In this episode, we dive into the unique history and culture of one of Bentonville’s renowned establishments—Yeyo’s with Chef Rafael Rios. Join us as we explore the traditions that define the acclaimed cuisine, hear the inspiring story of his family’s journey, and how Yeyo’s got to where it is today.
Plus, Chef Rios shares his recommendation on what to get at Yeyo’s if it’s your first time and some of his favorite eats around town. Listen now!
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Don't forget, Visit Bentonville is here to assist you in finding things to do, where to eat and stay, and find out what's going on in the city. Visit our website visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our enewsletter here.
In this episode, we dive into the unique history and culture of one of Bentonville’s renowned establishments—Yeyo’s with Chef Rafael Rios. Join us as we explore the traditions that define the acclaimed cuisine, hear the inspiring story of his family’s journey, and how Yeyo’s got to where it is today.
Plus, Chef Rios shares his recommendation on what to get at Yeyo’s if it’s your first time and some of his favorite eats around town. Listen now!
You can listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, CastBox, Podcast Casts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Podcast Addict.
Don't forget, Visit Bentonville is here to assist you in finding things to do, where to eat and stay, and find out what's going on in the city. Visit our website visitbentonville.com and subscribe to our enewsletter here.
Welcome to A New American Town, a podcast proudly presented by Visit Bentonville. I am your host, Jaclyn House, broadcasting from Haxton Road Studios near the Bentonville Square. Join us as we share captivating stories and updates from our city, connecting you with the locals that make this town worth visiting. Now today, I am very excited and very hungry because I'm joined by Chef Rafael Rios from Yeyos. Welcome to the podcast.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Jaclyn, thanks for having me.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, absolutely so, for you all listening. We're filming this around lunchtime. Chef, my stomach is growling right now.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Well, what's not to like about this town when it comes to lunch, there's options everywhere and new restaurants popping everywhere. I believe that we're definitely a staple in the city and I'm sorry I didn't bring any food. We're so busy. There's a line out the door every time we open our doors, and that's a great thing.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, absolutely, I might just follow you out, you know, after the podcast today to get a late lunch?
Chef Rafael Rios:
Yes, absolutely.
Jaclyn House:
Chef, take us back to the early days when you decided to pursue this work.
Chef Rafael Rios:
The early days have everything to do with the peace of mind of my family really. We moved to Northwest Arkansas to seek a peaceful place to be and a place where we can make a difference, a place where we felt like home and it allows us to showcase everything that a Latino family could do, if you will. So we wanted to make a difference and it kind of just started with a crazy thought of just selling food that over the years I was told it was really good and we felt that that was our opportunity.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, how long has Yeyo's been open here in Bentonville?
Chef Rafael Rios:
Yeyo's started with a food truck in 2012. But before that we were farming. My family is a family of farmers since the 70s or even before I was born in 76. So since I remember, my dad was a seasonal farm worker in California and we saw him November through March every year and we just love farming and that's what kind of brought us here the opportunity to own a little farm and just to be happy.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, when you opened up that food truck, did you imagine that you would be able to then, from the food truck, open up the space at 8th Street Market, then have the mezcaleria, and then you and I were just talking about the craft ice cream. Was that the vision at that time?
Chef Rafael Rios:
No, we had. Our vision was to have chickens and horses and dairy cow, you know. But the cool thing about us moving here and starting our farming operations was the need of the community at the time to have options for people like us. So we started farming, we started taking our food to our church and soon after, we decided that we would open a food truck with a farm-to-table approach, meaning we wanted to change perception of Mexican food in Northwest Arkansas, and that led to opening our restaurant our first restaurant in 2017 at the South Market, and then 2 years later in Rogers. We have not just the ice cream shop, but we have another project happening in Springdale where we're dedicating a little bit more to the community, and that will be a whole new episode.
Jaclyn House:
Okay, so you have to come back. Okay, chef, allow me to brag on you for a little bit, if I can. A Semifinalist Best Chef South James Beard Foundation. You've been here before right, you've been nominated several times.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Yes, this is our fourth nomination as a semifinalist. We were nominated as one of the 50 best restaurants in America in 2023 by the New York Times and basically it shows our commitment. You know over the years, we are committed to providing that quality of life that we always brag about. We don't brag about our food, we brag about what we offer.
Jaclyn House:
If I am new to Bentonville and I come to Yeyo's, what should I eat?
Chef Rafael Rios:
You should eat a memela sunrise on a Saturday morning for brunch. It is an oversized, over-thick tortilla made with nixtamalized corn and black bean paste from Oaxaca, topped with our homemade chorizo that we make in-house, a little spicy, stone ground salsa verde we actually use the mortars in stone and our farm eggs at the very top, so it's a representation of our farm and our family.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, in case you haven't been to Yeyos and you absolutely should what I love about going in there is you can see everything that's happening.
Jaclyn House:
I mean you can see everything. You are back there cooking and it is amazing and I really, really love that there's something transparent and I feel like I appreciate my food a little bit more when I'm able to really see what's going on back there in the in the preparation. And I will tell you, your staff does a great job of taking care of preparation and there seems to be a lot of pride and intentionality about that and I know that's something that I'm sure that you are proud of. How important was it when you all were building Yeyos at that South Market, that you did kind of have that open space to where people can see what preparation looks like.
Chef Rafael Rios:
So I would say the open kitchen concept is, as you said, intentional. We wanted to showcase the processes, we wanted to make people feel like they came to the right place. You know, a clean kitchen is always going to be a denominator, a factor to enlighten people about how we handle their food, how proud we are of how clean our place is. It makes them feel comfortable, it makes them feel like, you know, they can see the process. You know, being inside and feeling the noise and seeing the flames. It is a representation of a market in, I don't know, Guadalajara or Mexico City, where everything's happening, it's vibrant. Everything's happening and right before your eyes you can see the whole process. So we just wanted to make people feel safe and comfortable and experience a little bit of the cultural aspect. You know, through our art murals outside, the food, the people inside. Those are all important factors.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, I was just about to ask too, what are some of those pieces that you brought from your homeland here to Bentonville when you were thinking about putting the restaurant together?
Chef Rafael Rios:
So we wanted to show people again processes, so we brought in, for instance, tortilla manufacturing equipment. We were able to find machinery that could nixtamalize corn for us and show the process and make our own chips in-house, our own tortillas in-house in-house, our own tortillas, in-house. We went as far as making a special stone grinder for our mole sauce, which is our main dish at the restaurant. This was made for us in Zacatecas, in central Mexico, and it's a mini version of a stone grinder that allows us to make our mole in a more traditional way. So, therefore, we can show our customers the true flavor. We connect them.
Jaclyn House:
Any other interesting facts to share about Yeyos?
Chef Rafael Rios:
Well, Yeyos is a veteran-owned business. We are again breaking ground in the state and a lot of other states as far as you know, the farm operation, farm to table, conscious food and conscious processes, and we are dedicated to the community through art as well. So every time you go to a Yeyo's location you're going to see art and that connects the culture and at times it connects you to um mythology, like Mexican mythology connects you, it makes you have conversations and we have no TV so therefore you're kind of forced to have those conversations.
Jaclyn House:
I just thought about that, that is. You are so right. I was like, yeah, I have not seen a TV in there and I have not missed, you know, watching it either, because I'm too busy stuffing my face when I'm there.
Chef Rafael Rios:
So we do have TVs, let me take that back. We do have TVs, let me take that back. But the intention of those TVs is we're going to, we are starting to develop a you can call it a marketing strategy, but it's really like even more connection with our customers in the dining room where we can see more in detail how we prepare their food through those TVs Sure, more in detail how we prepare their food through those TVs Sure, and also show them a little bit more about our family and our efforts to change that, you know, to change that perception and make sure that people understand the farming aspect.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Our partners and our family.
Jaclyn House:
What is the name? Yeyos? Where does that come from?
Chef Rafael Rios:
Yeyos is my dad. Okay, so long story short. We came to Northwest Arkansas in 2004 in search of what I had to explain to you, just peaceful, and everything of what I had to explain to you just peaceful and everything. But also, my dad always wanted to have a farm in California and it was almost impossible to accomplish that. So we decided that we would come here and, you know, follow his dream and make it our own as well. So Dad was always on top of things when it came to like raising us. You know I was explaining how he was hardly home in body, but he was there with us in soul all the time. So he went through a lot himself and I don't really no, I love that.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Talking about it is powerful for me. But we wanted to give him something to be proud of and we bought his first farm in Littleflock and he's been happy ever since and he's a stallion. He works like a horse every day. At 76 years old he is the soul of our farm, along with mom, and he still works every day.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, I can tell that that is something that's very special to you and it honestly makes sense right, because when you come in and you eat, I feel like having that deep connection to your family. It just you can taste it. If that makes sense, the care and the connection that you have with your family, it just all makes sense and it ties it all together as to why that place is so special.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Yes, I often call mom and ask her Mom, do you remember how to make this thing? I just don't seem to get the right flavor and she just walks me through the whole recipe over the phone, and then I bring her over. Once in a while she comes to my kitchen and helps me develop stuff like recipes, and then that is our guinea pig. You know, he always comes and tastes the food and stuff like that. So we're definitely connected. There's seven siblings and all of us are here in Northwest Arkansas.
Jaclyn House:
Wow, wow, I love that.
Chef Rafael Rios:
It's a commitment that we have to each other as far as, like keeping the family strong and keeping an eye for the kids, you know, like making sure that they're doing the right thing. It's like having seven moms and dads, you know for all my nephews and nieces out there.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, multigenerational families are pretty special and rare, so I love that.
Chef Rafael Rios:
I love that your family is here
Jaclyn House:
Let's talk about the different experiences that people can have. You know, if we go to the food truck in Bentonville, if we go to the South Market location, 8th Street Market, or we go to the Mezcaleria, what kind of experiences are we having at each of those spots?
Chef Rafael Rios:
OK, so, yeah, the 8th Street, we'll start with the food truck because that's where it all started and basically it's a heaven for people wandering around town, new visitors. It's a must-stop place. People that come to downtown Bentonville it's almost kind of like a place where they have to stop. It's in the middle, it's in this little alleyway, it's like tucked away in there. There's a lot of biking community that gathers and hangs out in there and making, you know, getting those big burritos to get their proteins, to get that strength, you know, and after a long ride and stuff like that.
Chef Rafael Rios:
It's a perfect location for the people, for people that is visiting especially for the first time to experience something that they might be experiencing in bigger and bigger city. You know LA, New York, San Francisco, you know um, and then as you, as you make it to the 8th Street Market, then it becomes a little bit more, slightly elevated. But also this is where you can get the experience of seeing how your food is prepared. This is the place where there's a connection with the overall city, of making people feel at home. There is a at the 8th Street Market, there is inclusivity, there's all these things happening and it makes it a very unique place for people to experience Mezcal for the first time, you know, and it's a filter, food-wise, to what's happening in Rogers.
Jaclyn House:
Okay.
Chef Rafael Rios:
So Rogers is even more elevated. It's almost it's a little bit more elevated, a little cozy, small place, dim lights, slightly louder music, not really suited for families with kids. Craft cocktails, specialty curated menu that showcases different regions of Mexico, and it's a cool place to hang out and definitely connect with the culture and the spirit of agave.
Jaclyn House:
My husband and I actually went there for a date night and it was perfect. I mean, you know, the kids weren't with us, it was just us and it was great. We took our time. We ate upstairs in the Mezcal area.
Jaclyn House:
So, to your point, a little bit of a tighter space, which was great for us because we were just really looking for just some intimacy, just he and I, but we wanted to have really really good food and I wanted to have really really good cocktails, and so that experience, that's the experience that we had there at the Mezcal Rio Down in Rogers.
Chef Rafael Rios:
We have the largest selection of artisanal and ancestral mezcal in the entire state, so we were focusing on that connection. You know, definitely a place to have great conversations and have friends over and just hang out and have a really, really good time. That's the intention there. And then we have the flight. You know that we can have conversations about the processes of distillation and denominations of origin and all kinds of cool stuff about our main spirit of the market.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, give us a lowdown on mezcal, because that is actually. That spirit is new to me, probably over the past couple of years, and I love it. Yeah, I really enjoy it.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Mezcal is unique. It existed over 200 years before tequila was out and surfaced I call it the grandfather of tequila, right? So tequila is made with blue agave and has one single denomination of origin, whereas mezcal, we have up to 48 different species of agave other than blue agave. So it comes from different regions of Mexico with different processes. Single origin I just think of it, as you know, a good wine, or scotch or bourbon.
Chef Rafael Rios:
You know like the distilling process is so different and there's always a maestro mezcalero which is a master distiller, one single person, behind each one of those bottles, a small batch, and then so it goes from young agaves first distill, second distill. Some distillation stake plays in copper, with copper or clay or a combination of both, and each one of those distills is never the same. So it's just, there's minerals in it, there's all these flavors of the process that you can take on, every little sip of the spirit. You never shoot, you know you don't shoot mezcal, you taste it and you kiss it and you just like embrace and taste and close your eyes and just let it take you somewhere.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, it is. I really enjoy it. Like I said, it's something that was new to me. I just enjoy the smokiness of it, kind of that heat of the mezcal.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Yeah, it spends an average of five days on the ground with the direct smoke and rocks, and then the distilling process as well.
Jaclyn House:
This podcast is presented by Visit Bentonville, so I always like to ask our guests what their favorite things to do are in Bentonville. But I'm going to put this maybe to you, because you are a chef what are your favorite places to eat in Bentonville?
Chef Rafael Rios:
What are your favorite places to eat in Bentonville? Well, I like Conifer and I really enjoy the simplicity of the fish that they sell there. It's not simplicity, it's like complex, rather, but simple flavors. I do like Conifer, I do like Ozark Mountain Bagel, you guys are my favorite, but yeah, it's really good. And obviously I like Indian food. I think we should have more Indian places around town and I like Toot oot and that's more like Rogers, but it's at the border of Rogers and Bentonville I would say that Well, Chef, thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast.
Jaclyn House:
Congratulations to all. The success to you, to your family. We appreciate all the flavors and the culture and really the familiar story that you're bringing here to us here in Northwest Arkansas. We appreciate you, we're proud of you.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Thank you so much for having me.
Jaclyn House:
Yeah, we hope you have a chance to check out Yeyos, either at the food truck or at 8th Street Market or in Rogers at the Mezcaleria Chef. Tell us again what's the name of the ice cream place.
Chef Rafael Rios:
Sweet Dream Creamery and we do have vegan options. We have sorbets and we have really unique flavors such as I don't know cereal milk for the kids birthday cake, some really complex and more delicate flavors such as earl grey, lavender and I. Just we have everything. We have sorbets and vegan and really cool stuff.
Jaclyn House:
And we know that we have now made all the listeners very hungry. That was our goal, don't forget. Visit Bentonville is here to assist you as you're navigating things to do, where to eat, which we just gave you, several delicious places to eat, where to stay and, of course, what's going on in our city. Give us a follow on social media and check out our website, visitbentonville. com. Thanks for listening.