Around 1996, I started dating a young lady whose family had a house at Lake Ouachita outside Hot Springs that we would frequent during summer weekends. Until then, I had only been to the city on family trips to Magic Springs theme park. So I wasn’t familiar with the barbecue restaurant they loved to visit: McClard’s Bar-B-Q.
I don’t remember the first time I went to McClard’s or what I ate, but it must have been amazing, and I’ve been a devoted customer for nearly 27 years.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to the Spa City and had lunch at McClard’s. My favorite server, Jason, greeted us and took our order. I told Jason I had started writing a column about Arkansas history, legends and places and that I was planning to write about my favorite restaurant. After my wife and I enjoyed our amazing food, Jason took me to the back of the house and introduced me to Phillip McClard, the grandson of the restaurant's founders.
Phillip couldn’t have been nicer, posing for pictures and taking me on a guided tour, showing me the pit where the meat is slow cooked and the rooms where tamales are hand-rolled, coleslaw is freshly made and McClard's unique sauce is crafted before the crack of dawn. He also shared old photos and the origin story of this iconic Arkansas restaurant.
In 1928, Phillip’s grandparents, Alex and Gladys McClard, operated the Westside Tourist Court, which was a combination motel, gas station and restaurant on Albert Pike Road in Hot Springs. When a visitor stayed at the motel and couldn't pay his $10 bill, he offered up a recipe for what he claimed was "the world's greatest barbecue sauce." Figuring that something was better than nothing, Alex and Alice accepted the recipe, and soon their barbecue business outgrew the tourist court and the gas station.
In 1928, the McClards’ Westside Tourist Court became Westside Bar-B-Q. Several years later in 1942, the McClards moved into the restaurant’s current location, a white-washed stucco building on Albert Pike not far from the original establishment.
Best known for their ribs and fry platter and tamale spread, McClard’s has established itself as one of the nation’s most well-known barbecue restaurants. It has won numerous awards and been written about in hundreds of magazines. Many celebrities pass through its doors. The late Willard Scott, best known as the long-time weatherman on NBC’s "The Today Show," said McClard’s was the best barbecue he'd ever tasted.
But McClard’s biggest celebrity fan is none other than Arkansas native and former Arkansas governor and U.S. President Bill Clinton, who grew up in Hot Springs eating McClard’s and often had it catered to the White House. Clinton is also the only patron the restaurant will accept a reservation from.
In June 2020, the family sold McClard’s Bar-B-Q to new owners. But the recipes and menu are still the same, as is the presence of Phillip McClard, who still works five days a week helping prepare the delicious food and secret sauce whose formula is known to a select few.
Obviously, the young lady whose family took me to McClard’s didn’t turn out to be the love of my life. But I will be forever grateful to them for introducing me to one of mine — McClard’s Bar-B-Q.
A proud sixth-generation Arkansan, Darrell W. Brown is a lover of all things Arkansas. He lives on Lake Norrell in Saline County with his wife, Amy, and their two beloved Boston Terriers. Find him on Facebook and Instagram at AllAroundArkansas.
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