Feast Month
Restaurants take top billing in competition
Several tightly contested races came down to the final days of the annual Feast Month competition hosted by Visit Hot Springs, and two restaurants were named first-time winners in the competition.
Ouachita Bar & Grill won the award for top burger, wresting the title away from three-time winner The Ohio Club, and Rocky’s Corner claimed the Best Pizza award in another tight race. Capo’s Tacos, the only restaurant with four straight wins in the competition, was in a close battle with Cafe Kahlo and Taco Mama before winning with 350 votes.
“Cafe Kahlo, which is a newish restaurant on Central Avenue, was in the lead for a second there,” Bill Solleder, marketing director for Visit Hot Springs, said.
“They were doing really well.
“All the taco ones — Taco Mama, Cafe Kahlo and Capo’s — those were the top three in a very, very tight race. It was very, very tight. At the end Capos, they had more stamina, and they pulled out,” he said.
While Ouachita Bar & Grill won the Best Burger title for the first time, Michael Dampier, who had been with The Ohio Club for many years, can claim to be a fourtime winner as well, Solleder said.
“You’ll have chefs and cooks, and hosts and hostesses, waitresses — everybody sort of moves around,” he said. “I think the restaurant industry knows this. … So The Burger Chef, Michael Dampier, had been at Ohio Club for a long, long time and had won three years in a row for Best Burger, Ohio Club did.
“Michael Dampier is a very savvy promoter. So he has now opened up his new place, Ouachita Bar & Grill, and they won Best Burger this year. And I think a lot has to do with his savviness, promoting, getting Feast Month out there and encouraging his customers to vote.”
Solleder said Visit Hot Springs provides promotional materials for the restaurants to use during the competition.
“So we give them posters and little table tents, and you can tell the restaurants that put those table tents that we give them on all the tables. They’re the ones that are getting lots of votes because the waiters or waitresses know — take their order, ‘And while you’re waiting, hey, feel free to hit that QR code and vote for us.’ You can tell who’s actually working with the materials that we give them because they do really well,” he said.
Rocky’s Corner picked up 682 votes to claim the win, dethroning last year’s champion, SQZBX. Deluca’s finished third.
“Hot Springs (is) arguably the pizza capital of the South all of a sudden,” Solleder said. “The surprise was, with all the media attention that Deluca’s gets — I mean, they’re definitely very unique pizza. If you put all the pizzas in town on a table, you would say that Deluca’s has the most unique taste, and they’re very busy.
“But Rocky’s also extremely busy. It’s a locals favorite. It’s people who are going to Oaklawn go across the street to hit Rocky’s, and they’re open every day of the week. So I think that’s what helped them surpass SQZBX at the end, and that was one of the votes that was extremely close between Rocky’s and SQZBX,” he said.
Smokin’ in Style garnered the highest number of votes across all categories, claiming 934 votes to win Best Barbecue over Ouachita Bar & Grill and McClard’s BBQ. Pancake Shop had 918 votes to retain its title of having the Best Breakfast, and Cafe Kahlo and English Muffin rounded out the top three.
Winners in the other categories included 501 Prime with 593 votes for Best Steak, Mama Vee’s (495 votes for Best Southern), Cafe 1217 (651 votes, Best Vegetarian), Fat Bottomed Girls (417 votes, Best Sweets), Pho House (585 votes, Best Asian Cuisine), Via Roma (643 votes, Best Italian), and Rock n Roll Hibachi (599 votes, Best Food Truck). Ouachita Bar & Grill was second in Southern Cuisine and third in Food Truck.
Started four years ago to help local businesses near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Feast Month has been a success, Solleder said.
“The engagement has increased every single year,” he said, noting an increase of 1,026 votes, 31%, over last year’s competition. “We haven’t changed much, what we offer. What made it successful this year was participation and engagement, for sure. But also, we’re receiving some additional media attention.
“AY Magazine sponsored us. The entire November issue of AY Magazine is almost completely dedicated to Hot Springs. … But I think that was a win for us, too, that people are starting to recognize it. I can’t take all the credit for it, because the restaurants here in town do such a great job, and there’s so many — over 300 options to choose from in town. But it seems that Hot Springs has become a foodie’s destination.”