Green beans best thing at easy-to-miss cafe

 

By Rachel Birdsell

TFW Contributing Writer

 

Preamble Ramble

 

This was my maiden voyage to the Rolling Pin Cafe after it sat on my to-do list for a while. If you don’t know where it is, you might miss it. It’s in the shopping center at the end of Crossover Road (Arkansas 265), and it’s hidden around the east corner of the building.

 

 

Food For Thought

 

I was hoping to be able to order breakfast but discovered that breakfast is only served in the morning. Since I was there for lunch, I went with the grilled chicken plate, which comes with mashed potatoes, two sides, a salad and your choice of bread. I decided on fried okra and green beans for my sides.

The salad arrived quickly, but when I looked in the bowl all I could find was lettuce. I even looked under the bowl in case a stray cucumber or tomato had somehow escaped, but no such luck. The salad was, indeed, just a bowl of lettuce. In its defense, it was very fresh, crispy lettuce and the ranch dressing was really good.

Not too long after the lettuce bowl arrived, my chicken plate arrived. I was disappointed to see that my chicken breast didn’t seem 100 percent natural. I’m not saying it had an implant, but there was some definite collagen use going on. And I’m pretty sure that the grill marks on it were there before it was cooked. It also tasted as though it might have had MSG in it and other flavorings that had been injected prior to being frozen rather than added while cooked.

They were out of rolls when I ate, so I had to settle for cornbread. I tasted a few bites of it, but it was so dry it had almost reverted back to cornmeal.

My mashed potatoes had brown gravy on them and I never asked for gravy of any kind. It didn’t really matter because the potatoes tasted like instant potatoes, so after my initial bite, the rest stayed on my plate.

The fried okra was your run-of-the-mill, previously frozen okra. It was edible, but nothing fantastic.

The green beans completely rocked the plate. They were seasoned with bacon drippings and were totally tasty. I wish everything else would have measured up to them.

 

 

The Sporkcast

(1-5 sporks)

Atmosphere: 4 wooden sporks with sandpaper handles. In homage to the name of the restaurant, there are rolling pins decorating one of the walls, but overpowering the rolling pins are images and quotes of John Wayne. I spent most of my lunch trying to figure out how rolling pins and John Wayne were related.

Food: 3.75 sporks that were recycled from the school cafeteria. I wonder if I just happened to order the wrong thing or if all the entrees are this underwhelming. I would have the green beans and okra again, but I wouldn’t want anything else I ordered again.

Staff: 3.75 invisible sporks. My server was very friendly when she actually appeared, but she didn’t check on me once during the entire meal. She was in the dining room so I could have hailed her if necessary, but she never bothered to see how the food was or to see if I needed anything else.

Dollars spent: I left behind roughly $8 for my lunch and a glass of tea.

Chance of returning: With its so-so food and not-so-convenient location, I can’t think of any reason to roll back to the Rolling Pin.

 

If you know a great eating place, drop me a line at rabirdsell@gmail.com. I’ll check it out and let you know what I think.