In this week’s Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we talk with Ariel Husband, co-owner of the Gelatissimo gelato shop in downtown Rogers, but before we talk with her!!!

FOOD NEWS!!!

• Benny’s Bagels is about a month away from opening in Fayetteville. Hear how they’re different!
• Sweetgreen officially opens in Fayetteville.
• Wright’s Barbecue opened last week on the Walmart Campus.
• Clementine’s Ice Cream opens later this week on the Walmart Campus
• BLU in downtown Rogers is expanding!
• Happy anniversary to Shirley’s!
• ChoKolata is coming to Springdale!
• In this week’s Flavors Flashback, we hear from the owners of the soon-to-be new Northern Italian Restaurant in downtown Rogers, Cura. They used to have Cura Culinary in Bentonville Provisions, and they talk about their Northern Italian food from our interview in the summer of 2024.

Ariel and Daniel Husband have known each other since they were 16 years old. They started dating in high school and delivered newspapers together from a hollowed-out school bus around downtown Dallas on the weekends. Their first date was to Braum’s, so you had to know they’d get into frozen desserts at some point! After marriage and kids, they’d always look for local ice cream-type shops in their travels. About 6 years ago, they went to a wedding out of town and noticed that a frozen treat shop they went to was absolutely packed. They wondered why there wasn’t anything like that in Northwest Arkansas... When they did decide to open a shop, how did they decide on Gelatissimo? Being all natural and made in-house surely didn’t hurt. Ariel will tell you the story. Also, hear about their grand opening- it was non-stop! We talk with Ariel Husband of Gelatissimo next here on the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas.

Happy New Year!!! In this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we talk to Natural State Rabbit President & CEO Brian Bonk. He runs what’s basically 2 companies in one – selling rabbit meat for food and the biologics side where parts of the rabbit are used in medicine and other things. Also with us are rabbit evangelists Mike Robertshaw and Meredith Butler of Pizzeria Ruby... but first!?!

FOOD NEWS!!!

• Black Apple Hard Cider closed at the start the year
• Crabby’s in Rogers also closed at the start of the year and are offering refunds for gift cards sold during their December promotion.
• KDK’s Chicken & Waffles in Fayetteville will open later than planned.
• Hear when the Botanical in Fayetteville will open! Also, Artemis next door is soon-to-open!
• Rendezvous Junction Brewing is holding a chili cookoff. We tell you how to compete in it.
• Buster Belly’s old location on Dickson is getting a new tenant.
• On this week’s Flavors Flashback, hear the horror that was the week leading up to the opening of Gaskins on Emma.

Natural State Rabbits resides in downtown Rogers and is the largest supplier of rabbit to restaurants in the country. They’re also a biologics company. They use parts of rabbits for medicine and other things around the nation and the world. It’s a pretty amazing story and FULL of history as the company started in 1911. We had the conversation at Pizzeria Ruby, as their relationship with Natural State Rabbit started before it was even called that. In fact, there was no Pizzeria Ruby at that point, and they were operating a food truck! How they got connected is a fun story. By the way, we were feasting on rabbit tenders during the interview and they were so good. I’ve recently become a fan of rabbit – if you haven’t tried it yet, think chicken but grass-fed and leaner. It’s SO GOOD.

They’re offering OUR listeners and followers 15% off their starter variety box, just use “FLAVORS” as the discount code at nsrabbitmeat.com. That includes free shipping, or you can hop over to downtown Rogers and pick it up if you’d like.

We hear from Natural State Rabbit President & CEO Brian Bonk, and Pizzeria Ruby’s Mike Robertshaw and Meredith Butler in today's edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas.

Welcome to the End-of-Year Special of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast!!

Juuuuuust when you thought there wouldn’t be a podcast today (amirite?!?!). It’s been a series of technical snafus the past few days, but it’s finally done!

In this End-of-Year Special, we picked out some of our favorite stories of the year. We couldn’t do them all, because the episode would be too long and consequently, I found out that I didn’t have enough storage to make the episode any longer anyway.

We didn’t include Food News in this episode, either. I didn’t want to make it a focus of the episode, but some news came down that we couldn’t just put off.

• I got word that Black Apple Hard Cider will be closing their taproom for good after today. That’s right, the last day will be today, December 31, 2025. Get out there if you can!
• Fridha’s Mexican Kitchen and Mezcal officially closed their doors for good last night (12/30). They’ll transition into a catering business, mobile bartenders and event space.
• Jaclyn’s Kitchen announced today that they’ll be opening at their new location at Prairie Creek Marina on March 1.
• Black Crown Social closed their doors, and it’s for an exciting reason. They’re growing and they’re moving to a bigger spot. It’s currently under construction. No word on where the spot is or when it will open

We round out 2025 with stories from Junto, MJs Pizzeria, San Miguel Mexican Grill, Lasang Pinoy, Marsouls, Sassafras Winery, The Odd Soul, Pizzeria Ruby, KYYA, The River Grille, Eleven at Crystal Bridges, The Stonebreaker, Erin Rowe, The Venesian Inn, The Hive, Leverett Lounge, Heirloom at the 1907, The Wooden Spoon, Menya Kitakara, New Province, Goat Lab, Bocca, R.G. Mason & Carson Apple Brandy, Chefs Matthew Cooper and Rafael Rios, Dot’s Hot Chicken, Uptown Kitchen & Taphouse, Atlas the Restaurant, Onyx Coffee Lab, Casa Alejo, Bistro 16, Bentonville Brewing Company, UA Football player and pitmaster Cam Ball, Kilroy Public House, Rendezvous Junction, Callisto, Nosh Nola, Geraldi’s & Pizza Navona, Baked by Kori, Mockingbird Kitchen, Bloom Cheese Collective and Archie’s Sandwichery.

Available on YouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.

Happy New Year!