TRANSITIONS

This is it, and when we say this is it, we mean this is really it: Bruno’s Little Italy, 310 Main St., Little Rock, officially opens its doors to the public tonight, and the official announcement should be on the Facebook page as we speak. Dinner hours are 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. A grand opening is planned for when the restaurant opens for lunch, on or about Oct. 16. The phone number is (501) 372-7866 .

Forty Two, the restaurant at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, will remain open even though many of the center’s National Park-related facets will not during the current partial government shutdown. (If that ends after our deadline, never mind.) And all the special events that the restaurant would be catering are all still on, too, according to a spokesman.

Signs on the outside of the former Lone Star Steakhouse, North Rodney Parham and Shackleford roads, proclaim that something called Ponchito’s Mexican Grill is “coming soon.” Painted on traffic-control posts at the entrance is a phone number: “227-8898.” It’s a live number, meaning we don’t get a disconnected or any other kind of message from the phone company when we try it. We also don’t get an answer. We’ll keep you posted.

One of our sharp-eyed observers confirms a report we got from another sharp eyed observer: In front of the one-time (or more like several-time) Hop location, 7706 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, is a sign that says, “Coming soon - Luna Maya Burritos.” Also outside the former drive-up restaurant that most recently housed a short-lived burger place, a pickup truck and some men apparently getting ready to do some kind of work on the building. Information provides a telephone number - (501) 223-9756 - but all we got by deadline was voicemail. We’ll keep you posted on that one, too.

Spicy Cajun food and music are on the menu for the annual Shrimp Boil for St.Francis House, 5-9 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1000 N. Mississippi St., Little Rock. Snake Eyes & the Bug Band will supply Zydeco music for the dinner and party, which benefits St. Francis House ministries to the needy. Drive-through is available. Tickets are $30, $10 for children. Call (501) 225-4203 or visit st-marks.com.

Shawn and Teresa Reisman, owners of NYPD Pizza in the strip center at 6015 Chenonceau Blvd., Little Rock, are opening (target date Oct. 11) the Blind Pig Bar & Grill in the next-door storefront formerly occupied by Loganberry Frozen Yogurt. The Facebook page describes it as “a 1920 New York-Style Speakeasy with a Southern Twist.” Teresa Reisman says the decor is “all-gangster,” in marked contrast with the “cops” next door. The menu will feature pork loin and brisket, but it will not,as you might have thought from the similar names of some current and former establishments, be a barbecue place. They’ll have music on weekends and karaoke on Thursday nights. Hours will be 4-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 4 p.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 868-8194.

Domino’s Pizza franchisee Brent Medders recently added the Domino’s outlet at 507A J.P. Wright Loop Road, Jacksonville, and the grand reopening continues through Sunday. In addition to grand opening week specials (which includes a large, one-topping pizza for $4.99 plus tax), if you show the Domino’s Pizza application on your smartphone today, you get a large, one-topping, carryout pizza for $3 (while supplies last).On Saturday, win the “guess how many pizza boxes are in the car” contest and win free pizza for a year. Also, large, one-topping, carryout pizzas are $3.99 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And on Sunday get 50 percent off the menu price of any large pizza you order online. Medders, who started as a Domino’s Pizza delivery driver in 1981, now owns 12 Arkansas Domino’s outlets, according to a news release. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. Call (501) 241-1900 or visit dominos.com.

Scott Heritage Farm, 15301 Alexander Road, Scott (behind the Scott Plantation Settlement), hosts the fourth annual Scott Heritage Farm toTable Dinner, 4 p.m. Oct. 19. In past years, the farm has partnered with the California-based Outstanding in the Field Tour. This year, farmer Barbara Armstrong is faring forth on her own, bringing in the winner of Season 8 of TV’s Hell’s Kitchen, chef Nona Silvey Johnson, with her fellow contestants, chefs Lewis Curtis and Vinny Accadi, and two local luminaries, Brian Kearns, executive chef at the Country Club of Little Rock, and Joel Antunes, executive chef at the Capital Hotel. There will also be a “special guest appearance,” to be announced. The event showcases the talents of the chefs and supports “small farms and farmers whose passion runs deep within the roots of the land and feeds our farm families of Arkansas,” according to a news release. That’s farmers Gary Armstrong, Armstrong Beefalo Farm; Val & Vivian Sviridov, the Russian Farmer; and the Carpenter Family helping create a menu featuring Arkansas products. Tickets are $150; seating is limited, yes, the event is actually outdoors, and you’ll need to take your own plate. Call (501) 831-7881 or email ScottHeritage-Farm@yahoo.com.

Meanwhile, speaking of the California-based Outstanding in the Field Tour, it’s staging a feast in another Arkansas field, 2 p.m. until around sunset Oct. 10 at Delta Sol Farm in Proctor (Crittenden County, off U.S. 79, 20 miles this side of Memphis), featuring guest chefs from Memphis and Little Rock. Kelly English of Restaurant Iris will lead the Memphis contingent, which will also include Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman of Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, and Jonathan Magallanes of Las Tortugas. Little Rock participants will be Matt Bell of South on Main and Alexis Jones of Natchez. The roving “restaurant without walls” travels around North America in a 1953-vintage red bus to create pop-up dining events like this one, which will be “mixing up Old-World Italian, French-Creole and Mexican street food cooking styles,” according to OITF founder Jim Denevan. “Farmer Brandon Pugh brings fresh produce, beef and pork to the folks of Memphis and northeastern Arkansas - ‘Good Farmin’ from Real Nearby.’” Tickets are $180 per person, inclusive (glass of wine and welcome hors d’oeuvres, tour of the host farm, a four-course meal paired with wines, taxes and gratuity). Visit tinyurl.com/k88fxu7.

Rose and Todd Cranson, owners of the Superior Bathhouse Brewery & Distillery on Bathhouse Row, 329 Central Ave., Hot Springs, will host Evil Twin Brewers of Denmark and Brooklyn in a “Tap Takeover,” Oct. 10-12. The brewery’s 16 gravity-fed taps will pour Evil Twin brews and the kitchen will offer a special menu of Evil Twin-inspired appetizers and entrees, paired with flights of Evil Twin beers. There will be two reserved seatings, 6 and 8 p.m., though walk-ins will be welcome, and designated drivers may consume unlimited amounts of the brewery’s craft root beer. Beers will range from $6 to $12 depending on the size of glass and type of brew; food will run $10-$20, depending on what you order. Call (501) 624-2337 or visit superiorbathhouse.com. The Cransons opened the craft-beer tasting room in July and are installing custom-built brewing and distilling equipment to turn the Spa City’s thermal waters - with the help of grains, hops and yeast - into craft beers, spirits and nonalcoholic root beer and seltzer.

And Panera Bread is joining the fight against breast cancer for the 12th year by once again baking its signature Pink Ribbon Bagels. The ribbon-shaped confections feature cherry chips, dried cherries and cranberries, vanilla, honey and brown sugar. Through Oct. 31, participating central Arkansas bakery-cafes will donate 25 cents of each “PRB” to Baptist Health’s Women’s Resource Center; in Northwest Arkansas, the donations will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Men’s Task Force.

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, 121 E. Capitol Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72201. Send email to: eharrison@arkansasonline.com