After almost five years in the making, "We're right on the brink," Tim Chappell says of the opening of The Shack in, well, not quite Gusano's Chicago-Style Pizzeria, 313 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.
He plans to start serving pork sandwiches with the original sauce next week, possibly as early as Monday, out of a sort of kitchenette that he has established between Gusano's and Ernie Biggs, what he describes as "sort of a pop-up Shack barbecue," with the hood venting the smoker out into River Market.
It's not quite, or at least not yet, what he originally planned, which was to convert the pizzeria into a barbecue joint; depending on how business goes, he'll be looking at expanding the operation into the restaurant proper, with plans to turn it into a major night-time blues venue, while maintaining the pizza menu.
Gusano's phone number is (501) 374-1441. Oh, and Chappell says he has settled a rent dispute with his landlord, Three Thirteen Clinton LLC, on which Arkansas Business reported in its Oct. 15 Whispers column, and all is now well. Meanwhile, Chappell's other barbecue project, Hickory Joe's, a smaller, mostly grab-and-go operation in the long-long-long-idle 402 E. Third St. storefront that was originally announced as the site for the resurrected Shack, will continue to lag slightly behind. He's using the same smokers to produce the smoked meat but in different preparations.