Bulldog Restaurant in Bald Knob, Kream Kastle of Blytheville and Ozark Cafe in Jasper are the 2023 inductees into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame.
Arkansas Heritage, a division of the state Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, announced the winners at a hybrid ceremony -- part in person, part online -- Monday at the Ron Robinson Theater in downtown Little Rock.
The other winners:
Jamie McAfee of the Pine Bluff Country Club is the Proprietor of the Year.
The winning Food-Themed Event is the Magnolia Blossom Festival and World Championship Steak Cook-Off.
Former Hot Springs restaurant Bohemia took the honors in the "Gone But Not Forgotten" category, honoring once-influential Arkansas restaurants that are no longer in operation.
And Little Rock's Community Bakery is this year's People's Choice winner, based on the total number of nominations received.
The Food Hall of Fame Committee -- historians, chefs, foodies and food authors Paul S. Austin, Jimmy Bryant, Chip Culpepper, Quantia "Key" Fletcher, Cindy Grisham, Montine McNulty, Rex Nelson, Tim Nutt, Kat Robinson, Stephanie Wade, David Ware and Stanley Young and Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Mike Mills, sorted through more than 1,800 nominations from all 75 Arkansas counties. They announced a list of finalists in January.
Visit ArkFoodHOF.com.
Gabe Holmstrom, Executive Director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, introduces the newest mural, depicting the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame winners in the downtown pocket park on Monday, March 6, 2023. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)