Korean spot is now open on Bowman
Cantrell center to get a Mexican restaurant
The first Arkansas outlet of South Korea-based bb.q Chicken opened quietly last week at 101 S. Bowman Road at West Markham Street in Little Rock, in the space adjoining Big Bad Breakfast that formerly housed David’s Burgers. The door facing Bowman Road is for dine-in customers; the one facing Markham Street is reserved for togo and pickup orders.
Don’t mistake this for a barbecue joint. According to the website, bbqchicken.com, “bb.q” stands for “Best of the Best Quality” chicken pieces fried using a traditional Korean method, “hand brushed, hand battered, and fried at lower temperatures for longer periods of time. This creates our unforgettably crispy texture.” The menu offers whole (16 pieces) and half (eight pieces) chicken orders; wings (boned and boneless, eight to 24 pieces) in more than a dozen flavors and “signature sauces”; Kimchi Fried Rice; and Ddeok-Bokki, a “classic Korean street food made from rice cakes and fish cakes in a sweet and spicy chili reduction.” Tentative hours are 11 a.m-3 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m-3 p.m. and 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. (501) 615-8398.
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Brooke Miller of Kelley Commercial Partners confirms that a Mexican restaurant called Los Cabos is going into the former Larry’s Pizza outlet in the Centre at Ten shopping center, Cantrell Road at Sam Peck. Co-owner Jose DeJesus, also one of the owners of Central Arkansas’ Cinco de Mayo mini-chain, says his target to open is the second week of May; his menu will be more in the authentic Mexican range than Mexican-American. He anticipates his operating hours will be 11 a.m.10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.9 p.m. Sunday. Miller also notes that the shopping center still has a vacant restaurant space: the storefront that most recently housed Healthy James, and previously a Tropical Smoothie Cafe, next-door to Saffron Indian Cuisine.
Scoops Homemade Ice Cream is going through a soft opening prior to officially throwing
open its doors on Monday at 212 Broadway, Little Rock, serving “[h]omemade, slow churned, premium ice cream” in what had been a T-Mobile cellphone store in a small strip center where Broadway meets Third Street. Hours are 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday. It’s a second location of a Hot Springs store that opened in 2003 at 4043 Central Ave. (501) 777-8766; scoopshomemadeicecream.com
And an update on the recent reopening of Beef-a-Roo, 1315 S. Shackleford Road, Little Rock: A spokesman for the Rockford, Ill., mini-chain finally got around to confirming previously unsubstantiated reports that a fire in the kitchen was the reason for the restaurant “remodel”: “The closure of Beef-a-Roo was due to an unexpected incident involving a small fire behind the grill area, which resulted in some damage. In accordance with our commitment to the safety and satisfaction of our guests, we took immediate action to address the situation.”
And speaking of recent reopenings, on the heels of the recent post-renovation debut of the Bar Louie in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, comes word that the chain is introducing, per a news release, “a revamped menu featuring a wide variety of new drink and culinary innovations and showcasing its commitment to serving up the very best for guests.” Those include a range of Bar Bites, some new wing flavors, some new craft burgers, some “scratch-built” sandwiches and a Hot Honey Bacon flatbread. (501) 228-0444; barlouie.com
And this regarding The Buttered Biscuit’s projected expansion into Central Arkansas: with its first Little Rock location expected to open in late May or early June in the Promenade at Chenal, 17711 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, the Bentonville-based breakfast-brunch purveyor has formed a partnership with the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute. We’re still awaiting details on just what that entails, but culinary students were all ready for a news conference this morning to beaver away at making “their own version of The Buttered Biscuit’s delicious scratch-made biscuits.” A second Little Rock Buttered Biscuit is expected to open later in the year at 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd., in Pulaski Heights, in the space that used to house Heights Corner Market.
Jim Keet, the first “J” in JTJ Restaurants, says work is progressing on several restaurants going into the Breckenridge Village Shopping Center, Interstate 430 and North Rodney Parham Road, in which he and his company are owner-partners. An outlet of the budding Waldo’s Chicken & Beer mini-chain will be the earliest to open, on or around May 15; the Little Rock branch of Deluca’s Pizza should open in about three months or perhaps a little further down the line. (High winds — the March 31, 2023, tornado and the Sept. 6 microburst, set back work substantially; owner-founder-guru Anthony Valinoti’s original estimate of an April opening has pretty much come and gone.) Meanwhile, construction plans have been approved for a second location of North Little Rock’s Flyway Brewing; Keet says Jack Sundell of The Root is progressing on plans for The Root II. Keet expects all of those restaurants to be up and running by the time the Champions Tour reaches Pleasant Valley Country Club in October. The west Little Rock outlet of Eat My Catfish, substantially damaged by the tornado, reopened in January and the new location for longtime tenant Mt. Fuji, opened in November.
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Food-and-drink connected events in coming weeks:
■ The Little Rock Zoo, 1 Zoo Drive, Little Rock, hosts Wild Wines 2024, a fundraiser of the Arkansas Zoological Foundation, 7 p.m. April 2627. Guests must, of course, be 21 and older. The event will feature food from several Central Arkansas restaurants and “hand-selected” wines and liquors from O’Looney’s Wine & Liquor. Friday’s VIP Night in the zoo’s Cafe Africa and the Civitan Pavilion will feature premium wine from O’Looney’s, with food from Flyway Brewing Co., 42 Bar and Table, Fassler Hall, Trio’s, Café Africa, Cypress Social, Petit & Keet and Yaya’s Euro Bistro, with contributions from Black Apple Cider, Origami Sake and Rock Town Distillery. Tickets — $175 — also include admission to Saturday’s “Mane” Event, with more than 200 select wines to sample, food from area restaurants and caterers, “lively music” and the zoo’s animal ambassadors. “Mane” Event tickets by themselves are $85. Visit tinyurl.com/2s38yuun
■ The Conway-based Tacos 4 Life mini-chain kicks off its 10th anniversary, planning a massive MobilePack event — in which community members (an estimated 2,000 volunteers, including students from local schools) help pack MannaPack Rice Meals for distribution by nonprofit partner Feed My Starving Children — April 25-27 at the Conway Expo Center, 2505 E. Oak St. The ultimate goal is to raise the money, through restaurant sales (for every taco, salad, quesadilla, rice bowl and nachos plate the restaurants sell, co-founders Austin and Ashton Samuelson donate a meal to Feed My Starving Children), and pack 10 million MannaPacks during the 10th anniversary year. Tacos4Life.com
■ The Northeast Arkansas town of Cherokee Village hosts the Arkansas Pie Festival, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. April 27 at the Town Center. Commercial piemakers, home chefs and students will compete for a golden ticket in the dessert category of the World Food Championship this fall in Dallas and the ultimate chance to win a $100,000 grand prize. Judges and attendees will sample the resulting pies and also crown a people’s choice. Pies will also be on display and auctioned for charity. The festival will also include a Pie Day 5K, live entertainment, food trucks, pie-eating and pie-throwing contests, an Arkansas Pie Pop-up Shop, photos with Miss Arkansas, a Cutie Pie Pet Parade and a Kids Zone. Admission is $10 in advance, $12 at the door day-of-show, $5 for children 5-12, free for kids under 5. Festival proceeds support STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) programming and education through the community’s Spring River Innovation Hub. arkansaspiefestival.com
■ The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock, marks its “Milestone Year” (first anniversary, more or less) with a “Picnic in the Park,” 11 a.m.-1 p.m. April 27, with a gourmet lunch prepared by the chefs at the museum’s Park Grill, a full selection of beer and wine, live entertainment and “special surprises,” according to a news release. Cost: $100. events.arkmfa.org/event/picnic-in-the-park/
■ And grilled brats and burgers, blues music by Lucious Spiller, beer and happy hour drink specials and a two-man team Baggo tournament are the components of Baggo, Brats, N’ Blues, a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity of Central Arkansas, 3-7 p.m. April 28 at Sunset Lodge at Rusty Tractor Vineyards, 10 Rusty Tractor Lane, Little Rock. The nonprofit will also hold a ceremonial “note burning” for Habitat homeowners who have paid off their houses this year. Tickets are $50; team entry fee for the Baggo tournament is $150. tinyurl.com/yxyzuan5
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