Hotel plans to resurrect Coy’s, cafe Fire damages interior of North Bar in NLR
The Hotel Hot Springs announced plans last week to resurrect Coy’s Steakhouse, a legendary Hot Springs eatery, and Satellite Cafe, a muchmissed Little Rock eatery, on its premises, 305 Malvern Ave. in the Spa City.
Coy’s will be reconstructed in a 4,500 square-foot space adjacent to the hotel and is projected to open sometime in the first quarter of 2024, according to company representative Chris Kane, who made the announcement from Little Rock’s Curran Hall with Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette senior editor and notable foodie Rex Nelson. (We’re indebted to the Hot Springs Sentinel Record for its coverage.) The Satellite Cafe will occupy a 1,200 square-foot space inside the hotel, according to a news release, with a target to open by the end of the year.
Coy’s, originally at 300 Coy St., just off Grand Avenue, was destroyed by a fire in 2009. Kane stressed that the new edition of the restaurant would involve the same recipes, warm crackers and seasonings: “Clay (Caffey) is slowly but surely getting some of those old recipes from the original establishment, but also he’s been able to re-create some of the seasonings.”
Satellite Cafe, once at 5923 Kavanaugh Blvd. in Little Rock’s Pulaski Heights, started out life in a cinder-block building on Cross Street, just south of Cantrell Road, and moved to the Heights about 1999. It closed in 2010; the free-standing building now is the Little Rock branch of Baja Grill, having housed, in the interim, Heights Cafe and Mamacita’s Bar & Grill.
Owner Tony Niel estimates it’ll be 10 days to two weeks until the next-door space — 2,000 square feet formerly occupied by a salon — into which breakfast-brunch-lunch restaurant Delicious Temptations, 11220 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, is expanding, will be sufficiently ready; at that point they’ll move the tables into that space to start work on renovating the original side. “It won’t
be completely fitted out, but it will be working while we fix the other side up,” Niel explains. That work should take another four to five weeks; “our desire, our hope” is to be fully operational by late October or early November.
The transition will include a short period of a few days or a week in which the restaurant will be able to offer only a limited menu — soups, salads, sandwiches — because all of the kitchen equipment, including the new stoves and griddles he’ll be adding, are in the “old” side, but Niel is optimistic they’ll still be able to do some cooking. The additional space will allow him to increase the restaurant’s seating capacity.
Service continues in the current space, 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily; once the new wing opens, Niel says there might be more occasional dinners, for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, or even the occasional weekend evening. (501) 225-6893; delicioustemptations.com.
A Monday night fire caused significant damage to the interior of North Bar, 3812 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock. Details are still sketchy by deadline, but the owners have posted on social media that the restaurant is closed until further notice. Other businesses in the east side of the L-shaped Lakehill Shopping Center were open on Tuesday, including next-door restaurant Mariscos “La Colita” Narayit, all with their doors propped open as a pervasive odor of smoke persisted.
Ol’Bart at Diamond Bear, 600 N. Broadway, North Little Rock, has started serving brunch, with live music, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, featuring breakfast tacos, a scramble bowl, bagel breakfast sandwich options (including lox) and chicken and waffles. Also available, presumably for dinner (since they’re not on the brunch menu), Saturday and Sunday only: beef ribs. (501) 406-7819; olbartsoutherneats.com.
Austin Fish & Seafood opened last week, after several delays, at 221 W. Second St., Little Rock. It’s a branch office of sorts of the original at 3369 Arkansas 367 North in Austin; the same family owns Lakewood Fish & Seafood in Lakewood House, 4801 North Hills Blvd., North Little Rock. The menu is a similar mix of grilled and fried seafood. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. facebook.com/Austinfishandseafood.
AY Magazine reports the folks who run The Croissanterie, 14710 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, are planning a new restaurant in downtown Little Rock. No details nor a location yet.
We’re getting reports that a 7 Brew is in the works at John F. Kennedy and McCain boulevards, North Little Rock, previously the site of a demolished Regions Bank office. (Two occurrences don’t necessarily indicate a trend, but a 7 Brew similarly replaced a Regions Bank branch on Cantrell Road in west Little Rock’s Foxcroft neighborhood last year.)
We thought we had previously reported this, and maybe we didn’t, but the former Poke Hula space in Lakewood Village, 2607 McCain Blvd., North Little Rock, is set to become an outlet of the Rock N Roll Sushi mini-chain. A reader reports seeing work in progress, with a dumpster out front and papered-over windows. It’ll be the fifth such outlet, with two in Little Rock — on Chenal Parkway and Main Street — and locations in Conway and Benton. Look for an opening in November or December.
The Little Rock outlet of Rockford, Ill., chain Beef-A-Roo, 1315 S. Shackleford Road, Little Rock (in the former Krispy Kreme), is set to open Oct. 13, with grand opening hours 10 a.m.-9 p.m. That day, the restaurant is handing out golden tickets to the first 100 guests through the door, good for free cheese fries for one year. The menu features burgers, beef and chicken sandwiches, wraps and gourmet salads. Hours will be 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Arkansas’ first Beef-A-Roo opened in Harrison on July 20. beefaroo.com.
You will recall we reported that Oct. 17 was the new target date for the opening of Little Rock’s second Big Bad Breakfast in the former Soul Fish space at 306 Main St. Now we have official confirmation from the management of the Oxford, Miss.-based chain-franchise operation. Hours will be the same as the one at 101 S. Bowman Road: 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily.
Gourmet2Geaux, a new Cajun restaurant at 113 N. Jefferson in El Dorado, was set to open Wednesday after a ribbon-cutting Friday. The menu features “A taste of New Orleans” — salads; soups (including two varieties of gumbo); muffaletta; po’boys on Gambino’s French bread (roast beef and ham, hot or cold); turkey; sausage patties; fried Gulf shrimp; fried Louisiana oysters; and daily plate-lunch specials (Monday, red beans and rice; Tuesday, meatloaf; Wednesday, hamburger steak; Thursday, linguine and meat sauce; Fridays, shrimp or crawfish creole). Hours are 10 a.m.3 p.m. daily. (870) 639-1070.
Food and drink-connected events, etc.:
■ The Arkansas Culture and Dialog Center, 1501 Market St., Little Rock, hosts the Turkish Food Festival, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, focusing on, of course, Turkish and Mediterranean food, including salads, kebabs, baked goods, homemade bread and pastries, desserts (“especially Turkish Baklava”), cakes, vegetable dishes, cookies [and] hot dishes.” Admission is free. facebook.com/events/205737109098562.
■ Community Bakery, 1200 Main St., Little Rock, hosts as part of its Dinner Series Alicia Watson of Vito and Vera, 2022 winner of the Food Network’s Big Restaurant Bet, at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 19, preparing a fourcourse dinner of turmeric-ginger broth with orzo and chickpeas; king oyster scallops with fava bean puree and pickled asparagus; paella with sausage, nori-dusted mushrooms and wine braised artichoke hearts; and Kabocha tart with salted almond crumble and espresso-infused syrup. Cost, $85 per person, includes food, tea/soda/coffee service and gratuity; you can upgrade to wine service for an additional $20. Visit tinyurl.com/3d9u7xmw.
■ The Keet family, marking the 15th anniversary of Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe in Arkansas, is giving away an eight-day/ seven-night trip to Greece. Arkansas residents over 18 can visit the link in the bio at the Instagram account through Dec. 1 to enter to win; and the winner will be announced on Dec. 4. Visit m.shortstack.page/ZHvwqq or instagram.com/jtjrestaurants. Jim, Tommy, and Jake Keet formed JTJ Restaurants, LLC, and opened their first Taziki’s location in Little Rock in 2008.
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.