Local entrepreneurs Burt Hamilton and Carly James are once again bringing something new and noteworthy to Eureka Springs. A couple years ago the couple won the championship at the World Hot Sauce Expo in Lafayette, La., for their Butternut Bomb hot sauce. They operated the Mundi Café at Eureka Live, and recently took over management of the Chelsea’s Corner Café at the corner of Mountain and Center Sts.
Burt is part owner of the building and has worked there on and off for the past 23 years. In addition to selling five flavors of their Mundi sauces, Carly is an auctioneer.
Since taking over upstairs at Chelsea’s, the kitchen has been remodeled and there are new offerings on the menu. While pizza is still very popular, there are new takes on this old favorite such as the Thai chicken pizza, pizza de Cabrales and, recently, morel mushroom pizza made from locally gathered morels. There are still the Greek salad and Greek platter options that include spinach, green olives, black olives, feta cheese, and onions. The platter also has hummus and gyro meat. But now there are also frequently po-boys made with French bread baked on site, and daily specials.
“Pizza supports our cooking habit,” Burt, who has been working at restaurants off and on since he was 15, said. “When I developed this idea how we wanted to run this kitchen, the idea was that pizza was going to support the business. But I wanted it to be chef friendly so we aren’t stuck fixing the same thing over and over. No artist wants to mass-produce the same thing over and over. We like to play around, do different things, keep it interesting.”
Burt and the other chef in the kitchen, Tom O’Connell, explore of lot of world foods.
“We love to cook everything,” Burt said. “With Tom and me here, we have enough knowledge that when we see things around the kitchen, we can pretty much make anything. That is why we don’t have permanent soups on the menu. We thought we would change it up. Tonight, we’re serving tomato bisque.”
People on a budget or in a hurry can appreciate picking up a slice of pizza for $5 in the warming box. The café is one of the only places in town where you walk in to pick up something hot already prepared. In addition to pizza, there are pizza rolls and breadsticks.
At $4 per cup or $8 for a bowl, their soups are filling and healthy. One of their favorite recipes is pork green chili, a New Mexican style soup that Burt learned to make while living in Taos, N.M. The Greek lemon chicken soup has gotten rave reviews. And they are particularly proud of their chicken and dumplings. Their gyros are very popular and they also do different savory empanadas and Jamaica beef patties.
Recently they offered a chicken shawarma special.
“We are able to cook a lot of things like chicken shawarma and döner kebabs in our upright rotisserie,” Burt said. “Shawarma and döner both mean swirl. Not many people in Northwest Arkansas or Arkansas in general use a rotisserie, but they’re nice to have.”
Customers, particularly locals who come in frequently, have said it is great to frequently have different menu choices. People also are enjoying the upper deck patio has been turned into a garden with containers made out of recycled pallets being used to grow tomatoes, peppers, pole beans, microgreens and herbs.
“I plan on growing microgreens in the winter upstairs under lights,” Burt said. “We plan to keep them going all the time. We are just trying to be fresh and grow more of the foods we cook with.”
Carly and Burt have four children: Kamelle, 21, Janmey, 18, Madeline, 15, and Tahva, 13.
Chelsea’s Corner Café has changed its hours and is open weekdays from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Chelsea’s downstairs still opens at 11 and goes until 2 the following morning, midnight on Sunday.