InArkansas.com

The Fort Collins Hoptitude Imperial Extra Pale Ale is one of Breen's summer craft beer picks. He said it's a great option for a hop lover to cool off with during the 100 degree days of Arkansas summers.

Looking to expand your brewski horizons this summer?

With craft beers becoming so popular over the last few years, there are so many choose from that it's hard to know where to start.

To narrow down your summer beer picks, we looked no further than James David Breen, Arkansas' only Certified Cicerone (in other words, he's a beer expert!) and the vice president of sales at Arkansas Craft Distributors.

Here are his six picks:

• Marshall Sundown Wheat - It's an American Wheat beer that is brewed with coriander and orange peel, which are traditional ingredients of Belgian Wits. It's brewed to be light and easy drinking and is a beer many can appreciate regardless of their beer preference.
• Tommyknocker Maple Nut Brown - For the fans of maltier and slightly darker beers, this is a great summer pick. It has a bit of sweetness since it's brewed with pure maple syrup from Vermont and it's extremely sessionable at 4.5 percent ABV (alcohol by volume).
• Finch's Beer Co. Golden Wing Blonde - This is a great beer to take with you to the lake or river since it's a solid craft beer in a can. It's an extremely approachable blonde with just a touch of hopiness.
• Core Brewing Raspberry Lager - Core starts with a crisp, refreshing lager and adds 100 percent all-natural raspberry. They balance it amazingly to where the raspberry is there without being overly sweet.
• Leibinger Seeradler Classik and Seeradler Plus - These radler style beers are brewed in Germany and have a 50 percent beer / 50 percent fruit mixture. The Classik is half Pilsner/half lemonade, while the Plus is half Kristallweizen and half grapefruit. These beers are ultimate thirst quencher on a hot summer day.
• Fort Collins Hoptitude Imperial Extra Pale Ale - With this beer being an Imperial Extra Pale Ale, it is both lighter in body, and higher in alcohol at 7.5 percent. This is a great option for a hop lover to cool off with during the 100 degree days of Arkansas summers.

To get the most out of your craft beer, here some of his suggestions:

• Craft beer is meant to be drank at a warmer temperature. Drinking something ice cold numbs your palate and masks the flavors. Granted, lighter pale lagers are still intended to be served at cooler temperatures, but not near freezing. A test to use on seeing if it's a well made craft beer or not is to taste it at room temperature. You may be surprised to find that it's still tastes great.
• The great debate on whether or not to squeeze an orange/lemon in your beer is always going. I say it's up to you. Brewers all over the world are now brewing with all sorts of adjunct ingredients, including fruit. If you prefer to add some citrus to your beer, at the end of the day, it's completely up to your preferences. However, I would suggest trying the beer first before adding it to see which way you prefer better.
• Fresh beer is almost always the best beer. Aging some Imperials or Barleywines will add to their complexity and will be good for a few years if stored properly. Other than that, you should drink your beer in a timely manner. Hoppiness begins to decrease in beer after leaving the brewery, so IPAs and other hop filled beers should be drank as fresh as possible in order to appreciate the true flavor and aroma the brewer was going for.

If you don't like beer or haven't tried that many, Breen suggests heading over to a local liquor store (Colonial Wine & Spirits is one) or a bar that specializes in craft beer and talk to the staff on the growing number of options available in Arkansas.

"If you like fruit, coffee, chocolate, clove, caramel, et cetera, there's a beer out there for you," he said. "I always take it as a personal challenge when I meet somebody that says there's not a beer out there that they like. Chances are, you just haven't found it yet."

Find out more about craft brews here.

Vino's Brewpub, Seventh and Chester streets, Little Rock, will screen "This is Spinal Tap," at 7:30 p.m. today (June 18) during its weekly free Picture Show program.

The movie is a cult classic 1984 rock music mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal music band Spinal Tap, satirizing the wild personal behavior and musical pretensions of hard rock and heavy metal musical bands. It's rated R and has a running time of 82 minutes.

Admission is free.

Also enjoy pizzas at $2 off from 5 p.m. - close on Tuesdays.

Next week's free movie night (June 25) will be screening "The Wall."

For more information call (501) 375-8466 or click here.

Image by Andres Coffee Shop Facebook

Homemade corn pie

This Father's Day, I was driving along JFK Boulevard in North Little Rock and stumbled upon this quaint little coffee shop and it turns out, it is quite new to the neighborhood.

Andres Coffee Shop, a Honduran-style shop just down from Rosalinda Restaurant Hondureno, 3300 John F. Kennedy Blvd. (at G Street), offers a variety of specialty coffee drinks, teas and smoothies, in addition to a ton of sweet treats from homemade pies to croissants, muffins, cakes and more. I had the strawberry-banana smoothie (it was topped with whipped cream and was delicous), while my friends had the blueberry muffin and a tart with whipped cream and strawberries. The overall consensus: yum!

What's really neat is the atmosphere -- it's very open and features a side room with extra tables for privacy (if you're looking to get a little work done) and a patio out front.

Hours are 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and Sunday.

Stay up-to-date on specials and new offerings by 'Liking' their Facebook page. For more information, call (501) 246-4586.

The folks at The Bernice Garden Farmers’ Market announced their June monthly event yesterday and it's all about tomatoes.

TomatoFest 2013 will take over the SoMa garden this Sunday (June 23).

If you went to last month’s Strawberry Festival, you can probably visualize it already. If not, think fresh
food, festivities, information and family fun, all in celebration of Arkansas’ great tomatoes and
the farmers who grow them.

You’ll find tomato-related activities, fun and games, free tomato recipes, tomato-based food, tomato plants for
sale, plus, of course, piles of tomatoes for your purchasing pleasure.

The Bernice Garden Farmers’ Market is every Sunday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at 1401 S. Main St., Little
Rock.

Get more information by calling (501) 617-2511 or clicking here.

Grilling gives foods a unique smoky flavor. To get even more of that flavor, use wood-fired ingredients like smoked paprika and chipotle chiles.

This weekend is Father's Day and if you're planning on grilling out with dad, turn your grilling from drab to fab with the help of Food & Wine magazine.

Consider these nine tips to improve the results of your grilling efforts:

• The only way to grill tomatoes without losing their delicious juices is in a foil packet. Flavor the tomatoes with fresh herbs or aromatics, wrap them in foil, then place them on a grill. Use them as a side dish, a garnish, or in stews, soups and chowders. 
• When using a sweet glaze on salmon or other fish, brush it on during the last minutes of grilling to prevent the sugars from burning. 
• When toasting walnuts for use on a salad, use a grill instead of an oven. Wrap the nuts in foil, then place them in the coals or on a hot grate for a few minutes.
• Grilling gives foods a unique smoky flavor. To get even more of that flavor, use wood-fired ingredients like smoked paprika and chipotle chiles.
• Spreading a little mayonnaise on a thin white flaky fish like trout before grilling keeps it moist and adds rich flavor.
• Big thick steaks need a lot of seasoning, so be sure to cover them with salt, pepper and rubs before grilling. 
• Never grill a thick steak over high heat; it will burn long before it's cooked through.
• When marinating chicken, slash the skin and meat so the marinade flavors can seep in. Don't overcook as the slashed meat will dry out quickly. 
• When grilling shrimp or scallops, use sticks of lemongrass or sprigs of rosemary instead of metal or bamboo skewers. 

Green Cuisine, a vegetarian food truck offering bleu-cheese mac 'n cheese, chipotle pineapple black bean quesadilla and more, will be among the lineup at today's Food Truck Friday on Main Street.

Today (June 14) is your last day to get your Food Truck Friday fix until September, so if you have a hankering to get some of Little Rock's best mobile munchies, head over to the corner of Main Street and Capitol from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and grab some lunch.

Here is the lineup for today's Food Truck Friday:

• Stir It Up -- Have your choice of delicious chicken and waffles, fish, homemade ice cream, burgers, nachoes or fries and fresh lemonade. New!
  
• Philly’s -- Grab a Steak-and-Cheese sammy at its best.
• Blackhound BBQ- Feast on ribs, BBQ combos or nachos.
• Sugar Shack Sweets & Treats -- After a savory lunch, top it off with a strawberry blondie, mini bundt cake, cake pop or a whoopie pie.
• Green Cuisine -- Vegetarian? This hot spot offers bleu-cheese mac 'n cheese, chipotle pineapple black bean quesadilla and more.

Further down the line, the Main Street Food Truck Festival is slated for Saturday, Oct. 5.

For more information about about Main Street Food Truck Fridays and the festival, contact DLRP Events Director Chellie Castellanos by calling (501) 375-0121 or emailing ccastellanos@downtownlr.com.

Also keep up with both events on Facebook here.

Mellow Mushroom offers a variety of delicious pizzas with a unique and flavorful crust, priding itself on the classic Southern pizza.

Remember our post at the end of May about a Mellow Mushroom restaurant opening up shop this month?

The date is now set -- Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers will make its debut in Little Rock this Monday (June 17) at 16103 Chenal Parkway, Suite 900, located next to the Kroger Marketplace.

The menu features a variety of handcrafted pizzas, hoagies, salads, calzones and appetizers. In order to make sure that every diner’s needs are met, selections for vegetarians, vegans, kids and gluten free options are also available. See the full menu here.

Mellow Mushroom focuses on local ownership and operation as the best way to serve the local community and at the same time to convey the culture of the brand. As part of this philosophy, every new Mellow location hatches with a completely unique look and feel.

The Little Rock interior is a visual treat of color, shape and composition. From the dancing Fun Guys in the mural atop the pizza tossing window to the unique space-dividing mushroom cap, this eatery is unique in many ways. Unwind in the "Land of Dreams" backlit bar complete with a sculpted moon, floating glass shelves and the tree of life.

Other features include the curbside lounge adjacent to the patio, a five-foot stained glass chandelier hanging in the base building entry arch, floating clouds in the dining room made from vintage doors and a supersized psychedelic homage to the Arkansas man himself, Johnny Cash.

After opening Monday (June 17), Mellow Mushrom will be having regular operating hours from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday – Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday - Saturday.

For more information and to stay updated on Mellow Mushroom Little Rock, click here, 'Like' them on Facebook and sign up for their e-Club.

This is the fourth installment in our series "In Season at the Farmers Market" where we will do just that -- explore what is in season at the moment.

This month, in addition to peaches (which we will highlight soon), okra is in their peak season.

In the United States, okra is a vegetable that has a close association to southern cooking. However, this veggie relative to hibiscus and cotton is truly a global food that appears in African, European and Asian cuisine.

Okra provides vitamins A, C, K and folate and is also a good source or potassium, calcium and magnesium. The pointy green pod is very low in calories, with just 30 per half cup and a measly 4 milligrams of sodium.

The best part about okra is its versatility. It can be boiled, baked or fried, and of course stewed, as it is in its most famous application, gumbo. For all of its versatility, okra shouldn’t be cooked in copper, iron or brass cookware. It reacts with those metals and can discolor the pods.

“One of okra’s charms is that it contains a natural thickener, making it perfect for soups and stews,” said Dr. Rosemary Rodibaugh, extension nutrition specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.

Buying and storage tips:

• Choose pods that are crisp-looking, yet tender. They should be 2-4 inches long.
• Avoid pods that are limp or streaked with brown.
• Allow a quarter-pound per serving
• Fresh okra is highly perishable. Keep it no more than two to three days in the refrigerator.
• Store in a paper bag or wrapped in a paper towel and placed inside a perforated plastic bag to keep the pods dry.
• Toss any pods that turn slimy on the outside.

For more information and recipes for preparing okra, ask for FCS500 from your county extension office, or visit www.uaex.edu.

Farmers markets open to get your okra:

West Little Rock Farmers Market, Village Shopping Center parking lot, 10700 N. Rodney Parham Dr. -- This new farmers market, located in front of Whole Foods Market, had its first farmers market last month and it was a hit. Several farms sold their fresh produce and will be available again tomorrow (June 12). This includes: North Pulaski Farms, Laughing Stock Farm, Little Rock Urban Farming, Barnhill Farms, Falling Sky Farm and Freckle Face Farms. Enjoy live music while shopping from 4 to 7 p.m. New!

Little Rock Farmers Market, River Market Pavilions, 400 President Clinton Ave.: Filled with farmers selling farm-fresh produce straight to consumers from the backs of their trucks from early morning until mid-afternoon every April through October, patrons can find bargains on Arkansas crops as well as a bountiful array of handmade arts and crafts at the farmers market. There will be a variety of fresh produce, including okra! The market now offers a special "Veggie Valet" service, where you can leave your purchases with the valet and receive a claim ticket. Enjoy the River Market at your leisure and when you are ready, drive to the pig fountain on the north side of the pavilions and the valet will load your items for you. Talk about easy!

Bernice Garden Farmers Market, 1401 South Main St., Little Rock: The SoMa farmers market sells sustainable fruits, veggies, nuts, berries, flowers, herbs, cheeses and tons of cool artisan goods. The market will be open every Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until the fall.

Argenta Farmers Market, 6th and Main Streets, North Little Rock: From 7 a.m. - noon every Saturday, the public can peruse the various vendors selling tons of artisan goods and fresh produce, including okra. It's on the River Rail Trolley route with an abundance of free parking, making it easy to get in and out! Call (501) 993-1234 for more information.

Hillcrest Farmers Market, in front of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, 2200 Kavanaugh Blvd, Little Rock: The year-round farmers market, which is open 7 a.m. - noon Saturdays, will have a large variety of goods and produce. Carolyn Staley, the associate pastor of the Pulaski Heights Baptist Church (the farmers is located in front of it) and the market liaison, said the veggie is a little early, but they will be getting some soon.