Flavors of Northwest Arkansas

On this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we’re having our “Best of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas” episode. We hear a segment from our very first interview, which was with Lance Corbin of Pesto’s by Lance. Lance is a natural storyteller and I was nervous and hoping that my battery would hold out as I hadn’t used my equipment for an interview before. He carried me like a pac...

On this week's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas Podcast, we have a little bit of a different one for you, as we were invited to the VIP night at the LeRoy Lounge in Fayetteville on Dickson Street, and man, what a scene it was… But before we get to that… a little about the LeRoy. It’s a dining and entertainment experience. By that we mean that they have duckpin bowling… it’s bigger in t...

On this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we have a great chat with Trisha Walden and Billie Sparks from the First Seat Pub, Barley & Vine and the Captain’s Seat but not before saying goodbye to my dad, Mike Engleman, who passed away on Father’s Day. My sibling’s and I talk about Dad in the kitchen before I talk to Trisha and Billie. Dad wasn’t necessarily a kitchen...

On this week's episode, We talk to Mallory Files, the 26-year-old dynamo behind Ozark Charcuterie, and man has she been keeping busy. If you follow her on Instagram, you’ve seen what her day-to-day looks like. You’ll also see where she went viral and in a blink of an eye was over 30,000 followers. She’ll tell us what caused that, who exactly her target audience is, and what she learned from it. Th...

This week, we’re at Blu in Bentonville, where we’re talking fresh fish and the career of its owner/operator, Barry Furuseth. Barry has always been in the fish business, going all the way back to his childhood cleaning fish for tourists on the Minnesota lake where he grew up. After a few years of college, he decided to get back to work, and back to fish. He sold fish door-to-door, and as he put it,...

On this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas, we hop down to Fayetteville to talk to the venerable Maudie Schmitt at Café Rue Orleans.

On this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we get trendy with a newer trend that’s working its way to not being just a trend but a mainstay as we talk with Katie Helams of Grow NWA- we’re talking microgreens! They’re getting HUGE nationally and are growing in popularity here. The trend is expected to grow over 11% by 2028. One of the reasons that they’re growing in popula...

On this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we head to the 8th Street Market and interview Jessica Keahey, owner, head cheesemonger and “curd nerd” at Sweet Freedom Cheese in Bentonville.

In this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas, we visit with Ahren Boulanger, co-owner and chef of the Pleasant Counter in Springdale.

For this episode, we interview Heather Ranalli-Peachee, co-owner/operator of the Tontitown Winery. She’s a 4th generation winemaker that learned the art of making wine in her Dad’s basement where he made it. Tontitown used to be known for their wineries, but the last one closed in the 80’s. Heather and her husband David decided with her father that they would revive the Tontitown tradition of comm...

On this episode of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas, we sit down with Darwin Beyer, owner, and chef of Meiji in Fayetteville. Like several people we’ve interviewed, he never thought about getting into the restaurant business until he needed some part-time work back in the day. Darwin is originally from Kansas City and has a great story about how he ended up in Fayetteville. He started Meiji in 20...

On this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas Podcast, we head to Rogers and the Ozark Beer Company, where we talk with co-owner Lacie Bray and marketing “do-everything guy” Marty Shutter. They were the first brewery in Benton County, and they tell us what it was like being the first and how they got there. Also, how did they stay afloat during Covid? They were VERY nimble. They tell us the...

On this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we head to the west side of Fayetteville to Cobblestone Farms where we visited with Operations Director Nikki Ringler. They provide over 20,000 of produce for the food insecure in Northwest Arkansas and do it on just 2 acres of land!   They practice organic and regenerative farming, which isn’t the easiest route when farming. Ins...

On this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we head to Nellie B’s Bakery in Elkins, who are about celebrate one decade in business! We had so much fun visiting with mother/daughter combo Priscilla and Danielle Wright. Priscilla used to manage 9 gourmet bakeries in the Bay Area and has been perfecting her family recipes for a long time. Danielle swore in high school that sh...

Welcome to this week’s Flavors of Northwest Arkansas Podcast, where we sit down with James Beard Award Semifinalist for Best Chef of the South, Matt Cooper of Conifer. The son of a Methodist Minister and a food technologist, he lived in 30 different places in Arkansas before heading off to culinary school in the Pacific Northwest. After working there for a while, he moved back to Little Rock to he...

On this week’s edition, we talk to Paula Jo Chitty Henry of Crepes by Paulette. She grew up in Bentonville and moved to New York (where she met her husband) and France after college. Once she and her husband Fred had kids, they moved back to Bentonville. With no culinary background, they set out to start a food truck (not their original plan) and have now grown to two restaurants. Hear how they di...

This week, we visit with William Mauk, chef & owner of Bienvenue in Downtown Springdale. Mauk was classically trained in New Orleans where he worked for some of the best chefs in the U.S. He tells us his story about how he ended up in Northwest Arkansas, and specifically, Downtown Springdale! We also get an INCREDIBLE recipe for Beef Bourguignon and hear about fresh saltwater shrimp FROM ARKAN...

John sits down with owner Hunter Thomason and chef Bernie Martinez and learns about their career paths and menu influences. Why did they choose elevated southern food? Also, they recently kicked off new service. They'll tell you all about it, and much more this week on The Flavors of Northwest Arkansas.

John sits down with Lance Corbin of Pesto's by Lance and talks about "colorful" mentors, restaurant fires, what it was like taking over the former Pesto Cafe and so much more!