Food Worth Waiting For

This is a restaurant review of Local Lime, a Mexican-themed restaurant in Rogers, Arkansas.

It seems as though any time a restaurant is new, lines form to get a taste of the latest and greatest.

Those lines make people unhappy, and their expectations go up. Servers become harried because customers are in as hurry. The kitchen gets backed up and the wait grows longer.

Unless you take a step back.

Dining out in America has the opportunity right now to become a leisurely experience—one in which you observe the people around you, stroll through the menu slowly, and discuss the options with your companions.

That’s how’s we treated a recent visit to a new spot in Rogers, Arkansas called Local Lime. (https://www.locallimetaco.com/)

They even advise such behavior on their website, saying: WE INVITE YOU TO RELAX, 
SHARE FOOD, SHARE DRINK, SHARE TIME.

We went for a belated birthday celebration, and our server picked up on that and offered—without us asking—a complimentary dessert. Score points for that!

But first we had to sample the taco sauces. The restaurant offers a multiple choice array of sauces, and they aren’t simply sweet to mild to spicy. No, these sauces include Caribbean Mango, with mango, papaya, pineapple along with roasted tomato, jalapeno, cilantro and, true to its name, lime. The Zucchini includes green chiles, pumpkin seeds, onion, cilantro and lime, while the House Tomato offers plenty of tomato with onion, garlic, cilantro and jalapeno. There are more, so check out their site and drool a bit!

We chose our three, which come with housemade chips. We ate and ate, and still had enough sauce to use it on our tacos, although they were plenty flavorful without it.

Each taco plate comes with three, and they are plenty filling. Arkansas is south, so the Fried Chicken taco kind of made sense–and more so when eaten. With its jicama-jalapeno slaw and queso fresco it was easily our favorite. Although, the ‘Easy Tiger’ Fish Taco was a close runner-up, with tasty code fried in beer batter and served with slaw, pico, and a poblano crema. They also offer sizzling fajitas and other items with unexpected twists, like the Skillet Salmon Vera Cruz served in a cast iron skillet.

Then came the dessert, shareable once again–after an era of “don’t touch my food.” We shared carefully, of course, but it felt good to dip in and enjoy a taste without leaving half of it behind.

Service was attentive, food was tasty, and the experience worth writing home about. And definitely worth waiting for.

TikTok Theory: The Chinese Restaurant 3.5 Star Rule

For nearly 100 years, the star system has been a straightforward way to gauge how good a restaurant is: more is better. No confusion there. No nuance, either. In mid-September, however, @rocketjump proffered an unusual spin on stars; he posted a …

For nearly 100 years, the star system has been a straightforward way to gauge how good a restaurant is: more is better. No confusion there. No nuance, either. In mid-September, however, @rocketjump proffered an unusual spin on stars; he posted a video on TikTok explaining why he only goes to Chinese restaurants that get 3.5 stars out of 5 on Yelp. An analysis follows the 50-second video below.

@rocketjump

Why I only go to Chinese restaurants with 3.5 star ratings

♬ original sound – RocketJump

 

The thrust of his argument: Any Chinese restaurant in a major metropolitan area that gets 4 or 5 stars has appeased non-Chinese cultures by rewarding eateries for great service — something he is convinced correlates to mediocre food. In his opinion, you want to go to the 3.5-star ranked spots where the food is most authentic — and delicious — because the establishment focuses on flavor, not service. At 5-star joints, the service is “too good.” The food is “not as good as it could be.” And “too many white people like it.”

It’s all about cultural expectations of service. Generalizing madly but convincingly, he says that you want to go to places where the waiters are rude, and they’re not going to pay attention to you, but the food will taste better.

His theory leans heavily on the idea that in Asia, food servers are not as proactive and they’re not going to just come to your table to give your refills. You’ll need to flag them down. At the same time, people on Yelp are “insufferable.” They’re knocking restaurants because the service is bad. In the end, the food balances it out. “So you end up at 3 and a half stars,” he explains.

Testing the Theory

Is he right? Is there any way to measure it? One woman from Queens, New York — @crabby_jackieee — applied his theory to her favorite Chinese restaurants and, lo and behold, she reports the hack is spot on (the video starts with @rocketjump and she jumps in after five seconds).

@crabby_jackieee

#stitch with @rocketjump the 3.5 star theory has been proven #chinese #chineserestaurant #nyc #olaflex #realchinesefood #queens

♬ original sound – Jackie R. Chan

To test the system myself, I googled “best Chinese restaurants near me,” and pored over the results. Interestingly, of the top 10, only one had 3.5 stars — Bonnie’s, which also happened to have appeared in Bon Appetit’s “50 Best New Restaurants” article recently. Coincidence? I think not.

Bonnies Restaurant NYC Chinese Food