Feel and eat well at the Greenhouse Grille

Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Lifestyles

With Wednesday being Earth Day and phrases like "hybrid cars" and "reusable nalgene water bottles" floating around in everyday conversation, I decided that we here at High on the Hog would do a little bit of greenification ourselves.

So where is this week's and history's final destination for this humble columnist?

The Greenhouse Grille, naturally.

Much like the idea behind Smiling Jack's, the Greenhouse Grille offers natural, organic and local foods as much as possible. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory that you will probably give a little more green in order to consume something "organic."

However, as I found, there are ways around that that will still leave you full and happy.

One stark contrast between the two: the Greenhouse Grille has a much wider variety of entrées. The Greenhouse Grille has a full menu of appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pastas and other various goods.

If you're like some of my friends and you don't do the whole eat-something-that's-not-a-burger thing, they even offer you Grilled Buffalo Burgers. Plus, you can sleep well at night knowing that the grilled hunk of buffalo you ate once fed on grass right here in Arkansas.

I went from item to item telling myself that that was the dish I was going to get. You see, the eloquent menu writer used fancy, enticing words such as "infused" or a number of "all natural, cage free."

One of my favorites: "sweet potato fries."

That's all you have to say to get me in the mood for food.

For my dinner, I ordered the falafel and grilled vegetable gyros.

Inside the delicious, nicely grilled pita bread, there was a delicious bed of fresh "organic mixed greens." From there, we had some delightful squash, zucchini, sautéed onions, tomatoes, tzatziki and organic hummus.

I'm sure that some of you are cringing right now and thinking that I must have been on some sort of gross game show. But trust me, this meal was delicious. And that's coming from a guy who feels entirely deprived of a proper meal if he doesn't have some sort of animal on his plate. Plus, all of the "fresh" and "organic" ingredients really do make a difference.

All of my cooked vegetables maintained a nice crispness and flavor, and the tzatziki sauce and hummus both provided strong, rich flavors that perfectly complimented the delicious vegetables.

And you just can't find tomatoes like the Greenhouse Grille's unless you grow them out of your own garden.

My meal came with chips and tropical fruit salsa. This was, unfortunately, the biggest disappointment of the night.

The fruit salsa was great, but they gave me such a tiny ramekin that you could barely fit the chips in. Speaking of the chips, they were so greasy you could almost see through them, and most of them were so stale that I felt like I was eating old gum.

Another great part about the meal is that it was only $8. Sure, $6 would have been nice, but it was a large portion of fresh food, so you won't hear me complaining.

The Greenhouse Grille is one of those places that almost makes you feel guilty for eating the food because it's so beautiful when they bring it to you.

In the end, though, you feel so much better for eating it.

I even felt skinnier for eating a plateful of greens and liking it.

If you want to ruin that skinny feeling, they do offer some appetizing desserts: cheesecake with chocolate sauce and fresh berries, Banana's Foster, and Bourbon chocolate chunk pecan pie with all natural vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Yes, yes and yes.

Despite some greasy, stale chips, the Greenhouse Grille was a great experience.

The interior was much nicer than I expected it to be, given the all-but-appealing exterior.

The service was great, and the live music sustained a nice ambiance throughout the entire dinner.

I heartily recommend you try the Greenhouse Grille, no matter what your diet calls for. They will have something that you will like, trust me.

And you can come out spending between $8 to $20, depending on what you get.

Now that summer is upon us, I encourage you go get out and eat something new and support local restaurants.

I hope that I have given you some good ideas and maybe even helped you find a new favorite restaurant.

So pick up your forks and dig in because Fayetteville has a lot to offer.

Happy summer, and happy eating.

Robert Garner is a staff columnist for The Arkansas Traveler. This is his last column for the semester.

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