Chef from Food Network's 'Great Food Truck Race' to open Little Rock restaurant soon

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/THOMAS METTHE -- 3/11/2018 --
Chef Donnie Ferneau of Cathead's Diner hands out pineapple sage cupcakes with candied pork belly during the Local Food Legends: A Friendly Cooking Competition on Sunday, March 11, 2018, at the Heifer Urban Farm in Little Rock.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/THOMAS METTHE -- 3/11/2018 -- Chef Donnie Ferneau of Cathead's Diner hands out pineapple sage cupcakes with candied pork belly during the Local Food Legends: A Friendly Cooking Competition on Sunday, March 11, 2018, at the Heifer Urban Farm in Little Rock.

Cathead's Diner, 515 Shall Ave., Little Rock, is still a couple of weeks short of opening to the public, says Kelli Marks, the executive pastry chef and partner in the enterprise with chef Donnie Ferneau Jr.

They're still in the process of getting inspections and permits. Marks says she's looking forward to testing recipes in the actual kitchen -- "I've been making doughnuts out of my house with a Fry Daddy." The restaurant will have a week's worth of soft openings to stress-test the kitchen, plus two events for nonprofits before opening to the public.

One of the events is apparently serving breakfast to the participants in Metroplan's Bike to Work Day Rally, 7:30 a.m. Friday at the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., Little Rock -- visit ditchthekeys.com for information and registration forms.

The menu will feature upscale Southern comfort food serving all-day breakfast, and diners will have a choice for anything listed on the menu as a sandwich to have it on a namesake cathead biscuit, Texas toast or a doughnut. The website, catheadsdiner.com, flashes photos of menu items that include fried and roasted chicken, beef tenderloin, a pulled pork sandwich, Clover's pink lemonade pie ("named after my grandmother," Marks says) and a sticky-bun skillet.

Their liquor license is already in place. Hours, still tentative, will be 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. brunch Saturday-Sunday, and Ferneau, with connections to culinary luminaries around the country, is looking to pull in guest chefs for specialty, book-in-advance weekend dinners with special menus. The phone number, for the moment, is (501) 613-7780.

Ferneau's The Southern Frenchie food truck race made it to the final four of the Food Network's Great Food Truck Race last year.

Upcoming Events