butcher. “Food just makes sense to me,” Michael says. …

In the Dough

August 29, 2019 by Tiffany Adams

‘Tis the season for apples, pears, pecans and—oh, yes—pie. In Northwest Arkansas, a Los Angeles-born baker shows us how she’s creating a sweet life with plenty of pastries to please

“Pie is my favorite thing to make,” Emily Petrick says. “I bring it to dinner parties instead of flowers, and it’s how I say thank you for everything.” With a passion like this, it’s no surprise the Bentonville baker and mom of twins admits to cooking a pie a week….

Grazing Boards Galore

July 29, 2019 by Stephanie Maxwell Newton

Stephanie Bryant of The Blonde Kitchen shows us how to get on board with the latest trend in hors d’oeuvres

Snack boards, picky platters, or the more traditional charcuterie board—whatever you call these boards loaded with bite-size edibles, they are popping up everywhere. As the owner of The Blonde Kitchen, Stephanie Bryant assembles about 20 boards per week for her clients in Northwest Arkansas. “I love the idea of small, handheld bites. The board becomes a centerpiece at a gathering—people can hang out around it, and they are really pretty, too,” she says….

Connection Through Cooking

Creative Mixology

Picture-Perfect Pastries

The Sweetest Thing

Cooked to Order

All Fired Up

The Dessert Table

Taste Test

In the Dough

Grazing Boards Galore

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