let’s eat dining in arkansas

When Keith Forrester was a child growing up in the northeast

Arkansas town of Whitton, he would often go with his family to nearby Tyronza to buy groceries and go to the bank.

Today, Forrester, 42, still comes to Tyronza regularly, but he is more than just a visitor. He and his wife, Jill, 34, own Tyboogie’s restaurant where they offer the Arkansas Delta version of Southern cooking in the same building that once housed the local grocery store.

The couple didn’t originally plan to get into the restaurant business. Instead, after getting married about 10 years ago, the Arkansas State University (ASU) graduates had returned to Forrester’s family farm, Whitton Farms, about six miles from Tyronza. Here they were growing various types of vegetables including potatoes, lettuce, carrots, peas, okra, tomatoes, squash, onions and watermelons, as well as fl owers, to sell at local farmers’ markets.

“When the new wave of farmers’ markets came to this area of the country, we were right in the middle

of that; in the leading edge of that,” Forrester said. “In Memphis, we helped get that farmers’ market started, and we helped get the farmers’ market in Jonesboro started by being vendors and on steering committees.”

In Memphis, in addition to the produce market, they also opened a small restaurant specializing in pizza. A big hit, it soon eclipsed the market part of the business, Forrester said. It started out fi ve years ago with 40 seats. Today, the restaurant, known as the Trolley Stop Market, has seating for 180 and is going strong.

But, the couple wanted to invest in something closer to home, as well. So, a year ago this month, the Forresters opened Tyboogie’s. Forrester got the name for the restaurant from

the popular nickname of the town of Tyronza.

Tyboogie’s service was originally cafeteria style, but Forrester said they soon moved to table service, which the restaurant’s patrons have fully

embraced. Besides locals, Tyboogie’s draws people from Jonesboro (about 45 minutes away), Marion, West Memphis, Lepanto and Marked Tree, as well as Wilson and Osceola. Families and friends living in Jonesboro and Memphis will often meet at Tyboogie’s, which is about halfway between the two cities, for lunch or dinner. In addition, he said the restaurant gets tourists who are visiting the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in nearby Dyess, as well as the Southern Tenant Farmers Museum just down the street in Tyronza.

Southern rootsThe most popular entrée at

Tyboogie’s is the chicken fried chicken. “We sell it in droves,” Forrester said. Served with mashed potatoes and white gravy, the chicken fried chicken has a golden-brown crust, sealing the juicy meat inside. Top that off with some pinto beans and cornbread (the restaurant’s special recipe) and you have Southern homestyle cooking at its best.

the eating essentials

Enjoy home cooking, Delta style, at Tyboogie’s

TYBOOGIE’S197 Main St., Tyronza870-487-2054tyboogies.com

Hours of OperationMonday and Sunday: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.Tues., Weds., Thurs., Sat.: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.Friday: 11 a.m. - 8:30 p.m.

BY SHE ILA YOUNT

Keith Forrester and a serving of the popular chicken fried chicken at Tyboogie’s.

a year ago this month, the Forresters opened Tyboogie’s. Forrester got the name for the restaurant from

the popular nickname of the town of Tyronza.

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You wouldn’t be in the Delta without fried catfi sh, and Forrester said it is a top seller as well. Accompanying the farm-raised catfi sh (from nearby Mississippi fi sh farms) are made-from-scratch hushpuppies, which Forrester said are the main draw.

“I have learned that the catfi sh is important, but you will either get them or lose them with your hushpuppies,” Forrester said.

With summer on the horizon, diners at Tyboogie’s will fi nd plenty of the fresh vegetables from the 11-acre Whitton Farms on the menu as well. Fried okra, purple hull peas, sweet corn, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, green beans and carrots are the regular offerings. With such bounty, Forrester added that he will most certainly make some gumbo this summer.

Barbecue pizzaAs in Memphis, pizza is a big

seller at Tyboogie’s. Forrester said the barbecue version is the most requested. The pizza is made for the weekend business with leftover meat from smoked ribs and prime rib, which are served on Thursday and Friday nights. Forrester makes hot and mild versions of his family’s barbecue sauce recipe, which is based on the one his mother’s family used when they operated Steed’s Barbecue in Osecola in the 1950s and ‘60s.

Other offerings include a variety of burgers, as well as desserts. The sweet offerings include cakes and pies fresh from the Bluff City Bakery in Memphis and chocolate chip, peanut butter and “Cowboy” cookies made at the restaurant, along with old-fashioned milkshakes.

And if Tyboogie’s needed to further prove its Southern Delta pedigree, there’s the fried bologna sandwich. “I just wanted to be able to hit all angles,” Keith said. “We do everything from fried bologna to prime rib around here.”

Dining recommendations? Contact Rob Roedel at rroedel@aecc.com

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