A Fish Landed!
Mar 19, 2012 in Featured, General, Press Releases, TourismBy: Kevin Kinder
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Walmart heiress and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art founder Alice Walton flew Shannon Wynne to Bentonville and strongly suggested he open a Flying Fish restaurant in that town.
He refused.
She flew him back a couple years later. With the museum nearing completion - it officially opened Nov. 11 - and with much more business activity in downtown Bentonville, Wynne changed his mind.
The Bentonville restaurant opened earlier this month on Northwest Second Street, joining other Flying Fish restaurants located in Little Rock, Memphis, Tenn., and several in the Dallas area.
Wynne calls the restaurant “fast casual,” and it focuses on doses of kitsch, like the wall decorated entirely with singing “Billy Bass” plaques, in equal proportions to the mounds of seafood it serves.
Popular items include the basket entrees, each of them served with fries and hushpuppies. Choices include Americanraised catfi sh fillets ($5.49, $7.99, $9.49, $11.49 for one, two, three or four, respectively) fried oysters ($6.99 for six, $12.99 for 12), chicken strips ($5.49 for two or $7.49 for three) or four fried frog legs, served with coleslaw ($9.99). Other baskets are the restaurant’s version of surf and turf - one catfi sh fillet and one chicken strip ($5.99) or two jumbo shrimp with a chicken strip ($5.59).
The restaurant’s grilled plates pair fresh fish such as catfish ($9.49), rainbow trout ($9.99), grouper ($9.99) and red snapper ($10.99) with grilled vegetables, beans and rice. Other entrees include the Snapper Veracruz, a whole red snapper served with rice and vegetables and toppedwith veracruz sauce ($13.99) and the fish tacos, three corn tortillas stuffed with catfish or tilapia, pico de gallo and cole slaw, served with rice and beans ($9.99).
Also available are a selection of po-boy sandwiches ($7.99-$9.99), salads ($7.99-$10.49) and appetizers such as raw oysters ($12.99 for a dozen), hot wings ($5.99 for six, $10.99 for 12), fried jalapeno chips ($2.99) and grits and gumbo ($7.99).
The restaurant serves desserts such as key lime pie ($3.99) and a range of wines, beers and mixed drinks.