Weekend brunch can be sacred or profane. But more and more places are serving it.
We’re starting a series covering area restaurants that are serving Sunday — and in some cases, Saturday — brunch, concentrating each of the next four weeks on particular portions of Central Arkansas.
This week’s focus is on downtown, the South Main neighborhood (informally known as SoMa) and the East Village, all increasingly hot locations for brunch options. (Subsequent weeks’ roundups: Hillcrest/Heights/Riverdale; West Little Rock and far-West Little Rock; and locations north of the Arkansas River. Sorry, Conway, we’re just not there yet, but we’ll work on it.)
To keep things simple, we’re just listing restaurant names, addresses, hours of operation (assume unless we specify otherwise that the restaurant opens at 10 a.m. on Sunday and serves brunch until 2 or 3 p.m.), phone numbers and web addresses where folks can go to get menu and other information. (Otherwise we’d need a Sunday section the size of an old-style telephone directory to get it all in.)
The listing is meant to be as inclusive as possible; we’re not including places that separate breakfast from lunch and we’re leaving out chain places (e.g., IHOP and Cracker Barrel — and yes, Big Bad Breakfast and Buttered Biscuit are technically chains, but they’re locally owned and/or operated, and besides, we’re making up the rules as we go along).
And yes, we’re aware that we will be leaving some restaurants out, which should be construed as the result of poor research and not anything nefarious or of ill intent. (Though we are making no promises, we might be able, at the end of the month, to warp in any places we’ve somehow skipped.)
Bon appetit.
DOWNTOWN
◼️ @ the Corner, 201 E. Markham St. at Scott Street, opens at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, (501) 400-8458, thecornerlr.com
◼️ Flora Jean’s, 433 E. Third St. at River Market Avenue, opens at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, vegetarian/vegan menu, (501) 891-6919, eatcleanflorajeans.com
◼️ Big Bad Breakfast, 306 Main St., 7 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily, (501) 387-1158, bigbadbreakfast.com
◼️ One Eleven at the Capital Hotel, 111 W. Markham St., 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday/Sunday, (501) 370-7011, capitalhotel.com
◼️ Park Grill at AMFA, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturday/Sunday, (501) 396-0390, parkgrillatamfa.com (debit and credit cards only)
◼️ Maryam’s Grill Mediterranean Restaurant, Catlett Prien Tower Building, 323 Center St. (fronts onto Fourth Street), 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, (501) 374-2633, maryamsgrill.com
◼️ Fassler Hall, 311 E. Capitol Ave., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday/Sunday, (501) 246-4757, fasslerhall.com
◼️ Dugan’s Pub, 401 E. Third St., serves brunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m., (501) 244-0542; duganspublr.com
SoMa
◼️ El Sur Street Food Co., 1214 Main St., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday/Sunday, (501) 812-3066, elsurstreetfoodco.com
◼️ Raduno Brick Oven & Barroom, 1318 Main St., (501) 374-7476, radunolr.com
◼️ Boulevard Bread Bakehouse and Market, 1417 Main St., 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Saturday, (501) 375-5100, boulevardbread.com
◼️ BCW, 1424 Main St., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, (501) 379-4290, bcwlittlerock.com
◼️ The Spot, also 1424 Main St., 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday/Sunday, (501) 222-7413, thespotlittlerock.com
◼️ The Root Cafe, 1500 Main St., opens at 8 a.m. Tuesday-Sunday, (501) 414-0423, therootcafe.com
EAST VILLAGE
◼️ 42 bar & table, Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., opens at 11 a.m., (501) 537-0042, 42barandtable.org
◼️ Lost 40 Brewing, 501 Byrd St., opens at 9 a.m., (501) 319-7275, lost40brewing.com
◼️ Sterling Market, 515 Shall St., (501) 300-6938, sterlingmarket.com
◼️ Southern Tail Brewing, 900 E. Ninth St., serves Sunday brunch 10:45 a.m.-3 p.m., (501) 912-0980, southerntailbrewing.com.