Over the holidays, a new addition to Little Rock’s food scene opened its doors in West Little Rock. Mehfil Indo-Mughlai Pak Cuisine is open for lunch and dinner in the former Dixie Café space on Rodney Parham Road. Mehfil is open seven days a week and serves a buffet that fans of Indian food will be familiar with. Dishes like Chicken Tikka Masala, Tandoori Chicken and Pakora you’ve probably heard of (or eaten), but there are some others I have never tried. Dishes like Beef Nihari and Fried Idli should provide a reason for folks familiar with the genre to stop in and give Mehfil a try. The tentative hours are 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. for lunch, and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. for dinner, though those may change.
Every year, kBird closes for a month to allow owner and chef Richard Glasgow time to visit friends in Thailand and explore even more of the country’s cuisine. This year, kBird will be closed from Jan. 16 until Feb. 18, so you have two weeks to get your Thai fix in before the hiatus. If you’ve never eat there, you really are missing out; kBird is unquestionably some of the best Thai food you can find anywhere in Arkansas.
Fans of Excaliburger don’t have to wait too much longer for the beloved food truck to return to Little Rock. Owner Kyle Pounders is visiting friends here in Arkansas this week before trucking it out west again. Pounders is bound for Chico, California, which is close to ground zero for the deadly Camp Fire that killed 85 people and burned down more than 14,000 homes. Pounders will take Excaliburger where people need it most and give away burgers to those affected by the fire. Pounders has been helping where he can for the past several months, including the flooding in North Carolina last year. Pounders tells me he’s coming back to Little Rock after his work in Chico is done. We’ll make sure to let you know as soon as that happens.
It’s only for a short time, but Mark’s Do-Nut Shop in North Little Rock is closed. Mark’s is giving its employees time away and is closed until Monday, Jan. 7, when it will open its doors at 5:30 a.m. Mark’s is widely considered one of Central Arkansas’ best donut shops.
And The Pizzeria in the Heights neighborhood is once again expanding its hours. Jacqueline Pittman’s excellent pizza shop is now open for dinner seven days a week, adding Monday dinner service for 2019. The Pizzeria also recently added a weekend brunch, with a brunch line-up that doesn’t include any pizzas; frittatas and a delicious biscuits and gravy dominate the early menu. The Pizzeria is not open for lunch.
Rebel Kettle is closed for a week for some renovations, the updated opening date is tentatively January 12th. We wrote about the new upgrades and the week in Central Arkansas beer news in this week’s Growlers issue.
And what can we expect to happen in Little Rock’s food scene in 2019? Our editor Greg Henderson examines the trends and patterns for a look forward.
RIP Damgoode Pies
November 20, 2023
