Always a Winner: Oaklawn Hot Springs Sets the Pace for Arkansas Dining, Wine

There is a spirit of adventure down every street and around every corner of Hot Springs, a place where heritage attractions — some literally as old as the hills — meet the renewed energy of the latest generation of entrepreneurs, artists, adventurers and dreamers.

 

Nowhere do these two worlds meet so seamlessly as at the landmark Oaklawn Hot Springs, where the century-plus-year-old racetrack has embraced the future with a new hotel and conference center, and acclaimed luxury spa, expanded gaming, and, most of all, dining experiences unlike anything to be found in the Natural State, if not the South.

 

 

Ken Bredeson, executive chef, is in the eye of this culinary storm, offering a calm, steady hand of leadership to feed, literally, the swirl of humanity that descends on Oaklawn every single day. With multiple restaurants, scores of staff and thousands of hungry guests, just keeping up would be an accomplishment, but Bredeson is not interested in staying abreast of the pack. For him and his cadre of talented chefs, servers and sommeliers, it is the best or nothing.

 

 

“Our vision, as it applies today, is simple,” he said. “We are in the process of becoming a Forbes four-star-rated property — our hotel is Forbes recommended. Our spa is four star, as well. From a restaurant perspective, we’re going after four-star designation.”

 

Food and Oaklawn have always gone hand in hand but not quite like the current renaissance the property is experiencing. Louis Cella, the latest generation of Cella family ownership that goes back decades, made a commitment several years ago to elevate what was already a beloved attraction and turn it into an entertainment destination featuring world-class lodging, amenities and entertainment.

 

Through hard work and a dogged, even stubborn dedication to excellence in planning and execution, the plan has worked. As each new amenity came online, Oaklawn received raves for its expanded gaming, stunning hotel and incomparable Astral Spa. Diners have also been impressed with The OAK room & bar and The Bugler, which serve chef-inspired dishes made from fresh seasonal ingredients that rival fine-dining restaurants in much larger cities.

 

 

“To become one of the premier destinations in the United States has required us to elevate every aspect of what we do in order to offer a level of food and beverage that has never been done on this property before ever,” Bredeson said. “We have a lot of people who travel from Texas, from Memphis. They come from Louisiana, and many of them stay in bigger cities.

 

“We easily compare with a lot of those very high-end restaurants in those larger markets not only in the service we offer but in the quality of the food and the elevation and the creativity that we put into it.”

 

 

Delivering on the promise of world-class cuisine and impeccable service is an unending process. Bredeson was in the middle of preparing The Bugler’s fall and winter menu, The OAK room & bar’s having just dropped, in order to stay in step with the seasonality of ingredients.

 

“We’re making the transition to the winter vegetables and produce, which would be Brussels sprouts, root vegetables,” he said. “We’re also looking at our entrees and proteins, obviously looking at going with something a little heavier, such as braised meats. For example, in The OAK room specifically, we’re doing a bison brisket chili as one of our soup offerings and bringing on red snapper as one of our fish for the menu there, phasing out the bronzini.”

 

Shifting menu options due to seasonality is not only appreciated by diners but has caught the attention of top ratings services. The Bugler and The OAK room & bar landed a trio of prestigious accolades in 2025, including OpenTable Diners’ Choice, Forbes Travel Guide Recommended and Wine Spectator Restaurant Award of Excellence.

 

Bredeson said the menu continues to evolve with wine in mind, leveraging the expertise of Oaklawn’s four sommeliers, who include himself; Rebekah Fleming, wine steward; Amy Smith,  shift manager; and April Drummond, director of food and beverage. Their level of expertise gives Oaklawn the luxury of both matching the right wine with the right meal but also to turn the process on its head entirely by building meals around particularly spectacular vintages.

 

 

“A few weeks ago, we did a wine tasting menu specifically around one particular winemaker, Opus One, which makes premium California wine, very high end,” Bredeson said. “We catered the entire menu around that one particular maker.

 

“It was one of the highest wine dinners that we’ve done here, and we were a little shaky about it, not knowing whether the price point was going to be out of reach in our market. We were pleasantly surprised; we actually sold the entire dinner out for that night at $450 per person.”

 

Oaklawn’s commitment to wine expertise goes beyond such special events, which tend to draw people highly versed in wine to begin with, to everyday interactions with guests, some of whom know little to nothing about wine and are simply looking for guidance to select the right bottle.

 

 

“You know, we have the $3,000 bottles of wine, but as a company, we really do depend on people who are looking for something a lot more approachable,” Fleming said. “What I would like to say is we are not trying to just make the most money possible. We’re trying to elevate not only our dining but our wine program, and we do that by taking very good care of the locals and the people coming in who are looking for a wonderful experience with something that’s more like $50 a bottle.”

 

“I enjoy the challenge of serving two different types of guests when it comes to wine,” Smith said. “It’s a matter of tailoring the service to the experience that your guest is needing to have. If I’ve got someone who’s on the newer side, they generally want to hear about why the wine tastes the way it does or where it comes from. For a more experienced patron, they might have actually visited the winery that they’re wanting to drink from. That leads us into all kinds of interesting conversations.”

 

The critical interaction between the property’s sommeliers and its guests is only going to grow in importance as Bredeson and crew work to expand Oaklawn’s wine library from 300 selections to 600. Staying on top of that many varieties is a team effort.

 

“We push each other. We quiz each other. We learn from each other,” Drummond said. “Amy is incredibly good. I’m listening to her tasting notes and what she’s coming up with. Rebecca is incredibly knowledgeable about what pairs well, and I love listening to her describe to her team a new wine and what dish that it would pair with. We motivate each other to get to where we want to be in our own journey.”

 

 

What sets the Oaklawn restaurants apart is a nightly focus on providing a unique and unparalleled dining experience, Bredeson said, while building to even more remarkable things in the future.

 

“What we’re trying to do is continue to stage what we know our guests’ palates really enjoy, and I think we’ve got that pretty well down,” he said. “Going forward, we’re looking at certain things that are going to challenge us as a team. Sustainability has been a big thing for all restaurants over the past 10 years, ourselves included, so we’re constantly looking for ways to do that and achieve more consistency.   

 

“We can run through a full menu change but then have to change it again in two months because [an ingredient] is no longer available. That’s great for a lot of avant-garde restaurants that change their menu weekly or monthly, but we’re more interested in finding those things that are sustainable and can hold up for a longer period of time and still maintain the quality.”

 

 

As if that were not enough, Bredeson said, there is the constant challenge of living up to one’s reputation by delivering food that is creative, delicious and, arguably most important, consistent. It is a mantra he preaches over and over again, be it to those in the kitchen or in the wine cellar, as the fundamental ingredient in Oaklawn going from an excellent dining experience to something even better in the future.

 

 

“One of my career mentors, Anthony Bourdain, used to describe chefs this way: He said, ‘We’re not artists; we’re craftsmen. We don’t create masterpieces; we build things,’” Bredeson said. “Building something requires a foundation, and you have to constantly work at it. You don’t build something and just let it go because it’ll fall apart. It’s a constant process of building and rebuilding all the time.” 

 

Dwain Hebda contributed to this piece.