Restaurant Review: Garden Bistro (Eureka Springs)

We wanted to go away for a couple of days for our first anniversary. There isn't that much around here that is exciting, and unfortunately since Arkansas is a landlocked state, the beach isn't an option like it would be back home. So, hearing that Eureka Springs was similar to Ashville, a NC city we both love, we decided to head up that way.

Saturday afternoon we were starving and I was cranky, so we literally stopped at one of the first places we saw. Their lunch menu was quite small, but our waitress gave us quite a few extra options with their daily specials. They try to use locally grown, organic produce in as many of their dishes as possible. so apparently the menu changes frequently. Several of their dishes when we were there were vegetarian, and they even had a few vegan options to choose from. When we were there, the specials included a pastrami sandwich, avocado salad and this amazing pizza that I ordered.


Mediterranean Pizza; $12.00

When I heard the words "Mediterranean pizza", I was sold. This pizza was on the large side, and if we had ordered an appetizer, or side salads, we probably could have shared it. But I'm really glad we didn't, because it was very good (although I was nice and gave Graham a slice). It was covered in Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, mushrooms, feta and mozzarella. It supposedly had olives on it, but I don't remember tasting any. And the basil was tasty, but it would have been better if the basil had been torn or cut into smaller pieces. The huge pieces of basil were underneath the cheese, and when you bit into it, it brought all of the cheese with it. They also went a little overboard on the cornmeal. The bottom of the crust was coated with HUGE globs of cornmeal, which was pretty unappealing.

Pastrami sandwich; $9.00

Graham ordered another special, the pastrami sandwich and wasn't as pleased with his lunch. It came with a side of creamy asparagus soup,which was delicious, but in my opinion was only lukewarm and needed to be heated a few more degrees. He said the sprouts overwhelmed the other flavors, and their wasn't nearly enough pastrami on it. It only had two slices, and he said you couldn't even taste it. Also, it was a little overpriced when you consider the lack of meat, and that it was only half a sandwich. The ladies at the table next to us were relieved that we got our food before they ordered, because they had decided to order the same sandwich and split it.

Overall we enjoyed our meal, but there was a lot of room for improvement. I doubt we'll go back, simply because I don't think we'll ever return to Eureka Springs. Our time in Arkansas is coming to it's end pretty quickly, but if you're in the area and you're trying to be more conscious of what you're eating, you should definitely stop by and check out what they have to offer.

Our perfect, very image heavy, anniversary weekend =)

One year of married bliss has come and gone. It was an absolutely an amazing first year together, even with the six months of separation. I have loved every moment that we have shared over the past year. Since last April 23rd, we've had two weddings, adopted another fur-child, had an amazing trip to Disney and thousands of other small, perfect moments that have been so special to us. I'm so lucky to be married to someone who constantly makes me laugh, keeps a perpetual smile on my face, challenges me and makes me want to be a better person. I can't wait to see where the rest of our lives takes us.

These beautiful flowers started our long weekend off wonderfully.

I amused myself on the car ride to Eureka Springs by making goofy faces.

My husband is too cute for words =)

We walked up the steepest hill ever to get to the "haunted" Crescent Hotel.

We stopped to admire pretty scenery.

Not the Blue Ridge Parkway, but still pretty.

Spent a beautiful Sunday in Little Rock @ the Big Dam Bridge.

And took Hermione for an adventure at the dog park.

On our actual anniversary, we took advantage of a gift certificate to one of our favorite restaurants, So!,  and had an absolutely amazing dinner.

My favorite meal in Little Rock: Seared scallops & squid ink linguine.

This was absolutely delicious, as usual. The problem: the portion has gotten significantly smaller and the price has stayed high (this dish was $30). I can maybe forgive them for losing a scallop. The scallops are huge, and I know first hand how expensive they are. But I don't get why they felt the need to seriously skimp on the pasta?

Same dish; ordered in May 2011.

Primo Louis Filet

This was excellent. A perfectly cooked beef tenderloin, on top of a bacon hash-brown, topped with lump crab meat and a creamy chardonnay sauce. Absolutely perfect. The meat was so tender and delicious, and that bacon hash-brown was amazing. the texture was crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and hello! Bacon! Yum =)

Key Lime Layered dessert

OH MY GOD. So amazing. The crust was actually a very dense layer of cake (kind of tasted like a very thick cookie), topped with key lime curd and then the gooey key lime pie filling. This was perfect. I could have eaten about five of these... but for some stupid reason, Graham & I decided to share this one.

We got home from dinner, and drank champagne in our crazy expensive, gorgeous Swarovski champagne flutes. This is the third time we've used them, and I adore them. It makes an already special occasion feel a little more special.

And then we fought with my camera and my need for a picture where I don't look fat to take a photo of us on our special day. This will be a yearly thing, and I can't wait to see how we change over the years.