(Photo) Garry’s Sling Blade Drive-In.
Piece 1: Eat My Catfish/Garry’s Sling Blade Drive-In (Benton AR). Eat My Catfish was established in 2008 by Travis Hester, who borrowed $30,000 to purchase a used food trailer and began serving his delicious fried catfish along Military Road in Benton AR. Over the next few years, Travis’ catfish trailer became a favorite food stop for locals, and he opened the first Eat My Catfish restaurant across the road from his original trailer spot.
There are now eight Eat My Catfish locations scattered across the state of Arkansas, but we have always dined at the original restaurant in Benton (1205 Military Road), which offers a comfortable and casual environment where patrons stand in line to place their food order at the counter. After getting your drink of choice from the beverage station, you pick your table, position your order number holder, and wait for your freshly cooked food (prepared with locally sourced ingredients following family recipes).
The Eat My Catfish menu is anchored by the restaurant’s famous catfish fillets, but visitors will also find a wide range of Cajun-influenced items including gumbo, blackened fish and shrimp, po’ boy sandwiches, and a boudin ball appetizer.
We typically go with the basics; fried catfish dinner with hush puppies, coleslaw, and a serving of the cajun rice. Finally, we always finish off with our Eat My Catfish meals with one of the restaurant’s fried dessert pies. The chocolate and coconut are particularly good.
Another unique eatery in Benton AR is Garry’s Sling Blade Drive-In, an old-school dairy bar established in 1961, renamed after it was featured in Billy Bob Thornton’s Academy Award-winning film “Sling Blade”.
The cozy interior at Garry’s features checkerboard flooring, some bar seating, and a few booths. Sometimes, the bar area is filled with fresh produce for sale, like a mini-farmers market.
On the menu is what you might expect at any rural window service restaurant; burgers, hot dogs, fries, onion rings, malts, and shakes…among other traditional “dairy bar” fare.
When in Benton, we almost always make a stop at Garry’s for a meal (or at least a snack of french fried potatoes…with some mustard to dip them in).
Mammoth Orange Cafe in Redfield AR
Piece 2: Mammoth Orange Cafe (Redfield AR). Located at 103 North Highway 365 in Redfield AR is a piece of public art that is also a working restaurant.
Built in the mid-60’s and inspired by an eatery in Fresno CA that was designed to look like a giant orange, the family-owned Mammoth Orange Cafe is a nostalgic dining experience. The outside of the building is a little worn, but the inside is homey and inviting with a throwback look that makes us feel like we’re stepping back into the 1970’s.
The hamburgers and footlong hotdogs at Mammoth Orange are quite good, and we recommend enjoying either (or both) with a side of fried corn nuggets. We also enjoy getting breakfast at the cafe. The pancakes are large and fluffy, and go great with a side of the loaded hash browns.
Finally, be sure and get a “selfie” in front of the Mammoth Orange before you leave!
Food Delivery at All Aboard Restaurant
Piece 3: All Aboard Restaurant and Grill (Little Rock AR). Located at 6813 Cantrell Road in Little Rock AR is a railroad-themed restaurant that includes a unique attraction; a network of mini locomotives that deliver freshly prepared menu items directly to the customer’s table.
All Aboard founder Vincent Schallenberg established his restaurant in Little Rock in 2011 after seeing a similar concept eatery in Chicago where meals were delivered to patrons on rails running along a countertop.
Schallenberg felt the Chicago restaurant’s implementation did not adequately protect a customer’s food from being touched by other patrons during the mini locomotive delivery process. Therefore, he (and his engineer brother-in-law) designed a computer-controlled suspended track system that enables the food-carrying trains to move around above the patrons, and then deliver orders (using an elevator-like device) down to each customer table.
We went to the original All Aboard location in Little Rock (there is now a second location in Benton). The menu is somewhat basic fare…salads, chicken and fish baskets, burgers, sandwiches, and pitas; but the food is good and the whole experience is quite entertaining.
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Just downsized to a class C, I am 86 years old, one more adventure, really enjoyed the post