This is as up-to-date a list as we have of participants in the 35th annual Soup Sunday (4-7 p.m. Sunday, Statehouse Convention Center, Markham and Main streets, Little Rock):
Soup : Bar Louie, Bruno's Little Italy, Cache (VIP soup), Cafe Bossa Nova, Cantina Laredo, Capitol Bistro, Chi's/Oishi/Sekisui/Sushi cafes, Ciao Baci, Cotham's in the City, Dave's Place, DoubleTree Hotel, Heritage Grille Steak and Fin, Kemuri/Oceans at Arthur's, Little Greek, Local Lime, Samantha's Tap Room & Wood Grill, South on Main, Table 28, Taziki's Mediterranean Cafe, Dixie Cafe, Faded Rose, The Pantry/Pantry Crest, Three Fold Noodles and Dumpling Co., Yaya's Euro Bistro. Desserts: 42, Boulevard Bread, Community Bakery, Cupcakes on Kavanaugh, Kris and Sam's, LePops (VIP dessert), Loblolly Creamery, Ristorante Capeo (VIP dessert), Rivendell Behavioral Health Services, Blue Cake Co., Two Sisters Catering, Zara Abbasi Wilkerson. Bread: Old Mill Bread & Flour Co. Bread and desserts: Serenity Farm Bread. Tickets are $25 in advance ($30 after 5 p.m. Friday), $10 for children 5-17, free for children younger than 5, $50 VIP (includes access to everything on the main floor, entry to the VIP room, VIP soups and desserts, a beer-and-wine bar and the chance to schmooze with VIP chef Tim Morton, formerly of 1620, now of Cache). It's a benefit for Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families; visit aradvocates.org/events/little-rock-soup-sunday-2016.
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Hot Springs restaurateur-turned-pharmacist Russ Jefferson, better known as the owner of the former Hot Springs Oyster Bar and the much-loved S.O.B. in Little Rock, is finally, after a four-year process, on the cusp of opening Frenchies at 2012 Central Ave., Hot Springs, formerly the location of Pompeii, which closed in 2010. "Right now we're looking, tentative opening date, last week of February," Jefferson says. "I'm kind of champing at the bit." The restaurant sign, featuring the subtitle "Cajun cookin'," with little red crawfish between the two words and a small Frenchman with a beret, recently went up above the awnings. "It's going to be a Cajun joint, and nobody's going to touch our price or touch our quality," he says. "We'll be serving French Quarter favorites from New Orleans," including shrimp, oysters, stuffed crab and catfish combos, with a "lagniappe cup of French onion soup or gumbo with every basket or platter that we sell," and Saturday-Sunday breakfast beignets, biscuits and gravy, and brioche French toast with cafe au lait. Hours will be 5:30-10:30 p.m. Friday, "or 'til they stop coming in," 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m.-"2-ish" Sunday. The phone number is (501) 321-2337.
And speaking of Hot Springs and catfish, Sam's Southern Eatery and Seafood, a chain/franchise operation with 42 independently owned locations in nine states, will open sometime in the first two weeks of February at 1906 Central Ave., Hot Springs, in what had been a Mexican restaurant called El Parian. Sam's other Arkansas locations: 6205 Baseline Road, Little Rock; 900 Hickory St., Texarkana; 1704 E. Hardlng Ave., Pine Bluff; and 811 S. Caraway Road, Jonesboro.
Jerkys Spicy Chicken & More, 521 Center St., Little Rock, is open once again after apparently being briefly shut down for nonpayment of taxes. Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday (closing time still changes based on customer volume). The phone number is (501) 246-3096; the website, still not exactly up to date, is Jerkys.net.
The Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes outlet at 14810 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, at Taylor Loop Road (across a driveway from Buffalo Wild Wings) has a sign on the door that says "Permanently Closed." The phone number, (501) 868-1091, has been disconnected. And the location has disappeared from the chain/franchise operation's website (mooyah.com/locations/id/175). It does list Little Rock's other outlet, 10825 Kanis Road; the phone number there is (501) 313-4905.
Shucked Surf & Turf Shack will be opening in the space that once housed Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen, 2480 Sanders Road, Conway. The target opening date: "It's looking like mid- to late February," says owner/operator Michael Rice. "We don't really have an oyster bar in Conway, and we're going to have an oyster bar here." So on the surf part of the menu you'll be finding oysters, shrimp, fish tacos, crab buckets, lobster tails, sea bass and mahi mahi; the "turf" part will feature steaks and burgers. The establishment will operate with a private club license in dry Faulkner County; the walls will sport 16 TVs. Rice says he's hoping to expand into a possible franchise operation. Hours will be 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Exceptions to those hours could be made during football season for night games. The phone number is (501) 319-4002.
A member of our sharp-eyed observer corps reports the advent of a Starbucks next to the Little Caesars outlet at John F. Kennedy and North Hills boulevards in North Little Rock.
And another member of the corps reports the closure of two Little Rock KFCs, at 500 W. Roosevelt Road at Broadway -- the number, (501) 374-2554, has been disconnected; and 8220 Geyer Springs Road -- that phone number, (501) 565-6188, returns a message that our call could not be completed at this time. Meanwhile, the former KFC at 6606 Colonel Glenn Road is now an outlet for Sharks Fish & Chicken, open 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-midnight Friday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 569-9502.
Garvan Woodland Gardens, 550 Arkridge Road, Hot Springs, has a couple of food-related workshops coming up next month. For required reservations and more information, call (800) 366-4664 or (501) 262-9300:
• "Cooking With Fresh Herbs: Mardis Gras Edition," 2-4 p.m. Feb. 6, Millsap Brides Hall. Chef Mike Tripp of Rosemary Hill Herb Farm will cover the art of cooking using fresh herbs and inexpensive ingredients, preparing a classic herbed Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo, a mixed greens salad with a balsamic herbal vinaigrette and an easy herbed French bread paired with a zinfandel wine (21 and over). Debbie Tripp will offer growing information for herb gardeners. $40, $70 per couple; 21 and older only.
• "Do It Yourself" with Nolen Buffalo, owner and operator of the Water Buffalo in Little Rock, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 20, Magnolia Room. Four Gardening 101 sessions: "Intro to Beer Making," 9-11 a.m.; "Intro to Wine Making," 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m.; "Intro to Cheese Making," 2-3:15 p.m.; "Intro to Hydroponics," 3:30-5 p.m. $15 members, $30 nonmembers, includes garden admission.
And in case you have been lying awake nights wondering what is Arkansas' best kind of pie, The Daily Meal (thedailymeal.com/travel/best-pie-every-state) says it's chess pie. The site does not, however, delve into just which state pie makers excel at it; for that, we refer you to the estimable travel-food writer Kat Robinson's 2012 opus, Arkansas Pie: A Delicious Slice of The Natural State.
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 01/28/2016