ON A MAP, Arkansas has a slightly tapered shape. It's a lopsided trapezoidal figure turned on its head. A chipped teacup. But maybe the best way to define it is as a vortex. That's what people around here say: When you think you're leaving this state, the line you're following isn't straight at all but is more like a gently bowing curve leading you right back to where you started. Native son and author Charles McColl Portis described it in terms of "escape velocity." But the truth is simpler: Arkansas is a really tough place to leave.
Northwest Arkansas, particularly Fayetteville, is a whole other matter, gravitationally speaking. As I-49 bearing north crests yet another hill that's stippled with maple, black gum, and pawpaw trees, the Ozark mountain town appears like a big reveal a magician showing he had your card all along. Spend time here, and you're suddenly part of it, swept up in its orbit. You may wander, but you'll always come back.
"She just thought she was going to the land of milk and honey," says Cindy Arsaga of her daughter's attempt to move out West to California with her family. We are enjoying a late lunch at Arsaga's Mill District, which is the latest in a decades-long string of eponymous restaurants and coffee shops that she's run in Fayetteville with her husband, Cary. "It took them 10 months," Arsaga continues with a knowing smile. "They came back." The eatery is light and bright, with soaring ceilings and white walls belying its industrial roots. Even on a weekday, well after the lunch rush, tables are slow to turn over.
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Forging a Legacy - A Fredericksburg, Texas, couple is creating a new class of heirloom cast-iron cookware
When Jay Mallinckrodt pitched the idea of crafting cast-iron cookware to his wife and business partner, Heather, in 2020, she was hesitant. I immediately said no, she recalls with a laugh. But I finally agreed as long as we made something that we would actually want to use ourselves. Like many others during the initial throes of the pandemic, their multigenerational family operation, Heartland Enterprises (which specializes in machining parts for jet engines and gas and oil equipment), was seeing a lull. “No one was flying; no one was drilling, says Jay. So we had time to try something different.
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Oktober Feast!
While I respect your right to serve spooky food in October, you won't find any gory grub at my house this month. Instead, I'm hosting a gathering that's inspired by biergartens across the pond. The focus of the menu is a fondue made with Gruyère cheese and crisp Riesling-like beer-cheese dip but more elevated. It's served with a smorgasbord of dippers such as smoked sausage, grapes, apples, and a few amped-up store-bought snacks, like Mustard-Glazed Pretzel Bites and Smoked Paprika Potato Chips. (Just one taste, and you'll want to add this spice to every bag you open.) Pour yourself a Cider Shandy, and get ready for a good time. Prost, y'all!
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