• Kat Robinson
• DISHING IT OUT: The rollout of Yarnell's today included introduction of "Scoop," the company's new marketing mascot.

All was sweet and creamy today.

The flavors, as I indicated, include two vanillas — homemade and real, but not Angel Food. Sigh. The initial flavor list, from Kat Robinson:

Butter Pecan, Cookies and Cream, Death by Chocolate, Homemade Chocolate, Homemade Vanilla, Homemade Strawberry, Real Vanilla, Rocky Road and Ozark Black Walnut. Yarnell's will also offer frozen yogurt in five flavors — Blueberries & Cream, Peaches & Cream, Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla — and Guilt Free in Butter Pecan, Chocolate and Vanilla. Plus, the chocolate and vanilla Ice Cream Sandwiches are coming back, too! They'll be available at Wal-Mart next week and within the next month at Kroger, Harp's and many independent Arkansas grocers.

Here's an FAQ list from Yarnell's.

• OPEN SATURDAYS: Hillcrest Farmers Market at 2200 Kavanaugh.

Carolyn Staley tells me that, thanks to the mild winter and an early growing season, the Hillcrest Farmers Market is already open on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon on Kavanaugh Boulevard in front of the sponsoring Pulaski Heights Baptist Church. A "grand opening" is set May 5, but last Saturday brought eight vendors with strawberries and other produce, cheese, baked goods and duck and chicken eggs.

More details from the church here about the market, use of leftover goods and other ministries.

... to miss New Orleans?

Sometimes, there's nothing for it but to get in the car, drive 7 hours and get an oyster po boy. This one is from Deanie's in Metairie (or Bucktown, the fishing community on the lake). Close to perfect. Side note: The amuse bouche (freebie appetizer) at Deanie's is a bowl of new potatoes hot from the pot of highly seasoned crawfish and crab boiling liquid. They provide some packets of butter to oil them up a bit. Inspired.

More stops follow:

Perusing through our half-price deals I couldn't help but notice:

Argenta Market currently has a heckuva deal available. For $25, you can pick out $50 worth of groceries. It's that simple. Half-off eats. Only restriction is one coupon per week. While they last.

• HEADED TO COURT: One of the food trucks scheduled to participate in new food truck "court" at University and Col. Glenn.

Who knew? When I was in San Francisco last week, one of the wish-we-had sights I saw was a plaza near the civic center with a regular lineup of food trucks that serve weekday lunch.

Guess what? Little Rock has a food truck fair in the works. A "food truck court" set to open this week at what's being styled the University Market at 4Corners. That's the intersection of University Avenue and Col. Glenn. According to the Facebook page map, it will set up on the southeast corner of the intersection (by the old Cinema 150). Further posts indicate the trucks will be on the parking lot of the former Kmart store on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Hot Dog Mike says the "soft opening" is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday. Mike is one of nine vendors listed on the Facebook page. I'm pleased to note that one of them is Taqueria Samantha, my go-to burrito choice that's a staple on Geyer Springs Road.

Schulze and Burch Biscuit Co. has announced completion of the purchase of assets of the bankrupt Yarnell's ice cream business in Searcy and plans to reintroduce Yarnell's ice cream in Arkansas stores, using the same recipes, by spring. Reopening of the Searcy plant is to begin very soon.

News release follows:

• eatathomecooks.com
• A BLACK THING? Pat Robertson wonders about mac-and-cheese.

I'm thankful for Pat Robertson. What would we do without the wacky televangelist? Today, he provides us a Thanksgiving feast topic.

* MACARONI AND CHEESE: He asked his black co-host:

“What is this ‘mac and cheese,’ is that a black thing?”

She helped him out by saying sure.

But this inspires other critical Thanksgiving questions as the day winds down and downtown, already quiet, empties.

* STUFFING OR DRESSING?

* MARSHMALLOWS ON THE SWEET POTATOES?

* BOTH MASHED POTATOES AND SWEET POTATOES?

* CANNED OR FRESH-MADE? (Think Ocean Spray)

* ANY NON-STARCH VEGETABLES?

* PECAN OR PUMPKIN? (Pie, you ninny.)

* IF YOU TIPPLE, WHAT KIND OF WINE?

* FRIED — IS THAT ANY WAY TO TREAT A TURKEY?

Voting continues through Dec. 16. Go here to get started.

• FADED ROSE WEST: Closed.

Declining business dictated the closing after 23 years, David said. A lack of retail traffic lures in the shopping center, changes in the neighborhood and competition from chains all contributed, along with the poor economy.

The original Faded Rose on Rebsamen Park Road is still going strong, David said. "Join us there."

Bruno's Little Italy, one of Little Rock's oldest restaurants, closed after Saturday night dinnner, but owner Scott Wallace said a sale is in the works that should lead to remodeling and reopening.

"Business has been tough the last couple of years," Wallace said. "After 25 years, I was just worn down." But he said he'd struck a deal with former Bruno employees that he hoped would be completed this week. Wallace said they planned some remodeling, would have fresh capital and would reopen the business with the familiar men of pizza and pasta as before. He declined to identify the buyers for now.

The restaurant, at 315 Bowman Road, dates to a cafe Jimmy Bruno opened in Levy in 1947 and then relocated to Roosevelt Road in 1949, where Bruno's Little Italy began. Jimmy Bruno's sons followed him into the kitchen and continued the family traditions. Bruno's moved west in 1978 and to its present location in 1988 with Wallace, now the owner, as a backer.

Wallace is now vice president for sales for a roofing company. He said restaurant business was still good, though it suffered a downturn in 2010. He said he expected the new buyers to aim for a reopening in November, traditionally the beginning of a busy time in the restaurant business.

• BRUNO'S ON ROOSEVELT: The restaurant achieved fame here, on what was then a major highway route. Diners could watch pizza crust being tossed.

What a fine fall day.

Don't forget the Food Truck Festival on Main Street, beginning at 11 a.m. Big TVs will display the Hog game from Dallas. One of my favorites, Loncheria Alicia (above), is in the lineup. The burrito is a one-hand banquet.

The Clinton anniversary celebration, with music by Chicago, is at 4 p.m. at the Old Statehouse.

• CLOSING SUNDAY: Capi's in Pleasant Ridge

Sad news in the mailbox this morning from Brent Peterson and Capi Peck:

We would like to announce that Capi's nuevo latino restaurant will close its doors this Sunday, September 18, at 3:00 after our brunch service. If you haven't had the chance to try this fabulous brunch menu, Saturday or Sunday would be the time.

The great news is that Trio's will feature many of Capi's authentic dishes — enjoyed by so many discerning palates over the last several months — on the catering menu and in the restaurant. And we will have the combined culinary skills of both staffs to create and maintain the consistency of our menus.

We are excited to announce that Trio's will open on Sundays beginning October 2 for brunch and dinner. The 11:00 to 2:30 brunch will feature many Capi's favorites along with the Trio's mainstays. We will reopen at 5:30 offering the Trio's dinner menu with rotating Capi's entree specials and the added bonus of half-off bottles of selected wines.

You may find our new Sunday brunch menu before October 2, at www.triosrestaurant.com. And remember to take a look at the catering offerings to plan your holiday party while open dates still remain.

The Trio's/Capi's family wants to thank our wonderful guests for your patronage over the last 25 years, and we look forward to serving you for many more years to come.

The crowd wasn't as big as the throng a few miles west at Nick's in Carlisle, but I don't know why. Boss Stanley Young has been frying catfish for 41 years, following in a half century of Olden Murry's footsteps. The results are perfectly crisp filets, just salty and peppery enough. I know better than to declare this or that the be-all, end-all of catfish restaurants. But you won't be disappointed. My host — who also persuaded Young to fry some crappie he'd hooked on a morning fishing expedition — does insist that Murry's makes the best chicken-fried steak in Arkansas and touts its T-bone steaks, too. The restaurant occupies a former steakhouse, several levels in ambience above the old, old days some may recall in DeValls Bluff. PS: I do believe I might have spotted a group with an ice chest for supplementary beverages.

For a nice blast from the past, Google helpfully catalogues a passage from John Egerton's book on Southern eating, which included a stop in Olden Murry's old restaurant and a reference to a Mike Trimble article about the place.

"I go by looking at the fish and listening to the grease to tell when it's done," Murry said.

Stanley Young has a good ear, too. He also manages to batter and fry thick onion rings without producing the limp, soggy mess you find many places. These come crisp and stay crisp, with fat hunks of sweet, moist onion inside the crackly coat.

PS — The full story of Mike Trimble's long-ago visit to Murry's is here, at the bottom of an interview with Trimble about his time at the Arkansas Gazette. Lots of good stuff besides catfish.