RESTAURANT REVIEW: Menu is Flavours' only limit

The Strawberry Poppyseed Salad makes a tasty, colorful side dish at Flavours.
The Strawberry Poppyseed Salad makes a tasty, colorful side dish at Flavours.

There are no problems with taste at the aptly named Flavours. The menu may be short, dedicated to the three S's of the lunchtime crowd: sandwiches, soups and salads, but the dishes are anything but simple. The food combines ingredients that give diners a little zing with their meal.

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The Broccoli Romaine Crunch Salad at Flavours has nice crunch and a sweet vinaigrette.

That said, there are some kinks in the system. While everyone we encountered was friendly, the restaurant service was not a well-oiled machine. But with good food at more-than-reasonable prices, warm hospitality and a worthy mission, that's a small complaint.

Flavours

Address: 13120 Crystal Hill Road, North Little Rock

Cuisine: Eclectic American

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday

Credit cards: AE, D, MC, V

Alcoholic beverages: No

Wheelchair accessible Yes

Carryout: Yes

(501) 256-4747

swchance.org/progra…

Facebook: tinyurl.com/flavour…

The restaurant is the creation of Fred Norman, who opened Flavours catering company several years ago through SW Chance Inc., an organization created to provide job training and employment for people with physical or developmental disabilities. Flavours has a partnership with Arkansas Enterprise for the Developmentally Disabled, Pulaski Technical College and the Arkansas Hospitality Association to provide culinary training and job placement.

Flavours is the brick-and-mortar incarnation of the catering company, and while we didn't actually encounter anyone with disabilities on our visits, the menu proudly proclaims it "proudly hires people with abilities. Please don't diss my abilities."

It's a very small place and easy to miss, tucked into a mini-strip shopping center dominated by a Casa Mexicana alongside a Shipley's Donuts and a soon-to-open Chinese restaurant.

The interior is very small but airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows. There are only six two-person tables with comfortable molded plastic seats, plus two wall-facing counters with stools. The walls are sparsely but whimsically decorated with a bicycle, dangling red poofs and a few folksy signs.

The whole ordering and dining process is pretty laissez-faire. You're welcome to order at your table or at the register, and you can seat yourself. At our first eat-in meal, we didn't have just one server. It seemed like everyone working there stopped by our table at one point or another: to take the order, deliver food, refill glasses or just to check in. That includes Norman, who was frequently in and out of the kitchen to explain dishes and to chat with customers.

But we didn't feel hovered over. Just welcome.

It does takeout orders, but I would recommend calling in ahead, if only to give the workers time. When I placed my to-go order on a second visit, it took more than a few minutes to put it all together, and I noticed a bit of confusion in getting it all organized. But the woman at the register was still very upbeat and friendly, even if I had to remind her that she had left a couple of my items on the counter behind her.

The food was rather haphazardly packed up. The fact that there were no spills was more due to careful carrying than careful bagging.

The menu is small, divided into soups, salads, sides, paninis and sandwiches, and desserts, with three-to-five options in each category. The only complaint is that the menu doesn't include a dish description, although the workers are happy to give one if you ask.

The prices are more than reasonable. For the tasty, carefully prepared food you get, it's a downright steal. Soups are all $4. Salads $2-$3, sandwiches $3-$3.50.

And though it's short and sweet, it's obvious Flavours is still tinkering with the lineup, since the menu changed slightly in the two weeks between first and second visits. For instance, the Spanish Bean and Cream of Asparagus soups were replaced by Creamy Chicken & Corn and Chicken with Long & Wild Rice.

Both times it offered the Chicken Tortilla Soup, a fantastic soup that's rich and creamy with chunks of chicken. For an extra splash of color, a bright red bird's beak pepper is plopped onto the nest of crispy tortilla slivers and dollop of sour cream floating in the middle of the bowl. The pepper is intended for looks only, as I was warned -- twice. Apparently, they're very hot. I took their advice and ate around it, although a diner at another table tried his and survived.

My dining companion's Roast Pork & Provolone Panini ($3.50) on dark bread was very good. As a personal preference, she said she would have liked it with mustard instead of mayonnaise, but the pulled pork was moist and tasty and there was just the right amount of cheese.

It also offers Mediterranean Chicken and Tuna paninis ($3 each). Each one is basically chicken or tuna salad but mixed with peppers and capers -- not enough to be overwhelming, but enough to give a bit of a spicy kick. Very gooey, but delicious, though we could have used more capers.

Sandwiches come on a choice of "dark or white" bread. On one visit, sandwiches came with a toothpick-skewered trio of pickle, olive and cheese cubes. On another, they came with a scoop of basic potato salad. So, you might want to ask when ordering.

There are other sides offered for extra. The Twice Baked Potato Casserole ($3) is a mound of fluffy mashed potatoes covered in melted cheddar cheese and chunks of crisp bacon. The portion size was more than enough for two of us and it was full of flavor. Even the potatoes underneath, without the toppings, tasted freshly made and delicious.

There's also macaroni and cheese ($2), baked beans ($2.50) and red beans and rice ($3.50).

As for salads, there are four options listed, none really big enough to be an entree, but good as side dishes paired with soup or sandwich.

The restaurant was already out of Broccoli Slaw ($3) but the Broccoli Romaine Crunch ($2.50) was quite good. As its name suggests, it's a mix of broccoli and romaine lettuce in a light and delicious vinaigrette dressing. The crunch comes from the generous sprinkling of crisped ramen noodles on top.

My dining companion was pleased with his Strawberry Poppyseed Salad ($3): lettuce, goat cheese, strawberries and slivered almonds with poppyseed dressing. It was simple, he said, but very good and not overdone.

There are a couple of children's options as well: grilled cheese and grilled peanut butter and jelly ($2.50 each).

The desserts, like the other items on the menu, seem to be a work in progress. The Fruit Torte ($3) we tried the first time wasn't on the menu on the second visit. It was a big portion for one, but a bit small for two hungry people. Since we just wanted a couple of bites of something sweet, it was just right. It had a cheesecake texture and taste, with blueberries, strawberries and a fruit sauce on top. Simple, rich and tasty.

On the second go-around, we tried the Bread Pudding New Orleans Style ($3), a square of dense, moist pudding in rich sauce with a subtle, spicy flavor. They also have cookies and, on that trip, strawberry cake. There's Apple Skillet Pie (apple pie cooked in a big cast-iron skillet) on the menu and it looked delicious sitting in the dessert display case on the first visit. A couple of diners ordered it on my second visit but were told that it hadn't been made yet, even though it was already noon.

All desserts can be served a la mode for an additional 50 cents or can be gluten-free for $1.

Payment is quite fancy on a mounted iPad. If you want your receipt, it comes by email.

Weekend on 02/25/2016

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