West Little Rock's 1620 Savoy, 1620 Market St., has a new owner: Jeffrey Edwards, who recently finalized a deal to buy the place from Rush Harding III. Edwards says there will be some menu changes but the food will be very similar, aided by continuity in the kitchen. Joseph Salgueiro has been promoted to executive chef, and Tim Morton, protege (and nephew) of founder Evette Brady, will remain, primarily in charge of catering and off-site parties but also keeping the kitchen running smoothly.
"Hopefully in [the] near future [we] will also have some Villa takeout food," says Edwards, a Villa veteran who worked for owner Ken Shivey for 13 years. Shivey, Edwards says, gave him his blessing as long as "Broderick [another former Villa employee now in 1620's kitchen] does the cooking."
Hours will remain 5-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday with brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. And speaking of brunch, the restaurant will observe Mother's Day by serving complimentary souffles to all mothers at dinner Friday-Saturday; the Mother's Day brunch, Edwards says, will feature the usual brunch menu with a couple of specials, probably one each from Morton and Salgueiro. Call for reservations: (501) 221-1620. The website is 1620savoy.com.
In fact, calling for reservations is a good idea for any place you may be planning to take your mom for Mother's Day (fast-fooderies excepted, but if you're taking Mom to Mickey D's for Mother's Day, you may have other issues). It's one of several such days each year where the rule is likely to be "no reservation, long wait (or no seat)."
Something is finally happening inside the long, long, long vacant former Casa Viva space in the Town & Country Shopping Center, Asher and University avenues, although we can't tell you just what. We made a weekend stop at next-door Mr. Chen's Authentic Chinese Food and found the ornate doors, now covered with plywood, wide open and at least one jackhammer at work, apparently in the process of gutting the interior. No, we don't know whether it will reopen as a restaurant or just what the end result will be. We will, however, keep you posted.
And speaking of Mr. Chen's, it's now serving a Szechuan-style hot pot, although it's primarily considered a wintertime dish. Basically, the hot pot, aka huo guo, involves a communal pot of boiling broth ($9.99) into which diners cook raw ingredients -- including beef, pork tripe, sausage, various vegetables and noodles, and seafood (squid, clams, crab, fish, shrimp, cuttlefish and shark's fin), for an additional $1.79-$5.99. The restaurant phone number: (501) 562-7900.
Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co., 215 Center St., has applied for restaurant beer and wine and a "native beer" license, as per a sign on its window. Folks there say they expect the license request to go through by the end of May and that they'll be serving Tsingtao and possibly at least one other Chinese beer, and are still looking at other Asian, American and Arkansas possibilities.
Bar Louie opened its second central Arkansas location Tuesday at McCain Mall, 3929 McCain Blvd., North Little Rock. Hours are 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 12:30-6 p.m. Sunday, though the bar will stay open later. And there's an extensive patio. However, there is no entrance to the establishment from inside the mall, only through an exterior door. The phone number is (501) 420-1445. Interestingly, as of 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, 45 minutes before the restaurant was scheduled to open, the website, barlouieamerica.com, listed the Pleasant Valley Town Center location on Cantrell Road in Little Rock as its only Arkansas outlet.
You may recall reporting of the demolition of the small strip center at Cantrell Road and Keightly Drive that used to house a Shipley's Donuts. One of our sharp-eyed observers spotted a sign there noting that a Slim Chickens is "coming soon" to that location. And sure enough, the website for the growing Northwest Arkansas mini-chain lists a location at 7514 Cantrell Road, Little Rock.
Target date for the opening of Fresh: An Urban Eatery, in the long vacant former OW Pizza, 1706 W. Third St., Little Rock, according to co-owners Pam Jones and Phillip Naylor's posting on their Facebook page, is on or about Memorial Day. Previous postings have indicated what they'll be doing once it's up and running: "fresh, relatively healthy food, in 15 [minutes] or less at a $10 price point. ... We will have a salad bar with approximately 23 items, 3 or 4 soups made daily, pizza by the slice and sandwiches where the bread is made and delivered fresh daily! And maybe a few specials daily." The page lists a phone number, (501) 436-9094, which nobody answered by deadline, and a website, still under construction: freshanurbaneatery.com.
Chef-owner Eric Greer is marking the first anniversary of Garden Bistro, 4801 North Hills Blvd., North Little Rock, by offering half-price wines by the glass and half-price desserts through May. Hours are 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; after Wednesday, the place will also reopen for dinner, 5-9 p.m. Wednesday-Friday. The phone number is (501) 758-4299.
Chicago's Phillys & Gyros has opened in the drive-through kiosk at 3600 S. University Ave., Little Rock, that most recently housed Boba Teas, Smoothies & Coffees, which started out as a Baskin-Robbins and which had in the interim housed a couple of failed smoothie shops. This place, as the name suggests, offers steak, chicken, turkey, vegetable, breakfast and gyros sandwiches and wraps, salads, loaded fries and baked potatoes. Hours are 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. The phone number is (501) 414-0080.
Kent Walker has opened his Artisan Cheese tasting room in the former Diamond Bear Brewing Co. space, 323 S. Cross St., next door to Dempsey Bakery. Visitors can order beer and wine along with meat and house-made cheeses. Hours are 1-8 p.m. Thursday, 1-9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; you can take a tour at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Call (501) 301-4963, email info@KentWalkerCheese.com or visit kentwalkercheese.com.
One of our sharp-eyed observers reports that the Waffle House at 1215 Hot Springs Highway (Arkansas 5), Benton, has reopened and has been packing them in. And like pretty much all Waffle Houses, it's open 24/7. The phone number is (501) 776-1431.
And VacationIdea, an online travel magazine, has picked Little Rock's Main Street Food Truck Festival as one of nine "Best Food Truck Festivals in the United States," in class with festivals in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio. Check it out at tinyurl.com/mf493n2. The Downtown Little Rock Partnership, which will hold the 2015 festival Oct. 3, is continuing to sponsor Food Truck Fridays at Main Street and Capitol Avenue downtown; check out each Friday's lineup at tinyurl.com/mhdhtrh. For more information about the festival or to participate as a food truck, vendor or volunteer, call (501) 375-0121, email downtownpartnership@downtownlr.com or visit mainstreetfoodtrucks.com.
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 05/07/2015