Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, 3213 Main St., Bryant (off Interstate 30, next to Wal-Mart), the first central Arkansas outlet for the Dallas-based chain, opens at 11 a.m. today. The first 50 dine-in customers who actually buy something (as opposed to just dropping in to pick up a menu, we guess) will receive a Dickey’s gift card for $5 to $50, and from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday the restaurant will serve $2 Pulled Pork Big Barbecue sandwiches and hold a drawing for a $500 gift card. The chain has outlets in Northwest Arkansas - Siloam Springs, Lowell and Rogers. Dickey’s serves “onsite, smoke-it-all-night” Texas-style barbecue, including pulled pork, brisket, chicken, turkey and ham, with three tomato-based sauces (original, sweet and spicy). Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily; the phone number is (501) 213-0074. Menu information is available online at dickeys.com.
The short-lived Take & Bake Pizza Cafe, which operated under a franchise at 102B Markham Park Drive, Little Rock, didn’t survive. But the idea did, and Pizza Cafe owner Richard Harrison (no relation) is reviving it, starting in about two weeks, at his two Little Rock full-service operations, 1517 Rebsamen Park Road in Riverdale and 14710 Cantrell Road. The concept, as per a recent ad in Sync: “We make ’em, you bake ’em. We vacation in Fiji.” In other words, the kitchen puts the pizza together to order on a pre-made crust; you take it home (or to Fiji) and finish it in your oven. Harrison says Hank van Rossum, who owned the Markham Park Drive operation, is helping him with the setup. That location also did fully complete salads and briefly offered take-and-finish-at home pasta dishes based on recipes from The Villa of sainted memory; Harrison says he’s looking into possibly doing that as well.
Food vendors from Brazil, Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Colombia and Nicaragua and music by Papa Rap and Cuban band Cruzway will be on tap for the Latin Food & Music Festival, 6-10 p.m. Saturday at the Argenta Farmers Market Plaza, 520 Main St., North Little Rock. Soft drinks, water, beer and wine will be available for sale; leave the coolers at home. The Arkansas Times is the presenting sponsor. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, free for kids 12 and younger; proceeds benefit the Argenta Arts District. Call (501) 375-2985.
Realtor and sometime actress Regi Ott and her husband, Jeremy Bragg, have bought Hillcrest’s River City Tea, Coffee & Cream from Lisa Coleman and are moving it up the street from 2715 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, to the semicircular strip center at 2913 Kavanaugh Blvd., formerly the Beehive Salon. Bragg is looking to at least a partial soft opening Sept. 21 during Hillcrest’s Harvestfest - not everything will have transferred from the original location - with a grand opening during October’s Shop and Sip. The new location will be able to provide one thing the old one didn’t, parking space, and will also offer free Wi-Fi. Operating hours will remain the same - 6 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday - and so should the phone number, (501) 661-1496.
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
Weekend, Pages 36 on 09/12/2013