The Afterthought Bistro & Bar, a popular eatery and live music venue in Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood, will close next week, the restaurant confirmed Thursday.
Restaurant management told Arkansas Online that the bistro and bar will remain open through Wednesday.
Thursday’s announcement means that a number of previously booked music acts will not go on as planned, while others will perform for one last time before the closure.
Among the acts: Little Rock-based country band The Good Time Ramblers, which said it would be playing Wednesday.
“Sad to see the place close for the time being, but we will send it out in style,” the band said in a Facebook post. “Come out and support the waitresses and bartenders. … Wednesday is going to be a blast.”
The Good Time Ramblers added that the venue “will be under new ownership and won’t be open for a while due to remodeling.”
It was not immediately clear who the new owner might be or what the remodeling efforts could include at the location.
The Afterthought said it would have more information about the closure later Thursday.
Before becoming the Afterthought, the restaurant portion of the Hillcrest landmark at 2721 Kavanaugh Blvd. was known as Vieux Carre, Beechwood Grill and La Scala.
In 2013, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette profiled then-Vieux Carre's transition into Afterthought. The restaurant rebrand marked an expansion of the Afterthought name, bridging the existing bar with a restaurant known for its Southern cuisine.
Earlier this year, the newspaper reported on changes at Afterthought — most notably a change in ownership with manager Richard Muse now at the helm, as well as the addition of chef Michael Jones.
Information for this report was contributed by Eric E. Harrison and Jennifer Christman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.