Cypress Social ranked a top Arkansas food destination after opening amid pandemic
The odds were stacked against Cypress Social opening right when a pandemic hit. Yet, they won multiple local awards for best new restaurant, best patio, and more. Author: Amanda Jaeger, Rob Evans Published: 7:48 AM CDT May 20, 2021 Updated: 7:48 AM CDT May 20, 2021
MAUMELLE, Ark. It s time to Eat It Up. patio style! And if you love the outdoors and love great food Cypress Social will blow your mind!
Here are 5 things you ll love about Cypress Social:
1.) The odds were stacked against Cypress Social opening right when a pandemic hit. Yet, they have strived and won multiple local awards for best new restaurant, best patio, and more.
Best Restaurants in Arkansas 2021
Best Restaurants in Arkansas 2021 Matthew Martin
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Arkansas Times’ Readers Choice restaurant contest. The issue went to press at a time when restaurants have, for just shy of one year, been faced with a pandemic and the necessary safety rules that have limited their customers. So, this year, we have a new category to join our traditional bests: Best Pandemic Dining. Our readers have praised Trio’s Restaurant and The Hive in Bentonville for keeping diners safely spaced. They’ve toasted Flyway Brewing and Superior Bathhouse Brewery in Hot Springs for their beer-to-go service. (A feature on Flyway, which also won Most Innovative, illustrates how it kept aloft.) They’ve recognized Star of India for its to-go packaging (and we give Sami Lal his due for his enduring success). Our readers found much to praise in restaurants from Fayetteville (Atlas and The Farmer’s Table Cafe)
Crafting cocktails at home with Arkansas bartendersÂ
Crafting cocktails at home with Arkansas bartenders Kat Wilson
Whether youâre starting 2021 with a Dryuary or toasting the New Year until the fetid smell of 2020 has worn off, Januaryâs become a time to get thoughtful about alcohol â what we love, what we hate and what role it plays in our newly pandemic-stricken social lives. Itâs also the month when, in 1919, Arkansas ratified the Eighteenth Amendment, establishing prohibition in the state and ushering in a formalized relationship between booze and government. So, in January 2021, the Arkansas TimesÂ
raises a glass to all things boozy with a series weâre calling Drink/Drank/Drunk: our cityâs great cocktails and mocktails, the history of temperance in the state, brews to try before you die, a boozy playlist and more.Â
If the vibe, flow, and stylistic touches and finishes of the reclaimed cypress wood along the walls that give Cypress Social its name don’t grab your attention, the food will. The sister restaurant to the JTJ Restaurant Group’s Petit & Keet is what diners call a destination restaurant.
Inviting dining room area. Welcoming bar and three-tier outdoor deck, complete with lake and fountain. A parlor room. Even the pandemic couldn’t stop the coming of Little Rock, Arkansas’ latest next big thing.
The 330-seat restaurant takes diners on a trip through some of the South’s biggest food staples, including the “Starters” section, highlighted by chargrilled oysters, fried green tomatoes, Delta-style hot tamales, and peppadew cheese dip, to the “Mains,” featuring a classic mix of shrimp & grits, fried catfish, Duroc pork chop, and the famed Butcher’s Steak, a grilled, 8-ounce teres major cut.