Rumbles: Dinner at The Root, kBird Working to Expand Hours, and NLR Restaurant Month

Welcome to Rumbles, your weekly source for food news, specials and events in Little Rock.

News

Much-loved restaurant The Root Café is preparing for its new, regular dinner service with a series of pop-up dinners, the first of which will be held Friday, Nov. 13. This first event sold out in a hurry, so keep an eye on The Root’s Facebook page to get your tickets for the next one. The Root will be expanding soon using shipping containers it purchased through a grant from JP Morgan Chase it won earlier this year.
Speaking of dinner, Thai standout kBird is also working on expanding its hours. Currently, Richard Glasgow is only open from 4:30 to 6:30 during the evenings. The issue is zoning laws in the residential Hillcrest neighborhood kBird is in, so they are working with neighbors and the Little Rock planning commission to extend dinner service until 9. “We have good support from our neighbors, many of which are customers. If everything goes well, sometime after the first of the year we could be serving dinner,” Glasgow says.
The city of North Little Rock has announced its first ever Restaurant Month to be held January 2016. The city has some pretty neat ideas to drive business to local restaurants, including a foodie photo contest, a fundraising drive for Arkansas Foodbank and a chance to win free tickets to the UALR Trojan basketball game at Verizon Arena. Little Rock’s version of Restaurant Month has been a big success for the past few years, and I can only imagine the same will happen north of the river.
After previous attempts at a Little Rock food truck court failed, another effort to bring trucks and customers together is about to kick off. The former service station at 801 Chester St. (corner of 8th and Chester) is being converted into Station 801 Indoor Food Truck Court. A flyer making the rounds with food truck owners promises indoor seating, Wi-Fi, big screen televisions and restrooms. The plan is to open the space later this month.
If you missed it, this month’s No Kid Hungry dinner at South on Main was a massive success, raising more than $65,000 that will all go to support efforts to feed Arkansas children in need. It was an amazing night of food and fundraising, one that I hope you get the chance to attend next year. Kudos to Matt and Amy Bell of South on Main for helping make the event possible.
If you haven’t yet gotten to know chef Jeff Owen of Ciao Baci, check out our Food Insider conversation.

Events

November 14th Food Trucksgiving – The official lineup for the Bryant event has been posted. It’s a great chance to taste some of these trucks for the final time in 2015.
November 14th Hillcrest Open House – Businesses and restaurants in Hillcrest are rolling out the welcome mats for shoppers from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Saturday. That means Hillcrest Artisan Meats will be serving a rare dinner.
November 14th Table 28 wine dinner – This is a six-course meal featuring wines from Presqu’ile Winery in Santa Maria Valley, California. You must call the restaurant to reserve a seat at (501) 224-2828
November 17th Stone’s Throw Southern Gourmasian beer dinner – If you haven’t been to one of these monthly dinners before, you’re really missing out. Tickets are $50 for one, $90 for two, and are available at the restaurant.
November 18th Anne Amie Vineyard Wine Tasting at One Eleven at the Capital – This special tasting won’t feature any food, but will offer the opportunity to talk with winemaker Thomas Houseman of Anne Amie in Oregon.
As always, if you have news, events, or specials over the next week, let us know.

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