Dining IN HIS FORMER GIG as executive chef at the Governor’s Mansion, Jay Baxter cooked for an elite few — Mike Beebe (who likes BLTs and PBJs), Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Neil Armstrong, Joe Jackson (father of Michael and Janet) and the presidents of African nations. But now Baxter cooks for anyone with $3.50 and a healthy lactose tolerance. “I just got the bug. I missed the creativity,” Baxter said, of leaving the Mansion to control his own 150 square feet of the River Market. Jay’s Pizza opened on Nov. 15, and since then, business has been great. There’s pizza by the slice, a pizza of the day (ham and arugula was a recent special) and specialty whole pies. The Four Seasons (mushrooms, ham, olives and artichokes) and the spinach and feta have proven popular pies thus far. According to Baxter, the toughest part of pizza making is getting the dough right. “It’s all about the amount of humidity and the timing,” he said. “It’s an exact science.” That challenge is part of why he went with pizza. The other reason is that Baxter loves everything Italian. He’s been to Italy six times. “It’s the only place I go ... maybe that’s why I make pizzas. I’m on vacation in my head,” he said. He’s on a perpetual quest to find the most perfect pizza in the motherland. He’s tasted the pizza of Rome, Sicily, Tuscany and Venice, but his favorite is that of Naples, because “the wood-fired oven makes the difference.” Baxter is a Little Rock native. At 14, he got his first job making cotton candy at War Memorial Stadium. Since then, he’s worked with a host of wellknown chefs and restaurants, gaining all of his culinary tricks on the job. He’s cooked at Andre’s, Ciao, Purple Cow and Graffiti’s, under chefs such as Paul Bash (Restaurant Jacques et Suzanne) and Suzanne Boscarolo (Ciao Baci), to name a few. From 1998 to 2003 he ran his own restaurant, Cafe Pompeii in Hot Springs.
DINING CAPSULES
AMERICAN
1620 SAVOY Food is high-quality and painstakingly prepared — a wide-ranging dinner menu that’s sure to please almost everyone. 1620 Market St. Full bar, All CC. $$-$$$. 501-221-1620. D Mon.-Sat., BR Sun. ADAMS CATFISH & CATERING Catering company with carry-out restaurant in Little Rock and carry-out trailers in Russellville and Perryville. 215 N. Cross St. All CC. $-$$. 501-374-4265. L Tue.-Sat. B-SIDE The little breakfast place turns tradition on its ear, offering French toast wrapped in bacon on a stick, a must-have
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NOVEMBER 28, 2012
ARKANSAS TIMES
BRIAN CHILSON
WHAT’S COOKIN’
RIGHT AT HOME: Country-fried steak at Homer’s West.
New Homer’s repeats winning formula Plus, booze and dinner hours.
M
any Central Arkansans who don’t work or live nearby likely have never found it convenient to eat at Homer’s. Even so, most everyone knows people who flock to the iconic Roosevelt Road eatery and have heard tales of the large plates of home-cooked meat and veggies as well as the white-collar, often political crowd that provides the unique dimension that makes Homer’s Homer’s. So it only made sense that Katrina Vaughn and David Connell — daughter and son of founder Homer Connell — eventually would make the Homer’s experience more broadly available. And it also made sense to put it in West Little Rock — but not too far west — and to be open at night. Homer’s West is about 10 mostly interstate miles from the mother ship and is a lunch-dinner place vs. breakfast-lunch at the original. The menu is largely the same. There are the everyday selections: a fairly predictable set of appetizers, several meal-sized salads, a nice selection of sandwiches (including Frito chili pie, an
Homer’s West
9700 N. Rodney Parham 224-6637 homersrestaurant.com QUICK BITE Evening hours and a full bar are the most notable differences, other than neighborhood, between Homer’s West and the original. The management makes it enticing to stop by at happy hour with $1.50 standard domestic drafts, $2.50 frosty pints of Diamond Bear Pale Ale and cut-rate deals on wine and mixed drinks, too. HOURS 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. OTHER INFO Full bar, all CC
unlikely sandwich option), an excellent burger and 10 desserts. And then there are the daily specials, which appear to be the favorite of most Homer’s patrons. Fried catfish, country steak, fried pork chop, hand-breaded
shrimp and a shrimp/catfish combo are available every day, and those are supplemented with three choices that are day-specific, including meatloaf, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, chicken and dressing, smothered beef liver and a stuffed bell pepper, among others. Those choices are also available after 5 p.m., as are three West-only dinner options: a 12-ounce ribeye ($20.99 with baked potato and salad), grilled mahi mahi and grilled chicken and shrimp (both $14.99 with two sides). We first engaged Homer’s West in a traditionally un-Homer’s way: happy hour. Some of our favorite waitresses from the Flying Saucer have ventured west, and we enjoyed catching up with Stephanie at the bar as we sipped a couple of frosty cold pints of Diamond Bear Pale Ale, the award-winning beer brewed just a few blocks off the route from Homer’s to Homer’s. They’re $2.50 during happy hour and $3.50 the rest of the time, cheaper than almost anywhere else. Cheese dip and an order of fries for a fry-loving friend seemed likely logical appetizers. The dip ($4.39 for a small) was solid but pretty standard-issue, and the chips were a bit stale. Homer’s serves crinkle-cut fries, which are an OK accompaniment for a sandwich but not so distinctive as an app. (We equate crinkle cuts to a bologna sandwich on Wonder Bread