Remodeled Beef-a-Roo is reopening
Coffee-comic shop opens Hillcrest spot
Beef-a-Roo, 1315 S. Shackleford Road, Little Rock, which has been closed for at least a couple of months, officially for a “remodel,” reopens, at least with a soft opening, today and Friday, with an “official grand reopening celebration” on Saturday. Coinciding with the reopening: a brand new breakfast menu, available 7-10:30 a.m., that includes breakfast sandwiches, bowls, sides, “Breakfast B*A*Rritos: and “a variety of Coffee Creations.” It’s the second Arkansas outlet (the first opened in July in Harrison) of the Rockford, Ill., mini-chain. Hours will now be 7 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. (501) 246-5647; beefaroo.com/dvteam/littlerock-arkansas.
Neverwhere Coffee, Comics & Oddities has opened a second location at 2901 Kavanaugh Blvd. in Little Rock’s Hillcrest in a storefront that used to house Neighborhood Nutrition. We don’t yet have hours of operation or a phone number. We are also presuming that, like the original location in the Breckenridge Village Shopping Center, Interstate 430 and North Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, it will serve Onyx coffee, tea and “carefully curated options for drinks and pastries,” while also vending comic books and collectibles and a “gift retail section with unique and cool oddities.” neverwherecoffeecomics.com; facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090743665197.
We have reported over the decades — starting back in 2005 — that The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant chain based in Tampa, Fla., has sought to expand into Little Rock. In 2015 we got the announcement that a Denver transplant had signed on as a franchisee and would be opening the state’s first outlet in early 2016.
In August 2016, we reported that
the deal had fallen through — Dan Stone, Melting Pot Restaurants Inc.’s “Chief People Officer,” told us at the time that “[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.”
Well, it looks like The Melting Pot has finally found a home for its first Arkansas restaurant, but it’s not in Little Rock: It’ll be in Bentonville. Collin Benyo, Melting Pot’s franchise growth strategist, says franchisees Chad Hickerson, his wife, Candice Bright, and his mother-in-law, Diana Bonnett, are currently scouting out locations, and estimates it’ll take about a year and a half before that first restaurant opens.
Meanwhile, Bentonville-based breakfast-brunch purveyor The Buttered Biscuit is looking to hire 30 people for its first Central Arkansas location, with a target to open in late May or early June in the Promenade at Chenal, 17711 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock. They’re offering “a positive work environment, competitive pay and a flexible work schedule,” and describe it as “the perfect place to call home for individuals with and without prior experience.”
Co-founder Anna Russell explains in a news release that “[t]he teams we’ve cultivated over the past seven years have become like family to us,” and, “We’re looking for enthusiastic, honest and caring people who will help us personify our core values and spread our mission each day when they walk through the door.”
Sara Merchant, “an established general manager with nearly 20 years of experience in the industry across Central Arkansas,” according to the release, will be the manager. Jonathan Clark, “who holds over 14 years of experience in the food and beverage industry, two of which at The Buttered Biscuit,” will manage a second Little Rock Buttered Biscuit, expected to open later in the year at 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd., in Pulaski Heights, in the space that used to house Heights Corner Market.
The mini-chain, which so far consists of two locations in Bentonville and one each in Springdale and Fayetteville, serves scratchmade sausage gravy, homemade jams and house-made butters and offers a number of gluten-free options. Visit TheButteredBiscuit.com/Careers.
Save the time and date: 6 p.m. Oct. 15, for the American Culinary Federation Arkansas Delta Chef’s & Central Arkansas Chef’s Associations inaugural Delta Diamond Chef Awards Gala and Competition at the Pine Bluff Country Club, 1100 W. 46th Ave., Pine Bluff. The gala will “celebrate culinary achievements by recognizing exceptional individuals in five categories: Chef of the Year, Pastry Chef of the Year, Student Chef of the Year, Student Pastry Chef of the Year and Educator of the Year,” according to a news release. Eight area chefs — Brayan McFadden of Brood & Barley; Jordan Davis, executive chef at Chenal Country Club; The Croissanterie’s Jill McDonald; Matias de Matthaeis, executive chef at Saracen Casino & Resort’s Red Oak Steakhouse; J. Lance Curtis, on the faculty of the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute; Kevin Doroski, executive chef at Draft + Table; Greg Matthews, executive chef at Performance Foodservice; and Payne Harding, executive chef at Cache — are battling things out April 26; the final two “survivors” will take part in a head-to-head (or is that fork-to-fork?) for the title of Delta Diamond Chef. Tickets are $300; information is available by calling Todd Gold at (501) 258-3319 or email tgold1972@gmail.com.
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: