A stronghold insouth Arkansas |
It's early on a spring morning in downtown El Dorado, yet things already are hopping at Off the Rail Cafe. The restaurant is in a rail car that was constructed in 1883, and the menu includes upscale items such as shrimp and grits and stuffed French toast. I've walked over from The Haywood, perhaps the state's top boutique hotel.
Boasting one of the best downtowns in the South, El Dorado isn't a typical Arkansas town of 17,000 people. Dean Morrison opened Off the Rail on May 12, 2020, two months after the start of the pandemic. Looking back, he says it was helpful to have slow business at the start.
"The pandemic restrictions made the staff more aware of what was going on," Morrison says. "When you open a restaurant, it's usually chaos during the first month. Walking into the situation instead of running helped us."
Morrison grew up in Tampa, Fla., and started working in a restaurant at age 16. He had relatives in the Blytheville area and visited Arkansas as a child.
At age 30, he moved to Arkansas. He was at Forrest City Country Club for 14 years and Searcy Country Club for five years before moving to El Dorado to work at country clubs.
"I've got options you won't see at other restaurants," he says. "El Dorado had a need for a nice breakfast place where you can get items you can't find elsewhere. We'll average 300 people for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. And we do lots of catering. For instance, I serve 200 teachers and administrators at their annual back-to-school breakfast. We use about 100,000 eggs a year. My kitchen is a caboose."
The rail car was pulled out of a field in Texas and brought to El Dorado more than two decades ago. It served as a breakfast spot for those staying at downtown's Union Square Guest Quarters, owned by El Dorado developer Richard Mason.
"Dean has a lot of experience in restaurant operations, and his menu is outstanding," Mason says. "His business has really taken off. The addition of outside seating in the courtyard added to the ambience of our downtown. I couldn't be more pleased. Adding to the number of downtown restaurants brings in more retail businesses."
Morrison also operates MAD House 101 downtown, which is part of the Murphy Arts District (commonly known as MAD). When a branch of Magnolia's Mule Kick restaurant closed, Morrison took it over and began serving dinner on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
"I tried to develop a menu that everyone likes," he says. "The menu isn't something that's going to drive a family of five out. We have everything from steaks to seafood to pizzas. The building has a high-end kitchen that allows us to do more catering. We'll do anything from a small birthday party to a wedding to an anniversary celebration. El Dorado supports me, my family, my restaurants and my employees."
The restaurant often has live entertainment and sometimes opens on other nights if MAD is hosting concerts at adjacent venues.
MAD House wasn't open the previous night, so I found myself at another downtown favorite, Fayrays. The restaurant opened in 2000 and was purchased in 2013 by Michael Rice. Rice's family was in the grocery and restaurant business in Louisiana. He started working in a kitchen at age 12. The Fayrays menu is much like what one would........