Eater’s latest guide covers the center of the U.S., digging into the dishes that define, comfort, and excite Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, and the Dakotas.
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The Eater Guide to the Heartland
In this edition of Eater's regional food and travel guides, we'll take an in-depth look at the unique culinary culture of the Heartland at America's core, at a time when the region is wielding more influence than ever before. From dining guides to the suddenly vibrant scenes in towns like Missoula, Kansas City, Tulsa, Cheyenne, and Oklahoma City, to primers on some of the region's hyperlocal specialties, discover every stand-out feature ahead.
As the kitchen manager at the Odd Soul, a pizzeria and bar in Springdale, Arkansas, Addie Hayes is used to spending Saturday mornings in front of a stove. But today, she’s a little out of her element. This morning she pulled a ball cap over her bleach blond bob, tied a short floral apron over …
Cinnamon rolls dipped in chili. Coors Light poured over OJ. Taco pizza. If you grew up in the amorphous region known as America’s heartland, these combos might raise your serotonin levels. If you grew up elsewhere, they might raise your eyebrows. The landmark dishes at the country’s core don’t get …
If you stop at a roadside restaurant anywhere between North Dakota and Oklahoma, you might not immediately get a sense of culinary diversity. Many menus in rural and small-town middle America consist of high-calorie burgers and processed Caesar salads, along with a few trending items like Buffalo …
In 1960, Bentonville, then a town of 3,600 in northwest Arkansas, was known for its quaint downtown square and beloved local haunts like the Station Cafe. By 1971, after Sam Walton had launched Walmart, Bentonville became home to the retailer’s first distribution center and corporate office, …
If you’re in St. Louis when a craving for ice cream hits, make your way to Sugarwitch. The shop, set in a historic former bakery in South City, provides a range of ice cream sandwiches named after famed witches of literature and lore: The Ursula has rainbow-sprinkled vanilla between salted brownies, …
Jung Yun still remembers the first day she arrived in the United States. She was 4 years old in 1975, when she, her mother, and her sister departed South Korea for their new home in Fargo, North Dakota. Yun’s father had been awaiting their arrival, having spent the past year finding work as a …
Rolling into Cherry Street, once the main drag of Helena, Arkansas, on a hot summer afternoon, you’ll find most of the storefronts empty. You might see a chef operating a streetside smoker at Delta Que & Brew, and one or two patrons digging into barbecue sandwiches, but there’s not much else. Back …
Years of expansion have built Oklahoma City’s dining scene into a rich tapestry, where local tastes for beef, pork, catfish, and chicken (particularly when they’re fried, smoked, or both) fuse with global cultures. The culinary identity of the 405 has consistently broadened to encompass the Asian …
In western South Dakota, the Black Hills rise abruptly from the Great Plains, where the mountainous West collides with Midwestern prairie. Called Paha Sapa by the Lakota people, the “hills that are black” earned the moniker from the dense pine forests that, from a distance, cast shadows making the …
This is the visit to Meers Store and Restaurant I remember best. It was the summer before my senior year of high school. I’d been swimming with some friends in Lake Elmer Thomas by Fort Sill. It was one of those deceptively gray days, when sunscreen is unwisely forgone. Mildly burnt, we drove our …
You won’t find a single, homogenous food culture in Tulsa. Instead, the city is fortunate to have a lot of little neighborhood pockets, each with their own distinct vibes. Downtown, sports bars and steakhouses hustle to accommodate people heading to a game at Oneok Field or a show at the Performing …
There’s an old statistic that bounces around in Nebraska food circles: Omaha has the most restaurants per capita of any city of comparable size (around 1 million people in the metro area). The factoid is repeated over and over, and its accuracy has ceased to matter. It persists as a point of pride, …
People decked out in teal and red poured into the CPKC Stadium on a recent Saturday for a sold-out game. They came to see the KC Current, Kansas City’s electrifying women’s soccer team, as they took on the Utah Royals. They also came to eat towering barbacoa nachos, hulking barbecue sandwiches, …
Iowa isn’t just about fried food on a stick, loose meat Maid-Rite sandwiches, and butter cow photo ops at the Iowa State Fair. One visit will tell you there’s more to the Hawkeye State than corn fields and corn dogs. Local food brands like La Quercia cured meats and Maytag blue cheese, …
For 23 years, my grandma’s routine was the same. From the time she moved to Sioux City, Iowa, until the day she retired, she would wake up, put in her dentures, eat a small breakfast of instant coffee and rice porridge, and say a prayer for my family to our Buddhist altar. Then, at noon, she’d head …
Fast Eddie’s Bon Air, an 800-seat bar in Alton, Illinois (population 25,000), is rumored to be the country’s highest-volume bar. Located a half-hour …
“It wasn’t Susan’s fault that she was only a corncob.” I’m standing in the middle of a field, cradling a freshly shucked cob of corn in my hands, and hearing that phrase ringing through my head. The dried cob was not much to look at, a faded husk of its former self. But as I wrapped a piece of …
If you are reading this and have still not seen Reservation Dogs, I am sure I’m not the first to tell you that you’re missing out. The FX dramedy is beloved — critically acclaimed, and now (finally) Emmy-nominated — for its depiction of life on a reservation in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in …
Missouri wine is kind of a big deal. The state is home to the first American Viticultural Area (AVA), established in Augusta in 1980, a few months before Napa Valley got the same status. Missouri is also home to the oldest, continuously family-run winery in the country, Adam Puchta, now in its …
St. Louis has long had an inordinate preoccupation with food and drink. Through sheer audacity and Midwestern grit, the STL culinary community has kept pace with Goliath competitors through some especially strong openings in recent years. The city has never doubted it could, should, and would rival …
To many, Kansas City will always be a cow town. The city’s culinary scene was largely defined by the Black pitmasters who established its barbecue traditions, the cattle ranchers who thronged the Kansas City Stockyards (the second-largest in the country after Chicago), and the Mexican immigrants …
