The second-floor kitchen and dining area at the North Little Rock Fire Department’s Central Station smells like home at suppertime.
There’s a big pot of goulash simmering on the stove and next to that is a pot of green beans; the hearty aroma is enough to instantly set a visitor’s mouth watering, writes Sean Clancy.
It’s just after noon on a Tuesday in early September and Lt. Mark Wittenburg has been cooking lunch for his fellow firefighters, most of whom are out rappelling down cliffs at Emerald Park on a training exercise. The plan is for everyone to be back at the downtown North Little Rock station on Maple Street to eat at 1 o’clock.
“This is the American version of goulash,” the 55-year-old Wittenburg says. “It’s not the Hungarian version.”
It still smells great.
Wittenburg knows his way around a kitchen. He has been a firefighter for 29 years and has been making meals for his station mates for most of that time. At the Central Station, that means food for 10 to 12 hungry firefighters.
To find out what else is on the menu, read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Style.