Local Flavor Cafe, Eureka Springs AR

Local Flavor Cafe is a chef-owned an operated restaurant in Eureka Springs, AR, serving delicious food in a wonderful atmosphere.

Last month I spent a very relaxing weekend in Eureka Springs AR. I had never been to this resort town before, and immediately liked it. I stayed at a friend’s cottage, just steps from downtown. My days there were pretty simple: workout, window shop downtown, eat, nap, eat. Sometimes those are the best vacations.

Several friends recommended Local Flavor Café, currently rated the #3 restaurant in town by TripAdvisor. Local Flavor is open for lunch and dinner, and also offer a Sunday brunch. The restaurant is owned and operated by Chef Brett Evans, a native of Eureka Springs. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Local Flavor is on the edge of downtown, less than a block from the house. There is a patio that runs the length of the restaurant, as well as another small patio on the left of the restaurant, under the cover of foliage. Thursday evening it was extremely humid, and sitting on the patio would have been miserable. The humidity broke during the day on Friday, and the weather was perfect. Inside Local Flavor, the seating is a combination of booths and tables.

Vance recommended I go to Local Flavor after 8pm, since summer weekends in Eureka Springs are so crowded. The restaurant was packed when I arrived, and guests were waiting to be seated. Thankfully I only had to wait about 10 minutes. Sometimes, dining solo has its privileges.

I sat out on the long patio. This was a better option for me, because inside got really loud with a full house. I normally don’t mind that, but was looking for a more relaxing experience.

Local Flavor is open for lunch and dinner, plus Sunday brunch. The dinner menu features appetizers, salads, pastas, and entrees. Specialties, burgers and sandwiches replace pasta & entrees at lunch. The lunch menu also offers quite a few vegetarian sandwiches, more than what you’ll normally find on a menu.

Bread comes to the table first

The bread is warm. There is nothing like warm bread slathered in butter. Well, I didn’t quite slather it, but I certainly savored a couple of slices.

Salad is the starter for all entrees. All of the salad dressings are house-made; whenever that is the case, I always get blue cheese. I also always get dressing on the side, so I can control the amount.

The dressing is absolutely fabulous, with large chunks of cheese. I only used a small amount of dressing on the salad, and then ate the rest straight out of the container, with my fork. Yes, that defeats the purpose of getting it on the side. No, I did not care.

After a lot of back and forth, and help from my server, I finally decided on the pork tenderloin. All entrées come with rice or potatoes; my server recommended the potatoes.

The pork is amazing. It is so tender and flavorful, and the sauce is very light. The potatoes were a good call, as they are very light and creamy. The asparagus is a perfect tender-crisp. I also dipped bread into the sauce, to savor as much of the gorgeous sauce as possible.

I will most certainly return to Local Flavor Cafe, on my next visit to Eureka Springs.

For reviews of more restaurants in Eureka Springs, click on the photos below!