Restaurant Transitions: Midtown Billiards reopening set; The Main Cheese closes; La Hacienda to return soon

The Main Cheese, 14524 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, has closed again, with management suggesting via Facebook post that “Little Rock just didn’t want a grilled cheese and gourmet cheeseburger bad enough.”
The Main Cheese, 14524 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, has closed again, with management suggesting via Facebook post that “Little Rock just didn’t want a grilled cheese and gourmet cheeseburger bad enough.”

Work to rebuild the bar, billiards and burger joint Midtown Billiards, 1316 Main St., Little Rock, gutted by a Sept. 19 fire, has gone more slowly than expected, says general manager David Shipps, but all will be in readiness for the June 30 grand reopening, 3 p.m-5 a.m. Tickets -- $20 for happy hour, $25 for late-night, available online at centralarkansastickets.com/events/grande-re-opening -- guarantee membership in the private club; the late-night ticket includes the cover charge for the opening-night band and a free commemorative Midtown Sharpie. Hours will once again be 3 p.m.-5 a.m. daily. The phone number remains (501) 372-9990.

And speaking of post-fire recoveries, comes this June 14 Facebook post for Three Sams BBQ and Catering, 10508 Mann Road, Mabelvale, knocked out by a March 2016 blaze: "We are in the very final stages of the kitchen overhaul. Keep checking our [Facebook] site for a grand opening date." In the interim, co-owner Annette Jones has been selling sandwiches, barbecue-stuffed potatoes and desserts out of the Three Sams catering truck on the parking lot, 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday. We've consistently gotten either no answer or a busy signal at the listed phone number, (501) 407-0345.

Here's the latest (as of deadline) post on the page for La Hacienda, 3024 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, closed for more than six months after planned "renovations" turned into complete reconstruction: "We are finally undergoing/finishing final details! We are on track to open by the end of the month (hopefully sooner than later)! Official day is yet to be finalized," awaiting final inspections and the fixing of a few "pesky details." We've also learned that the restaurant's hours will be 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. The original phone number -- (501) 661-0600 -- will remain.

Meanwhile, a connection of the Alvarez family, which owns La Hacienda, has taken over the La Hacienda To-Go operation, 7706 Cantrell Road (which housed several incarnations of The Hop as well as several other Mexican and non-Mexican restaurants over the past several years), and reopened it as Taqueria La Pasadita Mexican Cafe. "She is selling her own food and the location is no longer associated with La Hacienda Inc.," according to a recent La Hacienda Facebook post. Hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday. They've kept the former owner's phone number, (501) 223-9060.

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The Main Cheese, 14524 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, has closed, as per this June 9 posting on its Facebook page, presumably by owner Ryan Merritt-McGehee: "So for 6 months we rebuilt it, we cooked hardcore, and we strived to provide top notch service, but it's been not enough to keep the good times rolling. The verdict is simply that Little Rock just didn't want a grilled cheese and gourmet cheeseburger bad enough. Today was our last day open. Catch y'all another time. Adios." As of deadline, the phone number, (501) 673-4480, had not been disconnected, per se, but we got an automated message saying it has been changed and "the new number is unknown."

Merritt-McGehee, owner of The Clean Eatery, a west Little Rock-based, meal-prep, healthful-food home-delivery program, took the restaurant over after its original owners closed it in January, reopening it in February with a menu shift away from "gourmet grilled cheese and more" and toward a larger number and variety of gourmet burgers.

The three-storefront space has failed to support the final location of Sai Gon, a couple of other Asian restaurants and the original Main Cheese, which closed in January. Facebook comments from commiserating customers were unrelated to the demand, or lack thereof, for grilled cheese and gourmet cheeseburgers -- dwelling specifically on the location (and sparked an official Main Cheese acknowledgment: "Meh, it's proven to remain an unprofitable location. I tried.") It's in a strip center on heavily traveled Cantrell Road where traffic makes it hard to turn into and even harder to turn out of. And the outlet of the Senor Tequila mini-chain in the center gobbles up parking. Another possible drag factor: For at least several weeks, the Merritt-McGehee edition lacked a beer-and-wine license.

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Late last week we swung by the pending Captain Hooks Fish & Chicken, 6725 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, next to Indian Hills Shopping Center. The principal street-side "coming soon" sign mentions fish, chicken and also "Steak & Lemonade." A peek through the front door, which still bears a notice announcing the permanent closure of the Dunkin Donuts-Baskin Robbins hybrid, the most recent occupant, showed no indication of the restaurant's opening status. We reported that Mohammed Yafai, listed as the business owner with the state Secretary of State's office, is a business partner of the owner-manager of a restaurant by the same name, 107 E. 22nd St., Stuttgart. That restaurant's Facebook page, facebook.com/CaptainHooksStuttgart, could give you an idea of the menu.

It may or may not be a restaurant -- the paperwork concerning the still-pending plumbing permit references a "menu" -- but Indian Market is "coming soon" in the strip center, 12312 Chenal Parkway, between Firehouse Subs and Chenal Nails and Spa.

Feastros, 4200 E. Kiehl Ave., Sherwood, has reopened after being closed for renovations, including a new addition that increases seating capacity to 340. Customers can traverse a buffet or order burgers, barbecue sandwiches, rib dinners, stuffed potatoes and steaks off the menu boards (new ones with new pricing are in progress). Hours are 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 864-7860.

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Update on our report last week that Georgia-based Zaxby's is finally planning to open a Little Rock location, filing a plumbing permit with the state Health Department for a restaurant at 10601 Kanis Road, Little Rock, near the Panera Bread and Dunkin' Donuts at Kanis and Shackleford roads. "We're actively moving forward," says licensee Fred Weir, who operates Zaxby's outlets in Benton, Bryant, Maumelle, Sherwood and Jacksonville. (An outlet in Conway operates on a separate license.) The target is late September or early October.

Zaxby's fans have wondered why it has taken so long, as the chain seemed to circle the metro area, to establish an outlet toward its center. "We had as well," Weir says. "We heard that demand from the community. We've been looking for sites in Little Rock for about five years, but we just had not found the right location that met our economic model at all. Most of the sites were upward of a million dollars, and it's hard to make that work."

The west Little Rock outlet will be the first in Arkansas -- and one of only a handful nationwide -- to incorporate the brand-new Zaxby's footprint, which Weir describes as "the latest evolution in building design." And there are two more potential Little Rock deals or developments looming for 2018.

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The target to open is on or about the first week of July for the Argentinian Coffee & Wine Bar, 328 Central Ave., Hot Springs, on Bathhouse Row, opposite the Superior Bathhouse. Owner Amy Thomas says delays in the renovation of the century-old structure have held things up. "We're still working with the build-out," she explains. "It's an ancient building." Once it's up and running, the establishment will serve primarily Argentine wines, with a few from California, and Argentine coffee -- served, in European espresso style, in smaller cups and uniquely roasted to take away bitterness and sourness. The menu will feature tapas and other small bites, including empanadas, pastries, gelato and picado -- "anything that goes well with wine, or coffee," Thomas explains. Tentative hours: 8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily, possibly staying open later on weekends. The phone number is (501) 623-2777.

Also in the Spa City, we're awaiting word on an opening date for Rector's, 538 W. Grand Ave., Hot Springs, which most folks will recall was the longtime location of Mollie's and was for awhile Jay Baxter's eclectic but short-lived Jay's. (Baxter, the founder of Pompeii, also has Jay's Pizza in the Ottenheimer Market Hall in Little Rock's River Market.) The Facebook page, facebook.com/rectorshotsprings, notes that its grand opening is "to be announced," and promises a "family owned, fast-casual dining spot" serving "soups, salads, sandwiches and weekly Southern comfort specials" -- and lunch delivery. The phone company lists the number as (501) 463-9493.

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. Email:

eharrison@arkansasonline.com

Weekend on 06/22/2017

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