A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
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A New American Town - Bentonville, Arkansas
Heaven, Earth, and Underworld: The Three Dimensions of Dining at The Preacher's Son
Bentonville, Arkansas's oldest church, is home to one of the most iconic restaurants in town because of its historic Gothic-era architecture and unique experiences from rooftop to basement.
In this episode, Natalie welcomes Head Chef Neal Grey and General Manager John Robinson to discuss why it's so unforgettable. From the restaurant’s architectural roots to the story behind the menu and all three spaces, Chef Neal Gray’s seasonal creations, and what’s new—including an upcoming ‘Kiln to Table Dinner’ you won’t want to miss.
What we discuss:
History of the building and architecture
Menu and all three dining experiences (Celeste, The Preacher's Son, and Undercroft)
Upcoming dinner you can't miss!
Sign up for Kiln to Table Dinner on August 3 now: https://www.exploretock.com/the-preachers-son-bentonville/
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Welcome back to A New American Town. I'm your host, natalie, and today we're taking you inside of one of Bentonville's most iconic dining experiences, the Preacher's Sun. Housed in a beautifully restored 1904 church just steps from the square, it's where history, art and incredible food come together in the most unforgettable way, with a dining room, speakeasy-style basement bar and a newly reimagined rooftop bar. I'm joined by John Robinson, the general manager, and even the chef himself, neil Gray, who's here to give us the best guide to Preacher's Son, from the restaurant's architectural roots to the story behind the menu, and all three spaces will take you behind all the seasonal creations. So excited you guys are here. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I kind of just wanted to start off and get your take on Preacher's Son in a simple, maybe three words short sentence. How would you describe Preacher's Son in a simple, maybe three words short sentence? How would you describe Preacher's Son?
Speaker 3:I would say you know past meets present and past meets future. You know this connection to the town that the church has and really, taking the opportunity to you know, explore the culinary roots of Arkansas that very much live in the past but bringing that into more of a contemporary light with new architecture in the space and a newfound sense of culinary belonging in Arkansas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, chef, do you have anything to add to that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really well said, John. I always think that Preacher's Sun is a place where people can come and sit in this historic, grand-looking old church but have this really fun, convivial, communal-style meal where this architecture is meeting an experience that feels like our community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the touches that you guys have added to the space, like the stained glass, that's more modern to the church and just elevated it, really brings the past to the present and the modern to the church and just elevated it and really brings, yeah, like the past to the present and the future to the present. It's really really special when you go in.
Speaker 3:It's a gothic style church, right like that's the era it is yeah, yeah, yeah, built in 1904, it was the first christian church of bentonville until 1976. Okay, multiple tenants after 1976. There was another restaurant in the space and then, yeah, eventually it became the Preacher's Sun as we know it.
Speaker 1:Wow, okay. So you guys, did you have to do much restoration when you took over the space or anything?
Speaker 3:There's quite a bit of restoration done in the space. You know. I think one of the biggest show pieces of the space is the eight original wooden beams that support the structure. There was originally a pylon that went all the way from the ceiling down to the floor and that was removed. And then, you know, they did some more contemporary architecture features in there to support the structure. But that's the beauty of the space is you have the old meets new and it's just an amazing building.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. So, other than the stained glass, I would love to touch a little bit more on the art and how you guys add that contemporary piece to the architecture. What's your favorite artwork inside, john?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean other than the stained glass. I mean the stained glass is absolutely amazing, but there's a piece above the bar that is by an artist named Eamon Oregiran and it's a part of his Infinite Regress series. Really really beautiful abstract painting on linen. It has aspects of Italian futurism, peruvian gold work and just really highlights the space. Has just beautiful shapes and movement to it. Just a great art piece.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the bar is magnificent at night when it's all lit up and all the glass is lit up from behind. It really, really sets the scene, for inside it's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the stained glass is something that's like, so typical of a church, um, especially from that era. And then when you come into the, uh, when you come to the restaurant, you get to see this stained glass that you kind of expect to see. But it's this elevated, beautiful work of art by this artist, george dombeck, and, um, I love walking into the dining room and looking at it every day same.
Speaker 1:It's so. There's butterflies there, birds, there's even a hidden bike. So is that paying homage to the bike on the Crystal Bridges Trail? Do you know which one I'm talking?
Speaker 2:about. That's a good question. I mean, I'm not really sure. Do you know the answer to that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm not really sure. I mean, I know that George Dombek has a series of bike paintings that he did that are really, really beautiful, and I think that that's kind of really where the the original idea came from. You know, not only does he, he do, he does these beautiful bike pieces, but he also does these really beautiful nature pieces as well, which I think you know when you, when you look at bikes and nature. I mean, what's more Arkansas than that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, True, especially Bentonville.
Speaker 3:Especially.
Speaker 1:Bentonville, not in my capital of the world, right, that's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, what really ties the whole space together is the menu. It's not like you're just walking into this beautiful church with a menu that hasn't been carefully thought out. It's the place that everyone goes to when they come to Bentonville. You have to try the preacher's at least one time when you're here for an occasion, a celebration, or if you're just visiting, and it really is, because the food speaks for itself. So, chef, I'd love to talk to you about the visioning behind the menu. What do you draw inspiration from? And, yeah, I could talk to you all day about it, but I'll let you start there.
Speaker 2:Well, as far as where we draw inspiration from, it comes from so many different places, and I always say you never know when you're going to be inspired to do something new or create something. Inspiration really isn't something that you can put into a bottle and carry around with you. It comes at a moment's notice and it can be fleeting, and it's something that you really have to grab a hold of whenever the moment's right or whenever the inspiration strikes, and often for us it can be something that one of our local farmers is growing, it could be an idea from one of our coworkers, it could be a passing conversation that we're just having about food in the kitchen where all of a sudden, somebody says something and you're like that's a great idea we should do that.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that the spontaneity and the ability to be creative that's fabulous.
Speaker 2:I think spontaneity is really important. We try to keep our process very, very simple and very loose and very relaxed, so that we allow room for creativity and imagination to be able to take shape really quickly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how does your menu evolve? How often do you change it? Um, you are. How much percentage of your menu is from farmers, locally or I don't know how?
Speaker 2:Well, percentage wise, I'm not really. I've never really sat down and calculated it out we um, whenever somebody has something that's amazing that you know that they're ready to um, they're ready to offer to the restaurant, we're ready to put it on the menu. I'm wearing my across the creek farm hat right now and, uh, we use spencer's chicken all the time and we have a great relationship with him and he's really passionate about raising birds. He's really passionate about, you know, pasturing his birds and moving them to all the best grass and, um, he takes care of these birds like no farmer I've ever seen. He's so vested, he is in, so vested in it that he was struck by lightning a few months ago out taking care of his birds in the middle of a storm. That's just how far he's willing to go. So, since he's willing to go that far, we're willing to do whatever it takes to take that bird and showcase it in a really, I think, authentic manner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What would you say? That the chicken is your signature dish, or what's your favorite dish?
Speaker 2:I don't know that it's signature and I get asked that a lot. Yeah, but we've definitely done the roasted half chicken in many iterations for quite a long time, yeah, and I've always said personally when I go out to eat that there's never a restaurant that I can go to where I can get just a simply roasted great chicken.
Speaker 1:It's beautifully done. It's amazing.
Speaker 2:So that's kind of like my impetus behind it is I want to have a place where I can just go and have really good roast chicken, and that's kind of what we're trying to pull off.
Speaker 1:Well, you've done it. Every time I've had the iterations it's just like, oh wow, they've done it again, They've done it again. And I love the story behind how the chickens were raised, because that makes so much sense of why it's so good. You can taste the intention behind every single grain of feed that they get.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, absolutely, Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Also, are there any must-try dishes other than the chicken that you want to tell our visitors about?
Speaker 2:For must-try. I think that we do seafood at the restaurant really, really, really well and we sell so much seafood and we always keep at least three seafood entrees on the menu. They're always really popular right now, you know the bronzino has been gone for a minute.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. We've been talking about it a lot at the, in the kitchen and at the restaurant and, um, there's a little bit of a clamoring for it to come back. But that was another one we did for a long time in many different iterations, and right now we're kind of like on a blackened fish thing. We've been doing a lot of blackened fish lately and pairing it in a lot of different ways, and that's been a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like that's very summer. I love that Cool. So how do you feel like that menu ties into the other spaces, Because I know that you can order small plates in Undercroft and Celeste correct?
Speaker 2:That's true. Yeah, for Celeste. We try to keep our plates more like shareable snack-style plates to pair with the cocktails and to create kind of like an environment there where people can have beautiful drink and like shareable food, with the beautiful view and the beautiful weather hopefully so good and then in the dining room. That's where we're really showcasing our inspired cuisine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so good. So for listeners, I didn't really preface that very well. Celeste is the new rooftop lounge bar that you guys have done a beautiful job of reopening. Sunset's up there. It's probably one of the best sunset views in town. Drinks, fabulous vibes, immaculate, it's just, it's everything. Everyone wants to be there. It's a perfect summer spot and I can't wait for fall there too. And then Underground is undercroft. It is the swankiest dungeon kind of speakeasy in the best way.
Speaker 3:It is also aankiest dungeon kind of speakeasy in the best way.
Speaker 1:It is also a vibe and so fun, and I would love to talk to you more about both of those spaces. First, celeste, what did you guys change about it, why were you inspired to change it and what have you seen with the community response?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, celeste really started off, as you know, kind of a blank slate for us, and the reason that we really decided to redo the space and also to brand it as Celeste is we really felt like that space was deserving of its own identity.
Speaker 3:You know, and as we looked through names for the space, you know there was there were a lot of names floated and and Celeste really was the one that stuck Um and the. The inspiration behind the name is that it's a European name that means close to the heavens, and we felt like, you know, for our also has the this kind of feminine touch to it. Um, you know, we did a lot of uh work with the, the trees and the plants, um, in the space, the whole space is irrigated and so we have these beautiful planted trees and plants all over the place. We wanted it to feel very, uh, very lush and kind of closed in. Of course, yeah, the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful outlook onto the Bentonville Water Tower, very iconic, amazing sunsets up there. But you know, really we just freshened up the space and just really tried to kind of give it that celestial vibe, if you will.
Speaker 1:Yeah, give it its own space and the name. Yeah, and it worked, it seems like.
Speaker 3:Thank you, yeah we're very proud of it. It's really come together. The food is amazing, the cocktails are amazing and it's just one more awesome experience that you can have in our space.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just so cool how you guys have intentionally done that with every square foot of the old church. I mean, I feel like you've done such a beautiful job of paying homage to this history of our town and keeping it the way it is but then giving it new life, which I feel like is what Bentonville is all about and it's cool that the community has like stepped in behind you and done it with you. Undercroft when did Undercroft open?
Speaker 3:So Undercroft opened with Preacher's Son in 2016. And so that was, you know, a part of the original concept. And you know it's funny, I think that space there's a couple different meanings behind that space, you know. I mean you definitely have that speakeasy style. You know you go down there, it's dark, very. You know you have the 10 ceilings, it's very that kind of 1920s speakeasy.
Speaker 3:But you know, I think one thing that kind of gets lost in translation was the original design concept really ties into the trees that are in the stained glass and that space is really meant to kind of be the underground root system of the trees that are in the stained glass, which I think is even kind of further pushes the vision of that space forward. That it's not necessarily just this speakeasy. You know, I mean we definitely have a vibe through all three spaces. We have this heavenly vibe in Celeste. We have this kind of earthly vibe, you know, in Creature's Sun, with a lot of the wood and the white brick, and then downstairs you have the kind of dark underworld, if you will.
Speaker 1:So you know, as you go through the spaces, there's just there's a lot to discover and there's a lot of meanings behind those three spaces that really tie well together yeah, I agree, it's like you could, yeah, seriously have a whole different experience in all three yeah, that's so many opportunities for experience in the same building.
Speaker 2:That's the goal, yeah that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, do you have any insider tips for people that want to come to preacher, for people that want to come to Preacher's Sun or want to come to either of the other spaces?
Speaker 3:Definitely. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think, again, the beauty of the three spaces is that you can really have this variety of experience. You know, I think it's great to start off in Celeste, have a pre-dinner cocktail, you know, enjoy the sun while you can, you know, and then go down into Preacher's Sun and have this amazing meal where obviously you're going to have more touches. You know, like Chef said, it's definitely more of a, you know, a snapshot into the inspiration of our culinary ethos, where you get to see a bit more of those fine touches in our dishes, amazing cocktails, of course, in that space as well, amazing service. And then go down to Undercroft and, you know, have a, have a nightcap, um, you know, enjoy a bit more of a, of a more slowed down environment, um, that would definitely be kind of the, the, the ideal way to experience the space.
Speaker 1:That sounds like a perfect evening.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every single thing that you guys create. It's just so intentional and so thought out. I've never had an drink there, or an appetizer or an entree that wasn't unique and pushed me out of my comfort zone, but then I left being like, oh my gosh, I want that every day of my life. So you guys do such a great job. Um, so I would love to talk to you guys about what's new, what's next, what are you guys looking forward to? Um, I know you're looking to some events happening soon.
Speaker 1:Um, if you want to talk about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I think our, our kiln to table dinner, uh, is the one that we're the most excited about, and so this is on August 3rd, um, at 6 PM, um, and so what this is is you can really go anywhere in Bentonville and have a private ticketed dinner, right? You know, every restaurant is doing wine dinners, they're doing different dinners, and this is really something that's extremely outside of the box. I mean, when you think Bentonville, you think an art inspired town, and so we really wanted to do a dinner where we could tie in art and culinary. And you know, when you think restaurants, I think a lot of people don't think of pottery and ceramics as being this huge part of what we do. But it really is. I mean, if you think about where ceramics and pottery come in, it's really this division between eating to exist and to live versus eating for pleasure, and so we really wanted to highlight the ceramic and pottery aspect of the culinary world.
Speaker 3:So we teamed up with Ariana Miranda. She's a local artist up and coming and she made this amazing four piece pottery set for us, and so we're going to be serving the entire menu on this pottery set and then, at the end of the meal, each guest will leave with the four piece pottery set. So not only do you get this amazing experience, you get this amazing tie in with local art, but you also get to leave with an actual, tangible memory from the dinner, which I think is just so fun. And she is actually going to be in the space making pottery while the guests dine. So this is going to be, it is going to be extremely unique. It is just going to be. It's just. It's just such an awesome opportunity to showcase her and, to, you know, to showcase Chef Neil's menu. We're just such an awesome opportunity to showcase her and to showcase Chef Neal's menu.
Speaker 3:We're just extremely excited about it.
Speaker 1:How many spots are you guys taking?
Speaker 3:So we have 35 tickets total, because it really just depends on how many plates she can produce. Right, because she is producing these just for us and she does all of them. It's very handmade. This is not mass-produced plateware, it's very handmade and so, yeah, it really depends on the plates that she can make. So we're doing 35 guests, so we definitely recommend you know that folks if they're interested, that they go and they reserve a spot, because we do expect it to fill up quickly.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's like the best memento of Bentonville.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:So one of a kind Wow, anything else that you want to tell our audience about?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I will say we've been doing a lot of brainstorming about different programming, so I would definitely recommend overall that people go and follow us on social media and keep their eye there. But Undercroft actually has a lot of amazing programming. On Tuesday we have our jazz night, which is also something extremely unique. You're not gonna find that anywhere else, and this jazz band is amazing. I mean, this is not like amateur jazz band. These guys are absolutely amazing and again.
Speaker 1:It's like the vibes the best vibes for a jazz band, exactly, yeah, it just ties in throw back to an old jazz club.
Speaker 2:You know, you really feel like you're like stepping back into the, like, you know, 50s or something. It's such a vibe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, love it yeah, it is, it is so nice and, uh, you know, and then on thursdays we have vinyl night. Now we have moved our vinyl night up to celeste while the weather is warm, um, and so, yeah, it's just a also also, you know, just a great vibe. Grab a cocktail, enjoy the nice weather, um, and, just you know, watch the dj spin records, um, and then, of course, you know, as we get closer to winter time, we'll have, uh, miracle, uh, which is also an undercroft, which is a collaboration that we do with cocktail kingdom, and so we'll transform the entire space into this kind of christmas winter wonderland and have matching cocktails, and that's, of course, you know, that's very much a showcase of the year for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like it brings so many people to town. It really does Like we have the beautiful lights on the square and we have the awesome parade and we have so many cool things, but Miracle gets people inside. It does Undercroft.
Speaker 3:It's awesome to see you guys are like fully booked out I feel like in december because it gets very booked definitely again make a reservation I think that's yeah that's one of the biggest suggestions is, you know, make, make a reservation for that. You know we don't do reservations in celeste, but you know definitely, uh, make a reservation for for miracle, because it fills up very quickly yeah, book your plane, your plane ticket. That's right.
Speaker 1:Would you suggest that people will get reservations year round too for Preacher's Sun?
Speaker 3:I think it's definitely best to get a reservation in the Preacher's Sun. You know we do. We do fill up quickly. It is a little bit of a smaller dining room and so you know having a reservation is is definitely best case.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome Chef. Do you have anything to add to that Favorite? Maybe a favorite event that you guys host?
Speaker 2:Oh well, I'm really excited about the kiln to table.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that would be really special.
Speaker 2:I look at the center as like kind of an intersection of two artisans and two crafts, where she's making this beautiful craft pottery, we're making the beautiful craft cuisine to showcase it, and I think they're really going to um, they're really going to work well together yeah, I'm really excited, I'm really excited to see, uh, the cuisine. Come to this art, come to this, um, pottery.
Speaker 1:This is the menu it is the menu, okay, so I was going to ask if you have made a special menu just for this oh, absolutely wow yeah, do you want to talk about the inspiration behind the menu? Just for a quick second.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. Well, we really sat down with the pieces of the ceramics in front of us and we tried to envision how the food is going to pop and how the food is going to make the ceramic really glow on the table as well. We really want the two to play and bounce off of each other. So for the first course, we're going to do an amuse and it's going to be a hamachi crudo. And when we looked at this particular piece, which you can't really see, how pretty.
Speaker 2:Wow, we tried to think about how we can take this um, this really unique bowl and it's really small, it doesn't have a whole lot of depth, but it has some and like, what can look really pristine on this and what can? What can really um, create flow?
Speaker 2:I guess you could say, and I think, if you can imagine, like raw fish glistening on this and like a beautiful sauce, I think it's going to be the perfect way to start the meal yes and then we have a salad in the middle of the meal that's really going to showcase the bounty of summer Heirloom tomatoes, whole beans, burrata, pickled onions and like lots and lots of sweet herbs from the garden.
Speaker 1:The Arkansas heirloom tomato needs to be talked about more.
Speaker 3:I think everyone here in the Ozarks knows how amazing it is.
Speaker 1:I did not know about the heirloom tomato until I moved here.
Speaker 2:It until I moved here. It is so good, so good. I love that we get a lot of tomatoes from Rio's family farms oh cool and we have a really great relationship with them. They're amazing people this is the family behind Yayo's, yeah and they grow a lot of amazing stuff. And I get a call from Tavo every week during the summer and he's telling me what he has available and I usually just say send it. Whatever you got, send it, we'll figure out something.
Speaker 1:That's so cool.
Speaker 2:And that's a really fun way to work with him. So I'm really looking forward to serving the heirloom tomatoes on her pottery and then, for the entree, we're going to do Wagyu. So we need something luxurious to go on this, you know, and what's more luxurious than a Wagyu strip loin? We're going to do Wagyu grilled artichokes, sweet corn, a whipped potato and a truffle jus Pretty classic, but I think it's going to be unique to people who have never seen really beautifully hand-turned artichokes and baby corn paired with truffle and really creamy potato.
Speaker 1:It's going to be pretty stellar. My mouth is watering. This is so cool.
Speaker 2:And then at the end of the meal we're going to do summer berries with champagne, sabayon, a little lemon sponge cake and just fresh mint. And you know, berries and sabayon is like a very sort of Italian thing to have and if you've never had something just like so, simply prepared like that, like really really bright, light, moussey sabayon over berries with a little bit of moist cake to kind of soak it up, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Wow, people are going to love it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they will, and she's also made a cup for us as well. So we're going to be pairing a cocktail with the first course. Our beverage manager, keaton Hutchins, and our very, very talented bar team got together and dreamed up a really great cocktail that we feel like is going to pair beautifully with that first course. So we've got a little vodka rum mix with a little bit of melon and raspberry and allspice and ginger. Just very light, very summery, but also has that umami with a little bit of spice. It's just, it's going to pair beautifully with that first course.
Speaker 1:Wow, you guys are going to be sold out by the end of this episode. Cool. Well, thank you guys so much for joining me today this was such a great conversation. I'm so happy to share y'all officially with our listeners, so hope to see you guys around town. For any listeners, if you want to learn more about Bentonville, go to visitbentonvillecom. Follow us on social media at Visit Bentonville and we will see you next time. Bye.