Our Saturday’s consist of shopping at a farmers market and searching out a local restaurant for breakfast. Sounds easy especially in a city the size of Little Rock, AR.
After shopping the Riverfront Market, we asked a few locals where we could find a good local breakfast restaurant. No one could help; in fact we were told there was none downtown. So back to the truck and on to our phones looking for breakfast. We found two restaurants in the area. The first was downtown; we passed by and knew it was not for us. The next was a little further out but it sounded interesting. Off we go and we were not disappointed.
The Root Café was everything we expected and more. It is a unique and authentic local café partnering with local farmers to produce dishes using as much local product as possible. 100% of the meat, eggs, and bread used in their dishes are Arkansas produced. The café proudly displays where certain ingredients come from as well as having a page on their website for their farmers and producers.
They have forged partnerships that bring local, unique, and outstanding dishes to the tables of the café. The day we enjoyed breakfast we had Root Benny and a special of the day, Quiche.
Root Benny consisted of two farm fresh poached eggs over a bed of local, seasonal greens with Falling Sky ham all topped with hollandaise sauce. It was a party of flavors in our mouths.
Root Benny
The Quiche was served with a salad made with local, seasonal greens and topped with a house dressing. Both melted in our mouths.
Quiche of the Day
As we left the café we noticed a mini farmers market. A table was set up in one corner of the parking lot with an array of items. In talking with the purveyor, it was an experiment. The café was testing to see if their customers would like availability to the local products used by the café. We did not know about everyone else, but we definitely would like some. We purchased tomatoes, shishito peppers, and two types of sausage from Freckle Face Farm (pork bratwurst and pork andouille). We hope their experiment was successful and the mini market continues.
Root Cafe Mini Farmers Market
It is not often we find a local restaurant that truly lives up to the word “local”. This Saturday, in Little Rock, AR, The Root Café won our Gold Medal for “local”.
Their mission is “to build community through local food” and in our opinion the building blocks are strong and rooted.
Shopping The Root table
The Root Cafe Market purchases
Local Market
Ordering at The Root
The Root Cafe
