Little Rock, Arkansas - Shorty Small's

          Good evening folks! Today I'm going to write about a much neglected restaurant, and I say neglected because I've been to it many times over the years, and haven't done a blog post on it yet. XD This place is definitely on the quirky list of restaurants I've been to, both in decor, atmosphere, and in the menu, ha ha.

       Shorty Small's is a southern chain restaurant with locations in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas.One of their big menu items is their ribs, but they also sell hamburgers, sandwiches, salads, seafood, pasta, chicken items, and barbecue and steak. Before I was familiar with it though, everyone I knew would recommend the ribs to me, and they are pretty good; so give those a try if you ever visit.

      Now let me try to explain the place. It looks like an old southern bar, a shanty, and decayed vintage diner, all in one. The place is made out of wood, and inside you will see a small waiting bench and an upstairs floor that I've never seen used. The place has old fashioned photos all around, and strange taxidermy pieces, like a creepy boar one with horns at one end of the diner. They have a mini-arcade on another area, with some old games, and the ceiling is filled with marked cards stuck here and there, (I'm told it's from magicians who performed at the place.)

            The tables are covered in a wrapping that has antique ads all over it. The menu in the establishment is already laid on all the tables to the side, in a newspaper. You heard me right, the food menu is a newspaper, with a section dedicated to the history of the establishment, and a bunch of realistic looking ads scattered about. The actual menu is usually in the second page of the newspaper, while the other stuff will get kinda of random. XD One thing to note is that you will have different scenery to look at depending on where you're sitting, so you won't get bored going there multiple times.~

             The day I took photos, I ordered one of their sandwiches, the Honey Mustard Chicken Club, which tasted awesome, but was so huge! It was served on burger bread, so I guess regardless if it's a sandwich or burger, it will be on burger/patty bread. The Honey Mustard came on the side, and you can ask for any extra condiment on the side, so I asked to place some grilled onions too. I don't have photos of the desserts I had there, since it was before I even considered making a blog, but they're usually fun food/carnival type desserts. I had their Deep Fried Twinkies, which are good, but I got full after a few bites cause they were pretty rich and a tad heavy. A long time ago, I had their Chocolate Chip Brownie Sundae, which was great and was lighter than their Twinkies, but it was huge too! It's a good idea to have a person or two with you if you want to order this, cause I know at least I couldn't finish it all. XD In any case, if you want to try something with an old and quirky Southern atmosphere, give Shorty Small's a go.~

                                                                         

                                                                             

                                                                               

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                                   

                                                                                

                                                     The white cards on the ceiling.~

Cook's Landing Park : North Little Rock

               Hey everyone! Today I'm going to talk about a trail my friend and I like to walk on in fine
 days. Located right next to The Big Dam Bridge, Cook's Landing has two trails that are basically huge loops that goes back near the bridge. I'm not sure on exact miles, but I think the loops span about 1-2 miles. The trails interconnect with a few paths inside the park giving you options on which route you'd like to walk. Horses are allowed here,( though I've never seen one!), and they post signs saying where they're allowed to go. (Horses can't go on the bridge, but I'll talk about that another time.~) There is one off course route you can go on, which is past a small wooden bridge in the back of the trails, which lead you to a seemingly straight paved road. Me and a group of friends tried walking it for a while, and unless you go to one of the paths offered on the right, that leads back to the park trails, it doesn't seem to connect back to the park.
     
              When you get out of one trail, (or enter it, depending which way your going), you'll see a rusted old Chevy on the side. The trails itself are easy to follow;it's not paved, but it's so flat, it's hard not to notice. When I first went to this park, my initial reaction was that it would be perfect for Halloween; even in the spring or summer, greenery does not grow on the bottom, discluding the grass, and there are strange vines creeping around the trees and the ground. They're are also large patches of bamboo, ( or what looks like bamboo), here and there, and blends with the surrounding environment unusually well. Well I'm used to it now,ha ha, since I walked on both trails many times.~ Here is some photos to give you an idea. ( Oh, one of the photos has what I think is a helicopter pad; you see it as you walk down from the bridge, and before you enter the trails.) The last photo is the paved trail in the back of the trails; the other photos are the paved trail that leads in and out of the trails near the bridge.

     

                                                                            

                                                                               

                                                                                

                                                                                 

                                                                                

                                                                                 

                                                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                             

                                                                                

                                                                                

                                                                                

                                                                               

                                                                                

                                                                                  

                                                                              

                                                                                  

Little Rock, Arkansas : Flying Fish

          So, I went to this place a few weeks ago, but I delayed writing about it, mostly due to the fact I got ill the next day. :p (Not from the food; I had the flu.) I go to downtown Little Rock a lot, particularly in the summertime, and always pass this restaurant when I walk around the River Market, but didn't get the opportunity to visit until my brother decided to go there on a random day a few weeks back.

         The downtown portion of Little Rock is the tourist/ high commercial area, so when I first went there I assumed all the restaurants had expensive food. Although that's the case for some of the places, they have affordable venues if you know where to look. And this little place, The Flying Fish , happened to be one such place. The average price for a menu item range from $6 to $12, depending on what you're getting, with all of the menu being seafood items.

            When you go to the place, especially on a nice day, they will open all their front windows, so you can see nearly all the interior of the place from the outside. And one thing they seem very proud of is their huge collection of fake trophy fish on the walls, and the names written on, or around them. And when I mean huge, I mean huge. When you go to almost any side of one of the dining areas, you will see some sort of fish hanging around. For ordering food, you order at the counter, that has the menu in a huge whiteboard hanging overhead,( or you can look at a smaller paper menu which they have right next to you.)

               That day, I had a small order of the Catfish fillet, since I had Catfish before, and liked it. I also had an order of the Seafood Gumbo, since I heard good things about Gumbo in general, but never really tried one. I would also like to mention that I tried a sweet tea brand I didn't have before, called Gold Peak Tea, which I'm surprised why more places don't supply it, because I fell in love with it.( I think it would be a best seller if it was advertised more!) The gumbo was salty, but had just the right amount of flavor, and I recommend it. The fillet was okay; it tasted more like Salmon than Catfish, and wasn't bad... just a little heavy, and different than what I expected. They also served Calamari and fries as a side item, but that tasted more like bread than anything else. The fries weren't bad; they had a seasoned flavor to them that I liked.

              My verdict for the place? For my first visit, it wasn't bad, and I would like to go again. But next time, I think I'll try something a little different than the fillet. :p

                                                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                                 
                                                             Across the street.

                                                                               

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                              

                                                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                                 

                                                                                  

                                                                              

Little Rock, Arkansas : Delicious Temptations

            Hey everyone! Today I'm going to talk about a popular diner I used to go to, and only went to recently, Delicious Temptations.  The place is comfy and cute, and is quite airy, they have a large window up front so lots of  light comes in. The place has a breakfast, and lunch menu , and you can order whatever you want as long as they are open. (They close 2:30 in the afternoon.)
      
             I had a few different items from their menu, and I never had a complaint about anything I ate.~ This time I had the Eggs Temptations, a poached egg with crab meat and artichokes, and fruit bread with sweet tea. It was all very appetizing haha.~  Fruit Bread is bread but sweet and fruity, it was my first time tasting it. The crab and egg was heavenly too; I didn't leave anything on my plate. XD The place also offer desserts in the form of pies and cookies, which I also recommend.~ One word of note, their sweet tea is good, but very sugary. You can taste the tea; it's not bad at all, but if you don't want a super sweet drink, you might want to see the other choices available. One other quick word, it's better to go before or after 12, as it gets packed at lunch hour.

                                                                                

                                                                                  
                                                                           

                                                                                 

                                                                                

                                                                                  

                                                                                 

                                                                                

                                                                               

Little Rock, Arkansas : Red Mango

               Today, I'm in a good mood, so I want to try doing another one or two blog posts. XD A few days ago, I went to a popular frozen yogurt chain with a friend, known as Red Mango. Red Mango is fairly small compared to other frozen yogurt/ice cream chains, but they specialize in healthy frozen  yogurt, keeping a minimum of flavors that are sweet, but not too high in calories. This was my second time going here, and I haven't tried anything distasteful.
               When you go inside, the first thing you will notice is that the primary color of the place is red. The walls, and most of the decor and furniture are red, with a few others being white. The frozen yogurt is usually limited to five or six flavors, and they rotate with new flavors every once in a while. Like many frozen yogurt/ice cream shops, they have a whole list of condiments you can add, ranging from mochi, fruit, and honey, among other things. I don't remember the flavors I had on my first trip, but on this one, I got the Original flavor, (it's tart and slightly sweet), with Vanilla Cookie Cream, (which is sweet but is not so thick that you can only take a few bites), with mochi and mango. It was heavenly haha.~ At the very least, you can expect me to go there again.~

                              
                               The first trip. I had the original with mochi and something else.