Restaurant transitions: La Hacienda closing for renovations, end near for Silvek's, Raduno expands menu

New on the lunch menu at Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom: Italian Beef (shown) and Margherita Grilled Cheese sandwiches (the former with gluten-free potato or sweet potato Billy Goat Chips, the latter served with a new creamy tomato-basil soup) and the new Primavera Salad.
New on the lunch menu at Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom: Italian Beef (shown) and Margherita Grilled Cheese sandwiches (the former with gluten-free potato or sweet potato Billy Goat Chips, the latter served with a new creamy tomato-basil soup) and the new Primavera Salad.

La Hacienda, 3024 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, has announced it will close starting June for renovations -- a major face-lift for kitchen and dining room -- and planning to reopen in mid-August. Fernando Alvarez says he's waiting on his architects to establish the exact dates. The phone number is (501) 661-0600. This won't affect the two other central Arkansas La Haciendas -- the original, 3836 Central Ave., Hot Springs, and in the Ferguson Plaza Shopping Center, 17401 Interstate 30 (on the frontage road), Benton, which will remain open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. And two other central Arkansas Alvarez family scions will still be serving: Cotijas, 406 Louisiana St., Little Rock, and the newly resurrected La Casa Real, 3700 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock.

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New on the lunch menu at Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom: Italian Beef and Margherita Grilled Cheese sandwiches (the former with gluten-free potato or sweet potato Billy Goat Chips, the latter served with a new creamy tomato-basil soup) and the new Primavera Salad (shown).

There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth when baker Silvek Pupkowski announced late last year that he was retiring and, barring being able to sell or find somebody to take over his Silvek's European Bakery in the Kroger store, 1900 N. Polk St. at Cantrell Road in Little Rock's Pulaski Heights neighborhood, he would be shutting it down when his contract with Kroger expired at the end of March. That deadline came and went, arousing some faint hope that Silvek's, quite possibly the area's most popular bakery, would somehow survive there or somewhere else. However, that hope has been dashed as one of Pupkowski's employees is saying that Tuesday will be its final day of business. No official or unofficial word as to just what Kroger will do with the space. The bakery phone number, by the way, if you'd like to put in a final order, is (501) 664-4241.

And speaking of baked goods, Jeff Herald, who owns and operates the Daylight Donuts kiosk in the Park Hill Shopping Center, 4030 John F. Kennedy Blvd, North Little Rock, says he is not replacing his morning doughnut-centered menu but is adding shaved ice concoctions (aka snow cones), in the afternoons after daily doughnut vending ceases. Doughnut-shop hours are 5 a.m.-11 a.m. Tuesday-Sunday; one of his employees is shaving ice and adding fruit flavorings from 3-8 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. The phone number is (501) 753-7299.

Diana Long, director of River Market Operations for the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, reports that The Indian Feast this week wrapped up a lease on the kiosk that formerly housed The Veg in the River Market's Ottenheimer Market Hall, 400 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. She expects an opening within 30 days.

Speaking of The Veg, we're still waiting on an update from owner Shiem Swift, who, last we heard, was negotiating a lease agreement with the folks who owned and/or operated the former Fresh: An Urban Eatery at 1706 W. Third St., Little Rock. The phone number, which he has retained since his establishment left the River Market, is (501) 838-3634.

Raduno Brick Oven and Barroom, 1318 S. Main St., Little Rock, has expanded its lunch menu. It has added a couple of new sandwiches -- the Margherita Grilled Cheese (roasted roma tomatoes topped with fresh mozzarella and basil, dressed with pesto and toasted on focaccia) paired with a creamy tomato-basil soup, and Italian Meats (mortadella, sopressata, pepperoni and ham with red onions, pepperoncini peppers, arugula and provolone with an oregano vinaigrette on a toasted baguette), with gluten-free Billy Goat Chips (potato or sweet potato). And it has added a big Primavera Salad (mixed greens topped with red onions, celery, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, capers and pecorino cheese, tossed in the oregano vinaigrette), and two new dessert options: a "Mustachio Pistachio" cannoli and, from acclaimed pastry chef Zara Abbasi, a new Lemon Italian Cream Cake. Hours remain 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 .a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. The phone number: (501) 374-7476; the website: radunolr.com.

Meanwhile, Friday will be the last day that Ristorante Capeo, 425 Main St, North Little Rock, will serve lunch. Co-owner Eric Isaac says the place was only doing break-even daytime business and that the restaurant's brick-oven, Neapolitan-style pizza, which debuted in June and which he and his brother and co-owner Brian Isaac expected would bring in lunchtime customers just didn't, if you'll pardon the expression, pan out. It will remain on the menu for dinner, which the restaurant will continue to serve, 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The phone number is (501) 376-3463.

Pinnacle Valley Restaurant, 8501 Pinnacle Valley Road, Little Rock, is cutting its hours to weekends only: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday. A posting last week on the Facebook page (whence the web address pinnaclevalleyrestaurant.com now takes you), optimistically proclaims, "Patio is open! Beer is ready! Crawfish is boiling! Happy weekend!!" The phone number is (501) 673-3900.

Food trucks scheduled to park on the northwest corner of Capitol Avenue and Main Street for this week's Food Truck Friday, 10:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Food Commander, Haygood's BBQ, Loblolly Creamery, Roxy's Hot Dogs, Slader's Alaskan Dumpling Co. and Southern Gourmasian. Check out additional details at tinyurl.com/foodtruck2 or the Facebook page, tinyurl.com/mhdhtrh.

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Travel & Leisure magazine has put out its list of "The Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant in Every State" (tinyurl.com/ecoeateries). The selection criteria: "We consulted with the country's top food bloggers and experts (and did plenty of foraging ourselves) to uncover the best eco-friendly restaurant in every state," plus Washington, resulting in 51 establishments that "stand out from the pack by not only creating exciting innovative cuisine with a locally sourced menu, but also by applying that same eco-minded culinary philosophy to every aspect of the operation." The pick for Arkansas: Trio's, citing founder/chef Capi Peck's "commitment to locally grown produce [that] is well known in Little Rock and throughout the Land of Opportunity."

The James Beard Foundation has launched what it's calling JBF Impact Programs, bringing together chefs, farmers and "other leaders in the culinary community to address the biggest food challenges facing our society -- food waste, sustainable agriculture and seafood and beyond," according to a news release. The programs include the annual JBF Food Conference, Enlightened Eaters, the JBF Leadership Awards and the JBF Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change; new initiatives will include JBF Issue Summits, roundtable discussions held in cities around the country to explore timely food topics; JBF Culinary Labs, which engage chefs in hands-on, experiential learning opportunities on food-system issues; and JBF Local and Regional Advocacy Trainings, "which will bring the organization's signature 'A is for Advocacy' curriculum to a wide cohort of chefs across the country." A Culinary Lab and Issue Summit is set for June 23 in Bentonville (time and location TBA, but, we're told, likely to be at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville). More information on the programs is available at jamesbeard.org/impact.

And there's $1,000 in prize money at stake in a competition put together by Pine Bluff native Jason Irby, author of My Arkansas, My Home, to "discover and designate an official Arkansas Signature Food Dish or entree." Irby explains: "We actually do not have a signature food dish named after Arkansas or [a] township within it. Other states and cities do." July 31 is the entry deadline; the only firm requirement appears to be that, whatever you enter, "The name of the original dish must include 'Arkansas' or a city or municipality within Arkansas." Irby has assembled a committee to look into the matter and it is still working out the details; the competition will culminate in a grand finale and judging during the 2016 Arkansas State Fair. (The competition will also have second and third prizes of $500 and $250, respectively.) Entry fee is $50; judging categories will consist of originality, taste, simplicity (ease of preparation) and presentation. Find information and the official rules online at jasonirby.wordpress.com or email jasonirbyinnovationfoundation@gmail.com.

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 05/26/2016

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