Bentonville's Meteor

There's an old saying, "Dang: that's good coffee now!".  Technically speaking it's more of a new saying since I just made it up.  But when you consider how many coffee shops, beer joints and eating establishments there now are in the midsize hamlet of Bentonville, it's probably time someone coined at least one more old saying pertaining to the food and beverage industry.  Although fame and fortune I do not seek, if you happen to see me sitting in a local shoppe 25 years from now drinking a cup of joe, I'd probably get a real kick out of you walking over to my stool and saying, "Hey Ol' fella, are you that one guy who came up with that one old saying about good coffee?"

A number of years ago I used to go to one of our local coffee shops to "put pen to paper".  I stopped doing that for reasons I don't recall.  This afternoon I decided to once again give it shot.  So, here I sit at Bentonville's newest coffee/beer/bike shop, The Meteor.

Now I'm no food/coffee/beer critic, but I do know a decent cup of coffee, an above average beer or decent slice of pizza when I taste it.  Although I've so far had only a cup of "el gato" coffee at this particular locality, I must say I was pleased at the result.  They also serve pizza and beer; substantial intel I wasn't able to gather by means of drive-by reconnaissance.

Nothing's cheep around downtown "Hooterville" (aside from opinions about the retail business) but I have more than one long-time friend who'd say, "Dang: that's an expensive cup of black coffee now!"  To a point, I'd agree that $2.50 isn't cheep for one cup of black coffee.  But I've learned to look at the overall experience of something rather than just the price of admittance.  And in their defense, you have to sell a boatload of widgets at $2.50 a pop to make a profit; especially with guys like me and these young folks who come in and hang out for hours at a time doing who knows what on their device.

Things have come a long way in the food and beverage area since Grandma Rohrbach came off the farm.  I wonder what she would think if she knew I'd just paid 20 bits for a cup of something she used to get for free at Stewarts Drug when she stopped by for a bottle of laudanum or a jar of campho-phenique?   Oh I wonder.

UPDATE:  I finished writing this post yesterday with the intent last night of tweaking it a bit before hitting "Post".  But before I could do that I found myself back here today for a late lunch and an early beer.  Dang: These young cats make a darn good egg and avocado sandwich and pour a very tasty Lager.  Now that's something to be proud of!  And as an added bonus, I met Ben who recently moved here from Austin with his young family.  He's the Meteor's onsite bicycle mechanic and I can tell from the way he carries himself, he's a doggone fine one.  I'm actually looking forward to my bike breaking down just so I can bring it over here and observe as Young Ben works his two-wheeled magic.  When I do, I'll probably grab another cup of  el gato just for fun.

Well, so as not to wear out my welcome, I better head out.  In any event, this has been a good use of my time.  I have a new spot to grab a hot or cold brew of my choice while hanging out with a bunch of fine folks who ride their bikes to work.  It's difficult to go better than that.

As always, thanks so much for tuning in.  I'll do my best to keep you posted on mostly random Arkansas and Missouri topics, in a not too fast paced family-friendly environment...for the most part:)