Spring Street Grill

This is one of those old joints that all the old timers have been going to for lunch their whole lives.  It's on a side street off the "main drag" in Springdale (which isn't much of a main drag these days).

Anyhoo, it's been the Spring Street Grill since 1987, and my research (asking the waitress) indicates that this building was a hotel and "maybe a whorehouse" prior to that.  I guess the dining area kinda looks like a hotel lobby/saloon.

A full order of "additions" is $3.00.

Whoa!  The Chicken Fried Steakwich is EXQUISITELY TENDER! I didn't try it but I wondered about for the rest of the day.

The full order of fries is substantial.

Fresh cut, hot, and pretty well cooked through.

But I noticed that there were "seasoned fries" on the specials board.  I decided that I needed to investigate for science.  The seasoned fries (also $3.00):

Potato wedges, arkies, whatever you call em-they were really good!  Lots of seasoning and fluffy/steamy on the inside.

Spring Street Grill is the real deal.  The fresh cut suckers are a solid 9, and the seasoned ones are a 10.  Do it.

Doe's Eat Place

Doe's Eat Place is a chain, but they make a big deal about it being "family owned".  It's not clear to me whether they mean the chain is family owned or each restaurant is family owned.  It looks like the Mississippi and Kentucky locations are family owned, but the franchise locations are not.  Either way, they want you to think it's family something.  We went to the one on Dickson Street in Fayetteville.

There's a lot to take in visually at Doe's.  The building is separated into two sides.  One side is a crazy mess of beer signs and crap hanging all over the ceiling including a FULL COMPLEMENT of inflatable Nascar cars.

Also, a full 20 square yards behind the bar is dedicated to (what I assume) is the owner's collection of ball caps.  One of them was from the Huson Funeral Home in Little Rock which begs two questions: 1.  Why does a funeral home need ball caps (with camouflage bills no less); and 2. Why would you hang that in your bar/restaurant?

The other side of the joint is more "traditional".  And by traditional I mean that there are stuffed versions of the animals you might try to eat staring at you from the wall.

We had already eaten (natch) so we just had fries and beers.  $1.99 gets you this:

Fresh cut daily, cooked (pretty much) all the way through.  Just the right amount of salt.

A good amount of tasty, hot, fresh fries for a good price.  9 out of 10.

P.S.  Our waitress Lauren was super sweet.  She brought Amy some fried biscuits.  I had never heard of fried biscuits.  They were silly.

Arsaga's Depot

I don't hang around coffee shops too much (at all, really). Mostly because I can drink a maximum of two regular-strength coffees or else I become impossibly ratcheted like I'm on PCP or something.  So the super-strength (and super-priced) coffees of the coffee shop world are really not for me.  Plus, coffee shops can be a haven for the assy.  

So when I heard that Arsaga's Depot had food I was conflicted. Until I saw the menu.  They have four kinds of fries, and they are located pretty prominently on the menu.  That was too much to ignore.  I piled Amy and the Grunion up and we headed to Dickson Street in the rain.

Okay, so it's called the Depot cause it's in the old Fayetteville train depot-get it?

Typical coffee shop atmosphere complete with young, assy hipsters who LOVED the flash on my cell phone camera.  I'm noticing lately that when young people turn to give me the disgusted stare/eye roll they kind of faintly smile with a kind of pity.  Maybe I'm crossing into the "aww...that poor old guy doesn't know any better" realm.  Whatever.

There's a cool covered deck out back that looks over the walking trail so you can watch people exercise while you eat.  I love that!  Amy said that sitting on the deck back there felt like we were in a big city.

Let's see.  The fries all look interesting, and the prices are not crazy.  I don't like poutine or honey, so we ordered the herb and beer cheese ones.  Fingers crossed.

Behold!

MASSIVE portions of fries!  For the prices this is totally cool.

The beer cheese ones are AWESOME.  The cheese sauce was drippy and creamy.

And the herb ones are great too.  The three dipping sauces are all really different and kinda make it seem like you have 4 different kinds of fries.

The Grunion approved (fuzzy cause the kid never sits still longer than 3 microseconds).

Amy approved.

And a train came by while we were there so the Grunion lost his mind.

Who woulda thunk it?  The new leader for fries in Fayetteville is definitely these guys.  Do not wait.   Go there immediately.  We're going back today to try the poutine and honey ones.  

10 out of 10.

Editor's note:  In the interest of full disclosure, the management of this publication feels responsible to point out that Gibby, fearing that the fry offerings of Arsaga's Depot would not be to his liking, ate dinner at a restaurant next to Arsaga's (Deluxe Burger) PRIOR to reviewing the fries at Arsaga's Depot with the rationale that he would "just try a few of the fries to get a general idea of what they were like".  This is what was left of the two MASSIVE orders of fries: