It looks like Aug. 3 or thereabouts is the opening day for Soul Fish Café, which features fried catfish and other Southern favorites, at 306 Main St. in downtown Little Rock next door to the also eagerly awaited Bruno’s Deli.
This will be the restaurant chain’s fourth location and the first outside Memphis, where it has three locations.
Raymond Williams, one of the owners of Soul Fish, said Little Rock was chosen because of its proximity to Memphis and similarity to Memphis in that the city is also on a river. He and his partner, Tiger Bryant, visited Oxford, Mississippi; Nashville, Tennessee; Little Rock; and Birmingham, Alabama, looking for cities that were close, and “Little Rock just stuck out,” Williams said. “The restaurant scene is really growing. Downtown, it seems like, is really growing. It just seemed like the right place to be.”
Although he’d like to grow the restaurant, he and Bryant have to see how well it does outside of Memphis, Williams said.
In addition to catfish, Soul Food offers pork chops, chicken, po’boy sandwiches and many Southern sides, like hush puppies, black-eyed peas and collard greens.
Williams and Bryant, who became friends in college, opened the first Soul Fish in 2006. Williams, who’s been in the restaurant business since he was 16, said Soul Fish had net sales of a little over $7 million in 2015.
Williams credits the restaurant’s good food and quick turnaround for its success. “We turn tables very fast.”