Ed & Kay's - Benton, AR

Posted By Michael Stern on February 14, 2004 7:52 PM

Best known for its showstopping pies, Ed & Kay's also happens to be a great place for plate lunch. There may be only one or two hot entrées any day, but the list of side dishes is awesome. Like many good books, it starts slow but gets more exciting towards the end. Here is how it read the day we stopped in:

Jell-O
Apple Sauce
Green Salad
Cottage Cheese
Cole Slaw
Skillet Fried Potatoes
Buttered Spinach
Macaroni & Cheese
Pinto Beans
Purple Hull Peas
Creamed Corn
Green Beans

We didn't try them all, but we certainly can recommend the luxurious skillet fried potatoes, buttered spinach, and creamed corn … as well as the excellent onion rings that you can order alongside a hamburger. Our entrée of the day was a stuffed pepper, and it was fine; but next time we come, we'll likely forgo any entrée and get a four-vegetable plate for $5.00.

Meringue pies are amazing-looking, their tops a perfect volcano shape that is two or three times the height of the filling itself. Of course there are chocolate cream, coconut cream, and lemon meringue. Our personal favorite from this phylum is peanut butter cream. But neither should one ignore the non-meringue pies. Pecan is masterful; and the one known as PCP is the ultimate, its initials standing for pineapple, coconut, and pecan.

Overall Rating

4 Vegetable Plate

Pie

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Posted By Michael Kaye on April 22, 2012 8:22 AM

Ed & Kay's is near the last exit as you pass Benton heading to Texas. We drove our one exit to soon and were ready to give up when we spotted Ed and Kay's at the last minute. The service was a little cool but not unfriendly. We tried the pies and had a cup of coffee.

Overall Rating

Pie

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Posted By Royella on June 1, 2011 12:13 PM

You need to stop off here and eat. The service was outstanding. We had a great waitress. The food was excellent.

I had read about the pies and what I read was correct. We tried the PCP (pineapple, coconut, and pecan). Wonderful tasting. We also tried the volcano cake which was delicious. The waitress gave us a taste of the fudge pie and it was good. She also gave us a copy of the fudge pie recipe and the volcano cake recipe. You don't see this very often.

It is worth the trip. We were heading to Indiana and we planned the trip to include this stop.

Overall Rating

pie

vegetable plate

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Posted By Rikki Jones on May 31, 2008 1:07 PM

Just an update: we visited Ed and Kay's on May 23, 2008 (and again when coming back through Benton on May 25, mostly because of the PIE). They now do accept credit cards, fyi, so you might want to update that detail. We told the waitress that we had heard about the restaurant on Roadfood.com; she remembered your visit and your setting up to take pictures of the pies.

As you guys say, the pie was incredibly delicious (we had coconut cream and pecan the first visit, the coconut cream being the best we had ever had) and chocolate fudge on the second visit. The chocolate fudge oozed onto the plate so it was more like a chocolate pudding pie, but who's complaining.

We're happy to have found Roadfood.com!

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Posted By Stewart Wallace on February 29, 2008 9:06 AM

I used to live in Benton, and I ate at Ed & Kay's regularly. If you are lucky enough to be passing through in the summer months (say mid-June through mid-August), you will be treated to a variety of fresh vegetables grown especially for Kay by local farmers. I remember fresh green beans with new potatoes, squash and sliced tomatoes. If you are truly blessed, you will be lucky enough to come on a day when they have fresh purple hull peas and "fresh pan-fried okra" (if the menu just says "fried okra" then it's not the fresh stuff). The fresh okra has been blackened in a cast iron skillet. I would often get the four vegetable plate and just request a double serving of the pan-fried okra and a double serving of the fresh purple hull peas. Heaven!

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