Your Whispers staff has your first report on the dining options planned for the $350 million Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff.
Although the project isn’t expected to be completed until the end of next year, Lucus Setterfield tells us plans are for the casino floor and restaurants to be open by June 1. Setterfield is the director of food and beverage for Downstream Casino Resort, the Oklahoma casino owned by the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma, which is also undertaking the Saracen project. Setterfield is in charge of planning the food and beverage offerings at Saracen.
There will be, by our count, five distinct restaurant/dining areas:
► A food court offering multiple kinds of fare, including hot breakfast, a taqueria or burrito bar, hamburgers, pizzas, sandwiches and fried favorites.
► A sports bar that will include an elevated, open mini-brewery of sorts featuring six brewing tanks. The brewing system will separate the sports bar from the sports betting section of the casino.
► A buffet serving many kinds of cuisine, with specialties on particular nights, such as seafood night, prime rib night, etc. Setterfield envisions a hand-rolled sushi station and a “live action” wok station. And he promises “an amazing dessert bar,” featuring Saracen’s house-made gelato. He also promises that the buffet’s food will be fresh and that diners will be able to see into the kitchen so they can assure themselves of the food’s freshness.
► The Red Oak Steakhouse, which is what its name implies. The Quapaw Nation has its own bison and beef herds and processes its own meat, and they’ll supply the steakhouse, which will be aged on-site. “There’s going to be nothing like it in the state,” Setterfield said. The tribe also has greenhouses at its Downstream Casino Resort in Quapaw, Oklahoma, and grows many of its own vegetables and herbs, which will feature prominently at the steakhouse in particular.
► A coffee shop staffed by professional bakers and a pastry chef, who will also be responsible for the desserts at Red Oak Steakhouse. The coffee shop will offer coffee roasted by the tribe itself. “It isn’t just a Starbucks,” Setterfield said.
His entire team will comprise about 300 employees, he said.
Although he didn’t mention it, Setterfield’s LinkedIn profile indicates he served a year as the executive chef at the Pleasant Valley Country Club in 2007-08 and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
It’s safe to assume he has some familiarity with Arkansas tastes.
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