For better or worse, cheese dip and Arkansas are a marriage made in culinary heaven…or hell…depending on your perspective and the current state of your health.
Arkansas’s love affair with cheese dip began in Central Arkansas and has since spread throughout the state.
People around here love cheese dip. We crave it, make it, debate it, vote on it, argue about spices, ingredients and types of cheese, defend our favorites, and protect our secret recipes. We proudly claim it as our own.
It is part of our culinary and social history.
This is serious stuff, y’all.
In fact, cheese dip is so ubiquitous here that many Arkansans don’t even realize it is a LOCAL phenomenon until they travel to another state and are shocked to discover a disappointing lack of cheese dip on the menu.
Where Was Cheese Dip Invented?
The short answer is Arkansas – at least if you are talking about the smooth, dippable restaurant-style cheese dip that became a Central Arkansas obsession.
The story leads us to Blackie Donnelly and the famed Mexico Chiquito restaurant.
Mexico Chiquito says Donnelly created cheese dip in 1935 at a humble, dirt-floor restaurant in the Prothro Junction area of North Little Rock.
Can we prove that no one anywhere had ever made something similar before? Probably not. Melted-cheese dishes had certainly existed for a very long time, and even the Arkansas story includes competing claims involving North Little Rock and Hot Springs.
However, Mexico Chiquito is widely credited with introducing and popularizing the smooth yellow cheese dip that became such an important part of Arkansas food culture.
Dining at Mexico Chiquito was an event for locals and a must-stop for people driving through the state. At the height of its popularity, there were several sit-down locations around Central Arkansas.
Today, only one Little Rock location remains. It is a drive-through spot on West Markham, but it is still popular, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself waiting in a long line of cars.
Y’all, true story here. My husband’s niece, who was raised in South Florida, but whose mother used to live in Arkansas, had us transport gallons of Mexico Chiquito cheese dip from Little Rock to West Palm Beach to serve at the rehearsal dinner for her wedding. The guests went crazy over it!
A Documentary About Arkansas Cheese Dip
In 2009, local filmmaker Nick Rogers released In Queso Fever: A Movie About Cheese Dip.
The short documentary became popular online and explores the history, mystery and peculiar charm of Arkansas cheese-dip culture.
It is funny, informative and captures just how seriously we take this stuff around here.
Is Cheese Dip the Same as Queso?
This is where Texans tend to get a little testy.
Some people – Texans, mostly – like to say something along the lines of, “Yeah, right. Arkansas invented melted cheese.”
But that isn’t exactly what Arkansas is claiming.
Obviously, melted-cheese dishes have been around almost as long as cheese. Mexican cuisine certainly perfected the art of putting gooey cheese in and on all sorts of wonderful things long before 1935.
Arkansas’s claim is connected to the smooth, pourable, restaurant-style dip that became an important part of everyday food culture in Central Arkansas.
There isn’t one official Arkansas cheese-dip recipe. The version we make at home starts with a roux and includes milk, spices and “real” American cheese. I suspect the Mexico Chiquito version is made in a similar way, but its recipe is a closely guarded secret.
Other versions use processed cheese or various combinations of melty cheeses, along with spices, chopped jalapeños, tomatoes or even meat.
Recipes vary wildly, but the common thread is a warm, creamy cheese dip served with tortilla chips.
So, is cheese dip really different from queso?
I think so. But I’m also willing to acknowledge that sometimes the biggest difference is simply what we call it and how deeply it is woven into our local food culture.
Queso, cheese dip, tomato, tomahto.
But…Arkansans think cheese dip is better, and yes, we are prepared to argue about it.
Arkansas Cheese Dip Versus Texas Queso
In 2016, the Arkansas-versus-Texas cheese debate made it all the way to Washington, D.C.
Arkansas senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton faced off against Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz in a blind taste test among Republican senators.
Arkansas won.
Was this a scientifically conclusive experiment? Probably not.
Are we still going to use it as proof that Arkansas cheese dip is better?
Absolutely.
World Cheese Dip Championship
Naturally, a state that takes cheese dip this seriously needed a world championship.
The first World Cheese Dip Championship was held in 2010 after the success of Nick Rogers’s documentary. The competition includes both professional and amateur cheese-dip makers, along with awards selected by judges and the cheese-dip-eating public.
In a bit of delicious irony, the event benefits Harmony Health Clinic, a nonprofit clinic that provides medical and dental care to uninsured and underserved people in Central Arkansas.
Tip: If you attend the world cheese dip championship bring along a muffin tin to hold all the little cheese dip cups you will collect along the way.
Where to Eat Cheese Dip in Little Rock
These days, you will find cheese dip at all kinds of restaurants around Central Arkansas. Of course, it is served at Mexican restaurants, including the venerable Mexico Chiquito, but you will also find it at breweries, burger joints, sandwich spots, casual family restaurants and even a few more upscale places.
We have tried quite a few of them and put together a list of our favorite places to eat cheese dip in Little Rock.
