Easy Creek's fare worth trip
Arkansaw eatery relies on fresh, local ingredients

Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003

Steve Knowlton, chef and co-owner of Easy Creek, refuses to hook up the air conditioning system. To make it work, he says, he'd have to wall off his open kitchen and lose touch with his customers. "See those two tables near the window?" he asked us recently. "I can't see them from the stove. They drive me crazy. I need to see who I'm cooking for."

Steve's insistence on staying connected with his diners fits with the passionate commitment, unusual energy and high culinary craft that have made Easy Creek a respected "destination restaurant" since 1996. Few chefs and fewer chef-owners do as much as Steve does, six days a week. He takes reservations, confers with farmers, orders ingredients and creates the day's dishes based on what's available and fresh. He does most of the prep: sorting, washing, chopping, portioning. Incredibly, he also cooks and plates every meal.

Bill Rocheleau co-owner, business manager and inventive barkeep insists on keeping the bistro relaxed and homey. Bill, the friendly staff members and many customers dress casually. Steve often cooks in cut-offs, work boots, a sleeveless sweatshirt and one of his trademark bandannas.

The building, a former meat-packing plant and tavern, is clad in rusty yellow-painted iron siding. The furnishings are functional, the decor cozy but unremarkable. There is no white linen anywhere, and water glasses don't always match. It's hard to imagine a less pretentious "high-end" restaurant.

There is no fixed menu. Instead, two chalkboards list the day's selections. One offers wines by makers such as Cavit, Ironstone, Alice White generous 8-ounce servings cost $4.50 to $6, bottles $16 to $26. With notes of ripe peaches, Nobilo's sauvignon blanc from New Zealand is perfect for summer $6/$22.

The other chalkboard details soup, salad and entrees. There's always one vegetarian choice and usually one each with chicken, fish or shellfish and beef or pork. A breadbasket and side dishes are included; desserts cost extra. On Sundays, when all meals are $10, soup and salad might not be offered, and entrees usually are limited to two.

We've come to understand this endearing fact: Steve cannot bear to serve anything that is not shot through with flavor upon strong flavor. His plates brim with exuberance. Huge fish cakes of smoked oysters and Dover sole were spiked with just enough cayenne, perfectly pan-fried into a crisp honey-gold, and served with an outstanding remoulade of garlic mayonnaise, chopped dill pickles and fresh herbs. Side dishes were pillows of deeply buttery, earthy mashed potatoes and a tangle of stir-fried red cabbage and onion ribbons, carrot spikes and whole green beans with a subtle, smoky sweetness, perhaps from a drop of hoisin sauce.

We sampled several other entrees. Tender "pig's ear" pasta in a light garlic cream sauce came crowned with a lemony spinach-pecan pesto vegetarian, $21. Large "baby" shrimp could be added $29. Succulent pork loin nuggets in a sweetish whiskey-cream sauce were served over herbed biscuits with a side of fresh corn kernels, $10. A ribeye steak, done to a juicy medium-rare, was bathed in a red wine broth with onions $32. Free-range chicken breast chunks on mixed greens came topped with sweet pea pesto, punchy Wisconsin goat cheese and a duxelles of richly flavored Portobello mushrooms Sunday, $10. Astonishingly light cakes of fresh chunky salmon and herbs seemed magically bound together by nothing but lemon juice and the will of the chef $24. A glorious summertime meal.

Steve's culinary wit showed in what we call "upside-down" chicken. Linguine in garlic cream sauce came garnished with red grape tomatoes, emerald-green pesto, stir-fried vegetables including yellow summer squash and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. Hidden beneath the pasta: beautifully browned chicken medallions in a whiskey reduction $26.

Easy Creek's search for flavor occasionally goes too far. All three soups we have tried tomato and wild rice, carrot and sour cream, sweet corn and potato were well made, with fresh ingredients, but overpowered by curry powder. Bread with bell pepper and tomato bits had the metallic tang of seasoned salt.

Dessert? The crustless cheesecake was exceptional. Unusually dense and smooth, it melted on the tongue into the pure sweetness of good cream and vanilla. Once it came as a peninsula dividing a sea of caramel from a sea of fudge; chopped pecans formed "turtle" islands. Once it was bejeweled with raw sweet red cherries in a light syrup.The Kahlúa brownie sundae was a chocolate-lover's dream. Beneath shattery crust lay cake as dense as fudge and more intensely flavored. The French vanilla ice cream, ultra-rich in any other context, provided relief from all that stunning chocolate.

In this age of "concept" restaurants, where cooks unthinkingly add unripe, flavor-free tomatoes to fulfill some corporate menu blueprint, Easy Creek Bistro is a treasure: quirky, uniquely personal and devoted to innovative treatments of fresh, local food.

Main Course, the Leader-Telegram's restaurant review column, runs the second Tuesday and the fourth Sunday of the month.

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