We reported a few months back that Andy Agar, founder of Sonny Williams' Steak Room in the Museum Center, 500 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, had bought the restaurant back. The fruits of his "homecoming" have begun to surface. The restaurant recently underwent a remodel, and now has two separate private dining areas to accommodate parties of 10-55, separated from the main dining room by floor-to-ceiling partitions with "rich wood and beveled glass," according to a news release. That's in addition to an indoor patio private dining area that serves 34 that's been there since the restaurant opened in 1999. A new, red-tufted leather "celebrity booth" provides intimacy for up to a party of six.
Agar says he has left the financial service business, in which he's worked for 28 years, to resume control of the restaurant. "I just had more passion for it than they did," he explains, speaking of the folks to whom he had sold it. He's planning to add nothing either new or major, but he'll add some seasonal dishes as summer approaches. Later this year he'll do some more remodeling -- an upgrade to the entryway and a paint job on the parts of the restaurant "that we didn't paint this go-round." He has maintained many of the upscale restaurant's amenities, including the piano bar and the complimentary valet parking, and has added free (well, restaurant-paid) Uber rides home for customers who feel they've imbibed a few too many cocktails. Hours are 5-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 324-2999; the website, sonnywilliamssteakroom.com.
La Casa Real, which until it lost its lease in June 2015 occupied a storefront in the Market Place Shopping Center off Rodney Parham Road, reopened Monday at 3700 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, the former site of Rosalinda Restaurant Hondureno (which has since moved to Levy), Paul's and a slew of short-lived Mexican places and bakeries. Owners are Juan and Alejandra Alvarez, members of the family that owns La Hacienda and Cotija's; they moved what had been a Chenal Parkway branch of La Hacienda to Rodney Parham in mid-2012. Hours are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. They've kept their Rodney Parham phone number: (501) 219-4689.
U.S. Pizza is expanding Saturday-Sunday brunch hours to 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at its Hillcrest outlet, 2701 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock. Brunch hours remain 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday at all the baker's dozen other locations in central, northeast and Northwest Arkansas. See the menu online at uspizzaco.net.
We have this tidbit on the status of the resurrection of The Shack at 402 E. Third St. in Little Rock's River Market District: A call to the phone number, (501) 404-2020, still produces only a voicemail message, but it has been updated to cover the advent of the Shack BBQ Sauce, available by the bottle by direct mail and at Stratton's Market and Andina Cafe in the same block, plus a promise that there will be news soon on the opening of the barbecue joint.
And speaking of Stratton's Market and the 300 block of East Third Street, Skye's Little Bistro officially opened Monday at 405 E. Third St., Little Rock, part of the complex that houses Stratton's Market and Dugan's Pub. The proprietor is Skye Stratton-Ward, daughter of Don Dugan and Tasha Stratton. Hours are 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. The phone number for the moment is the one for Stratton's, (501) 791-6700.
Eat My Catfish, with restaurants at 1205 Military Road, Benton, and 2125 Harkrider St., Conway, has a June target date to open another in Breckenridge Village Shopping Center, 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock -- almost exactly two years since the closing of Barbara Graves Intimate Fashions, which previously occupied the space. Visit the website, EatMyCatfish.com, for menu details and additional details.
There have been two more KFC casualties: the one at 8220 Geyer Springs Road, Little Rock, is now listed online as "permanently closed" and the phone number, (501) 565-6188, has been disconnected. (Several former KFCs have become outlets of Shark's Fish & Chicken; we've got reports that that's what's will be moving in, however, there's already one at 8824 Geyer Springs). Also now listed online as permanently closed: 2531 Arkansas 161 in North Little Rock. Several calls to that phone number, (501) 945-5760, produced only a busy signal. Still listed as open and operating: Little Rock: 100 Markham Park Drive, near the intersection of Markham Street and Bowman Road -- note, however, that the listed phone number, (501) 221-3850, returns a "temporarily disconnected" message. North Little Rock: 4400 Camp Robinson Road -- (501) 758-9577 -- and 20704 Arkansas 365 -- (501) 851-0111. Sherwood: Indian Head Shopping Center, 8350 Warden Road -- (501) 835-5570. Cabot: 1003 W. Main St. -- (501) 843-3420. Bryant: 116 Bryant Ave. -- (501) 847-6094. And Benton: 522 N. East St. -- (501) 778-4343.
And in our nostra culpa department, our report last week on the planned move of the Pizzeria @ Terry's Finer Foods from 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd. to 4910 Kavanaugh incorrectly described the space they'll be occupying: that of the former Revolution Gym, and not the Diet Center, which is still operating. And a correction on the hours at the new North Little Rock branch of China Taste, in the strip center at 13120 Crystal Hill Road, which are actually 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday.
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Mother's Day is May 8, and the landscape will be literally littered with Mother's Day meals and specials, even at restaurants that don't ordinarily open on Sunday. (We'll update this list on May 5; please send notices to eharrison@arkansasonline.com):
• The Capital Hotel, 111 W. Markham St., will hold a Mother-Daughter Tea in One Eleven at the Capital, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. May 7; cost is $35 plus tax, $45 if you add a glass of champagne. And on May 8, the hotel will offer a choice, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., of a special Mother's Day Buffet on the Mezzanine ($55 plus tax and gratuity, $25 for "youths" 6-11, free for kids 5 and younger) and Mother's Day in One Eleven, a more formal three-course, sit-down menu ($65 plus tax and gratuity, $25 for youngsters 6-11, free for kids 5 and younger). For reservations, call (501) 370-7068 or visit capitalhotel.com/site/index.php?id=51, where you can also find menus and additional details.
• The Wyndham Riverfront Hotel, 2 Riverfront Plaza, North Little Rock, will serve brunch, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., for $24.95, $21.95 for senior citizens, $13.95 children 5-11 and free for kids younger than 5 with a paying adult. Call (501) 907-4826 for reservations.
• Mimi's Cafe, 11725 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, will offer, starting at 11 a.m. May 8, a three-course, prix-fixe ($16.99) menu, plus a free-for-moms French pastry in every bread basket and a take-home muffin square. On May 29, Mother's Day (Fete des Meres) in France, they'll offer moms, regardless of nationality, a free entree with purchase of an entree and two beverages. The phone number is (501) 221-3883.
• The Empress of Little Rock Bed and Breakfast, 2120 Louisiana St., in Little Rock's historic Quapaw Quarter, will host a Downton Abbey-style Grand High Tea at 3 p.m. May 8. Cost is $45 plus tax. Call (501) 374-7966 or visit theempress.com.
Email:
eharrison@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 04/28/2016