BBB opens on Main St., for lunch too
Allsopp & Chapple set for dinner on Sunday
Little Rock’s second Big Bad Breakfast opened Tuesday in the former Soul Fish space at 306 Main St. It’s the 19th outlet for the Oxford, Miss.-based chain-franchise operation and founder John Currence was on hand at a Monday sneak preview, telling illustrative tales (including the origins of BBB’s signature Tabasco Brown Sugar Bacon and how he has just managed to jigger the recipe for JC’s Hot Sauce so it’s easier to get it out of the bottle).
Owner-operator-franchisee Ben Brainard tells us the menu will essentially be identical with the one at the first outlet in west Little Rock (101 S. Bowman Road at West Markham Street), which he opened in July 2022, and which has recently been revised to add a couple of new items, including a chef salad and the Mother of All Biscuits, “crispyfried dill chicken breast and cheddar cheese” on one of BBB’s monster buttermilk biscuits (“make it a ‘Dirty Bird’ with JC’s Hot Sauce, bacon and local honey”).
However, to take advantage of the foot traffic downtown and in anticipation of doing a lunch business at least as big, if not bigger, than his breakfast, he’s planning a number of chalkboard lunch specials. “We’ve got a great opportunity to serve a lot of lunch here,” he explains. In consultation with Currence, “we’ll do something fun on a monthly basis.”
Currence stressed that part of the nature of his operation is that, while he now acknowledges that with 19 outlets it is a chain, each outlet should have an individual personality and identity. To that end, and to ensure in part that the downtown restaurant doesn’t look just like the one in west Little Rock, Brainard recruited Shelby Cotton, who also designed Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom, to create the interior design.
There’s seating for 108 inside (with another 22 seats on the patio) at tables and in booths, and at a long bar (longer than the one out west) at which Brainard expects to serve many of his lunch customers. A set of sculpted glassware and pottery decorates the glass panels that separate the dining room from the partially open kitchen. The bar and bathroom
corridor features various pieces of framed artwork.
The decor retains some elements of the previous occupant, including the word “FISH” inscribed in the floor tiling and a portion of Soul Fish’s fish-in-Lucite bar, which now rests on the patio. And Brainard says he had fun incorporating some “Easter eggs” reflecting the history of the storefront space (including the faded word “Dundee” in the glass above the patio entrance, a hint that the space had housed a clothier of that name that closed in 2009). A mural on the exterior wall in the shape of the state of Arkansas reflecting some of the state’s famous natives and accomplishments is a duplicate of the one in west Little Rock; Brainard says that is the only decor element the two have in common.
BBB joins six other restaurants on that block — Bruno’s Little Italy, Samantha’s, Allsopp & Chapple, A.W. Lin’s, Brewski’s and Tamalcalli — but Brainard says he doesn’t anticipate that much competition for parking along the strip because he won’t be open for dinner (Bruno’s and Allsopp & Chapple aren’t open for lunch); he expects most of his weekday lunchtime customers will be coming from the downtown workforce, from nearby lofts and apartments and the Statehouse Convention Center, who, presumably, will walk there rather than drive.
Brainard says he and Currence might look at a possible Northwest Arkansas location down the line, likely to be in either Fayetteville or Bentonville, but that’ll be some later stage of Currence’s expansion plans. This is location 19; that potential restaurant would most likely be location 24 or 25, Brainard explains.
Hours are the same as the one in west Little Rock: 7 a.m.2:30 p.m. daily. (501) 387-1158; bigbadbreakfast.com/locations/little-rock.
Brainard and Currence, by the way, are part of the consortium that’s bringing Anthony Valinoti’s second location of Deluca’s Pizza to west Little Rock’s Breckenridge Village, Interstate 430 and North Rodney Parham Road. Valinoti insists it was his relationship with Currence (who particularly praises Valinoti’s woodfired-oven pizza in Hot Springs as reminiscent of what he ate as boy in New Orleans, the likes of which he has been seeking for four decades) that convinced him to consider opening a Little Rock branch. A pair of disasters — the March 31 tornado and the Sept. 6 microburst — both hit the shopping center and the Deluca’s space, causing considerable construction setbacks; Valinoti now estimates it’ll be March or more likely April before he gets his doors open.
And speaking of the 300 block of Main Street, Allsopp & Chapple, 311 Main, starts Sunday dinner service Nov. 5, 4-9 p.m. (501) 902-4911; allsoppandchapple.com.
Target date for the opening of Tea Capital, a boba tea shop, is now Nov. 4, at 1501 S. Main St. in Little Rock’s SoMa neighborhood. (The opening is timed to coincide with the Arkansas Cornbread Festival, Nov. 4 on Main Street between 14th and 16th streets, centering on the Bernice Garden, 1401 Main.) It’s the brainchild of sisters Annamarie and Andrea Stearns. “Tea Capital has been a year-long labor of love for the Stearns sisters, combining their shared love for tea with a dream of creating a cozy haven for tea enthusiasts and coffee aficionados alike,” according to a news release. They are crafting their teas from premium loose leaf tea sourced from Taiwan, Japan and Sri Lanka and sweetening them with locally sourced, Arkansas-grown Amish honey (avoiding, the release observes, the use of fructose). The shop also offers European-style cakes sourced locally, from Italy and madein-house pastries and all-day breakfast using locally grown and cage-free eggs. Hours are 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Sunday. We’re told a website, teacapitalboba.com, is in progress.
Something is in progress at the former Gusano’s, 10700 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, though we don’t yet know what. The Gusano’s signs disappeared a few weeks ago; one of our colleagues spotted an announcement on the door that an application has been made to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control division for a mixed-drink permit. You will recall the space in the Village at Pleasant Valley Shopping Center had previously housed a Chili’s that moved out to West Markham Street and Chenal.
Look for the opening of a Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux by end of October at the earliest, but possibly as late as mid-November, in the former Mellow Mushroom in the Chenal Marketplace center, 16103 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock. The original cost for the build-out, overseen by Fayetteville’s BoenKemp Construction LLC, was about $1.3 million; officials of the Baton Rouge-based chain say various construction delays have held up the opening. The menu has been described as “incredible Louisiana-style food,” with a “wide array of cocktails and craft beers, family-friendly sports atmosphere and [a] commitment to outstanding customer service.” Walk-On’s has locations in Conway, Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Rogers; franchisee Chris McJunkins also owns several in Louisiana.
The new Little Rock outlet of Rockford, Ill., based Beef-ARoo opened on schedule last Friday at 1315 S. Shackleford Road, serving burgers, beef and chicken sandwiches, wraps and gourmet salads. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. It’s the second Beef-A-Roo in Arkansas (the first opened July 20 in Harrison) and fifth outside of Rockford. (501) 246-5647; beefaroo.com.
Catering to You, 8121 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, damaged in the March 31 tornado, reopened Monday. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. (501) 6149030.
And speaking of Conway, the long-awaited and even longer joked-about Conway location of Olive Garden, 554 Museum Road, opens Monday. Hours will be 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. (501) 585-4482.
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. Send email to: eharrison@adgnewsroom.com