Issue date: 2/15/02 Section: Features

People take for granted the Americanization of other cultures that the marketing wizards behind Taco Bell have engineered for our late night hunger pangs. We want variety, but it better be variety like we eat at home. As a result, restaurants have stepped up to the challenge. Take the Chinese buffet, for instance. What could be more American than a buffet with all the fried food you can eat smiling up at you serving after serving? The most unabashed combination I have ever seen, though, is at Little B's, right here in Conway.

As far as I know, Little B's may be the only Steakhouse AND Mexican Food Restaurant in existence. I could not hide my bewilderment the first time I laid my eyes upon the title on the door. In a way, however, it does make sense: a steakhouse is an American tradition, but so is Americanized Mexican food. Thus, it is not too bizarre a concept that Little B's to serve BOTH AT THE SAME TIME.  As it happened, my tastes were for Mexican the night I went to Little B's. One thing the combination allows Little B's to do is to offer complimentary chips and salsa to its patrons. If there is a better deal than complimentary chips and salsa, please tell me. Not only is it a great appetizer and snack, but it also comes free. Free is good . . . very good. While Little B's watery salsa failed to impress me, the small cheese dip lived up to its $2.65 price tag. Go for the gold and pay a little extra for it.

 In high school I ate nothing but enchiladas at any Mexican restaurant to which my parents dragged me, which was quite a few. Little B's offers an enchilada plate from which you can choose one of the three standards: chicken, beef or cheese. Of the three sauce options to top it off, I chose the queso con chile, a mistake since two of my cheese enchiladas contained the same cheese smeared on top. The chile that came "con" the cheese was apparently chile powder sprinkled on top of the cheese, and it added little more than color as far as I could tell.

The meal did come on a huge plate with generous servings of refried beans, rice, lettuce and tomatoes. The whole thing only cost 7.25, and would fill even the largest of stomachs. All the food tasted less than fresh in that this-was-frozen-and-heated-up kind of way. This is not to say that that is a terrible thing. I imagine their combination of food types requires it. Unfortunately, it means the enchiladas will never be anything above decent.

 Another option that can go meatless is the quesadilla platter, which features almost the same amount of food as the enchiladas and is fifty cents cheaper. You can choose from a couple of items to go on your quesadilla, from shrimp to tomatoes and three types of cheese. Not really that much variety here, but the freshness factor was a little better. They appeared to have made it to order, and the shrimp, tomato and jack cheese quesadilla was quite tasty.

 Little B's is a great place because of its location right downtown and close to campus, but it fails to excite me very much. Because they combine the steakhouse and the Mexican menus, they lose a lot of the variety available at a more specialized restaurant. The food also loses something in the combination. The servings are great if you are very hungry, and it is someplace different to eat when you do not have time to drive to Little Rock. It also solves the ever-present problem that arises when you want a steak and your companion wants Mexican. Ultimately, Little B's is a compromise and, while it will satisfy, it cannot do much more.

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