A French fine dining restaurant is hoping to welcome patrons to downtown Springdale later this spring.
The restaurant, called Bienvenue, may even be open by mid-May at 101 W. Johnson Ave., Suite B, according to chef and co-owner William Mauk.
Mauk said he has spent time in the kitchen at a five-star restaurant in New Orleans and is trained in French fine dining. His restaurant plans to present refined versions of familiar dishes. Ingredients will be sourced "as locally as possible," and the menu will change often, he said.
The restaurant interior will be furnished with architectural antiques, he added.
"The food will be very familiar, but we'll elevate it to a point where it's unlike anything you can get around here," he said. "I think people are going to be impressed."
Turnbow Park and the Walton Family Foundation's Market Center of the Ozarks will be right across the street, an unexpected bonus of being in downtown Springdale, according to Mauk.
"It's a pretty exciting place," he said.
Crepes Paulette
A popular Bentonville creperie is coming to Fayetteville.
Paula Henry, co-founder of Crepes Paulette, said the restaurant will serve its sweet and savory handheld crepes, along with some soups and drinks, at 2341 N. College Ave. as soon as this summer.
Henry said they have been wanting to expand the restaurant for a few years, and the building on College was exactly what they were looking for.
"We've been looking casually, and then this was too good to pass up," she said.
The Fayetteville menu may end up being a more streamlined version of the menu at Bentonville, which will remain the flagship location, she said.
Paula and Frédéric Henry opened a food truck called Crepes Paulette in downtown Bentonville in 2010.
The couple had some experience in the restaurant industry, but were not chefs, she said. They decided to serve what they knew. Frédéric, a native of northwest France, the home of buckwheat crepes, drew on his familiarity with the food and developed a recipe, she said.
They decided to serve handheld crepes because of the limitations of a food truck. It worked so well that they stuck with the handhelds and the fast casual atmosphere when they opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant at 100 S.W. Eighth St. in 2016.
"We like to say, 'French, not fancy,'" she said.
Confident Coffee
Johnson-based Confident Coffee Roasters will open its second shop Wednesday in Rogers.
In a recent social media post, the coffee company said the location would be "everything you love about Johnson plus beer and wine and a couple of late nights (so a girl can have a dessert and coffee/wine date on this side of town)."
Confident Coffee will be open at 3939 S. Grand Ave., Suite D112, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, according to the post.
Crisp & Green
Crisp & Green opens Saturday in Bentonville.
The restaurant at 1401 S. Walton Blvd., Suite 11, will primarily serve grain and acai bowls, smoothies and salads.
It will be the first of five Crisp & Green locations planned for Arkansas, according to a news release. The flagship Crisp & Green store opened in Wayzata, Minn., in 2016. The company has restaurants in at least seven states and plans to double that number by the end of 2023.
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We'll be back next week with more restaurant news across Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley. Has one recently opened or closed near you? Does your favorite spot have a new menu? Let us know. Email [email protected].
French fine dining restaurant Bienvenue is hoping to welcome patrons to downtown Springdale by mid-May, according to chef and co-owner William Mauk. (Courtesy Photo/Bienvenue)