TRANSITIONS

By Eric E. Harrison

LITTLE ROCK — Ump's Pub & Grill, in Dickey-Stephens Park, 400 W. Broadway, North Little Rock, has started serving lunch seven days per week. The menu includes Carolina League Crab Cakes, fresh Prince Edward Island mussels, mushroom ravioli, build-your-own Traveler Burgers, daily plate lunch specials (including lasagna on Mondays and chicken and dumplings on Thursdays), fish tacos and sandwiches, some of which have baseball references (like the Reuben Sierra and the "Full Count" French dip). On Saturdays and Sundays, the sports bar stays open all day so folks can take advantage of the three new flat screen TVs and NFL Ticket to watch their favorite NFL team. New hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; 5 p.m.-midnight Monday and Thursday-Friday; 11 a.m .-midnightSaturday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. The telephone number is (501) 324-2255; you can get a look at the menu, with a little digging, at the Web site, travs.com.

Starting Oct. 13, Kierre's Kountry Kitchen, 6 Collins Industrial Place, North Little Rock (off Maumelle Boulevard), goes in the other direction, opening for dinner Tuesday-Friday. The menu will closely resemble the one the restaurant uses for lunch: a meat entree - for example, meat loaf, "kountry" fried steak, fried chicken, pork chop and catfish - and choice of three vegetables. The new hours: 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday (serving breakfast all day on Saturday). The telephone number is (501) 758-0903; check out the complete menu, as well as daily specials, on the Web site, kierreskountrykitchen.com.

We still haven't gotten official word from Ruth's Hospitality Group Inc., the parent company of the high-end

Ruth's Chris

steakhouse chain, on the status of a planned outlet for the Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. However, a source in the real estate trade tells us that yes, the chain has been talking to center management about taking over the former Crew space in that shopping center, and that the state of the economy has put the project on hold indefinitely. We'll keep you posted.

Executive Chef Jacob Peck has made some seasonal menu changes at

Forty Two

in the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, including adding lamb stew; the Forty Two sandwich (slow-roasted beef tenderloin topped with sauteed peppers, onions and Swiss cheese on ciabatta bread); Arkansas Lamb Pita; and Chef Jacob's Favorite (grilled salmon, kale, cucumber-and-carrot salad and spicy tomato creme fraiche, also on ciabatta). The phone number is (501) 537-0042.

Vieux Carre, 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. in Little Rock's Hillcrest, is offering a new feature called"Wine and Dine Weekends," with guitarist Michael Carenbauer, professor of music and director of guitar studies at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, migrating from the former Gypsy's Grill, playing from 7 to 9 p.m. each Friday and Saturday. The restaurant also will offer varying wine features - for example, half price by-the bottle wines on the first and third weekends of the month. Restaurant hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday, 5:30 p.m.-"close" Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (jazz brunch) Sunday. Call (501) 663-1196 or visit the Web site, vieuxcarre cafe.com.

In Fayetteville, developers Greg House and Richard Alexander have opened the 10-room

Dickson Street Inn

and

Veranda Wine Bar

in a remodeled 1894 Victorian house at 301 W. Dickson St. The wine bar, for which House and Alexander are boasting great views of Dickson Street and the University of Arkansas campus, will serve "fine international and domestic wines and beers as well as ... an appetizer menu." The phone number is (479) 695-2100.

And in the nostra culpa department, an alert reader noted that in our write-up of

Rocky's Pub

in North Little Rock last week we said you can't buy Pennsylvania-made Utz potato chips here. He'd spotted the kettle chips in the Little Rock Sam's Club. We checked with corporate and it turns out Utz's "mystic kettle chips" are available at Sam's Clubs in Little Rock, Sherwood and Fayetteville, according to Utz spokesman Haley Bowman.

Has a restaurant opened - or closed - near you in the last week or so? Send e-mail to:

eharrison@arkansasonline.com

Weekend, Pages 40 on 10/01/2009