Piano Bar Slated for Dickson

William and Don Ray of Little Rock are renovating a 2,400-SF section of the Three Sisters Building at 216 W. Dickson St. in Fayetteville and plan to open a piano bar there by the second weekend in August.

William Ray said the bar is tentatively named Willy D’s. He said it will feature two pianos and “sing-a-longs.” Ray said he will hire professional pianists who travel the country playing at piano bars. He also hopes to hire three or four local pianists to play occasionally at Willy D’s.

“It’s not really a competition,” he said. “It’s just two guys playing, and they play off each other. It’s the best time I’ve ever had in a bar.”

Ray said similar piano bars are located in Pat O’Brien’s in New Orleans and Silky O’Sullivan’s in Memphis.

The piano playing will be the featured entertainment on the weekends. During the week, Ray said, jazz, blues and other types of music may be performed at Willy D’s, although he’s still working out those details.

Willy D’s will serve mixed drinks, wine and beer as well as light food such as sandwiches, soups and hors d’oeuvres, Ray said.

“It’s going to be a little bit upscale,” he said. “It’s going to be nothing like anything on Dickson Street.”

William Ray has been in the restaurant business for the past six years, working at such Northwest Arkansas hotspots as James at the Mill in Johnson and Hog City Diner and The Gypsy, both in Fayetteville. Don Ray was general manager at James at the Mill and currently works for Moon Distributorship in Little Rock.

Once a separate building, the Willy D’s location was home to The Grill for a decade before construction began on the $12 million, 60,000-SF Three Sisters Building in 1998. John Tyson, David Buckley and John Meier III were partners in the Three Sisters development.

T.L. Nelms, who owned The Grill, moved the restaurant and combined it with Restaurant on the Corner at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 112 and Van Asche Street in Fayetteville.

Marketplace Grill Branches To Joplin

Dave Godwin said he and his partner, Dave Strong, plan to open a Marketplace Grill in Joplin by the end of July.

Godwin and Strong own Restaurant Management Group LLC in Springdale. The group owns The Marketplace Grill in Springdale and The Marketplace Express in the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville.

Last summer, Godwin and Strong opened Brioso Brazil, a South American restaurant in Bentonville. Godwin said Brioso Brazil did about $100,000 in sales in June.

The Joplin restaurant is the company’s first venture out of Arkansas.

Dickson Street Diner Closed, Space for Rent

The Dickson Street Diner closed at the end of June, and there’s a for rent sign in the window.

Angela Norwood and Sarah Dunnahoe purchased the business at 522 W. Dickson St. on April 19. It had been closed since March.

Norwood, a former executive with the American Heart Association, and Dunnahoe, a co-owner of Ryleigh’s on Dickson, a sports and daiquiri bar, made the Dickson Street Diner a late-night hangout, with the business opening at 11 p.m. and closing for the day 15 hours later.

Nick Jeffries, Deonna Darnell and Mike Starkey, all of Fayetteville, initially opened the Dickson Street Diner in April 2001.

Arsagas To Open Shop in New WRMC

Cary and Cindy Arsaga, who own three coffee shops in Fayetteville, plan to open a shop in the city’s new Washington Regional Medical Center when that facility opens in August.

Cary Arsaga said he tried for two years to pitch the idea, but nobody was interested until a member of the WRMC board had a cup of coffee at Arsaga’s Block Street Bakery and suggested Arsaga open a coffee shop in the hospital.