Coming soon to downtown Bentonville is Butter-Scotch Bakery & Bar, a high-concept bakery and, naturally, bar, with its first soft opening planned for Valentine’s Day.
At least, the Feb. 14 opening is the hope of Samuel McKenzie, 29, who owns Butter-Scotch with his wife, Larissa McKenzie, 27.
How high concept? Well, the bakery (the “Butter” part of the name) will be on the lower level with the bar (the “Scotch” part of the name) on the upper level at 104 Central Ave.
“The theme that we’re going for — as if it wasn’t cute enough — is pastries based on classic cocktails and cocktails based on classic pastries,” Samuel McKenzie told Whispers. “For instance, we’ve got an absolutely killer recipe for a carrot cake cocktail.” That cocktail is whisky-based with one or two different liqueurs included as well, he said.
An example of an offering on the bakery side is the French 75 cupcake, a cupcake based on the French 75 cocktail, a concoction featuring gin and champagne. “It’s unbelievable,” McKenzie said.
The bakery-bar website also notes that it will offer coffee and tea and “elegant cakes, handmade with fresh ingredients.”
As for previous restaurant or bar experience, McKenzie said, “I’ve kind of been casually bartending since I was, like, 12.” But he most recently worked at Saiwok Vietnamese Street Food, an Asian fusion restaurant in Rogers.
His wife, Larissa, McKenzie said, has a lot of experience in the restaurant and food service industry, including as a baker for Walmart “fresh out of high school. That’s where she learned to decorate cakes.
She then went to Brightwater in Bentonville to sort of begin her proper culinary education.” Larissa later studied under renowned French-Swiss pastry chef and chocolatier Amaury Guichon at the Pastry Academy in Las Vegas.
So far, the McKenzies have spent about $145,000 on startup costs for their venture.
McKenzie noted that he was born and raised in Bentonville “and I’m really just happy to be making my mark on my hometown.”
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