LITTLE ROCK — BIG APPLE VITTLES: Seersucker, a 40-seat neighborhood restaurant in Brooklyn that serves up a taste of Southern comfort, opened about a year ago by Robert Newton and his girlfriend Kerry Diamond. And guess what? Numerous articles on Newton note that he was born in Mountain Home and attended Arkansas State University. Before opening Seersucker, he worked at restaurants Tabla, Aquavit and Le Cirque and as a private chef.
Brunch at Seersucker includes a drink called Bloody Crawdaddy (house pickled crawdads and Brooklyn Republic vodka) and food such as baked pimento cheese grits. The dinner menu includes fried chicken with bourbon vidalia gravy and sides like braised collard greens and skillet cornbread.
Newton acquires many of his ingredients from the farmers market across the street.
The place has been such a hit - dubbed “small, but brilliant” by Time and featured by the likes of The New Yorker and Elle - that the pair also have opened up Smith Canteen, a coffee and sandwich shop. Although Kerry helps him in the restaurant, she still works her day job as a public relations vice president at Lancome.
They met via Nerve.com’s dating service.
Another Arkansas connection? Nerve.com founder Rufus Griscom is also a former Arkie.
He once worked in Little Rock as a managing editor at August House book publishers and as a book review editor at The Free Press. It seems that even in a big city like New York, the Natural State connections abound.
DIGGING UP BONES: Radio show host Bobby Bones, who was named “Austin Radio Personality of the Year” in Texas in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and is making the national scene, also has Arkansas roots.
Bones (aka Bobby Estell) began in radio at Henderson State University’s KSH-FM, 91.1, “The Switch,” when he was 17. While in school, he also worked at KLAZFM, 105.9, in Hot Springs.
After receiving a radio/TV degree from Henderson, he worked in Little Rock, and in 2003, he moved to Austin where he began hosting The Bobby Bones Show on KISS-FM, 96.7, weekday mornings.
HONORING JOHNNY: Who’s set for the second annual Johnny Cash Music Festival in Jonesboro on Oct. 5 with Cash’s daughter Rosanne? His pal Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley and The Civil Wars.
FEELING FEVERISH?
Big news for fans of teen heartthrob Justin Bieber - the pop singer is coming to central Arkansas.
Bieber is set for a 7 p.m. Jan. 10 show at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Tickets (with a six-ticket limit) range from $51.50 to $94 with Ticketmaster fees already included. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. June 2 via all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at (800) 745-3000 and online at ticketmaster.com. Verizon arena’s box office will be closed and not selling tickets that day.
Contact Linda Caillouet at (501) 399-3636 or at lcaillouet@arkansasonline.com .
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 05/27/2012