Gallery Café featured on TV

— The Gallery Café has long been a landmark in Decatur, but the restaurant recently drew attention from across the state when it was featured on an Oct. 23 episode of Arkansas Flavors.

Arkansas Flavors is a television show that airs on Fox 14 FortSmith/Fayetteville and Fox 16 Little Rock and spotlights a different independently-owned restaurant served by U.S. Foodservice each week. During the 30-minute shows, host “That Guy” Joel Pruitt goes behind the scenes to see how favorite dishes are prepared and gives an overview of what the restaurant offers.

“The show promotes dining out and features what is uniqueabout the restaurant. Much like the Food Network show, ‘Diners, Drive-ins & Dives.’ The Gallery Café was featured because of its large menu offering and unique recipes,” said Renee Privitera, Marketing Manager for U.S. Foodservice in Little Rock.

Arkansas Flavors looks to visit a wide variety of restaurants,in both location and type, according to Gallery Café owner Stacy Brooks. The Gallery Café was chosen because of a recommendation from its food service provider and because it fit the parameters of what the producers were looking for, such as reputation and number of years in business.

For example, the Café has been in business for 20 years, Brooks said.

During the Oct. 23 episode, Gallery Café cook Beth Patton walked Arkansas Flavors host “That Guy” Joel Pruitt through the process of preparing Indian Tacos, a popular special on Wednesdays and Fridays. Then assistant manager, fry cook and pie maker J.T. McAdams demonstrated how the Gallery Café’s pecan pies aremade. Finally, Brooks made the Café’s giant “cat head” biscuits for Pruitt.

Brooks said the show’s producers asked them to prepare foods for which the Café is known, and dishes that have bright colors which would look good on camera.

The show came to the Gallery Café and filmed for several hours on a Wednesday.

Brooks said he felt a mixture of pride and self consciousness when he watched the episode on TV - Pride in his restaurant and employees, and self consciousness at seeing himself in front of the camera.

“It’s definitely a different experience,” he said.

Arkansas Flavors also functions as a restaurant guide, helping hungry customers find the perfect place to dine for any occasion, according to theshow’s Web site, www.arkansasflavors.com.

“We are finding that many people from across the state are stopping in the featured restaurants as they are passing through. The Gallery Café is also a featured restaurant of our Dine Around Arkansas Club, www.dinearoundusa.com,” said Privitera.

“The Gallery offers a free dessert with your purchase of any lunch or dinner entree. This is really a treat since their desserts are made from scratch! Just present your Dine Around Club card as you place your order,” she said.

Arkansas Flavors airs every Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. on Fox 24 Fort Smith/Fayetteville. The Oct. 23 episode featuring the Gallery Café can be viewed by visiting the show’s Web site, www.arkansasflavors.com and navigating to the video archive.

News, Pages 1 on 12/01/2010