RESTAURANT TRANSITIONS
Monday is still the active target date for the reopening of the rebuilt-fromthe-ground-up IHOP, West Markham Street and University Avenue, Little Rock. Folks at franchisee Golden Cakes Inc., which manages 10 of the 15 Arkansas IHOPs, say they’ll fly a banner across the shiny new exterior in case of any unforeseen delay. When it opens, it’ll be open 24/7.
Jones Barbecue Diner
opened Saturday, 515 S. James St., Jacksonville, and we were initially told it’s a familial branch of the James Beard Award-winning, 100-yearplus-old Jones Bar-B-Q Diner in Marianna. But before anybody gets too excited about that, we should tell you that it is associated with, but not directly connected to, that establishment. Call it a descendant. Owner and now culinary legend Harold Jones says he’s just helping out a longtime friend, Kevin Arnold, by letting him use the name. We have been unable to come up with operating hours or a working phone for the restaurant by deadline, but we’ll keep you posted.
Owner Tomas Bohm says he’s now planning to get District Fare, formerly Hillcrest Artisan Meats, 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, up and running sometime in the second week of April, and will hold an open house April 6 during Hillcrest’s monthly Shop N Sip. The shop’s hours are still on track for 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday. The phone number:
(501) 671-6328 (MEAT). Conway-based Blue Sail
Coffee Roasters opened its new location Saturday in the Little Rock Technology Park project, 417 Main St., Little Rock. Hours are 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The phone number, temporarily, is (501) 733-8006; the website: bluesail.coffee.
And speaking of Little Rock coffee roasters, as of Saturday, Guillermo’s Coffee, Tea, &
Roastery, in the Pleasant Valley Shopping Center, 10700 N. Rodney Parham Road (next to
Chili’s), has new owners. Josh Alley (who also claims the title “Master Barista”) and his father, Jim Alley, are taking the place over from former owner Justin Yeldell. The Alleys say they’ll be taking things “up a notch”; Jim Alley explains that means they’ll be expanding their tea and coffee lines — that includes, he says, increasing “the number of beans … with a full inventory of beans from around the world,” all of which they’ll roast on the premises. They’ll also be boosting their breakfast, lunch and appetizer menus. And they’re also going to be focusing more on customer service, with a “full training regimen” for their baristas. They’ve transferred equipment that Yeldell had bought for a now-defunct second shop, in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center on Cantrell Road, that Jim Alley says is helping ease their expansion plans. The slightly expanded hours: 7 a.m.7 p.m. Monday-Saturday,9 a.m.6 p.m. on Sunday. The phone number will remain the same (501) 228-4448.
The recent capital city juice-bar boom now seems to be going bust. The Little Rock outlet of the Roots Juices minichain, 5501 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, closed a couple of weeks ago, which we confirmed via a call to the Dallas-area corporate office — (888) 666-0290. Meanwhile,
Juice Leaf, 402 Louisiana St. Little Rock, is on “intermittence” — brown paper on the windows and signs thereon proclaiming, “Thanks for supporting Juice Leaf. We will be back with our new menu offerings!! We apologies [sic] for our Brief intermittence ….” The phone company informs us, by recording, that the phone number, (501) 6158322, “has been changed; the new number is unknown.” The Southern Gourmasian,
219 W. Capitol Ave, Little Rock, has tweaked its menu, with new items including Korean beef bulgogi, a braised pork belly steamed bun, two tuna poke (pronounced pokAY) bowls, a Thai glass-noodle salad, something called Shaoxing Beef with rice cakes and green beans and Okinomiyaki (vegetable pancakes). Gone (some of these items actually had not been available for some time): lobster fritters, steamed mussels and a sesame-crusted tuna plate. The new menu also lists what they’re serving for Saturday brunch. The website, thesoutherngourmasian. com, still shows the old menu, however. The phone number is (501) 313-5645. A Japanese restaurant, Sumo, has opened at 5311 Arkansas 5 North, Bryant, formerly the location of Sweet Tea Cafe, Grampa’s Catfish and Bigmouth Burgers. Hours are 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday; the phone number is (501) 943-7798.
Just down the road a piece, we have this update on the restaurants you can expect to find when the Shoppes of Benton, under construction fronting Interstate 30, just south of the Alcoa Road exit, opens later this year: a second location for All Aboard Restaurant & Grill (the original is on Cantrell Road in Little Rock), Texas
Roadhouse and Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers.
In Spa City food news:
Argentinian Coffee & Wine Bar is pending on Bathhouse Row, 328 Central Ave., Hot Springs. The Facebook page (facebook.com/coffeewinebar) promises: “The ultimate Buenos Aires bar experience. From the coffee to the wine, mate, and beer to the pastries, gelato, and picado, this is a social cafe of flavor!” We couldn’t get an answer by deadline at the listed phone number, (501) 623-2777.
April 8 is the target date for the opening of a TCBY/Mrs.
Fields store, 1340 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. According to the franchisees, who also operate a TCBY store in the Outlets shopping center in Little Rock, it will be the only such co-branded store in Arkansas and the only one in the nation with a drive-through window. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-9 p.m. Sunday. The phone number is (501) 625-3773. And Garvan Woodland Gardens, 550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs will host a “Farmto-Table” event with Superior Bathhouse Brewery and JV Farms, 6-8 p.m. April 20 in the park’s Magnolia Room. The ingredients for the threecourse dinner (complete with seasonal beer pairings) will come from local farms, with an emphasis on seasonally available fresh vegetables and pork. Seating is limited. Tickets are $60, $100 per couple (with discounts for members) and reservations are required; call (800) 3664664 or (501) 262-9300 or visit garvangardens.org. 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: