What we know: the "for lease" banner outside the former Rocket 21/Ferneau space in the Ice House Center, 2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, has come down, and there is a sign in the window that a restaurant liquor permit has been applied for. What we don't know yet, at least by deadline: just what's going in there, or when. We'll keep you posted.
The Pantry, 11401 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, will close Tuesday for 10 days (through July 10) for renovations -- "time to remodel and reorganize our kitchen to get ready for the birth of [our] sister," according to a recent email blast from owner-"food evangelist" Tomas Bohm & The Pantry Family. The restaurant will, however, be open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday "so you can get your fix before we close." The sister, of course, is Pantry Crest, 722 N. Palm St., Little Rock, a Hillcrest sibling that Bohm is in the process of putting into a 100-year-old house that originally housed Sufficient Grounds and was most recently The House. Having to basically rebuild "from the ground up" has moved his original May target opening to late August. The Pantry phone number in west Little Rock is (501) 353-1875; the website, littlerockpantry.com.
The second location of BJ's Market Cafe, 6 Collins Industrial Place, just on the North Little Rock side of Maumelle, closed Friday. On the restaurant website appears this message: "Sorry we are closed at this location. Thank you for your past support. Please visit us at the North Little Rock location," 45 Market Plaza, off Arkansas 161, near Prothro Junction, where the hours are 6 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and also 6-8 p.m. Friday. The phone number is (501) 945-8884.
Get a jump on Eureka Springs' annual Fleur Delicious Weekend -- more than a weekend, actually, less than a week -- July 8-13 with the Ciroc Vodka Bartender Competition, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at New Delhi Cafe, 2 N. Main St., Eureka Springs. The French-theme celebration in which restaurants, bars, music venues, etc. participate in French-inspired indulgences, including multi-course wine dinners, chefs' presentations, cooking demonstrations, art-food-wine pairings, a waiters' race. Call (504) 421-2461 or (479) 253-6807, email fleurdeliciousweekend@yahoo.com or visit fleurdeliciousweekend.com.
Owner Steve Childress says Wednesday is his target date to open Another Round Pub and Grill in the last home of The Villa in the Rock Creek Square Plaza Shopping Center, 12111 W. Markham St., Little Rock. In addition to its menu, which you can check out on the Facebook page (facebook.com/anotherroundpub), the pub will offer musical entertainment with an emphasis on blues and jazz. The restaurant phone number, (501) 313-2612, was still not up and running by deadline, but Childress says good business sense and the Health Department require that be so by the time the place opens. The website, anotherroundpub.com, is still a work in progress.
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 email to:
eharrison@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 06/26/2014