RESTAURANT TRANSITIONS
It’s a bad week for area bakeries:
Saturday was the last day of business for the Sassy Cake
Lady at 13120 Crystal Hill Road, North Little Rock, off Maumelle Boulevard. Owner Nancy Ward says she will now return to baking dessert and birthday cakes out of her home as she did before she moved into the storefront in January — after a couple of months’ delay that Ward says pretty much killed her endof-year business — and keep the same phone number, (501) 615-8486. “It’s very sad, but I’m relieved, too,” she says. “We put every ounce of energy we had into this and just didn’t make it.” She’s been able to pay her bills “but we couldn’t do any more.” Fred Norman, she says, will take over the space on or about Jan. 1 with a business called
Flavors, serving lunch sandwiches and salads. Norman, she says, has a history of training and hiring kids with disabilities and those who have aged out of foster care.
On the heels of that news, we learned that Sweet
Love Bakery, in the Cantrell Heights Shopping Center, 8210 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, will shut down Jan. 13, four years to the day after it opened. Owner/head baker Kelli Marks cited, to several media outlets, the rising cost of ingredients — particularly butter, which has doubled over the past four years, and eggs, which “used to be $70, now it’s $145 a case, and we go through two or three cases in a week” — and a recent slowdown in business, possibly due to increased competition. The phone number is (501) 613-7780.
We previously reported that Brown Sugar Bake Shop, 419 E. Third St., Little Rock, is planning to close its River Market storefront, opting instead for a food truck and possibly an “express location” with a much smaller square footage. And Silvek’s European Bakery, located inside the Kroger store in the Heights, 1900 N. Polk St. at Cantrell Road, is closing in March, not so much because business has been bad but because, according to multiple media outlets, owner and baker Silvek Pupkowski is ready to retire and anyway, he says, his contract with Kroger is expiring in March. He’s willing to sell the business to the right buyer — somebody who either already has knowledge of the European style, or somebody he can teach, and it would have to open somewhere other than the Kroger store, where it has been located for two decades.
And speaking of Maumelle Boulevard, Nashville
Rockin’ Grill, 10840 Maumelle Blvd., North Little Rock, has put up a huge sign that drapes the big “Nashville Rockin’ Grill” sign on the rooftop that simply says “RESTAURANT.”
And still speaking of Maumelle Boulevard, every now and then a rumor floats by that Cock of the
Walk, 7103 Cock of the Walk Drive, just off the boulevard in Maumelle, is on the verge of closing. The folks who run the place, however, have taken official note of the latest one, posting Dec. 10 on their Facebook page: “Hey everyone, we have seen this going around Facebook, we want to let everyone know this is NOT our location that is closing — it is another Cock of the Walk in a different state.” A little checking turned up several restaurants by that name in what appears to be a loose chain — two in the Jackson, Miss., area; one in Opelika, Ala.; one in Nashville, Tenn.; and one in Pensacola, Fla. No indication, however, just which one is hitting the skids. The Maumelle restaurant’s phone number is (501) 758-7182.
As of Dec. 11, The Bunker at the Greens at North Hills, 7400 Arkansas 107, Sherwood, is under new ownership and is now called The Rusty Putter Grill and Drinkery.
Former Bunker chef John Bilon has returned as a partner with Ashley Sharp. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, possibly staying open later on weekends. The phone number is (501) 392-6127.
Natural Grocers will open its first Little Rock store at 8 p.m. Jan. 19 at 9210 N. Rodney Parham Road, which had originally been the site of a Western Sizzlin’ and subsequently at least four Chinese buffets. The company also operates a store in Fayetteville. As part of the Jan. 19 grand opening, Natural Grocers will distribute mystery gift cards to the first 60 customers in $5, $10, $25, $50 and $100 denominations. (Customers won’t know the amount of their gift card until they check out.) The store will be open seven days a week. The company operates 107 stores in 18 states. More possibly useful info is available at the website, naturalgrocers.com/store-location/little-rock.
A semi-current list of Christmas Day openings:
The Capital Hotel, 111 W. Markham St., Little Rock, is offering three Christmas dinner options. Christmas Buffet
in the Mezzanine, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., with cold-food, hot-entree, breakfast, carving station and dessert stations and a separate children’s menu. Cost is $55 (plus tax and gratuity), $25 for children 6-11, free for kids 5 and younger. No alcoholic beverages, though: state law forbids selling wine, beer and booze on Christmas Day. Call (501) 370-7068 for reservations. And the Capital Bar and Grill will offer a $35 (plus tax and gratuity) prix fixe menu, 11 a.m.-9 p.m., as well as a limited menu of CB&G favorites.
Wyndham Riverfront, 2 Riverfront Place, North Little Rock, will serve Christmas brunch, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Silver
City Ballroom and 11:30 a.m.-2
p.m. in the Riverfront Landing restaurant. Carving station: bourbon-glazed pit ham and herb-encrusted steamship round of beef au jus; entrees: citrus tilapia and roasted tom turkey with traditional cornbread dressing and giblet gravy; soups, salads, vegetables and cheese tray; “seasonal fresh fruit mirror”; omelet and malted waffle stations; and desserts. Cost is $29.95, $24.95 for senior citizens, $12.95 for kids 5-10, free for kids 5 and younger with paid adult meal, all plus tax and gratuity. Call (501) 907-4826.
Heritage Grille, Steak & Fin, in the Little Rock Marriott, West Markham and Louisiana streets, will offer a prixfixe, family style plated prime rib dinner for parties of six or more, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (lobster bisque, wedge salad, prime rib, garlic-roasted fingerling potatoes, onion-bacon-seared green beans, rolls and caramel-drizzled cheesecake). Cost is $28.95, $14.95 for children 6-12, free for kids 5 and under with a paying adult. After 5 p.m. they’ll also serve a limited dinner menu. Call (501) 399-8000 for reservations.
The Holiday Inn Presidential Center, 600 Interstate 30, Little Rock, will offer a
Christmas brunch in its Camp
David restaurant, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., with salad, omelet/ waffle, carving (prime rib with horseradish sauce), hot entree (turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, hickory-smoked maple-honey ham, fried whitefish with hush puppies) and dessert stations. Cost; $27.95, $24.95 for senior citizens, $15.95 for children 13 and younger. Call (501) 975-2267.
Many Chinese and Asian restaurants, including Fantastic China, Grant and R streets, Little Rock, open Christmas Day. Chi’s Dim Sum & Bistro, West Markham Street and Shackleford Road, will be open 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
IHOP restaurants at 101 N. University Ave. and 11601 Hermitage Road, Little Rock, will be open regular business hours (as in 24/7) Christmas Day. The one at 11501 Maumelle Blvd., North Little Rock, will close at 10 or 11 p.m.
Whereas once upon a time, the only day Denny’s restaurants closed was on Christmas Day, they will, according to the chain’s website, dennys. com, remain open, 24/7. That includes the only Denny’s in central Arkansas, 310 S. Shackleford Road in Little Rock.
And Waffle House is, of course, open 24/7/365.
Captain D’s opened an outlet Dec. 14 at 909 S. Thompson St. in Springdale, owned and operated by franchisees Brian Smith and Rodney Coats, CEO and CFO, respectively, of the restaurant development group SmitCo D’s Inc., which also owns and operates 10 Popeye’s franchises in Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. It’s the first of six Captain D’s restaurants the group plans to develop in Northwest Arkansas. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. The phone number is (479) 717-6727.
And Livability.com, which “explores what makes small to midsize cities great places to live, work and visit,” has come up with a list of “99 Beers in 99 Cities,” noting “the rise of the craft beer movement has coincided with the revitalization of many of our nation’s downtowns,” according to a news release. The criteria: A town had to have at least two breweries, “and we chose no more than three cities per state to give us the best nationwide coverage for hopheads.”
Little Rock was Arkansas’ only placement on the list, at No. 89: “Situated on the south bank of the Arkansas River in the geographic center of the state is Arkansas’ capital city and a big beer town: Little Rock. Among the conveniences for residents are five hospitals, a variety of entertainment sites and a microbrew sector that now numbers six brewpubs. Hot spots include
Diamond Bear Brewing Co.,
which has choices like Two Term Imperial IPA and the top-ranked Dogtown Brown.” Check out the entire list at livability.com/best-places/99beers-in-99-cities.
(“And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.”) Has a restaurant opened — or closed — near you in the last week or so? Does your favorite eatery have a new menu? Is there a new chef in charge? Drop us a line. Call (501) 399-3667 or (501) 378-3513, or send a note to Restaurants, Weekend Section, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203. Send email to: