LEO'S

GREEK CASTLE
   
2925 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, (501) 666-7414. Open: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
   

Food: Two-thirds
of the tripartite menu is more or less "pure American," including a baker's half-dozen varieties of gourmet burgers made of meat and two of vegetables and a selection of American platters and sandwiches. On the other third, you can find real Greek dishes -- moussaka, dolmathes, spanakopita -- and more wider-Mediterranean items like gyros, shish kebab and hummus. The gyros comes in the traditional pita sandwich with tzatziki (a cucumber-garlic-yogurt sauce), tomatoes and onions or on a platter with side pita and fries. Leo's also serves breakfast, traditional American breakfast griddle fare (eggs and pancakes, biscuit sandwiches and French toast) as well as a first-rate, flavorful Greek Omelet.
   

Mood:
The restaurant is in an un-castle-like ramshackle wood building on an island in the parking lot of an upscale Hillcrest strip center. The theme of the decor in the tiny but homelike dining room is Hellenic blue -- dark-blue-flecked-with-white plasticized tablecloths on the half-dozen tables, aging blue-white wallpaper marked with architectural designs of Greek-looking columns; blue-and-white hangings in the window. There are a couple of blue-topped picnic tables outdoors as well.
   

Moolah:
Nothing is over $10.
   -- Eric E. Harrison
   

V LOUNGE AT LULAV
   
220 W. Sixth St., Little Rock, (501) 374-5100. Open: 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Thursday-Friday, 5 p.m.-midnight Saturday.
   

Food:
Original chef/owner James Botwright had to bid "shalom" to his original all-kosher, California/Sephardic fusion menu in fairly short order, replacing it with a somewhat similar Napa Valley/Mediterranean concept that still survives, in reduced form, under new chef/general manager Heather Keeton. The menu now offers a handful each of appetizers and entrees (two preparations of fowl, one of beef, two of prawns), plus daily specials, some of which echo what's already on the menu (coconut-panko crusted mahi mahi instead of coconutpanko crusted prawns, for example). The venue is in the process of filling in the stock for the fairly impressive wine list.
   

Mood:
The new control has "adjusted" the name of the establishment (eventually they hope to eliminate the "Lulav" part of it) and to some degree its decor. Reds and golds still predominate; seating is at cream-tablecloth tables with plush red and light gold seats; recent additions include hanging-candle table lamps that look like something out of the mind of slightly warped filmmaker Tim Burton. Entrees came out on unusual slightly tilted dishes halfway between bowls and plates; even the wine glasses have a slope to them. After 10 p.m., the lounge -- the main restaurant room and the side area in the lobby of what used to be a business college -- heats up for "reverse happy hour," with drink specials and an appetizer-based special menu.
   

Moolah:
Entree prices hover around the $20 mark, but you can get out cheaper with the Israeli Barbecue Breast of Chicken ($12).
   -- Eric E. Harrison
   

COCK OF THE WALK
   
7103 Cock of the Walk Lane, North Little Rock, (501) 758-7182. Open 5-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.
   

Food:
Simplicity is the specialty of Cock of the Walk, where the decisions are limited. Fried or grilled chicken, fish or shrimp for the entree? How about your drink, something soft like sweet tea that you drink out of a jar or maybe something stronger like a Maumellrita? Dinners arrive on metal pie pans with choice of potato, as well as show-stealing sides of hush puppies, skillet bread and coleslaw served family-style. So don't fill up too much on the appetizer combo of slick, salty fried dill pickles and crunchy, sweet onion rings served with tartar sauce for some additional fat grams.
   

Mood:
Only a quarter-mile from suburbia's bustle, rustic Cock of the Walk feels worlds and even eras away. It's not just the restaurant's woodsy stylings and rural setting, it's the folksy feel that gives Cock of the Walk diners a walk back in time. Try to get a window seat, as you might get a glimpse of a peacock, Canada geese, fish, turtles or even the occasional deer hanging out by the pond. Or just mingle with the taxidermy inside.
   

Moolah:
Entrees cost $10.95- $14.95.
   -- Jennifer Christman

FUJI JAPANESE SEAFOOD STEAK HOUSE AND SUSHI BAR
1260 U.S. 64 (Ridge Plaza), Conway, (501) 328-5888. Open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4:30-9 :30 p.m. Monday-Thursday ; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 11 a.m. Ð9 p.m. Sunday.
   

Food:
Little Rock and North Little Rock may be swimming in sushi and hibachi-type restaurants, but the spring opening of Fuji Japanese Seafood Steak House and Sushi Bar made the restaurant the first of its kind in Conway. A large menu of sushi offerings is served with flair. The star of the hibachi grill is the juicy shrimp.
   

Mood:
In many ways, the restaurant is like its central Arkansas counterparts. The servers are prompt and friendly, with waitress uniforms of ankle-length dark kimonos. The decor is simple, and in some cases quite foreign, with a bowl of a bathroom sink that takes a minute or two to figure out.
   

Moolah:
Several hibachi dinners, served with Japanese onion soup, salad, hibachi vegetables, fried rice and two jumbo shrimp, are priced below $24, while fancier combinations, such as the filet mignon, chicken and shrimp, cost $24.95. Generous sushi combinations cost $12 to $25.
   -- Melissa Tucker GABRIEL'S 7412 North Hills Blvd., Sherwood, (501) 833-3233. Open: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Food:
Every 10 years or so, Steve Gabriel comes out of obscurity to open another restaurant in Sherwood (previous efforts have been a Gabriel's on Arkansas 107 and St. Gabriel's New Orleans Style Restaurant near the Wildwood exit off of U.S. 67/167, and he also operated Gabriel's on Main Street in Little Rock). His food has always been very good. The menu mixes Cajun and Southern, steaks and seafood. Open with the unbreaded Bogaloosa Cajun Wings in hot or medium Cajun sauce (even the medium sauce has a good kick to it), the excellent Stuffed Mushrooms, mushroom caps filled with an amalgam of cheese, bacon, crab meat and bread crumbs; the same mixture tops the Bienville-style Oysters Gabriel. Best bet for meat eaters is the "Award-Winning " Steak Gabriel, beef tenderloin folded over sauteed mushrooms and blended cheeses and topped with a Bordelaise sauce, with sauteed Cajun rice and stuffed mushrooms on the side.
   

Mood:
The decor evokes New Orleans, festooned with Mardi Gras touches -- green, gold and purple tinsel, beads, plastic doubloons and what not -- plus stretches of French Quarter-style iron fencing on the walls. Seating is at sturdy cafeteria-style chairs and tables, the latter covered in plastic-coated rose-colored tablecloths. Service was generally good, but we had to ask for silverware, and our fairly reasonably priced bottle of Pinot Grigio came out of the kitchen, not only already open, but with two glasses already poured, which shouldn't ever happen.
   

Moolah:
Prices are reasonable, with entrees ranging from $10 to $17 (not counting the market price for dishes with king crab legs).
   -- Eric E. Harrison

This story was published Friday, October 06, 2006