RESTAURANT TRANSITIONS
JJ’s Grill Little Rock has opened in the former Another Round/Villa space in the Rock Creek Shopping Center, 12111 W. Markham St., Little Rock. Kitchen hours are 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Saturday; the bar stays open until 2. The phone number is (501) 891-6769. No word yet on an opening date for the new JJ’s in the former Jose’s Mexican Restaurant, 324 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville, which would become the chain’s eighth outlet (the one in Little Rock, two in Rogers, one other in Fayetteville, one each in Fort Smith, Conway and Bella Vista). The menu for all locations is the same and available on the website, jjsgrill.com.
Owner Lulu Chi says to look for the opening sometime about mid-September of
Prospect, the replacement for Oishi Hibachi & Thai Cuisine at 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock. The family friendly sports bar-slash-neighborhood hangout will offer a limited menu, mostly burgers and sandwiches, but with daily or weekly specials, plus a pool table and other table games. Chi says she breached the rear wall to remove the much-largerthan-life (and larger than the front door) Buddha, which had dominated the decor at Oishi and its two predecessors, RJ Tao Restaurant & Ultra Lounge and Cafe 5501.
We reported in March 2015 an announcement from The
Melting Pot chain, which first said in 2005 that Little Rock was one of the 10 markets into which it was seeking to expand, that it had finally, after a decade-long search, found a franchisee for its first fondue restaurant in Little Rock. The announcement gleefully proclaimed that Allen Hurst would be moving here from Denver with his family, that Arkansas’ first Melting Pot would open by early 2016, and that additional restaurants in this and neighboring states would be arriving over the next five years.
That was then. Now that 2016 is pretty well along, our attention was called to the continuing absence of a Little Rock Melting Pot. And, alas, there’s yet another disappointment for the company and for those focusing on fondue, in the form of this statement from Dan Stone, Melting Pot Restaurants Inc.’s “Chief People Officer”: “[The] franchisee who signed the agreement to develop a restaurant with us in Little Rock decided to pursue another franchise in a different category. The territory in Arkansas remains an open, active market for franchise opportunities.” So, if you’re interested in a Melting Pot franchise and finally breaking a 16-year logjam, check out the details at meltingpotfranchise.com. Sam’s Southern Eatery in the former KFC/Long John Silver’s hybrid, 613 E. Broadway, North Little Rock, just off the Broadway exit of Interstate 30, missed its Aug. 15 opening target date and the “coming soon” streetside banner continues to wave. The restaurant
apparently does not yet have a listed phone number. MorningSide Bagels, 10848 Maumelle Blvd., North Little Rock, is closed for vacation today-Wednesday. When it reopens Sept. 1, it will be with shorter hours: 6 a.m.-noon weekdays, 7 a.m.-noon weekends. The phone number is (501) 753-6960; the website: MorningSideBagels.com.
On Monday, Dallas-based Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes
will mark the opening of its 100th restaurant (Aug. 16 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.) by giving the first 100 guests at all of its locations “Fresh Hot Buns” T-shirts and free fries for a year. And yes, that includes the Little Rock location, Kanis Plaza, 10825 Kanis Road. The restaurant opens at 11 a.m. (if you’re calculating what time you should get in line) and its phone number is (501) 3134905.
One of our sharp-eyed correspondents called our attention to what appears to be
remodeling work — including a large, full Dumpster outside the front door — taking place at the long-vacant Royal Buffet, 109 E. Pershing Blvd., North Little Rock. Pinnacle Valley Restaurant,
8501 Pinnacle Valley Road, Little Rock, isn’t just serving food and drinks. They are also holding “Dine & Dance” sessions on Friday nights through December when they don’t have a booked party. And they’re planning table presentation and decorating classes under the heading “T.I.P.S.” (“Tables Involve Personalized Style”), 10 a.m.-noon Sept. 10 and Oct. 15. Admission is free but “tips” are, of course, appreciated. Registration deadline is Sept. 5 for the first class and Oct. 10 for the second. Restaurant hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. The phone number is (501) 673-3900; visit the restaurant’s Facebook page for more details.
The Little Rock Parrothead Club will hold a “PHlapjack PHundraiser,” 8-10 a.m. Saturday at Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill, 12110 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, to raise money for Alzheimer’s Arkansas. Club members dressed in tropical gear will serve pancakes in the midst of Jimmy Buffett music. Cost of a breakfast — pancakes, sausage, coffee and juice — is $7, $5 of which goes to the nonprofit organization that provides services to caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. (Food is free for children 5 and younger.) Call (501) 425-5812.
An update on our report last week that the Tennessee-based Ruby Tuesday chain would be closing 95 “underperforming” restaurants: Our check of the Ruby Tuesday website last week showed an outlet at 2400 Sanders Road, Conway, that one of our sharp-eyed correspondents tells us has already closed, and indeed, it’s no longer on the chain’s location map and nobody answers the listed phone number, (501) 764-1845. Another sharp-eyed correspondent reminded us about a Ruby Tuesday restaurant at 3920 Central Ave., Hot Springs, which did not and does not currently appear on that map, nor could we reach anybody at that listed phone number — (501) 525-9100. We did get an answer at these so-far-surviving Ruby Tuesdays — in Bryant, 23236 Interstate 30, (501) 653-2500; in Russellville, 115 E. Harrell Drive, (479) 858-7151; and Jonesboro, 2915 Kazi St., (870) 934-8394. We’ll endeavor to keep you posted.
And there’s no telling when, or even if, something like this will ever find its way this way, but Cincinnati.com reports that Ohio’s Xavier University has introduced the nation’s first official “Pizza ATM,” a vending machine that serves up hot, 12-inch pies, 24/7, for $9. Students choose toppings on the touchscreen, hit a “buy me” button and within three minutes receive a fresh-baked (via internal convection oven) pizza in a box. The machine will store about 70 pizzas at a time, but university officials expect them to go fast, because, according to the website, the students’ only other pizza option is Domino’s. 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: