Get stuffed
Gadwall’s Grill has a homey feel and a menu to match.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Eating at the original Gadwall’s Grill in North Little Rock is very much like dinner at your grandma’s house. But before you think you’d rather stay at home, just remember how that woman could feed you.
Sweet potato fries. Homemade soups and chilis. Chicken fried steak. And, let’s not forget the cobbler and fried pies.
These are the dishes your grandmother would plop on the table in front of you, just like they do at Gadwall’s. And like grandma, they’ll call you “baby,” “hon” and “sweetie” while making sure you never leave hungry.
The language is please and thank you and, as Shannon called it, “all Southern and polite.”
However, the décor is a bit of a departure from grandma’s — no Precious Moments figurines or doilies here — with beer paraphernalia advertising brands like Budweiser, Coors, Miller Lite, Becks and Sol adorning the walls.
The decorating scheme is kind of a melding of a desert and duck — a cowboy duck theme, if you will.
In my booth by the window, a large statue of a cactus greets those on their way in. It’s surprisingly heavy. I feel tempted to sing, “How much is that cactus in the window?” but keep it to myself.
The TVs are tuned to ESPN, and all over the walls are stuffed ducks and fish, some sporting neckties.
A fridge in the corner, presumably for beer, has artwork and photos stuck to it with magnets and is topped with more taxidermically preserved birds and a skunk in a T-shirt that says “Love Stinks.”
Between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., the place fills up quickly for a Tuesday night. The majority of customers are middle-aged and older or are parents eating with children in baseball uniforms.
The crowded restaurant drowns out most of the music playing overhead, but at one point Shannon manages to pick out snippets of Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration.”
At the bar, a man drinking iced tea shouts greetings and his order through the kitchen window.
He’s 45-year-old Doug Tyler and a regular at Gadwall’s three or four times a week.
“I come here to watch the cat fights,” he says, his joke aimed at the three or four waitresses standing within earshot. They laugh politely.
Like most everyone else eating at Gadwall’s he recommends the burgers and also likes the nachos. He has high words of praise for Trina the cook.
“A while back a customer brought ingredients to make chicken and dumplings, so she did,” Tyler said. But unfortunately, he didn’t get to try them.
He doesn’t often indulge in a beer, but says the place has the coldest brews around.
“They freeze the mugs and pour cold beer on top, so you get ice crystals in the beer.”
At a booth nearby, Treva and Tony Boardman are preparing to leave. They live two miles away and have been dining at Gadwall’s for “at least 10 years.”
They say the place hasn’t been the same since the fire in August.
“The nostalgia’s not there like it used to be,” Treva said.
But they still come by for dinner about once a week and usually order the grilled chicken chef’s salad because it’s low-calorie.
In the aforementioned cactus booth, that was taken as soon as we abandoned it, 23-year-olds Lance Talbert and Brandy Thompson are seemingly unconcerned with calories as they share a bowl of cheese dip. Their food arrives and they prepare to dig into a patty melt with huge onion rings and a large burger next to a heaping mound of fries.
Not surprisingly, on all of their trips to Gadwall’s, the two of them have always been too stuffed for dessert.
“They feed you here,” Thompson said. “My plate is overflowing.”
Talbert loves the food and the inexpensive prices.
“The best thing I like about this place is great food for a great price,” he said.
“They know what they’re doing.”
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