RESTAURANT TRANSITIONS: Opening nears for Stone's Throw in Stifft Station, Grub's in west Little Rock; new buffet debuts

The opening of Stone’s Throw Brewing’s Stifft Station Taproom, 3015 W. Markham St., Little Rock, awaits some electrical work and final inspections. Special to the Democrat-Gazette
The opening of Stone’s Throw Brewing’s Stifft Station Taproom, 3015 W. Markham St., Little Rock, awaits some electrical work and final inspections. Special to the Democrat-Gazette

Stone's Throw Brewing's Stifft Station Taproom, 3015 W. Markham St., Little Rock, is on the cusp of opening, awaiting an electrician's installation of lighting and final inspections by the Health Department and the Arkansas Beverage Control Division, says co-owner and front man Ian Beard. Seating is set up and the staff is hired and trained; he anticipates two weeks of soft-opening service from receiving his certificate of occupancy; if all goes rosily, that could be as soon as this weekend. Keep an eye on the Facebook page, facebook.com/StonesThrowStifftStation, for grand-opening details.

Beard says the new Stifft Station storefront will provide twice the seating space —about 80 — and tap space than is available at the original brewpub at Ninth and Rock streets on the edge of MacArthur Park; he's anticipating having 20 taps for beers and ciders, and thus the ability to offer more limited-release brews. The pub will also have table service and entertainment. As with the MacArthur Park location, he won't have a kitchen — comestibles will be available from food trucks parking at the gas-service station across Johnson Street (after the gas-service station closes) on Sundays to start and eventually adding Friday and Saturday nights. Manager CC Key, formerly of Southern Gourmasian and TAE, is using her contacts to line up the vendors, Beard says.

Hours will be 4-10 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. The phone number is (501) 379-8663; the website, stonesthrowbeer.com.

The seating is ready for customers at Stone’s Throw Brewing’s Stifft Station Taproom. Special to the Democrat-Gazette
The seating is ready for customers at Stone’s Throw Brewing’s Stifft Station Taproom. Special to the Democrat-Gazette

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Jason Collins, owner of Northwest Arkansas-based Grub's Bar & Grille, says the target for the opening of the Little Rock branch, 10700 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, in the space formerly occupied by Chili's, has shifted to the second week of May. Required legal advertising connected to its application for a liquor permit with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division is underway and Collins says he anticipates no problems. The menu is going to be pretty close, with some tweaks, says marketing director Alison Strom, to the menu at outlets in Fayetteville, Rogers and Fort Smith and which you can catch on the website, grubsbar.com.

Western Sizzlin's Wood Grill Buffet opened this week at 1916 Congo Road, Benton, in what had been a just plain ordinary Western Sizzlin that had closed at at the end of 2018. The full-service restaurant-buffet concept features meat and seafood, a salad bar, a chocolate fountain and more "healthy" and flavorful preparations of vegetables. (Check out woodgrillbuffet.com.) There's a handful of other outlets in Charlottesville and Harrisonburg, Va.; Heperia and Norwalk, Calif.; and Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Hours, according to the Facebook page (facebook.com/Wood-Grill-Buffet-Benton-251538179124708), are 10:45 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 10:45 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. We were unable to get through at the listed phone number, (501) 778-9656.

Work is demonstrably in progress at 307 Main St., Little Rock, but we're still trying to nail down an opening date there for A.W. Lin's. Best guess from the folks at the original location, in the Promenade at Chenal, 17717 Chenal Parkway, is "sometime in the next couple of months." It has been a year and a half since the project was originally announced for the redeveloped Rose Building; the next-door neighbor, originally Ira's and now Allsopp & Chapple, also encountered a series of supposedly construction-related delays. Something else we're trying to confirm: Whether this represents a second location for the Asian-fusion restaurant, or, as we're beginning to hear, a full-fledged move. The west Little Rock restaurant phone number is (501) 821-5398.

We're also trying to confirm that Magnolia Skillet, which we reported a couple of weeks ago was taking over the former White Pig Inn, 5231 E. Broadway in North Little Rock's Rose City, is supposed to open Friday. Norman Clifton, who bought the building, posted that detail March 22 on the Rose City Neighborhood Association Facebook page, noting it was a second location of an existing restaurant in Mississippi, and added that the menu would consist of "home cooking, daily plate lunches at its finest, also custom made pies and cakes." We've been unable to confirm the participation, as we had initially reported, of Little Rock couple Andrew and Sabrina Rodgers, its operating hours, a telephone number, a Facebook page or a website.

And continuing this week's "uncertainty" theme, a building permit application filed with the Little Rock Planning & Development Department establishes a $90,000 "renovation for restaurant" at 221 W. Second St., Little Rock, also known as the Pyramid Building. The problem is, we don't yet know which restaurant. We reported a while back that the website for Baton Rouge-based Walk-On's Bistreaux & Bar (walk-ons.com), a chain/franchise operation co-owned by New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, listed that address as "coming soon" for one of five planned Arkansas outlets, three in the Little Rock area and two in Northwest Arkansas. However, we had also previously reported that as the address -- based on a plumbing permit filing -- for Wicked Taco, the brick-and-mortar incarnation of the Grills on Wheels Mexican food truck. We haven't been able since to raise the Grills on Wheels folks -- their phone number is (501) 291-3350. We'll keep trying to sort it all out.

Posted Monday — just as it appears — on the Facebook page (facebook.com/pages/category/Restaurant/Kosuke-Japanese-Steakhouse-and-Sushi-2181020478614017) for Kosuke Hibachi & Sushi, which will be the third hibachi-sushi restaurant to occupy the strip-mall storefronts at 1800 Club Manor Drive, Maumelle: "Hi all maumelle's community, we're getting there and ready to serve y'all. We gonna serve variety of hibachi grill and sushi selection that can satisfy your hunger. Here some update from us. We're so excited and cant wait for y'all." We don't yet have hours or a phone number; the number, (501) 851-4700, that had served both predecessors (Kendo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi and before that, Sashimi Japanese Steakhouse) still has not been disconnected, but continues to produces a rapid busy signal.

Bravo Italian Cucina in the Promenade at Chenal shopping center, 17000 block of Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, will feed local first responders (fire, police, paramedics and other emergency medical personnel) for free, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. April 18. Choose an entree ($25 or less), dine-in or carry-out, with proof of employment by uniform and/or work badge/ID. (Drinks, appetizers, desserts, tip and gratuity are extra.) Need more information? Call (501) 821-5552 or email bsiems@chenalshopping.com.

Jeff Henderson, former Las Vegas chef and Food Network personality, will be the master of ceremonies for the Community Health Centers of Arkansas' first Hunger Banquet, April 26 at Cathead's Diner, 515 Shall Ave., Little Rock. Cathead's Donnie Ferneau is creating the meal, designed as a "Fate of Your Plate" interactive event, in which guests are randomly matched to hypothetical high-, middle-, or low-income Arkansans. There will be two seatings, at 5:30 and 7 p.m., limited to 100 people per. Tickets are $75 per person, sold in tables of two; visit tinyurl.com/fateofplate. It's a benefit for the Franklin Community Health Complex, in the former Franklin Elementary School, 1701 S. Harrison St. in the Oak Forest neighborhood; it's to include a community health center, vocational training in partnership with the Little Rock School District, a community cafeteria, meeting spaces and recreational options.

And Shotgun Dan's Pizza is now the official pizza of the Arkansas Travelers. Fans can buy it (prepared on-site topped with pepperoni or just cheese) by the slice at the Double Day's Depot first-base-side concession stand during Travelers home games at North Little Rock's Dickey-Stephens Park, beginning with today's home opener against the Tulsa Drillers. For game schedule and tickets. visit Travs.com. Not a baseball fan? The mini-chain has outlets in Little Rock, North Little Rock and Sherwood.

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 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 04/11/2019

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