Little Rock's Hillcrest neighborhood isn't as bohemian as once it was.
   Now it's a pleasant mixture of bohemian and upscale, among the city's most coveted addresses, where runners, walkers, dog-walkers and joggers progress along the Allsopp Promenade and on past the windows of the dozen restaurants that fill many of the storefronts along and just off Kavanaugh Boulevard, the neighborhood's main thoroughfare.
   The eatery choices are also a blend of bohemian and upscale. At one end of the scale, there's a quirky coffeehouse/ sandwich shop and a Chinese takeout joint; at the other, the area's highestpriced entrees and two of the state's most acclaimed wine lists (with awards from the Wine Spectator, no less).
   Our Kavanaugh journey takes us from northwest to southeast. Capsule descriptions do not necessarily constitute endorsements of any establishment. Hours and menu items are subject to change without notice, which is why we list the telephone numbers.
   

SO RESTAURANT BAR
   
3610 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 663-1464. Hours: 11 a.m.-midnight Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. (Kitchen closes half an hour before closing time.)
   No place exemplifies the shift from bohemian to sophisticated more than So, which took over a former rakish coffeehouse called the Living Room. So now officially offers Little Rock's highest-priced entree, a $125 triple-tiered platter of fresh shellfish. The menu also includes seafood, chops, steaks, pastas and oysters flown in fresh from both coasts (market price applies). Service includes valet parking and cocktail sauce made at table-side. The atmosphere is comparable to a cozy New York raw bar. The restaurant has started giving free sushi and discounted martinis in the downstairs bar area on slow-ish Monday nights. Though the wine list is not among the Wine Spectator award winners, you can go anywhere from a simple $26 bottle of pinot gris to a $420 cellar selection of 1989 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, with by-the-glass prices ranging from $5 to $16.
   

ACADIA
   
3000 Kavanaugh Blvd. (501) 603-9630. Hours: 5:30-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
   Acadia remains one of the town's classiest restaurants, with a menu full of dishes that look frou-frou -- for example, Ancho Chile Crusted Tuna with charred tomato and onion macaroni, topped with a lime cilantro aioli -- but also taste delightful. The restaurant has responded to the advent of high-priced competition from So and Ferneau (see below) by keeping its quality level high and its prices reasonable (most entrees run under $18); in fact, the $22.50 three-course prix fixe Acadia offers on Mondays and Tuesdays is a downright bargain. Service is excellent; the decor is restrained but tasteful. Additional seating is available on the outdoor deck during clement weather. The wine list is one of Wine Spectator's 13 Arkansas "Award of Excellence" recipients; on Wednesdays and Thursdays the restaurant takes 20 percent off wines by the bottle.
   

SUFFICIENT GROUNDS
   
722 N. Palm St., (501) 663-1636. Hours: 7 a.m.-10 :30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m.-10 :30 p.m. Sunday.
   Sufficient Grounds is the perfect exemplar of bohemian Hillcrest; the customer base ranges from tattooed-andpierced to ladies-who-lunch, and includes folks who just pop in for a cup of java and the free wi-fi. The decor is equally bohemian -- proletarian tables and chairs with deep-chaired conversation pits plus an outdoor deck. Some of the servers often sport as many or more tattoos and piercings as the customers. The place is undergoing a transformation as it changes hands; former owners Adam Frith, John Newbern and Merritt Maham have sold out to former Vermonter Rebecca Esch, who says she plans to make a very few tweaks to the menu -- pastries, upscale sandwiches and even pizza, with wine and beer as well as coffee -- and to eventually make it more of a community meeting place.
   LEO'S

GREEK CASTLE
   
2925 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 666-7414. Hours: 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
   Leo's, which has been around practically forever, occupies a slightly ramshackle wood building that forms an island in the parking lot of an upscale strip center. The folks who run it really are Greek; menu offerings range from Greek -- moussaka, for example -- to more generally Mediterranean, like gyros and hummus, to pure American. The tiny but homelike dining room has about a half-dozen blueand-white-tableclothed tables; there are a couple of picnic tables outdoors as well. If you want ouzo or retsina with your meal, however, you'll have to get your order to go.
   

CANON GRILL
   
2811 Kavanaugh Blvd. (501) 664-2068. Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
   Canon Grill's menu is mostly Tex-Mex -- enchiladas, quesadillas, fajitas, grande burritos -- with a couple of pasta dishes and even an albacore tuna steak. The place is likely to be packed to the door for weekday lunch with everyone from suited businessmen to leisure-class ladies in tennis dresses; in the evenings, the bar makes it almost as popular. Seating is at tables in the middle of the floor and cozy dining-car-like booths along the walls, with lively music from the sound system competing with the buzz of conversation. Prices are Tex-Mex inexpensive -- beef fajitas for two tops out the menu at $17.95.
   

U.S. PIZZA
   
2814 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 663-2198. Hours: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday.
   One of the older U.S. Pizza outlets in Little Rock, this one opened in an abandoned gas station (since brightly painted red, white, blue and Statue of Liberty) and is soon to move a couple of blocks east into a former Masonic hall, where owner/founder Judy Waller is planning to put her headquarters. U.S. Pizza is equally famed for its salads as well as its pies and the salads take less time to prepare. The atmosphere is much more hospitable since the statewide smoking ban has gone into effect (the nonsmoking section used to be a tiny ghetto to the left of the front door), but you still have to go outside to use the restrooms.
   

VIEUX CARRE
   
2721 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 663-1196. Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5 p.m.- "close" Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.
   This space has been a restaurant for more than 25 years, starting with French That Little Restaurant, followed by Italian La Scala (its longest incarnation) and "urban eatery" Beechwood Grill. Executive chef/owner David Bennett offers a semi-Continental menu with a hint of New Orleans (where the French Quarter is also known as Vieux Carre) -- for example, grilled crab cakes on fried polenta with remoulade and Creole sauce. Highest-priced lunch sandwich, London broil with caramelized onions and horseradish sauce, is $11. Offerings for the perky Sunday jazz brunch (guitar and bass duo at no extra charge) include everything from blintz-like fruit crepes and waffles to tenderloin Benedict. The next-door Afterthought bar, the image of which Bennett is trying to upgrade to a younger, hipper crowd (for years it was a frowsty place that attracted many fuddy-duddy types), provides innovative cocktail options. The decor features warm Tuscan-yellow walls, a hardwood floor and an original beadboard ceiling; prized tables are the three by the window, where you can watch the joggers, walkers, dog-walkers and runners pass.
   

CIAO BACI
   
605 N. Beechwood St., (501) 603-0238. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday for dinner; 10 p.m.-midnight late-night menu.
   Owner Suzanne Boscarolo opened this place in what had been the original location of Andre's Hillcrest, a little bungalow on Beechwood Street that is now one of the town's hottest spots to meet, eat, sip, see and be seen, particularly for the young and glamorous. The most popular place to sit is on the outdoor deck. The center of the menu is fairly high-priced entrees (most over $20), but the principal draw, especially in the later evening, is the tapas, including bruschetta, tuna tartar, fried calamari and cheese plates.
   

CAFE BOSSA NOVA
   
2701 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 614-6682 (NOVA). Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.
   Brazilian cuisine by real Brazilians is the chief drawing card for this charming cafe, which recently expanded into both the storefronts once occupied by the notably bohemian Cafe d'Roma. Notable menu items include Crepes de Frango con Catupiry (chicken crepes baked in a Catupiry cheese sauce), Brazilian quiches, Bolinho de Bacalhau (tangy codfish cakes, common throughout the Portuguesespeaking world) and Pao de Queijo, "[owner-chef ] Rosalia's famous cheese bread." The two dining rooms are done up in pastel versions of Brazil's national colors (predominantly yellow and green).
   

DAMGOODE PIES
2701 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 664-2239. Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.
   Aptly named Damgoode is at least the third pizzeria in the pizza-slice-shape parking-lot island at Kavanaugh Boulevard and Ash Street. Like its predecessors, it offers various sizes of pizza with various types and thicknesses of crust and a choice of red, white, pink or pesto sauces, as well as a limited number of pastas. You can dine in with beer and wine, if you can make it up the steep stairwell to the upper room, at bohemian-painted tables and booths. Or you may want to take it out or have it delivered (limited area; if you live elsewhere in town you may be able to get delivery from Damgoode outlets on Cantrell Road in the Heights or Rodney Parham Road in west Little Rock).
   

NEW FUN REE
   
2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 664-6657, (501) 664-2637. Hours: 10 a.m.-10 :30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m.-10 :30 p.m. Sunday.
   You can get some pretty upscale Chinese entrees here, including Dragon and Phoenix (shrimp in chili sauce and chicken with vegetables), Four Treasures With Garlic Sauce and even Peking Duck, but you'll get them in paper cartons or metal trays. This semifast-food Chinese outlet started as a spin-off of Fun Ree, which is no longer open on West 12th Street. There are a dozen or so lunchroom-style tables for those who desperately want to dine in, but mostly folks use them while waiting for the to-go orders that, along with deliveries, form the bulk of New Fun Ree's business.
   

FERNEAU
   
2601 Kavanaugh Blvd., (501) 603-9208. Hours: 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
   Chef/owner Donnie Ferneau Jr., who once worked at Ciao Baci, set out on his own in the Ice House Center, which has been the home of at least a dozen restaurants (including the other location of Andre's Hillcrest) over the past three decades. Ferneau is dedicated to using very fresh and preferably local produce in his dishes, and will proudly describe what goes into them at your table if you let him. He also specializes in putting things on your plate with flavors that blend well even though you may not recognize all the menu words -- Panko Parmesan Calamari with chili mango sauce, Hawaiian Sea Bass on Sweet Pea Orzo with mango curry cream and lime, for example. The menu changes occasionally but always includes some variety of sea scallops, which are among Ferneau's specialties. The decor, as described in the restaurant's first review, is "San Francisco warm," with mosaic swirls in the stucco-like walls and a nice glow from indirect lighting. Ferneau also has one of those Wine Spectator awards for its excellent wine list.

This story was published Friday, September 01, 2006