Restaurant transitions: Terry’s reopening, pizzeria's move, Juice Leaf in downtown Little Rock

Pop Supreme Pizza at the Pizzeria @ Terry's Finer Foods. The pizzeria is moving a couple of doors south to 4910 Kavanaugh.
Pop Supreme Pizza at the Pizzeria @ Terry's Finer Foods. The pizzeria is moving a couple of doors south to 4910 Kavanaugh.

Lex Golden, co-owner of Terry's Finer Foods -- The Restaurant, 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, initially said, and we reported last week, that he expected the restaurant to be closed for several weeks while he sorted out a staffing crisis precipitated by the departure of chef Jeffrey Moore, who returned to Lilly's Dim Sum Then Some. Now Golden says new chef Cassidy Johnson "has moved more quickly than we expected, and the restaurant will have a 'soft re-opening' [this] Friday and Saturday night. Seating will be limited and by reservation only." Make 'em by email via lex@terrysfinerfoods.com, on Yelp at Terry's The Restaurant, or leave a message at the phone number, (501) 664-4154.

The soft opening will feature a limited menu, including some of the restaurant's top-selling dishes, plus specials -- for example: "Sage derby and spinach-stuffed duck breast roulade, served with sauteed broccolini, baby carrot and potato gratin, finished with morel mushrooms and duck jus." Johnson's full menu is expected to debut in a few weeks. Tuesday-Friday lunch service will resume no later than the week following Mother's Day, possibly sooner. (Golden says he's dropping lunch on Saturdays, which "have always been slow ... in deference to the staff going forward."

We've also got some additional information on the planned move of the Pizzeria @ Terry's Finer Foods to a location a couple of doors south and closer to Cantrell Road., to 4910 Kavanaugh, p̶r̶e̶v̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶D̶i̶e̶t̶ ̶C̶e̶n̶t̶e̶r̶ the former Revolution Gym space, which also currently houses the Diet Center. The move, for which the target date is now sometime in June, has been in the works for a while and, we're told, has bumped up against a few delays. The main element will be transporting the enormous Neapolitan pizza oven, which owners Jeremy and Jacquelyn Pittman had shipped -- by ship -- from Naples, Italy, as they transferred their operation from a food truck into the one-time Sue's Pie Shop space on Terry's south side. (Golden says the Pittmans manage the business under an agreement with Terry's. It will be entirely independently owned and operated once it moves.) The phone number there: (501) 551-1388.

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An update/correction from last week: Hours at La Madeleine: French Country Cafe, opening today in the Rock Creek Square Plaza Shopping Center, 12210 W. Markham St., Little Rock, are 6:30 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. The phone number is (501) 221-7777; check out the menu at laMadeleine.com.

China Taste, 13120 Crystal Hill Road, North Little Rock, in the former Sassy Cake Lady space and the same strip center off Maumelle Boulevard with Shipley's Donuts, Flavours and Casa Mexicana, opened Monday. It's the same folks and with the same menu as Little Rock's China Taste, 9218 N. Rodney Parham Road. (Check that menu out and order online for the Little Rock location at chinatastelittlerock.com/menu.aspx; as far as we know, you can't yet order online in North Little Rock, but we're guessing that won't be far behind). Hours are 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 812-0055.

According to a news release from the shopping center, "late summer 2016" is the target for the opening of Little Rock's second Pei Wei Asian Diner, in the Promenade at Chenal, 17701 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock.

After some delays, Juice Leaf, 402 Louisiana St., Little Rock, opened last week (a "grand opening" banner hangs over the door). The locally owned juice bar serves a wide range of complicated juice blends, smoothies, smoothie bowls, "health shots" and sparkling fruit, plus muffins, pastries and chia puddings for breakfast, and soups, salads and South Indian-style dosa wraps (many of which are vegan and/or gluten-free) for lunch. Hours are 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. The phone number is (501) 615-8322. The website: juiceleaf.com.

And speaking of downtown, the Downtown Little Rock Partnership last week resumed its Main Street Food Truck Fridays, with as many as five food trucks serving, 10:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Fridays, April-June and September-November, at the corner of Main Street and Capitol Avenue. Check on what trucks are expected each week at the Facebook page -- facebook.com/MainStreetFoodTruckFestival or call (501) 375-0121. And mark the date for the sixth annual Main Street Food Truck Festival: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 24.

The Cajun Noodle, which recently moved from 505 Mallard Point Drive in Lonoke, opened a couple of weeks ago at 2790 S. Second St., Cabot. Hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday. Reports have been coming in that the sheer volume of customers has been overwhelming, resulting in some hour-long waits for the place's few tables and owner Mike Coats posting on the Facebook page last week that the kitchen simply isn't capable of handling to-go orders on a regular basis: "I do understand everyone's concerns. I wish we could take every order we received. But you can out-order a kitchen. We make every single item as it's ordered. That in itself is a huge strain on a kitchen. Our policy is house-guest first. If we are OK on our times for the dine-in customers then we will take to-go or take out. ... We have nothing pre-made except gumbo and red beans. We are exploring the option of a second location that does nothing but to-go orders. ... We're two weeks in and had no idea we would be this well received ... and didn't have any idea of the volume that we are doing. We do only have 12 tables but we turned them 8 times in 7 hours today. We are working daily to make arrangements to serve everyone." The restaurant phone number: (501) 286-6080.

Zaffino's Italian Restaurant, 2001 E Kiehl Ave., Sherwood, recently started serving lunch, thereby extending its hours to 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 4-9 p.m. Saturday. Mother/son team Nori and Michael Fryar operate the restaurant, which has been around for two decades, serving up recipes Nori Fryar brought with her from Italy in 1976. The restaurant phone number: (501) 834-7530.

Lulu's Rotisserie & Grill, in the Colonnade Shopping Center, 315 N. Bowman Road, Little Rock, is the Arkansas pick among msn.com's "50 Best Restaurants in America" (tinyurl.com/zvncvoz). The site provides no selection criteria, so there's no way of telling just why they fixed on Heinz Kurt's South American eatery. The caption under a photo of tempting-looking black beans says, "Serving up empanadas, fresh full salads, parilladas and South American cocktails, this restaurant in Little Rock delights the need for a taste of zest in its community."

Sims Bar-B-Que, 7601 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock, has stopped selling beer. The owner explains that she fell a little behind on her alcoholic beverage taxes to Arkansas Beverage Control, and they frown on that. Little Rock Sims outlets at 2415 Broadway and 1307 John Barrow Road are continuing to serve beer.

And you can celebrate Cinco de Mayo with traditional Mexican foods, margaritas, beer, mango peach tea and festive music at Garvan Woodland Gardens, 550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs, at the Cinco de Mayo FUNraiser, 6-8 p.m. May 5 in the Garvan Pavilion. Special Touch Catering's Debbie Talley is preparing chicken enchiladas, Mexican rice and black beans, seven-layer and white cheese dips, salsa, chips and mini sopapillas. Cost: $45, $30 members; for reservations, call (501) 262-9300 or (800) 366-4664 or visit garvangardens.org.

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 04/21/2016

*CORRECTION: The Pizzeria @ Terry’s Finer Foods is moving into the former Revolution Gym space at 4910 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, which also houses the Diet Center, which is still open for business. An item in this Transitions column incorrectly identified the business space into which the pizzeria is moving.

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