3 Crazy Things Happening in Northwest Arkansas

A new restaurant on the Bentonville square cooks your meal in front of you as a performance, across three separate chef's counters — and it comes from the co-founder of Evernote, working with two Michelin-starred chefs. It is one of three things worth knowing right now, alongside a second Handel's ice cream location in Fayetteville and Onyx Coffee Lab's continued expansion across the region.

1. Bentoville Food Theater Opens on the Square

The name is a portmanteau — bento plus Bentonville — and the concept is in the second half of it: specialized chefs cooking in front of you, talking through the work as they go. Think of the energy of a hibachi counter, but built around chefs preparing your food start to finish rather than a set menu.

Bentoville runs three stages: a sushi counter, a yakitori and robata charcoal grill, and a rotating show kitchen. Seating is bar-style facing the chefs, it is reservation-based, and there is no conventional menu. Pricing runs roughly $20 to $50 per person depending on which stage you book.

The people behind it are the surprising part. It is a project of Phil Libin, co-founder and former CEO of Evernote, alongside Michelin-starred chefs Shin Takagi and Billy Kong and former Apple and Evernote Japan executive Hitoshi Hokamura.

It opened in June 2026 and is still settling in. That is sensible for a format this dependent on the people behind the counter — a room like this depends on whether the chef can cook and hold an audience at the same time.

The site matters as much as the food. It took over the former Pressroom space on the square, which closed in 2024, and the remodel absorbed the connecting hallway to the neighboring Onyx Coffee Lab to make a roughly 6,000-square-foot room. Bentonville has made clear it wants distinctive, premium places on the square, and this fits that brief exactly.

2. Handel's Opens a Second Location in Fayetteville

Handel's Homemade Ice Cream opened on North College Avenue in Fayetteville in June, on the site of a former Burger King. It is the chain's second Northwest Arkansas location — the Rogers shop on West Pleasant Grove has been open since 2014.

The appeal of a place like this is focus. Plenty of restaurants offer a menu spanning Chinese, Mexican, chicken tenders, macaroni and steak, and you know roughly what you are getting from all of it. A shop that does one thing is making a different promise.

Handel's is a chain and it feels like one — consistent, and the product is good. Fayetteville, Rogers and Bentonville all have smaller independent ice cream shops worth seeking out too, and they are a different experience. But if you want reliable premium ice cream, this is a straightforward addition.

3. Onyx Coffee Lab Is Everywhere Now

Onyx Coffee Lab appears incapable of slowing down. A three-story cafe on West Emma Avenue in downtown Springdale that doubles as a bean-to-bar chocolate operation. A quick-service shop on the Fayetteville square. The original HQ cafe and roastery in Rogers. And a robotic espresso arm at XNA.

Then there is Onyx at The Preserve, in Bud's Preserve Park on Walmart's new Bentonville campus, right off the Greenway. People keep comparing it to a Star Wars set. What actually reads is that it was designed properly — Onyx co-founder Jon Allen worked on it with Marlon Blackwell Architects, and it shows in every detail.

If you are visiting Bentonville, that section is worth the detour on its own. A cluster of shops has opened there, and Onyx at The Preserve is the piece that makes the trip.