Let your appetite take flight at these Springfield-area restaurants

Move over boozy flights, food flights are here.

For years, wine and beer lovers have been able to sample various libations through flights, and now restaurants are hopping on the trend with food. A flight is fun and allows the customer to savor a variety of dishes in smaller portions. From avocado toast to cake, here are a few to enjoy.

Toasties at Urban Grounds Coffee + Plant Lab

Urban Grounds Coffee + Plant Lab in Ozark serves toasties flights and you can pick four of your favorites. Hannah Hicks, general manager, said they wanted to give people an option to try different flavors in a creative way.

“A fun concept to taste your way through the menu,” she said. “The flights have been popular and are perfect for a group of people or for an individual meal.”

Toasties are all served on sourdough bread and flavors range from classic avocado toast to one with fig jam, goat cheese, prosciutto and apples. Urban Grounds has eight toasties to choose from. Their spring menu features a Granny’s toastie with whipped cream cheese and strawberry-rhubarb preserves.

Funnel cake at Dublin’s Pass on Battlefield

Dublin’s Pass has a funnel cake trio at its Battlefield location only. The flight was added to the menu in the past month.

This playful dish features three smaller versions of funnel cake that make little nests on the plate. The tangled hot fried dough, with a crispy exterior and soft interior, is then drizzled with your choice of sauces. Select three options from chocolate, strawberry, blackberry, peanut butter, caramel and old school powdered sugar. No need to wait for the fair to enjoy this classic. What a brilliant dessert idea.

Shaved ice and ice cream at Sno Biz Plus

14 Mill Market in Nixa is the place to be for flights. At least three vendors offer them. Since day one, Sno Biz Plus has featured its Bizzy Flight. You get four 4-ounce servings of ice cream or shaved ice, or a mix of both. They serve Ice Cream Factory ice cream, which started in Eldon, Missouri, and is family-owned.

The blackberry cobbler ice cream is incredible — it’s like blackberry cobbler à la mode with a big serving of the à la mode. Other delicious options include gooey butter cake or strawberry cheesecake. There are more than 20 ice cream flavors to choose from and there are 46 flavors of shaved ice. The tiger’s blood shaved ice is strawberry and coconut and leaves a kiss of the tropics on your tongue.

Burger and fried chicken sliders at Mo Slider Company

Another vendor at 14 Mill Market with flights is Mo Slider Company, known for its smash burgers and hand-breaded chicken sliders. The burger fight features up to six burgers and you can mix and match flavors. They have some wonderful flavors like bacon jam with whipped goat cheese (that one rocks), or the Western with bacon, cheddar cheese, barbecue sauce and fried onion tanglers.

The fried chicken slider flight is also available with up to six chicken sandwiches. Mo Slider Company has some spicy options from Buffalo to Nashville hot, and a jalapeno popper one smothered in popper cream cheese and grilled jalapenos.

Waffles at Liege Love Waffle Company

A flight at Liege Love Waffle Company comes with six samples — what a great way to eat your way around the menu. The flight features lemon blueberry supreme, raspberry supreme, Hawaiian strawberry, churro, banana cream and strawberry Nutella.

These waffles are denser and chewier than a typical waffle because the dough has pearl sugar mixed into it. When the waffle cooks, the pearls melt and caramelize. You’ll definitely want a couple of people to help dig into these treats — good for breakfast or dessert.

Biscuits and gravy at JW’s Kitchen

Biscuits and gravy are a Midwest staple. At JW’s Kitchen, which specializes in brunch, you can savor a biscuit and gravy flight. It starts with biscuits baked in house and smothered with your choice of classic sausage gravy, mushroom gravy or Granny's chocolate gravy, an Arkansas delicacy. The mushroom and chocolate options are vegetarian.

JW’s Kitchen is a fairly new addition to Springfield’s brunch scene but is owned by industry veterans Misty and Andy Hampshire, who own Farmers Gastropub. They serve classics and creative fare.

Salad sampler at Neighbor's Mill Bakery & Café

They don’t call it a flight, but the salad sampler at Neighbor's Mill Bakery & Café is the equivalent for the salad lover. It starts with fresh fruit salad, a fairly simple green salad and your choice of a scoop of honey pecan chicken salad or tuna salad. The trio comes with a slice of their spongy, herb-kissed focaccia bread and a jumbo muffin. It’s usually enough food that you can save the muffin for breakfast the next day or a mid-afternoon snack.

Cake at Whiskey Tango

Stressed is desserts spelled backward. If you find yourself stressed or needing multiple sweets, head to Whiskey Tango for their cake flight. Oh my.

You get four portions served in cups on a beautiful wooden tray. These sweet bites include a lemon-blueberry mousse, a rich chocolate cake, cherry cheesecake and peanut butter gooey cake. Plan to share this dessert, although you may want to keep them all to yourself. The restaurant also has an array of delicious cocktails that you can enjoy with your dessert.

Bacon at Summit Restaurant

Summit Restaurant in Branson just swapped out its winter soup flight for a tour of bacon. The bacon flight features 12 pieces of bacon in four flavors: Cajun, cinnamon apple, sweet and spicy, and classic crispy. This is definitely meant to be shared.

For those who loved the soup flight, no worries. The restaurant's operators say it will return when the weather gets cold again.

Juliana Goodwin

Juliana Goodwin is a freelance journalist with experience covering business, travel and tourism, health, food and history. She is a former Food and Travel Columnist for the Springfield News-Leader, a former business reporter for The Joplin Globe, and has written for USA Today and Arkansas Living Magazine, among others. More by Juliana Goodwin

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