WATCH: Ohio Club, Bailey's nominated for Arkansas Food Hall of Fame

Michael “The Burger Chef” Dampier displays a burger at The Ohio Club. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
Michael “The Burger Chef” Dampier displays a burger at The Ohio Club. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record

Fourth-year finalist The Ohio Club and a newcomer, Bailey's Dairy Treat, are both in the running for the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame this year.

Created by Arkansas Heritage in 2017, the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame names 15 finalists each year and inducts three. There are currently 15 restaurants in the hall, including McClard's Bar-B-Q, which was inducted in 2018.

"It's four years in a row as a finalist; it is very exciting," Michael "The Burger Chef" Dampier, general manager at The Ohio Club, said. "Still humbling that, you know, being recognized, especially with, I think they said 1,400 nominations for this category, so for four straight years being a finalist is exciting, very exciting, actually."



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Dampier said he thinks being consistent is the main reason the restaurant keeps getting nominated, noting, "being the oldest bar in Arkansas, there's so much history. We've been serving food as early as 1911 -- even though it was as a front back then for some of the activities going on -- but we still served food through the years."

Dampier said "the fun thing" about "being open 117 years now, we're in our second pandemic, because 1918 pandemic we went through, then the one in 2020 till now, we've survived floods, we've survived fires, we've survived prohibition. Then the downside of downtown Hot Springs kinda went on a downhill spiral for a few years, now it's revitalized, but in 2020 we were closed for four months for the pandemic."

Last February, four hours before the state lifted the pandemic restrictions, "we had a landslide, so our kitchen, after being closed four months in 2020, we were closed six months for a landslide, and had to completely rebuild our kitchen, so the past two years have been rough, but we've bounced back."

Dampier's kitchen is known for its hamburgers -- not surprising, given his nickname "The Burger Chef."

"We focus on burgers, we had different kinds -- beef sliders, we've got some dairy bar-style burgers, the old greasy spoon 5-ounce burgers that you can get single all the way up to a quadruple-sized burger, and then our custom blend burgers," he said.

The restaurants that are inducted receive a framed plate. The Ohio Club already has one plate -- it won the People's Choice Award in 2020 -- but Dampier said he would like to add a second plate to the restaurant's wall.

"To actually get inducted, it's probably going to be a roller coaster of emotions," Dampier said. "It's humbling because we're just a bar that does burgers and sandwiches. It'd be great to have another plate hanging on the wall."

Also on the list of finalists is Bailey's Dairy Treat, co-owned by Lien Morphew and Lien Kieu. Originally called Butchie's Drive-In, Bailey's opened in 1952 at 534 Park Ave. and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

"I feel good," Morphew said about the nomination. "It surprised me. I had no idea."

"I feel great, I'm so happy. I just feel good," Kieu said. "I want to say thank you for everything from my customers."

Morphew and Kieu bought the historic restaurant in 1995. While it is called Dairy Treat, Morphew said they are known for their hamburgers. "Just regular, everyday hamburgers and cheeseburgers, with ice cream in the summer."

"The reason people come, we make our own patties, fresh patties, every morning," Morphew said. "I make my own patties, that way people like it. They know (it's) fresh, every day."

He said his regular customers don't mind waiting for the fresh burgers.

"They say they can wait 15 minutes, or 10 minutes, to see the food here," he said.

"People come to the window, I know what they want. I don't have to ask them anything," Morphew said of his regulars.

He said he doesn't intend to change up his winning menu.

"I'm just here every day, I don't have nothing to change, and people, they know us," Morphew said.

Both Dampier and Morphew said they were happy for the other's nomination.

"Love Bailey's," Dampier said. "Great owners that are just super kind, hardworking."

"We love to see them have success like us. I hope they feel the same thing I feel," Morphew said.

Two other former Hot Springs restaurants are nominated for this year's class in the category Gone But Not Forgotten, including Coy's Steak House and Mrs. Miller's Chicken and Steak House. Numerous local venues are also up for the People's Choice Award.

Noting all of the nominations around town, Dampier said, "we are a great food destination."

The Arkansas Food Hall of Fame winner announcement will be virtual and in person on Feb. 7 at Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock. More information on the Food Hall of Fame is available at http://www.ArkFoodHOF.com.

  photo  Lien Morphew, co-owner of Bailey’s Dairy Treat, holds an ice cream cone inside the restaurant. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
 
 
  photo  Lien Kieu, co-owner of Bailey’s Dairy Treat, cooks burgers. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
 
 
  photo  A cook at The Ohio Club assembles one of their signature burgers. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
 
 

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