Restaurant Transitions: Tacos 4 Life at McCain Mall, Walter’s in the Heights opening this week; Hurts Donut construction to start

Beef Tacos, rice and corn at Tacos 4 Life, Little Rock.
Beef Tacos, rice and corn at Tacos 4 Life, Little Rock.

Conway-based Tacos 4 Life opens its latest location Saturday at 4211 Warden Road, in the Dillard's parking lot at McCain Mall, North Little Rock. Co-founder Austin Samuelson explains that "it will be our newest prototype, bringing the latest technology that will lead to an even better customer experience." As with its Arkansas outlets in Conway, Little Rock, Benton, Fayetteville, Jonesboro, Searcy, Springdale, Fort Smith, Rogers and Texarkana and out-of-state outlets in Jackson, Tenn.; Frisco, Texas; and Concord, N.C., the restaurants donate 22 cents (equivalent to the cost of one meal for a hungry child) for every taco, quesadilla, salad or rice bowl it sells to Feed My Starving Children. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. The phone number is (501) 476-6728; the website: tacos4life.com.

Eric Herget, co-owner of Heights Corner Market, 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd., in Little Rock's Pulaski Heights, says he'll open Walter's, on the north side of the grocery store, on target Saturday -- 6:30 a.m.-11 a.m. for coffee and pastries, and again at 4:30 p.m. for happy hour, lounge and the light appetizers he serves over at The Green Room, the restaurant on the other side of the grocery store. And, of course, you can buy some items at the grocery and take them into the space. At least initially, it'll close at 9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. And also, at 5 p.m. Saturday, Lost Forty will stage a "tap takeover" and supposedly introduce a new brew. The phone number: (501) 663-4152.

Jim Keet is not letting any grass grow under his feet. While presiding -- literally -- over the newly opened Watercolor in the Park inside the Arkansas Arts Center in MacArthur Park, East Ninth and Commerce streets, Little Rock, his family firm, JTJ Restaurants LLC, has taken over the former Cock of the Walk, 7103 Cock of the Walk Drive off Maumelle Boulevard on the North Little Rock side of the Maumelle divide. (JTJ is the first names of Keet and his partner-sons -- James, Tommy and Jake). Keet explains that he's moving the headquarters of the family construction company, KO Construction Management, into the former restaurant building; he has plans to revamp the kitchen space to handle the bulk of JTJ's extensive catering operations if and when Arts Center reconstruction forces them to move sometime in 2019.

Mehfil Indo-Mughlai Pak Cuisine appears to be on the cusp of opening in the former Dixie Cafe in the Village at Pleasant Valley shopping center, 10700 N. Rodney Parham Road at Interstate 430. We don't have confirmation of an actual opening date, although it could be as early as Friday or sometime next week. And we don't have a phone number. A clue: The Facebook page, facebook.com/mehfilcuisine, has been featuring photos of dishes.

We also don't yet have a target opening date for Mama's Little Italy to open at 1020 Airport Road, Hot Springs, but a recent Facebook post indicates the place is hiring, and we do have a phone number: (501) 881-4121. Expect to see a a full Italian menu, including pizza, for lunch and dinner Tuesday-Saturday.

Folks at the headquarters of Springfield, Mo.-based Hurts Donut Co. say they still don't have a target opening for their pending Little Rock outlet, on the first floor of the Block 2 Lofts building, 107 E. Markham St., Little Rock, in a space that has been any number of restaurants and/or nightclubs. But construction is due to start soon on the 3,537-square-foot location. Anticipate that, as with others in the chain, it will be open 24/7 and that it will have more than 70 varieties of oversize specialty doughnuts, including maple bacon, cotton candy, Fruity Pebbles and Andes Mint, in addition to traditional glazed and chocolate. The franchise currently has one other Arkansas location, in Fayetteville. Visit wannahurts.com/where-it-hurts.

...

Joe Finch, former owner of The Shack, firmly wants it known he no longer has any connection whatsoever to Tim Chappell or Chappell Concepts, which is supposedly reviving the legendary barbecue operation in the Gusano's restaurant on President Clinton Avenue in Little Rock's River Market District. Yes, Finch says, he sold the Shack name and recipes to Chappell "some 10 years ago, with agreements drawn up at the Rose Law Firm," and after real estate powerhouse and River Market mover-shaker Moses/Tucker brought him and Chappell together to bring the Shack to the River Market area, "I was to be a partner/adviser in the operation, which never materialized. ... I opened Hickory Joe's at 12th Street and Rodney Parham [Road] in the '80s [and] the Hickory Joe name was included in the transaction because it was one of the most successful of my operations.

"I was in the barbecue business from 1973-2002, opening 11 stores under various names, the Shack being one of them. ... In that time I built what I consider a reputable record with customers and suppliers around the state. I realize my name, business history and ethics may be important to me only, but I want to set the record straight in that I am not connected in any way" with "the current events with Chappell" (we reported last week Chappell was facing a possible eviction from an East Third Street space that had been scheduled to become Hickory Joe's) that "might thwart any interested potential investors" in Finch's own project "to bring the original Shack back."

...

And speaking of venerable barbecue operations and Maumelle Boulevard, we actually got this news in November and it somehow slipped through the cracks: Smokey Joe's BBQ closed Nov. 17 after a short stint at 13503 Crystal Hill Road, North Little Rock. One of co-owner George Qandah's daughters posted on Facebook, "Effective Saturday, Nov. 17, we have closed our store. ... This was a very difficult and sad decision for our entire family. However, the restaurant never could achieve the level of business needed to be financially viable. My Dad is heartbroken that things didn't work out. At my Dad's request, we did not announce the closure in advance. Each time we have closed a restaurant, regardless of circumstances, it has been incredibly hard on George. Given the circumstances of the closure, he preferred to do so quietly." A subsequent post expressed appreciation to customers hoping the Qandahs would reopen in Saline County -- they had operated for many years on Military Road in Benton -- but "due to the circumstance surrounding this closing, we are not opening another restaurant."

David's Burgers, with outlets in Maumelle, Little Rock, North Little Rock, Conway, Cabot and Bryant, was No. 21 among U.S. fast casual restaurants in online travel site TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Restaurant awards (tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice-Restaurants-cFastCasual), which also included Fine and Everyday Dining categories. The site determined the winners "using an algorithm that took into account the quantity and quality of reviews for restaurants around the world, gathered over a 12-month period," according to a news release.

And speaking of burgers, Chris Tanner and the people behind Little Rock's Cheers in the Heights teamed up with Fayetteville's Curtis Arnold on Cheers at the OPO, set for a February opening in Fayetteville's Old Post Office, 1 E. Center St. Details are still sketchy, reports the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, but "customers can expect the same idea as the Cheers in the Heights," Arnold says. Tanner will help him develop the menu, which will include sandwiches and burgers, steaks, shrimp, po' boys, soups and salads and appetizers with a wood-fired grill. The 1911 building, on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974, was a post office until 1963 and continued to house federal offices for about a decade. Thereafter, from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, it housed OPO Restaurant and Bar; since it has been Hog City Diner, Sodies, Urban Table, Stogie's, Jammin' Java, Country Outfitter and Hayseed Ventures. Arnold's family bought it this summer for nearly $2.3 million.

And still speaking of burgers, Burger King is going to the dogs. Literally. For a limited time, they're providing free "Dogpper" flame-grilled bone treats -- that's "bone"-shaped dog biscuits -- or, as the ad (youtube.com/watch?v=Ttb5dgqyIY4) featuring guilty owners trying to chow down on Whoppers while their dogs look pleadingly on, a "free flame-grilled bone when you buy a Whopper via Doordash."

...

And just in case you hadn't noticed, Christmas is coming. We'll run as complete a list of restaurants as we can in the Dec. 20 column, leading up to Tuesday, Dec. 25, of restaurants that will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. To that end, please, restaurateurs who plan to serve those days, send the details to us at [email protected] -- include the full name of your establishment and its street address(es), hours of Christmas Eve/Day operation, what you'll have on the menu or the buffet, your reservation policy and the phone number, etc., the public can contact for reservations and more information. Deadline is Monday, Dec. 17.

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. Send email to:

[email protected]

photo

Democrat-Gazette file photo

David’s Burgers ranked No. 21 among TripAdvisor’s Fast Casual restaurant awards.

Weekend on 12/13/2018

Upcoming Events