Something Different

I normally don't post pictures of our meals, although since I review the various restaurants and cafes where we've eaten on my RV Vagabonds website I probably should take more pictures. I find that I can't take very good photos with the iPh*ne since I get a little shaky trying to push the "capture" button for whatever reason, so I've just been deleting the pics. But this week we had a really fabulous meal at a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas so I snapped a couple of shots, although I missed the opportunity to take a photograph of our "set up".

Set up, you ask? Yeah, we did too. When we placed our order our darling little waitress in the cutest Arkansas drawl possible asked if we wanted salad or set up. Huh? My brain worked feverishly to translate the tone and tenor of her words to try to figure out what she said but I finally gave in and inquired "set up?" While she never said a word, I saw the eye-roll that went on inside her head. But she explained nicely that a set up consists of a bowl of coleslaw, a bowl of beans (pinto, served in a soupy base), pickled green tomatoes and hush puppies. She suggested that one of us order the salad and one of us order the set up, because she would often make a meal simply of the set up. Hey, when in Rome....

So we ordered the salad and set up and we were so busy digging into it I forgot to take a picture. Suffice to say we ate everything in the set up except the hush puppies and that was only because they give you a whole darn basket (think the red plastic baskets that hamburgers and fries are served in at some diners) of the things. Then came our meals; I had the fried shrimp and Denny had the ribs. I should have tried the catfish because our food was so good that the catfish was probably wonderful. It was the only fish they served here and they offered it in a variety of forms.

So if you are ever in the area of Nashville, Arkansas, stop at Fisherman's Cove and have lunch or dinner there. According to our waitress on Fridays they also do a fish and shrimp buffet and they do a Sunday brunch buffet also. Just make sure to get the set up instead of the salad.

Dining Out

On our way to Green Bluff growers the other day, Denny spotted this train car on the side of the road so on our way home we stopped to check it out. It turned out to be Frank's Diner Newport and what a delightful experience it was.

I've already mentioned that we prefer to try local restaurants over chain restaurants whenever we can and we'll pick a diner over a regular restaurant in a heartbeat. Frank's turned out to be a delightful place to have lunch. The diner was crafted from a Pullman sleeping car, retrofitted to be a diner after extensive (and expensive) renovations.





Original magazine ads from the 1940s line the walls, the upholstered booths are comfortable, the food is nicely presented and very tasty (I loved my turkey club and Denny's bacon cheddar burger was good too) and the wait staff were very friendly, courteous and efficient. I was very tempted to try their huckleberry milk shake but I knew I would have no room for lunch otherwise. Perhaps the next time through.

There is a second Frank's Diner in downtown Spokane that has been voted Spokane's best breakfast place for ten out of the past eleven years. Sounds like our kind of place, doesn't it?