A number of area restaurants have recently announced they are closing, most of them temporarily, in cautious response to the covid-19 pandemic.
This is changing day by day. Restaurants we ordered from as recently as the weekend have announced they’re shutting down. For example, owner-chef Mark Abernathy announced Monday afternoon he was closing Loca Luna, 3519 Old Cantrell Road, Little Rock, which had only reopened the previous Monday with a menu of items from its kitchen and from next-door Red Door with a parking-lot pickup procedure and a reduced-price wine list.
“In spite of losing money daily, my partner and I have kept a to-go business going to provide a service to our customers and to create some work and hope for my employees,” Abernathy wrote. “The federal government has passed a new stimulus package that will pay them much more to stay home than to come to work. I certainly don’t understand it, but now that I know they will get some help, it makes no sense to remain open.” He says the goal is to now reopen in several months as a healthy business and at that time will honor all gift cards and birthday certificates “from the months we are closed.”
Meanwhile, everything in the 300 block of Little Rock’s Main Street has closed except for Bruno’s Little Italy, which has been doing good business via phone order and has just started delivery service. Those closures include:
• Allsopp & Chapple, 311 Main St., Little Rock, posting on Facebook (facebook.com/AllsoppAndChapple): “Friends, We are closed until further notice due to the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic. The health of our staff and guests is our first priority. We hope to re-open as soon as possible.”
• A.W. Lin’s, which just opened about a month ago, and which has also closed its original location in the Promenade at Chenal.
• Soul Fish, with this Facebook (facebook.com/SoulFishLittleRock) post: “Soul Fish Cafe Little Rock will stop all service due to the pandemic. We are going to shelter in place and hopefully see everyone soon.”
• Brewski’s Pub & Grub, posting on Facebook (facebook.com/brewskisgrub): “We made the tough but correct choice to shut it down for the time being. It’s the responsible thing to do.”
• And the previously reported Samantha’s Tap Room & Wood Grill, which in the interim has been posting on Facebook (facebook.com/samanthastaproom) photos of delectable dishes you’ll be missing until they reopen.
Here’s a list of more temporary closures across the area (except as noted, all announcements are as they appeared on Facebook):
• Baja Grill, 5923 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock: “It is with heavy hearts, but the utmost optimism, that we announce the shutdown of Baja Grill — Heights. We hope to reopen as soon as the world is back to normal & pray that happens sooner rather than later in order for us to do so.”
• Bears Den Pizza, 235 Farris Road, Conway: “Closed until further notice”
• Brave New Restaurant, 2300 Cloverdale Lane, Little Rock: “We have decided to help in the prevention of spreading the virus by being closed and sanitizing the restaurant. We will collect the information available and make a call to open when it is absolutely safe for our customers and employees. Thank you for your understanding with this decision and we hope to see everyone in the future.”
• Chinese Pavilion Hunan Restaurant, 8000 Arkansas 107, Sherwood, is closed until further notice.
• Cotham’s in the City, 1401 W. Third St., Little Rock, closed after business March 26. “Today is the last day that Cotham’s will be open for lunch until we are back to having regular dine-in service. We celebrated our 20-year anniversary here in October so this decision was not made lightly. We want our staff to be able to get benefits until this crazy time has passed and all our lives are back to normal.” They’ll be prepackaging reheat-able dinners for four and selling them at their companion establishment, Hubcap Burger Company, 7410 Cantrell Road.
• Dizzy’s Bistro, 200 River Market Ave., Little Rock: “We are ceasing operations at this time. We will reopen in the near future when this outbreak has subsided.”
• Doe’s Eat Place Little Rock, 1023 W. Markham St., Little Rock: “We will remain closed for 2 weeks or until it is safe to open our dining room.”
• Pei Wei: “Effective March 18, our restaurants will be closed until at least April 5.”
• Petit & Keet, 1620 Market St., Little Rock: “Out of an abundance of caution we have decided to temporarily close.”
• Sonny Williams Steak House, 500 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock: “As a result of the growing numbers of those affected by covid-19, we believe that it’s our responsibility to cease operations for the time being. Starting today, March 23, Sonny’s will be temporarily closed.”
And these places have closed permanently:
• Google lists the area’s only outlet of the Bravo Cucina Italiana chain, in the Promenade at Chenal, 17815 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock, as “closed permanently.” It’s no longer among the locations listed on the website, bravoitalian.com.
• P.F. Chang, 317 S. Shackleford Road, Little Rock. They posted on Facebook, “Due to recent events, we are closing our doors permanently. We are devastated.”
• And this may have been in the works prior to the covid-19 pandemic, but reports have been coming in about the permanent closure of El Chico’s Mexican Grill, 8409 Interstate 30, Little Rock. The phone number, (501) 562-3762, had not yet been disconnected by our deadline, but nobody answered during business hours.
Meanwhile, one restaurant that had announced it was closing for the foreseeable future has reopened. Cantina Laredo, in the Midtowne Shopping Center 207 N. University Ave., Little Rock, is now providing curbside pickup and delivery services (free in-house within a mile, otherwise via Postmates), noon-8 p.m. daily. The phone number is (501) 280-0407; the menu is available at tinyurl.com/soeekyp.
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Meanwhile, in Hot Springs, Deluca’s Pizza, 831 Central Ave., is selling half-priced pizza with drive-thru service through the alley behind the restaurant, and also offers delivery. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, noon-7 p.m. Sunday. Call (501) 609-9002. And up the street a bit, Steinhaus Keller, 801 Central Ave., is offering “menu/beer/wine biergarten pick-up, curbside to-go, and haus to house delivery.” Hours: 3-9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday. Check-out the menu at steinhauskeller.com/menu; order at steinhauskeller.smartonlineorder.com. And information on what nearly 60 Hot Springs restaurants are doing is available at hotspringstracker.com.
The Louisville, Ky.-based Texas Roadhouse chain, saying that “due to grocery store shortages,” reports its locations across the state are selling ready-to-grill steaks directly to the public. Choices include ribeye, strips, sirloin and filet. Call to place an order; they’re also offering their cooked menu items via Curbside To-Go service and its Family Value Packs, dinners for four that include “a choice of an entree, a large salad, four side dishes, fresh-baked rolls and honey cinnamon butter.” Visit texasroadhouse.com. This follows on the heels of news that the chain’s CEO, Wayne Kent Taylor, is giving up his salary and bonus through Jan. 7 so the chain’s front-line employees can be paid during the pandemic.
And the Quizno’s chain has produced a somewhat humorous video (tinyurl.com/rh6mqza) explaining how you can continue to order and pick up to-go food at their restaurants, comparatively hands-free, if you “lead with your bum” (that’s bum as in posterior, not as in panhandler) as you enter and exit. There are still four remaining Quiznos locations in Arkansas — two in Conway and one each in Russellville and El Dorado.
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@adgnewsroom.com