Stop by this hub for art and food in Arkansas
Long before the art museums, the food halls, and the mountain bike trails, and way before the world’s largest retailer set up its headquarters in town, Bentonville was a tight-knit farming community with big aspirations. This small town, set in the foothills of the Ozarks, entered the world’s stage when it became the headquarters for Walmart Inc. in 1971 but has since made a name for itself far beyond any retail empire with its homegrown culinary talent and passion. The small-town vibe remains, but Bentonville’s humble agricultural roots have blossomed to become an incubator for culinary creativity.
Today, Bentonville is a thriving hub where nature, food, and art are equally intertwined. It’s a place where the top restaurants operate from historic buildings and art galleries, and where locally loved chefs maintain a deep dedication to locally sourced ingredients. Most recently, a new wave of tech moguls and chefs have relocated to the area, looking to invest in their new hometown’s already vibrant culinary scene with exciting new concepts like a culinary stage for touring chefs and exclusive pop-up dinners with celebrity chefs. Bentonville is becoming the perfect Goldilocks destination for travelers who want world-class art, food, and events in one naturally charming, small-town package.
Best Places to Eat and Drink
Best Food Truck: Yeyo’s Yellow Truck
Chef Rafael Rios is a local celebrity, starting his food truck in the Bentonville Square in 2012 using mainly ingredients grown on his family’s farm nearby before expanding with two brick-and-mortar locations around town.
Best Restaurant: The Preacher’s Son
Set inside a restored 1904 church, this beloved restaurant is helmed by chef Neal Gray—previous credits include The French Laundry—who puts a modern twist on his upscale new American cuisine with sustainably focused menus, local sourcing, and wine pairings powered by AI.
Best One-Stop Shop: The 8th Street Market
The heart and soul of Bentonville’s Market District is this community-focused food hall, with its own food truck park and multiple restaurant options inside along with a culinary school, home goods store, and more.
Best Breakfast: The Buttered Biscuit
Two locations in Bentonville make this the easy first and second choice for scoring scratch-made biscuits—served with housemade butters and toppings, as a sandwich, by the basket, and more—as well as hearty breakfast burritos and breakfast bowls.
Best Brewery: Bike Rack Brewery
Inspired by northwest Arkansas’ active mountain biking culture, Bike Rack brews each beer locally and serves its seasonal, alcohol-free, and regular brews on tap from its bike-friendly outdoor patio with food and live music.
Best Whiskey Bar: Scotch & Soda
This swanky bar specializes in cocktails of the Prohibition era, but the showstopper is the wall behind the bar with more than 300 whiskies to choose from to build your own whiskey flight. @thescotchandsodabv
Best Coffee Shop: Airship Coffee Roasters
What started as an agricultural project in Central America has grown to include a craft roastery on Fifth Street along with four third-wave cafés around town, including a bike-in artisanal coffee shop in the woods.
Best Soda Fountain: The Spark Café Soda Fountain
Set inside the Walmart Museum on the site of the original Walton’s 5&10, this old-school spot serves Arkansas-made Yarnell’s ice cream by the scoop or as a custom-made sundae with a healthy dose of nostalgia. @thesparkcafe
Claim to Fame
Conifer
Known locally as simply “chef Matt,” Matthew Cooper was raised in Arkansas, trained in the Pacific Northwest, and recognized worldwide as a semifinalist for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: South in 2024. His farm-to-table restaurant, Conifer, focuses on seasonality, aiming to highlight local products in their natural form. There is even a farmstand next door and a chef’s farm in the works to keep the 100-percent gluten-free menu stocked with local ingredients. Although his menu changes often, some favorites have included Hannah Ranch lamb meatballs with pistachio pesto, halibut with olive oil-marinated plum, and his rustic biscuits with salted whipped butter.
Where to Shop
Markham & Fitz
Markham & Fitz is a female-owned chocolate company that has come a long way since making its first chocolate bar back in 2014—like winning the International Chocolate Award and the Good Food Award—and their flagship café in the 8th Street Market is where to find their top sellers and other chocolate treats and cocktails.
Bentonville Provisions
Just a short walk from the Markham & Fitz bean-to-bar chocolate shop and café at the 8th Street Market, Bentonville Provisions is a one-stop-shop for all things kitchen related; it even offers cooking classes and has a cooler full of grab and-go fare for easy picnics in the Downtown Square. The retail portion of the store keeps a regular stock of local and artisanal products and kitchen essentials, like tea towels, candles, and small batch simple syrups from Pink House Alchemy.
Brightwater Center for the Study of Food
This American Culinary Federation accredited campus offers special classes and workshops for visitors that range from applied farming, seasonal cooking, and the art of fermentation.
Where to Stay
21c Museum Hotel Bentonville
The 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville opened just two years after the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art welcomed its first visitor, cementing the town’s legacy as a world-class art destination. More than 12,000 square feet of exhibition space act as the backdrop for rotating exhibitions throughout the public spaces of the hotel that are free and open daily to the public. Despite the inspired pieces throughout the boutique hotel—even the ones hung within the 104 guest room —the most curated creations are often found on the menu at The Hive, the hotel’s “High South” restaurant run by chef Micah Klasky.