FOR A Chic Meal

Conifer

321 Southeast Second St., Suite 100, Bentonville, Arkansas, 479-203-5999, coniferbentonville.com

It’s no secret that Bentonville, that ever-charming Arkansas town just two hours southwest of Springfield, is a dining hotspot. There is a huge variety of truly delicious places to eat, and you can’t go wrong rolling into this town hungry.

For this particular trip, your must-try dining destination is Conifer. With Chef Matthew Cooper at the helm, the crew at Conifer serves a 100% gluten-free menu of stylishly plated and creative dishes that focus on sustainability and include ingredients from lots of local producers.

If you’re a Bentonville dining aficionado, you may recognize Cooper’s name. This Arkansas native studied in the Pacific Northwest at Le Cordon Bleu and is the founder of another popular restaurant in town: The Preacher’s Son, an eatery located inside an old church.

Cooper himself has Celiac disease, so guests who do too can rest assured the kitchen takes gluten-free dining seriously. The result of Cooper’s gluten-free focus and his professional training is a restaurant that serves seasonally changing dishes that are packed with creative flavor and look downright beautiful on the plate.

At press time, Conifer had just recently released their spring menu, and it featured so many bright springtime ingredients. Take the whitefish entree for example. It’s prepared and served with lime ricotta cheese, sesame, peas, cucumber, basil and mint for lots of super-green goodness.

The cast-iron cornbread small plate is a recurring item on the frequently changing menu, and it’s simply served with honey butter and salt. A risotto offering changes with the seasons too, this time featuring smoked carrot, crispy speck (that’s a lightly smoked cured Italian ham), egg yolk and goat cheese for a combination that’s as indulgent as it is fresh.

Conifer has a strong cocktail menu game as well. The Friendship is Magic cocktail is a rum-centric sip with both cinnamon rum and pineapple rum as centerpieces, fassionola syrup and the fresh burst of lime juice.

The dining experience is uniquely focused on small groups of two to four guests for both a meal and an atmosphere that feel intimate. (But don’t fret if you have a bigger crew. You can book the private dining room for that.)

—Katie Pollock Estes

Side Trip Brightwater

801 Southeast Eighth St., Bentonville, 479-631-8600, brightwater.org

Located in 8th Street Market (a community-focused food hub), Brightwater is the culinary leg of NorthWest Arkansas Community College. But you don’t have to be a student to visit. There are Community Outreach Recreational Education classes for home chefs who want to learn the fundamentals from a pro. The next event is a Chinese Dim Sum class on June 2.

Side Trip

CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

600 Museum Way, Bentonville, 479-418-5700, crystalbridges.org

Next up is a stroll through Crystal Bridges. Bonus if you visit during the month of May: The exhibition Listening Forest by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is on display in the North Forest. It features interactive, immersive installations of light, sound and projections that respond to your movements.

Snack Stop

YEYO’S multiple locations, yeyosnwa.com

Yeyo’s is a family-owned Mexican food spot that has gained a reputation for their stellar eats. You can get the experience at brick-and-mortar restaurants in both Bentonville and Rogers, but we recommend stopping for a snack at their little yellow food truck in Bentonville. Split an order of mix-and-match tacos with your dining buddy, and consider it an appetizer.

Snack Stop

MARKHAM & FITZ

801 Southeast 8th St., Bentonville, 479-234-4658, markhamandfitz.com

Located in sweet little 8th Street Market like Brightwater, this is a true gem of a chocolate shop. They create experimental chocolate bar flavors with unexpected flavors, classic bars with familiar flavors, a fun chocolate-tasting kit with a rating sheet and four bars, pretty little truffles, boozy chocolate cocktails and more.