Three locally owned Arkansas restaurants closed within the span of two days in June. Their departures add to the restaurant closures that have shocked diners across America, but these losses are especially personal because each business was closely tied to its community.
Arkansas lost an award-winning Cabot gathering place, a Dickson Street restaurant with 20 years of history and a barbecue business that grew from a food truck into multiple locations.
Tall Paul’s in Cabot
Tall Paul’s served its final customers on June 20, 2026, at 12406 Highway 5 in Cabot, at the Highway 5 and 89 intersection.
The locally owned restaurant was known for comfort food with a creative twist, including smoked pork chops, fresh oysters, salmon salads, cheese dip and a popular Monte Cristo sandwich.
Owners Tim Higginbotham and Johnny Campbell named the restaurant in honor of Higginbotham’s late father, Paul, who was known affectionately as “Tall Paul” and remembered for his big personality and generous spirit.
Although Tall Paul’s had a relatively short run, it quickly earned recognition. The restaurant highlighted honors for Best Catfish in Arkansas and Best New Restaurant in its farewell announcement, and it was featured on the show “Eat It Up” with Hayden Balgavy.
It also provided a venue for local musicians and entertainers, helping it become more than a place to sit down for dinner. In its final stretch, the restaurant hosted nightly live music during a 10-day farewell countdown.
The owners said they made the difficult decision to close so they could put their families first. They thanked their employees and customers while placing the fully equipped, turnkey restaurant space on the market for a potential new operator.
Wasabi in Fayetteville
Wasabi closed its Dickson Street restaurant on June 21, 2026, after 20 years in business.
The locally owned sushi and hibachi restaurant opened in 2006 at 313 W. Dickson Street, in the Shipley Bakery building, and remained part of Fayetteville’s busiest entertainment district through two decades of changes. It was affectionately nicknamed “Little Shogun.”
Dickson Street restaurants serve a varied mix of University of Arkansas students, local residents, visitors and people attending concerts or sporting events. Surviving there for 20 years gave Wasabi a history that few restaurants achieve.
In its farewell announcement, the family-owned business reflected on how much Fayetteville had changed since the restaurant opened. “When we first opened Wasabi in 2006, we couldn’t have predicted just how much we would see, experience, and grow along with Fayetteville over the decades,” the post read. The owners described serving the community as the honor of a lifetime.
Wasabi’s closing removes a restaurant that many former students associated with nights out, celebrations and visits back to Fayetteville long after graduation.
The Pak family, which owns Wasabi, also owns and operates Shogun of Fayetteville and Shogun of Bentonville. Both of those restaurants remain open and will honor Wasabi gift cards. But the original Dickson Street experience ended when Wasabi served its final meals.
Count Porkula in North Little Rock
Count Porkula closed its final restaurant on June 21, 2026, ending a business story that began with a food truck in 2008.
Founders Walt Todd and Kelly Lovell started Count Porkula as a competition barbecue team, and the business took its memorable name from their smoker — a rusted, broken-down pit they refurbished and christened “Count Porkula.” From those mobile beginnings, the pair gradually expanded to a brick-and-mortar spot at The Rail Yard food truck beer garden in Little Rock’s East Village, and then, in 2022, into two permanent restaurants in the Midtown area of Little Rock and on Maumelle Boulevard in North Little Rock.
The expansion was fueled in part by a 2021 partnership with the Keet family’s JTJ Restaurant Group, the company behind Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, Waldo’s Chicken & Beer, Petit & Keet and Cypress Social. The Little Rock location closed in 2024 — with Problem Child pizzeria moving into that building — leaving the Maumelle Boulevard restaurant at 10840 Maumelle Blvd. as the brand’s last traditional location.
Count Porkula became known for barbecue and for the playful personality reflected in its name. Its growth from a truck into multiple restaurants made it one of central Arkansas’ more recognizable locally created food businesses.
“We’re very proud of what we built,” Todd told AY Magazine. “The friendships and the experiences that we had through it will carry us for a long time.”
The owners also hinted that something new could eventually occupy the North Little Rock space, posting that “this won’t be the end for this space.” They did not confirm what the future concept might be, though the earlier arrival of Problem Child at their old Little Rock location fueled speculation that a second Problem Child could be in the works.
Arkansas loses three community gathering places
Tall Paul’s, Wasabi and Count Porkula followed very different paths.
Tall Paul’s quickly earned awards and created a gathering place in Cabot. Wasabi spent two decades watching Fayetteville grow and change. Count Porkula transformed a food truck — and a rusted-out smoker — into a recognizable central Arkansas barbecue brand.
Their closures demonstrate that longevity alone does not determine how much a restaurant matters. Whether it operated for a few years or two decades, each business built relationships that will be difficult for its replacement to duplicate.
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