OPINION | TAKEOUT TASTINGS: Meaty meals to go — from shrimp and chicken to barbecued brisket

The 20-piece shrimp special at Blue Dolphins on Camp Robinson Road in North Little Rock turned out to be livelier — more Cajun style than Deep South — than we expected. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)
The 20-piece shrimp special at Blue Dolphins on Camp Robinson Road in North Little Rock turned out to be livelier — more Cajun style than Deep South — than we expected. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)

A few area restaurants have retreated to takeout or curbside service only in the wake of the covid-19 wave and the impact of the delta variant on levels of nervousness among customers and restaurateurs. Many have not, but this week we're erring on the side of extreme caution (a phrase that has not yet lost its pandemic luster) and are getting our meals mostly to-go.

As per our continuing and usual practice, we have stuck mostly to locally owned or at least locally franchised establishments, within a 15-minute, hot-food radius of our home and/or office, and we pay those establishments for our meals up front.

◼️ BLUE DOLPHINS FISH & CHICKEN, 4324 Camp Robinson Road, North Little Rock, (501) 753-9000, facebook.com/bluedolphinsfishandchicken

WHAT WE GOT: 20 medium shrimp with fries (special, $8.99)

The recently opened restaurant, a North Little Rock branch of a place that first arrived in southwest Little Rock (4920 Baseline Road) a few months ago, has been promoting this special heavily via strategically placed ads that have been popping up on social media and elsewhere on the internet. And since we had been eyeing a trip up Camp Robinson Road to visit, we went with the special in mind.

The 20 medium-size shrimp were lightly fried, almost sauteed, and lightly coated in a soft, pleasantly spicy batter — neither deep-fried, nor crispy, nor bland, all of which we had been expecting from the ads, more Cajun than Deep South — with a virtual ton of fries that were firm (and in some cases crunchy) on the outside, soft on the inside and visibly dusted with a reasonable amount of salt.

HOW IT WENT: It took about eight minutes for our order to come out of the kitchen. The shrimp was not only still hot when we got it home (a 15-minute drive), it was hand-scorchingly hot, to the point to which we had to use the plastic fork the restaurant provided.

HOW IT'S GOING: We were one of two walk-in customers (others were also lined up at the drive-thru) late in a weekend lunch period.

Chicken tikka masala (left) and what we believe is called Fubu Chicken from The Indian Feast came with, and partially on top of, basmati rice. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)
Chicken tikka masala (left) and what we believe is called Fubu Chicken from The Indian Feast came with, and partially on top of, basmati rice. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)

◼️ THE INDIAN FEAST, River Market Ottenheimer Market Hall, 400 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, (501) 476-4007, facebook.com/theindianfeast

WHAT WE GOT: Daily lunch special ($8.99) — two entrees, rice, naan, drink

We eschewed the two veggie choices, though they looked pretty good, and went with the two available chicken entrees: chicken tikka masala, in a reddish sauce, with a slight spicy post-palate tinge of spice, and something the gentleman behind the counter called, we think, Fubu Chicken (though, because he and we were wearing masks, that's an educated guess, even after we asked him to spell it for us at least three times). It came in a sauce slightly yellower and slightly spicier than the masala. It all got served up with, and partially over, a good portion of basmati rice and a sliver of naan, the Indian flatbread. It was supposed to come with a drink — soda or water — but didn't. (We missed the mango lassi, a yogurt-based drink, which Indian Feast apparently no longer serves.)

HOW IT WENT: The counter person puts together the lunch specials from a cafeteria-style arrangement behind a glass sneeze guard, so any delay in assembling it was only the time we spent vacillating over whether or not we wanted the chicken or the vegetables. Did we mention we never got the drink?

HOW IT'S GOING: The Market Hall, which had been closed for more than a year before it reopened in May, still has not been drawing anywhere near the number of walk-in patrons it had before the pandemic. So we sort of felt we were keeping the server awake.

Two slices of pepperoni pizza — stacked one atop the other, separated by sheets of aluminum foil — amounts to half a pie at Jay’s Pizza in the River Market Ottenheimer Market Hall. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)
Two slices of pepperoni pizza — stacked one atop the other, separated by sheets of aluminum foil — amounts to half a pie at Jay’s Pizza in the River Market Ottenheimer Market Hall. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)

◼️ JAY'S PIZZA, River Market Ottenheimer Market Hall, 400 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, (501) 374-5297, facebook.com/JaysPizzaLR

WHAT WE GOT: Two slices of pepperoni pizza ($8.87)

Since new owners took over the River Market kiosk from founder and namesake Jay Baxter, who has among his credits Hot Springs' late, lamented Pompeii, the style of pizza hasn't changed all that much — it still features, for example, a thin, crackerlike crust — but the quality has been variable. Certainly the pizza served by the slice has never matched what you'd get if you ordered a pie.

A "slice" at Jay's, by the way, has always been a quarter of a whole pie, so two slices constituted half a pie. Our two slices came stacked one on top of the other, separated by sheets of aluminum foil, in a foam clamshell. What we got was a slightly more upscale version of low-common-denominator "mall" pizza, inoffensive but not particularly interesting — a fairly thick layer of bland cheese over not very much sauce, with smallish pepperoni slices widely and more or less evenly spaced across the "landscape." If we'd had any, we would have definitely considered adding grated parmesan and possibly adding red pepper flakes (which we never use) to perk it up.

HOW IT WENT: It only took a couple of minutes to heat up our order and get it over the counter.

HOW IT'S GOING: We were the only lunchtime customers.

There was less meat but plenty of flavor in our burnt ends brisket at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)
There was less meat but plenty of flavor in our burnt ends brisket at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Eric E. Harrison)

◼️ DICKEY'S BARBECUE PIT, 9401 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, (501) 223-3425, dickeys.com

WHAT WE GOT: Burnt ends brisket plate ($12.99), with two sides and a roll

At first, and maybe second glance, yes, Dickey's is a chain. But the local-est branch represents the hard labor of local franchisee Lonnie Shere, who set up shop, and mans it, too, in a former Starbucks on North Rodney Parham Road. Though most of its current business is through its drive-thru window, we opted to enter the restaurant and order over the counter, where we were informed that they were out of several items and it'd be a matter of catch-as-catch-can for what we'd order. The burnt ends of the brisket looked enticing, and they were, though there was less meat than we were expecting (beef prices have gone through the roof lately) and it was a bit saltier than we'd have liked. The choice of side items was so scanty that though we were entitled to two, only one sufficiently interested us: the Caesar salad, which consisted of fresh romaine lettuce, a lot of coarse-grated parmesan and a tart, tasty Caesar dressing in a side plastic cup. But no croutons.

HOW IT WENT: It took a few minutes of negotiating with the woman behind the counter on just what we wanted — she had a hard time accepting that we were willing to get away with only one side item — but otherwise it didn't take us nearly as long as it might have if we'd gotten in line for the drive-thru.

HOW IT'S GOING: We were the only walk-in customers, though somebody entered as we were leaving. There were five or so cars in the drive-thru lane.

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