Amateur pilots love to complain about the “hundred-dollar hamburger.” It’s an in-joke, a wry lament about the high cost of learning to fly small aircraft – the expense of plane rental and fuel for a practice flight to the next small-town airport and a greasy-spoon lunch.
Louise, a gastro-diner with picture windows overlooking the runway at Bentonville Municipal Airport, has modernized the idea with a menu item named “The $200 Bacon Burger” (which actually costs $19). This burger is very good, but that’s not the whole story.
Where else but Bentonville would the airfield be part of a city recreation complex with fishing lake, kayak rentals, a mile-long raised boardwalk through marshland, an archery range, and an amphitheater? Flying magazine featured it as “The Coolest Airport in the Country” in 2022. The airport has existed since 1946 and is also known as Thaden Field.
Visitors sip craft cocktails at Louise and watch the interesting small airplanes and helicopters take off and land. They can see classic aircraft in a display hangar, schedule a flying lesson, rent a high-tech Cirrus airplane, or charter a flight to a backwoods camp. Foot paths lead to a rock-climbing gym and a brewpub with food trucks, all connected to a 100-mile system of bike trails through several towns.
The airport and park complex is a feat of urban planning, a decade in the making. Like other impressive public spaces in Bentonville, it can be understood only in the context of Walmart money in one form another. The hometown corporate giant pays local taxes, and it’s a fountainhead of voluntary contributions for civic projects.
The Louise restaurant has the footprint of a railroad-car diner: a long counter with stools for eating and drinking, facing a partly open kitchen. A row of tables runs along the windows.
The menu reflects diner food updated for today’s tastes. Unlike many diners, it has a relatively small menu that emphasizes breakfast platters, a half-dozen sandwiches and two dinner salads, one of which is vegetarian. There’s also a full bar with local craft beers and pub-style appetizers like fried pickles and loaded fries.
One day last week, an off-menu dessert was offered, a house-made seasonal fruit cobbler. The eatery is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The diner’s namesake, Louise Thaden (1905 – 1979), was an early aviator from Bentonville. She held U.S. pilot license number 850, issued in 1928 and signed by Orville Wright.
Even at age 13, the budding gearhead barnstormed dirt roads in borrowed automobiles with police in the rearview mirror. According to legend, exasperated authorities eventually granted Thaden a special driver license for someone under 16. She was eight years younger than Amelia Earhart with whom she later competed -– and occasionally bested in aerial competitions.
Chad Cox, president of Summit Aviation LLC, which manages the airport for the city, said that allowing recreational access and engaging the public are priorities. The airport has a school-internship program to attract and train young pilots. Much of the flying at the airport is by hobbyists flying vintage aircraft, aerobatic and bush planes, along with the workaday personal airplanes of local residents.
Cox explained that the airport has no commercial flights, no control tower, and no defense contacts. Any of these would bring stricter security like fences and checkpoints. It has a 5,053-foot runway – too short for regional airliners but enough for medium-size private jets. The airport charges no landing or parking fees for piston-powered aircraft (only jets pay).
Two larger airports within a dozen miles handle bigger planes – Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) for commercial flights and the charter-focused Rogers Executive Airport
As for the $200 Bacon Burger, I enthusiastically ate the whole thing.
What I liked most were the house-baked brioche bun that was warm and fluffy, a generous dollop of house-made chipotle aioli, and thin slices of homemade cucumber pickles. These three elements elevated it above a typical gastroburger.
The on-duty mixologist constructed a craft cocktail, the rosemary margarita. He used a hand-held torch to coat the inside of the glass with rosemary smoke, then garnished the drink with a sprig of rosemary and salted the rim. It was delicious -– and quite strong, as any airport drink should be.
The adventuring spirit of Louise Thaden lives on! After piloting a light plane across 500 miles of prairie, when your eyeballs are melting and you can smell your own sweat, you need a big breakfast – or the $200 Bacon Burger back at Bentonville airfield.
