Expert Pics: Your Photos, Our Blog

Yep, we’re trying hard to eat every dish at every restaurant in the Fort, but the fact is: We can’t eat everywhere at once. Our stomachs, budget, and jeans won’t allow that.

That’s why we’re thrilled to get responses from our “tweople,” or our “twibe,” or whatever you want to call our loyal and most awesome Twitter followers.

The interaction on Twitter has just confirmed what we already knew: Fort Smith loves to eat and you people know food!! What’s good, what’s bad, what’s funny —you know it, and you tweet it. You guys are the real experts.

There are too many to list all, and we are sure we’re missing some good ones. But we wanted to share some of our recent fave Fort Smith food photos from our fellow foodlovers on Twitter. Enjoy!

Fort Smith Eats Discovery: Friday Night Catfish at The White Spot

The White Spot (aka “Skinny’s”)

1701 Rogers Ave.

Fort Smith, AR 72901

479.783.9345

There are times in any life when one must take a stand. Believe in something. Speak your mind. Make a difference. Speak truth to power.

This, dear friends, is one of those times.

The time is ripe for you to hear this good news:

Once a week, a small unpretentious diner hidden away in Fort Smith, Arkansas, serves for its patrons the food of the gods. That’s right, we said Food Of The Gods.

The restaurant is The White Spot.

The night is Friday night.

The food is catfish.

Catfish? You ask, incredulous, distrusting your eyes, wondering if you read that right. At The White Spot?

Catfish, we say with reverence and awe, our eyes glazing over at the fond memory. Yes. At The White Spot.

Retroview: Fort Smith Eats at Jim’s Razorback Pizza

Jim’s Razorback Pizza

3501 Old Greenwood Road, Ste. 17

Fort Smith, AR 72703

479.434.3455

www.razorbackpizza.com

We “reviewed” Jim’s Razorback Pizza via Twitter in those distant days when the Fort Smith Eats blog was just a glimmer in your father’s eye, as Mom used to say. But we figure it’s worth revisiting now what we thought then. Back then, after all, there were but a few dozen of you following us. Now, you are legion.

Atmosphere:

Razorback Pizza is a long-standing (30+ years, 20+ locations) Arkansas strip mall institution, but it’s new to Fort Smith this year. It’s a low-key anything-goes place on Old Greenwood Road.  Razorback stuff on the walls, natch, though not too much of it. You’re likely to see families here, or ABF’ers on their lunch break, or couples, or a pack of guys watching the game. Like we said, anything goes.

Pricing:

It’s a no-frills pizza joint where anything goes. You’re not going to break the bank here. We’ve never had a check we thought was too high.

Nothin' fancy but tells you what it is

Sweet Bay Meal-Atta-Glance: $4.99 Lunch Special

Sweet Bay by the Park (plus 3 other locations)

3400 Rogers Ave.

Ft. Smith, AR 72903

479.785.0685

www.sweetbaycoffee.com

We love Sweet Bay. We really do. If you’re looking for a nice Fort Smith place to sit and chat, or read, or work or people watch, it’s hard to beat the Bay, especially the flagship Creekmore Park location with its cozy fireplace den in one part and its open garage-door-window sunroom area overlooking the park. But one of the few complaints we have about our favorite locally owned full-service café is the prices can really add up.

We totally cribbed this picture from Google Images. Don't tell.

Individually, paying $5.49 for a sandwich, or $1.25 for a one-time-refillable glass of iced plum tea, or $3.70 for a large frozen peanut butter mocha or $1.99 for a muffin don’t seem like much, perfectly reasonable. Together, though, or when you’re paying for more than one person? We inevitably get a little sticker-shock. We’ve never figured out how it happens that every time it seems like it’s about 30% more than we had expected. (You guys never realized how cheap we are, did you?)

Until now. Sweet Bay this summer started running lunch specials. Here’s what you can get:

Mexican Monday Meal-Atta-Glance: El Super Taco’s Rolled Tacos

El Super Taco (several locations)

1930 Midland Blvd.

Fort Smith, AR 72904-5918

479.782.9694

You know, here at Fort Smith Eats, we’re not always fancy. We know our way around a white tablecloth place, sure, but we also just love good food, no matter where we find it. One place you we can reliably find good, fast, cheap, authentic Mexican food in the city is the place with the name that always makes us inwardly giggly, El Super Taco. (Tip #1: You’ll enjoy it 63% more if you always say it with the enthusiasm and approximated accent of a Mexican gameshow host, with many exclamation points. “Elllll Souuuuper Tacooo!!!”)

"Diet Breakers!" = Truth in advertising.

Why is it that restaurants in former gas stations always bring the awesome?

First Impressions: Whole Hog Cafe

Whole Hog Cafe

4501 Burrough Road
Fort Smith, AR 72916
479.646.2227

www.wholehogcafe.com

There was much hubbub when Whole Hog Café opened in Fort Smith this summer. Tales of the Arkansas chain’s glory spread to the River Valley from other WHC’s in Central and Northwest Arkansas. The place has won the Arkansas Times Readers’ Choice Award (admittedly very heavily Central Arkansas favored; who ya kiddin’ Ark Times) as being the best barbeque in the state for 9 years running. Basically, since it opened.

With a record like this, Whole Hog must either be incredibly good or know something about ballot-box-stuffing. And add a another year on there. Yeah, they won 2009 too.

Fort Smith Eats wasn’t a complete newcomer to Whole Hog. We’d eaten at their other locations, knew the drill. Heck, we’ve even seen Whole Hog’s whole hogs, with the still pig-shaped roasted carcass being carved up in front of an audience. It’s a sight alright.

What we hadn’t yet seen, though, was exactly what all the fuss was about. We get BBQ, love BBQ, know BBQ. We ain’t gonna claim to be world champion barbequers or anything, but maybe something closer to championship barbequers’ roadies.  Without the, er, road. Anyway, we’re pretty informed fans of good BBQ. And yeah, Whole Hog has good BBQ. But great? The best in the state? Not so sure about that, so we went back for a few more tries.