TRANSITIONS

By Eric E. Harrison

LITTLE ROCK — Masala Grill and Tea House, a new Pakistani restaurant - a first for this area - is set to open sometime in the next three weeks in the former Gina’s Fish House space in the Ashley Square Shopping Center, Rodney Parham and Reservoir roads. Amman Abbasi, the man in charge, says the menu will be a mix of classical traditional Pakistani - “curry-based, but you can see a lot more barbecue items, items from the grill” - and more contemporary items - for example, a chicken tikka wrap. All the meat items will be halal, in keeping with Muslim dietary laws, Abbasi says.Hours will be 10 a.m.-9 p.m. daily; the restaurant doesn’t yet have a telephone number. We’ll keep you posted.

The Argenta Downtown Council and Certified Arkansas Farmers Market are holding the

Argenta Fall Foodie Festival,

9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday along Main Street, between Sixth and Seventh streets, in North Little Rock’s Argenta district. Chefs from more than 20 restaurants and catering companies will create their specialties using locally grown produce and meats; there will be music and arts and crafts vendors.

Joseph St. Ana, owner/ sommelier of

Crush Wine Bar

in downtown Little Rock,soon expects to open

Diversion Tapas Restaurant

in the 2600 block of Kavanaugh Boulevard, but his plans for roof-top dining have irked a group of Hillcrest residents, who have started a petition drive against it. St. Ana recently sent out an e-mail to supporters launching a counter-petition in advance of a meeting tonight of the city Planning Commission, in which approval will be up for a vote, at Little Rock City Hall.

Asia Buffet, 801 S. Bowman Road, has lowered the price of its dinner buffet to the lunch buffet price for the month of October - $6.45 plus tax - to draw in more customers. The dinner buffet spread will continue to be a little bigger; the reduced price includes the Mongolian grill and several varieties of sushi rolls; there will be an extra charge for fancier seafood items like crab legs and oysters. The phone number is (501) 225-0095.

And with the Race for the Cure on area streets early Saturday morning, a word to the wise: If you’re planning to visit any restaurant in Little Rock or North Little Rock anywhere from midmorning to midday Saturday, remember that it’s likely to be crowded with tens of thousands of folks wearing “Race for the Cure” T-shirts.Some restaurants -

Vieux Carre, Kavanaugh Boulevard and Beechwood Street in Hillcrest, for example - are opening for Saturday hours when they normally wouldn’t (in this case, a special 11 a.m.-2 p.m. post-race brunch) to help ease the load.

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. Call (501) 399-3667 or (501) 378-3513, or send a note to Restaurants, Weekend Section, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203. Send e-mail to:

eharrison@arkansasonline.com

Weekend, Pages 38 on 10/15/2009