Rein Sushi & Hibachi- Reiner Wibowo, Averie Mattix, and Bari Abe

Flavors of Northwest Arkansas

On this week’s edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas podcast, we’re in Springdale where we interviewed the 3 owners of Rein Sushi & Hibachi. We’ll talk to Raynor, Bari and Avery shortly, but first...

Food News!!

Some big food news came down yesterday. James Beard nominated Chef Matthew Cooper and the folks at Conifer announced a new endeavor on Monday night- It’s called RYN! It will be a farm-to-table tasting menu restaurant, and like Conifer, it’ll be gluten-free. Also like Conifer, they’ll support local farmers and purveyors, providing fresh, and sustainable ingredients.

If you listened to Conifer’s podcast with us in March, you heard Chef Cooper break the news that they’d have their own farm soon. Well, that farm will be right outside the back door, and they’ll be growing much of their own food right on the farm. They also hope to provide community events and much more.

It’s set to open next year. We’ll have more info as it becomes available and catch up with Chef Cooper next year.

The Ozark Beer Company’s release of its heralded Bourbon Double Cream Stout, or BDCS, went live Monday, and as of last night, they were still selling it on their website. It’s a smaller run this year, so it won’t last long. You can pick up your orders in their taproom starting December 28th.

There are few things I like more than fun food & Bev promotions, and one smacked me RIGHT across the face the other day on Instagram. Black Apple Hard Cider is having a Short Girl Appreciation night, where they’ll short your tab 10% if you’re a female under 5-foot-2... it runs from 5-10pm on Tuesday December 21st... don’t forget, they have a full cocktail program now to go along with some of the country’s best cider.

Speaking of cocktails, if you’re in the Siloam area, Park House Kitchen & Bar has come out with their holiday cocktail menu! That Peppermint Mocha White Russian and Smores Old Fashioned have my attention. Check it out on their social media...

Now to Rein Sushi & Hibachi... to be so young, what a past these folks have. There are 3 owners, Reiner Wibowo, Averie Mattix and Bari Abe, and they’re super-tight.

Reiner and Bari are both originally from Indonesia but met in Harrison, Arkansas, where they both met Averie and started a popular business there that they’ll talk about.

Later, they got the itch to open in an area where they liked to go on their off days, Northwest Arkansas.

This is their 2nd business here, but the first one was purposefully short-lived, while they were looking for a place to set up their dream business...

By the way, there are some unique menu items that we get to the bottom of!

Check out Reiner, Averie and Bari on this edition of the Flavors of Northwest Arkansas!