RESTAURANT REVIEW: Bleu Flame Burger Co. has hefty lineup

CONWAY -- This busy college town is awash in a sea of restaurants. If you can't find something you're hungry for here, please don't blame Conway.

There are the usual fast food places and chain restaurants. Then there are the privately owned places started on a wing and a prayer, birthed by the true entrepreneurial spirit of a person with a dream -- and some kitchen skills.

Case in point is Bleu Flame Burger Co. on Dave Ward Drive. According to the company's website, the family owned restaurant uses Prime No. 1 Choice ground chuck and the patties are made by hand. They're also cooked on an open-flame grill, which is a bonus.

The nondescript, easy-to-miss restaurant sits at the end of a strip center in what used to house an Italian place. Inside it's bright and cheery, with very understated decor. The dining area is divided into a couple of rooms, and there's a handful of tables and chairs, with booths along exterior walls. The kitchen and order counter anchor the back wall and the menu is in chalk on a large board behind the register.

There aren't many choices, but my mother and I still found it difficult deciding what to order. We knew we wanted to share a couple of things and because it is a burger place we started there. We went with The Steak House Burger ($8.95); other choices are The Bleu Cheese, The Classic Flame, The Mushroom Burger, The Turkey Burger and The Spicy Flame. All come with one side.

We chose the Fish and Chips ($7.95) over the Chicken Tender meal and, since we were ready for something right then, got an order of cheese dip ($5.95).

Then it was off to the self-serve beverage area.

The dip came out quickly. Served with blue tortilla chips, the orange dip was seasoned well, with enough spices to make it flavorful but not so much that it was too spicy. It congealed quickly, but we had only planned to eat a bit and take the rest home anyway.

The burger and fish were visually pleasing. Plastic baskets with black-and-white checked paper give the food a homey diner feel.

Topped with bacon, pepper jack cheese, peppercorn sauce, onion "tanglers" and tomato, The Steak House Burger was tender enough to cut in half using a butter knife. It was quite the mouthful.

I was afraid the peppercorn sauce might be too spicy with the pepper jack cheese, but the juicy patty helped even it all out. And the onion tanglers, pieces of breaded fried onion, added extra oomph. The house fries look sort of like thick bits of curly fries and were relatively crisp on the outside and creamy on the inside.

We were equally pleased with the fish and chips. The meal included three pieces of fish, tartar sauce, hush puppies and slaw, and we chose sweet potato fries as our side.

The breading on the fish had a nice crunch (at the time of our visit, they were using a mild white fish, but I recently learned that they're now using catfish). The crisp brown hush puppies were thoroughly cooked and flaky inside. The sweet potato fries came with a dipping sauce sort of like syrup. A little went a long way but, boy, was it good.

Desserts (95 cents to $4.25) include pie (Cookies & Cream, Pecan, Peanut Butter and Buttermilk), carrot cake and no-bake cookies.

We left with satisfied stomachs and a couple of takeout containers. And we plan to go back.

Weekend on 06/30/2016