A Taste of Arkansas at the 21C Hotel and Beyond
Culinary creativity and specialty coffee fuel the arts landscape in Bentonville
In a region of Arkansas with a population of over half a million people, Bentonville is home to Walmart headquarters, the recently expanded Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and an array of independent businesses. Locals and visitors can enjoy miles of bike paths, public art, free museums and a vibrant arts community. At Bentonville’s charming central square, a small museum chronicles the history of the Walton family and sells $2 cones at The Spark Cafe ice cream shop and soda fountain. The cafes of award-winning Onyx Coffee Lab are at the center of a thriving coffee scene. Arkansas chefs create menus offering the flavors of Southern cuisine, obsess over BBQ and cook up dishes with global influences.
The Hive at 21C Museum Hotel, steps from the Bentonville town square, showcases regional dishes of Arkansas with local ingredients and inspired preparations at the art-focused hotel. 21C’s current exhibit, “The SuperNatural 2.0,” presents a multimedia group show by 43 artists that explores how the natural world is experienced in organic and artificial ways. In Bentonville, a city known for a robust arts and culinary scene, 21C’s chef, Micah Klasky, brings together a variety of seasonal local ingredients into a celebration of regional dishes of Arkansas with global influences.
In October, Klasky cooked for roving restaurant Outstanding in the Field at The Momentary, Crystal Bridges’ new space for music, contemporary art, food and community events. The menu highlighted local farms and ranches with dishes like cured Berkshire Ridge Farms country ham, buttermilk-fried James Marie Farm quail, Koji-cured Bansley pork loin porchetta and a farm salad of Porch Life lacto-fermented carrots, A&A Orchard grilled apples, Anson Mills farro and whipped quark. Sommolier Laura Williamson curated the wine pairings, and a decadent version of possum pie, the state’s unofficial dessertmade with caramelized croissants, whipped cream cheese mousse and chocolate cremeux, rounded out the meal.
This beautiful setting for Outstanding in the Field celebrated local food while highlighting Bentonville’s thriving arts scene. The current art exhibitions at The Momentary bring the themes of the space together with culinary themes. “Ordinary Wonders,” by Chuck Ramirez, features dozens of the San Antonio-based artist’s striking photos of everyday items like plates of BBQ, canned fruit salad, Marshmallow Peeps, flower bouquets and plastic shopping bags.
Lucy Sparrow‘s astounding “The Beginning of Convenience” is the British artist’s first museum exhibit in the U.S. Sparrow and her studio team created an immersive 1980s-era, Walmart-inspired market installation. Sparrow fills her market with hand-sewn products like Folgers Coffee, Dinty Moore Stew, Vienna Sausages, Rice a Roni and Skippy Peanut Butter on the shelves near an adorable produce section.
The details continue with a pharmacy filled with medications and medical posters, a Kodak photo department, a magazine rack, movie section, records and cash registers with candy racks all made from felt. A community bulletin board and even a coin-operated kiddie car ride add to the whimsical world-building.
In addition to the art and food experiences in Bentonville, it soon becomes clear that the people of Arkansas don’t just drink coffee, they love coffee. 21C serves Onyx Coffee, espresso drinks and coffee cocktails. In the nearby town of Rogers, the circa-1907 Onyx HQ building is bustling with activity. On sunny days, diffused light fills the historic building where the roastery and bakery are in full view. Upstairs, a cupping table looks over the cafe near the Heirloom restaurant entrance with their hi-fi record bar Pinky Swear and Yeyo’s Taqueria & Mezcaleria. Onyx sources the highest quality coffee beans from around the globe with current offerings like a Elid Estate Gesha from Panama to a Silvia Herrera from Mexico.
The newly opened Onyx at The Preserve brings an all-day restaurant on the Walmart campus. This landform hybrid-style structure, designed by Arkansas-based architect Maron Blackwell in partnership with Onyx founders Jon and Andrea Allen, functions as a community space that blends seamlessly into the topography. With a green roof by Ozark Green Roofs, landscape design by SZA and accessible bike paths, it’s a realization of their dream to create an idealized bike accessible green space with ambitious offerings of food and drinks. The Preserve menu features seasonal Mediterranean and North African flavors by chef Arturo Solis crafted to complement Onyx coffee drinks like The Preserve Pistachio Latte.
Many more restaurants and cafes in the region make up the overall culinary scene of regional dishes and diverse global foods. Be sure to check out Wright’s BBQ, steps away from the Bentonville Square and 21C. Locals will recommend the burnt ends or a platter of nachos with BBQ meats on top. Sitting at a wooden table by the Bentonville Square on a warm night feels like an ideal picnic.
The Onyx Coffee Lab Bentonville café also shares spaces with the Bentonville Food Theater with three chef counters and a rotating lineup of activations with Japanese handroll, curry and ramen and an upcoming Korean BBQ menu with many more pop-ups to come. On Saturday mornings from April through October, a lively farmers market winds around the Bentonville Square.
Culinary offerings and art experiences also intertwine inside Crystal Bridges Museum where Onyx Coffee Lab has opened two cafes, one by the restaurant and another with a bird’s eye view of the water called Quartz + Honey. More Onyx coffee can be enjoyed at an adorable pink café inside the Momentary.
Whether you’re in Bentonville for work or to visit its thriving arts scene, the best way to learn about life in Arkansas is to take one delicious bite and sip at a time.
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