A DQ Grill & Chill, central Arkansas' first Dairy Queen franchise in a long time and the first of several planned such outlets, opens at 10 a.m. Saturday -- yes, New Year's Eve -- at 1550 Country Club Road at Heritage Lane, Sherwood. Todd Denton, Nelson Lively and Blake Lively (who previously managed 21 DQ restaurants in Texas) are the three managing partners of owner-operator-franchisee You Scream I Scream Inc. They plan to employ approximately 70 full-time and part-time workers. The Sherwood location seats 72 indoors, 30 more on the covered patio (complete with a fireplace). The menu includes grilled hamburgers and chicken baskets served with white gravy, DQ Blizzards and customized ice cream cakes. The first 100 people to buy a cake will get one free Blizzard a week for an entire year. Hours are 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 834-1300. The franchisees' second outlet, on University Avenue near 12th Street, has a spring target to open and there are more locations in the planning stage "throughout central Arkansas," according to a news release. (The first Dairy Queen opened in 1940 in Joliet, Ill.)
The bad news: Bruno's Little Italy Deli, 308 Main St., Little Rock, is closing. The good news: Shortly after the top of the new year, it's moving into the main Bruno's Little Italy restaurant next door at 310 Main. According to Monday's Facebook page post, it's by customer request, providing "a dining room with tables and chairs (as well as a bar for beer, drinks and wine)," and "will essentially become the lunch shift at Bruno's." The entire menu will now be available, the page notes, "to go or to eat in." Keep an eye on the Bruno's Little Italy Facebook page for an opening date, and of course we'll keep you posted.
One of our eagle-eyed observers spotted, and photographed, a sign for Mr. Hui's Restaurant in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. We're told it'll be a Chinese restaurant and that it is still under construction; no information yet on a target opening date. Those who run the shopping center say its owners are the family that operates Mr. Chen's in Little Rock and Mr. Cheng's in North Little Rock, and also a Mr. Hui's in Norman, Okla. An online check shows there are at least three other restaurants out there called Mr. Hui's, including two in Lincoln, Neb., and one in Florence, Ala.
Today is the last day for Hillcrest Artisan Meats, 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, to move any remaining dry goods and groceries off the shelves. Co-owners Brian Brown and Tara Portiva-Brown are closing it down, citing just plain overwork. They'll open the doors one last time Saturday for a goodbye bash. Tomas Bohm of The Pantry in west Little Rock and the neighboring Pantry Crest in Hillcrest, says he'll reveal next week the name and hours of the new deli-style restaurant he's putting in there.
We're checking out a report from one of our sharp-eared correspondents that there is a second Little Rock outlet of Taco Bueno in the works somewhere on West Markham Street. (We're not sure where, and West Markham is a long street.) The Farmers Branch, Texas-based chain-franchise outlet has been working around the city, so to speak, with restaurants at 10114 Mabelvale Plaza Drive (at Interstate 30), Little Rock; 102 Savannah Drive, Maumelle; 1155 Dave Ward Drive, Conway; and 20742 Interstate 30 N. in Benton. But fans in the area have been wondering when we'd get one a little closer in. Calls to corporate headquarters have gone unreturned for two weeks.
As of Sunday, the Western Sizzlin at 500 Gregory St., Jacksonville, will become Barnhill's Steaks-Buffet. Western Sizzlin veteran Steve Barnhill, who over the past 35 years or so has been running buffet places in Florida and Dallas, is taking over in the wake of the retirement of owner Gerald Grummer (they're holding his retirement party 5-8 p.m. Friday, according to the restaurant's Facebook page). Barnhill worked for Grummer at the Western Sizzlin in North Little Rock as a cook in the '70s; he grew up in Paragould and went to high school at Sylvan Hills. He says over the next two or three months he plans to increase the selection on the buffet, particularly on the hot and dessert bars, and make some quality upgrades, including taking the steaks up a notch to USDA Choice (and yes, he expects them to cost a little bit more). He's also looking at some tweaks on the hours, which have been 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Saturday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, closing as much as 30 minutes earlier and opening about 15 minutes later, depending on the traffic. The phone number, (501) 982-4456, will stay the same.
Saturday, of course, is New Year's Eve, and Sunday is New Year's Day. But unlike Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, these are not sacred holidays, so you can bet that your favorite restaurants and watering holes will be open and most of them will be celebrating in some fashion, many of them offering specials that include something bubbly. Which is why we don't feel obligated to provide a list as we did for those other holidays. However, if you're heading toward Northwest Arkansas to mark the transition from 2016 to 2017, you should know that The Hive, in the 21c Museum Hotel Bentonville, 200 N.E. A St., will offer a special five-course New Year's Eve dinner, 5-7 p.m. and 8-10 p.m. Saturday. Or you can order off the table d'hote menu. Cost: $52-$69. The restaurant's New Year's Day brunch, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Sunday, will feature an a la carte menu. For reservations, call (479) 286-6576.
The Dixie Cafe chain has inaugurated the "Dixie Cares Fundraiser Program," through which nonprofit groups can "designate a night in which their members, friends, family and supporters can dine in a designated location, and we will contribute 20 percent of their purchases to [that] organization." Examples include school events, church youth groups, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, youth sport teams and so on. Organizations that are not eligible to participate: "Individuals seeking personal aid. Political action groups. Political candidates." Fill out a fundraiser request application online at dixiecafe.com/fundraising-request; fundraiser nights will be limited to 4-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; supporters must bring in and hand to the server a custom-printed event flier, which the restaurant chain will provide. Call (501) 666-3494 for more details.
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 12/29/2016