Gentry restaurant offers what patrons want

GENTRY — Serving the community what it wants is the key to the success of Fleur de Lis Grill in Gentry, and that is what the restaurant owners plan to continue doing for their patrons.

Owners Laurie Martin and her children, Jill and Travis McQuiston, originate from Baton Rouge, La., wherethe focus is on food and family, Laurie said.

“Everything is about cooking and getting together with family,” said Laurie, who comes from a large family herself.

But the restaurant’s owners also have roots in Alaska, in the Anchorage area, where Laurie worked as a nurse and Jill also worked in the medical field.

Laurie came to Gentry after her husband bought Arkansas Poultry Service, and she invited her children to come from Alaska and join her here and help with a new restaurant.

“I always loved to cook,” Laurie said, adding, “this is a lot harderthan cooking for family; it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

The restaurant, which opened in Gentry on Nov. 30, 2010, serves Cajun food but also serves other menu dishes requested by the local community. Becauseof the Cajun food, it draws customers from all over northwest Arkansas. Because the restaurant serves local residents what they want, it is growing in popularity among Gentry arearesidents as well.

“We try to serve the community what they want,” Jill said, adding that they added a vegetarian menu because a number of local residents wanted it.

She said they offer a children’s menu, too, with a main dish, side and a drink for $4.99. They often accommodate customers with special requests for items not on the menu, or for variations in the dishes. They have even added items to their menu because their patrons requested them.

A special lunch menu was added to enable customers to be able to have a meal over their noon hour and not have to wait for service. The restaurant serves daily lunch specials Sunday through Friday. An all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar - with homemade vegetable-beef and chicken dumpling soups - for $6.99 was added to meet the needs of those dining over a lunch break.

The restaurant recently applied for and received club status, the first Gentry business to do so in more than 60 years. The restaurant now serves beer, wine and margaritas to dinner customers who request the drinks with their meals.

“We received multiple requests from our customers,” Jill said. “They just wanted to be able to have a beer or glass of wine with their dinner.”

Since receiving club status, customers have started coming from nearby communities like Bella Vista and Bentonville, Jill said.

“This is a family place,” Laurie said. “It is not a bar and never will be,” she said. “We want it to be afamily environment here.”

Both Jill and Laurie said no one has yet abused the availability of alcoholic beverages at the restaurant.

“The most we’ve ever servedis one, or maybe two, drinks to customers with their meals,” Jill said.

“We don’t serve any alcoholon Sunday,” Laurie said. “That’s my choice because it’s the Lord’s day.”

With Cajun music playing in the background and the restaurant decorated in Louisiana style, the atmosphere is right for any one of the seafood dishes or for one of the many steaks, burgers or chicken dinners on the menu.

Anther room is decorated with banners from football teams, and the restaurant’s owners plan to have games playing on the TVs there as often as possible in the fall.

The kitchen and food preparation areas are kept neat and clean. Not a single violation was foundat a recent health department inspection, Laurie said.

Fleur de Lis Grill’s owners have begun to deliver on larger orders and hope to add catering and banquet service to their offerings for the community soon.

“What the people want, we try,” Jill said.

Fleur de Lis Grill is located at 468 S. Gentry Blvd., (just south of the intersection of Arkansas Highways 12 and 59). The telephone number is 736-3232.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

And for those who wonder, “Fleur de Lis” is the name for the flowerlily emblem associated with the French monarchy and with French settlements such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It is also the emblem for the New Orleans Saints.