You guys look hungry for some restaurant news.
Here’s what we know about several places that have opened, closed, re-opened, or will soon open in Fayetteville.
Calle Latin Cuisine
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A new Latin restaurant is in the works on Block Avenue.
The new place, called Calle Latin Cuisine, is planning to open in the building formerly home to Flying Possum Leather, and more recently Distinctive Dwelling, at 33 N. Block Ave.
The business was registered with the state by locals Fredi Valle and Fernando Castillo.
We found a Facebook page for the business, and reached out for more info. The person responding to their Facebook messages said they weren’t quite ready to provide details about their plans just yet, but planned to share more info as the opening date gets closer.
Images posted online show that renovations of the space are underway.
Little Bread Co.
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A beloved local bakery has recently expanded.
Little Bread Company in the spring opened a new dining area in the space formerly home to UA Style Shop.
The extra space has nearly doubled the interior dining area for the restaurant, and also includes more room for local art on the walls, something that has become a longtime feature at the restaurant.
Owners Chloe and Eric Gallemore recently celebrated their seventh year owning the restaurant after purchasing it from original owners Hannah Withers and Ben Gitchel in 2014.
Flying Burger and Seafood
Photo: Abigail Atkinson
A west Fayetteville restaurant has closed its doors for good.
Flying Burger & Seafood officials last week announced they have permanently closed their Fayetteville location at 4280 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. due to the pandemic.
From the announcement:
We have permanently closed our location due to COVID-19. Our prayers will continue for our local community and other local businesses. Thank you to all of the customers that have supported us through this difficult time.
The restaurant opened the Fayetteville location in July 2020. Their menu focused on burgers, catfish dishes, po-boy sandwiches, boiled seafood, and other items.
The restaurant got its start in Magnolia, Arkansas, and began franchising in 2019. According to the company’s website, there are still nine locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.
Hardee’s
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Fast food burger chain Hardee’s has closed its Fayetteville location.
After a tip from a reader, we found the restaurant was closed on Tuesday afternoon, and crews were spotted removing signage from the restaurant’s building at 2985 N. College Ave. The location has also been removed from the chain’s website.
The restaurant had been part of the Fiesta Square shopping center for a number of years. Big changes are coming soon for that intersection, including an extension of Rolling Hills Drive into the Fiesta Square parking area where a roundabout will send traffic either west into the shopping center, south toward Appleby Road, or north toward Plainview Avenue. A complete rework of the parking lot, including proposed new buildings and paths for bikes and pedestrians, is also in the works.
The Fiesta Square location was the last remaining Hardee’s in Fayetteville after the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard location closed several years ago. The chain still operates a restaurant in Springdale.
Dollar Slice Club
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Something called Dollar Slice Club is soon opening on Dickson Street.
Best we can tell from the website, the restaurant is part of a new chain connected to an app that offers subscriptions, and special prices on food for its subscribers.
The chain has a single location open in Austin, Texas, but others are in the works in Fayetteville; College Station, Texas; San Marcos, Texas; and Athens, Georgia.
From the looks of the menu, a slice of cheese pizza will cost $1 with a $5 monthly membership fee.
There are other items on the menu, with separate prices for members and non-members.
Here’s a link to their FAQ with more info.
Arsaga’s at the Depot
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A beloved Fayetteville gathering place has closed its doors.
Arsaga’s at the Depot, the restaurant and coffee shop located at 548 W. Dickson St., officially closed on Wednesday, Aug. 18.
The restaurant first opened in the summer of 2012, though it became such an important and beloved part of the community over those nine years.
The restaurant’s future came into question in 2019 when the city became involved in talks to locate a new parking deck in the private parking lot next to the building. The deck would be built to replace the parking in the West Avenue parking lot across the street that will soon be lost when it becomes a part of The Ramble cultural arts district project that is currently in development.
On top of that, the Arsaga’s had been working on another restaurant project, Arsaga’s Mill District, which opened earlier this year.
Ultimately, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that closed Arsaga’s at the Depot in March 2020. The restaurant never fully reopened after that, though it did serve coffee and pastries (and for a delicious dessert called “Moonsnow,” kind of a hybrid between shaved ice and ice cream) last summer, and briefly this year.
When the restaurant reopened this spring, Ava Arsaga made clear that it was likely a temporary situation, and primarily a way to let customers say goodbye to the space.
“We’re thinking about this little interval as time people can come spend at the Depot again and maybe say goodbye as they say hello,” Ava Arsaga told us back in the spring.
For those who loved the restaurant, a handful of menu items from Arsaga’s at the Depot have made their way onto the menu at the Mill District location.
Here’s more on the closure, including a statement from owner Cary Arsaga.
Ozark Mountain Bagel
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It took a little longer than expected, but a new bagel truck has located at the Yacht Club mobile food truck court.
Yacht Club owner Russel Ingram told us back in the spring that Ozark Mountain Bagel would soon be opening at the court. There were some delays on the conversion of the truck since then, but it is officially ready and located on site now.
A Facebook post from earlier this week indicates it’ll be open “soon.”
Ozark Mountain Bagel Co. got started in Bentonville, and the new truck at the Yacht Club will serve as its first foray into Fayetteville. The restaurant, as the name suggests, serves bagels of all flavors as well as sandwiches for breakfast and lunch.
Pizzeria Ruby
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This one’s technically not in Fayetteville, but we hope you’ll forgive us for including some Fayetteville-adjacent restaurant news in this update.
A new pizza joint called Pizzeria Ruby is now open just off I-49 in the Johnson Square development off Johnson Mill Boulevard.
The restaurant was created by Chef Mike Robertshaw & Meredith Butler, the folks behind the Persephone on Wheels food truck. Robertshaw was also previously the chef at Bentonville restaurant, Pressroom.
It is located in a new building created as part of the new development, which will also be home to an Onyx Coffee shop, and other businesses.
The menu for Pizzeria Ruby includes several 18″ specialty pizzas, along with slices, pastas, salads, gelato, and other items.
We’ve heard really good things about the food, and Persephone on Wheels was incredible.
For a bit more info, check out their website.
JJ’s Live
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JJ’s Live (formerly JBGB) is set to host their first concert on Thursday, Sept. 2 when Parker McCollum is scheduled to perform on the new stage.
It will be the first show at the venue in nearly two years. The restaurant originally opened in the spring of 2017 as a new destination for craft brews and summer concerts, but the business closed in late 2019 with hopes of enclosing the patio area to allow for more frequent live music.
The pandemic derailed those plans for more than a year, but the restaurant announced last winter that construction had begun on enclosing the outdoor space.
In February, it was announced that Fort Worth-based company MAG Capital Partners, LLC had acquired the building at 3615 N. Steele Blvd., and would lease it back to the restaurant. Owner Jody Thornton said last spring that the expanded restaurant will include a larger live music lineup of local, regional, and national touring acts each year, along with other additions including a large TV for watching sporting events, a pickleball court, a duck pin bowling area, and other amenities.
JJ’s officials told us they plan to host a handful of shows in the month of September, but won’t officially open for business until later in the month.
Grub’s Uptown
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A local burger joint and gathering place in north Fayetteville closed their doors recently.
Grub’s Bar & Grill officials announced last month plans to close their Uptown location at 3467 N. Shiloh Drive. The last day in business for the restaurant was Thursday, July 22.
Officials said they were hopeful that they will find a new home in uptown eventually.
“While we don’t have a new home for Uptown at the moment, we hopefully will find one soon,” read a statement posted to the restaurant’s Facebook page.
The local restaurant chain still operates its original location downtown at 220 N West Ave, as well as a Rogers location at 3001 S Market St.
Grub’s originally opened the Uptown location in February of 2011. Restaurant officials thanked the community for patronizing the establishment over the years.
“A huge thank you to all the customers for your support over the years,” the statement read. “You guys have been amazing.”
Longhorn Steakhouse
LongHorn Steakhouse in Bismarck, ND / Courtesy
It looks like the former Grub’s Uptown building won’t be vacant for long.
A local engineering firm has submitted new documents on behalf of the restaurant chain Longhorn Steakhouse that show a site improvement plan for a building renovation project at 3467 N. Shiloh Drive.
The company in 2019 identified a potential location at Wedington Drive and I-49, but as we reported yesterday, that lot is now slated for a Walk On’s restaurant.
The new plan for Longhorn Steakhouse shows a plan to use the building currently home to Grub’s Uptown, which closed last month. I
Longhorn Steakhouse was founded in 1981 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was purchased in 2007 by Darden Restaurants, which owns several other brands including Olive Garden and Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.
The company currently operates one location in northwest Arkansas on Promenade Boulevard in Rogers.
Jersey Mike’s
Photo: Jersey Mike’s Subs
A new sandwich shop will soon open in north Fayetteville.
A company spokesperson told us this month that New Jersey-based fast casual restaurant chain Jersey Mike’s Subs is planning to open its first restaurant in Fayetteville at 160 E. Joyce Blvd. near Guitar Center.
The restaurant focuses on “fresh sliced/fresh grilled subs,” and was named one of the fastest-growing chains in the country by Nation’s Restaurant News. The company currently has more than 2,500 locations open or in development.
Giving back to the community is a priority for the company as well, they said. Since 2010, locations throughout the country have raised more than $50 million for local charities.
Jersey Mike’s opened their first Northwest Arkansas location in Bentonville in 2018, and has since opened restaurants in Rogers and Springdale.
If all goes well, the new Fayetteville location will open sometime in December.
Walk On’s
Walk Ons’ Rogers location
Courtesy
After a few years looking, it appears as though Walk On’s has finally found a location for their Fayetteville restaurant.
The Louisiana-based restaurant/sports bar chain has submitted plans to the city for a 7,800-square-foot restaurant with associated parking on 1.9 acres northwest of Wedington Drive near Interstate 49.
The restaurant concept was created by former LSU walk on basketball players Brandon Landry and Jack Warner. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has since bought in as an owner of the chain.
The menu focuses on sports bar fair with a Cajun flavor, with popular items including their Boom Boom Shrimp, Catfish Atchafalaya, Ribeye Poboy, and Zydeco Salad.
No timeline has been announced for the opening of the Fayetteville location.
For a bit more about the chain, check out the Walk On’s website.
TJ’s Sandwich Shop
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A local sandwich establishment has moved into the old KFC building at the corner of Rolling Hills Drive and College Avenue.
TJ’s Sandwich Shop last month moved across the street from their current location into the new building, located at 2992 N. College Ave.
The new location will provide some more visibility for the business, and another feature that co-owner Nikki Golden said she’s excited about.
“We are very excited about the move. We will have a drive thru!” she said.
TJ’s was first opened in 2014 by Nikki and her husband Todd Golden, the longtime local restauranteurs who also operate Mermaid’s Seafood Restaurant on College Avenue, and were also behind the well loved Belvedere’s restaurant in Fiesta Square years ago.
As the name suggests, TJ’s focuses on sandwiches, along with salads, soups and other items.
