Butters Caf? and New Orleans Style Po-Boys (Business Lunch)

400 N. Walton Blvd.
Suites H&I
Bentonville
3 Stars

We brought in the big dogs — two guys who know their way around a big lunch — to sample the home cooking at Butters Café and New Orleans Style Po-Boys in Bentonville. They enjoyed the portions and atmosphere at this dual eatery that’s basically two strip mall suites conjoined between a pair a beverage bars.

Butters’ concept of having a blue-plate side and a fast sandwich side, both with their own independent menus and counters, is a fresh idea that tempted us into trying both menus. Between the white-board scribbled “specials” and front-door greetings such as, “Hey, y’all, c’mon in,” our pair of Arkansas Delta boys were as at home here as a mallard in millet.

All of the sandwiches, particularly the fried seafood fair, are made fresh upon order. We enjoyed the flavor, but our first diner did have a bone to pick with Butters’ over his catfish po-boy ($6). Actually, several bones were still lodged in the tasty meat on his sandwich.

This financial services executive added a Salisbury steak special ($5) to his double dinner, which comes with two side items from a choice of five. He selected mashed potatoes and gravy and fried okra, noting that the okra was probably fried a little too long. On the whole, he enjoyed the meal but said he probably wouldn’t drive all the way from Rogers for it very often.

Our second diner went with the fried oyster po-boy ($9), which he said carried just the right amount of meat and spice. It came decked out with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and a sprinkling of spices. He added a plate from the sit-down side of pork roast ($5) with mashed potatoes and gravy and fried okra.

He agreed with his buddy that the food was good for the type of blue-collar respite Butters aspires to be. There’s nothing fancy about this north Bentonville establishment, but the owners probably aren’t aiming for frou-frou anyway.