RESTAURANT REVIEW + PHOTOS: Restored Midtown Billiards in Little Rock as good as old

The burger at the newly renovated Midtown Billiards in Little Rock is a legend that lives up to its glory.
The burger at the newly renovated Midtown Billiards in Little Rock is a legend that lives up to its glory.

Midtown Billiards, which reopened earlier this month after a September fire, is not quite Midtown, Little Rock's venerable and favorite dive bar. Not quite yet.

It's odd, because the newly reopened Midtown along Main Street in the South Main District is virtually the same as it was. Except, it's too sterilized, too polished. That'll all change with age.

Right now, it's not quite the downtown Little Rock haunt that has witnessed battles won, fights lost, hearts broken, loves found and many a terrible night of gutter-ending drinking and grand eves of heaven-praising imbibing.

The shade of John Deere green paint on the walls is still way too green. There's some graffiti covering these walls, but only a few beer bottle labels are haphazardly slapped on them and the fresh paint has certainly not been stained with decades of cigarette smoke like the old walls. The new, tin-stamped ceiling shines too brightly in the early evening light. And the floor is not pockmarked with various dark-colored blemishes, remnants of beer and liquor spills, stubbed out cigarettes, sweat and perhaps even blood.

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Photos by Shea Stewart

It's weird. The renovated bar -- still known for the three "B's" of beer, booze and burgers -- right now feels like a franchised Midtown. Look kids! It's an authentic dive bar complete with barflies, but in a Phoenix strip mall!

It's good just to have Midtown back, though. When the Sept. 19 blaze gutted the bar (the midmorning fire was started by a malfunctioning refrigerator), patrons -- hustlers and politicians, musicians and bankers, poets and lawyers, business leaders and scammers -- of the beloved bar felt like they'd lost a favorite drunk uncle.

The post-fire renovation meant new kitchen equipment, bar, ceiling and bigger and better bathrooms. Yes, and this is important: bigger and better bathrooms. And the renovation includes two new pool tables, hence the billiards in Midtown Billiards, replacing the old pool tables.

Part of the renovation also included rubbing out some of the bar's newness and giving it a little wear and tear, much like a baseball glove being oiled, bound by rubber bands and left under a car wheel overnight to make it more pliable. Of course, if Midtown is this baseball glove, then the glove still needs to be dragged over gravel, shot with birdshot and submerged in Arkansas Delta mud for a month or two.

Then Midtown, which dates to 1940 and moved to its current location in the 1970s, would be close to its original self, which won national praise from magazines such as Esquire.

That's all ambience, though, dive bar aesthetics that will be cured by time. Fortunately, the famed Midtown Hamburger ($7.50) is unchanged, although some have said the new, flat-top griddle is not as seasoned as the former griddle, which was destroyed in the fire.

Only veteran Midtown burger aficionados will notice the subtle difference -- if there is one. This is still a burger that has launched a thousand late-night, early-morning escapades.

A burger is not supposed to take a diner where the Midtown burger takes diners, especially not a burger at a dive bar, but there's a lot of thought and care given to the menu staple. First, although the meat is griddle cooked, it's not flat but thick. Plus, the burger is not overly greasy. And it's sprinkled in a seasoning blend that peps up the burger flavor.

Most importantly, though, and this is something my wife frequently mentions, the Midtown burger has that ideal meat-to-bun ratio, with the fluffy bun not compressing under the weight of the burger but holding its own. It's also a strong enough bun to withstand a slathering of various condiments -- mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato (none for me), pickle and onion -- that throw sweetness into the equation.

The one snag I've always had with the Midtown burger is that the cheese (option of cheddar or pepper jack) gets lost in this mix of flavors, and it's still true today, but that's a trifling criticism when discussing a burger this good.

The Midtown burger isn't praised because it's legendary; it's legendary because it tastes as good at 6 p.m. and only one beer into an evening as it does at 3 a.m. after a bender.

The menu at Midtown also includes a Spam, Egg and Cheese Sandwich (which my cholesterol said no to), a BLT or a vegetarian Boca Burger ($5 each) and a Turkey Sandwich or Ham Sandwich ($5 each), but the burger is what one eats at Midtown.

There are several beers on tap, including beers from Flyway Brewing Co. and Stone's Throw Brewing, along with a smorgasbord of canned and bottled beer, liquor drinks and wine. Trust me, you won't go thirsty at Midtown.

There is a band cover charge on Friday and Saturday night of $7, and a membership fee of $10, which is good for the whole year.

And while you're enjoying your beer and burger, grab a pen and scrawl on the walls. They need it. The fresh graffiti in the newly renovated Midtown is slowly restoring the old mystique of the place, with the ramblings ranging from the positive -- "So happy to be back" -- to unmentionable scribblings and drawings.

The bar is gradually returning to its old bedraggled self, and every spilled beer, stubbed out cigarette and teardrop helps. I like to think of Midtown Billiards as a boozy Rolling Stones song from the Exile on Main St. era, a loose effort in trying to keep the wheels between the ditches on a rough country road.

Pretty soon Midtown will be back on that dusty road. It's just good now to have it back in any form and good to have the Midtown burger back, too.

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Since reopening July 7 after renovations following a fire, Midtown Billiards has once again gained its king-of-the-dive-bars status.

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Midtown Billiards, reopened earlier this month after a fire, features several local beers, including Flyway Brewing Co.’s Bluewing Berry Wheat.

Weekend on 07/27/2017

Midtown Billiards

Address: 1316 Main St., Little Rock

Hours: 3 p.m.-5 a.m. daily

Cuisine: Burgers and sandwiches

Credit cards: AE, D, MC, V

Reservations: No

Alcoholic beverages: Yes

Wheelchair accessible: Yes

(501) 372-9990

Facebook: tinyurl.com/midtown…

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