When it comes to big, bold, Creole flavors, diners can bet on Tyrone Fox, executive sous chef at Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff. He began working in kitchens at age 14 in New Orleans, where he worked his way up from prep cook and busser to line chef and, eventually, sous chef. He came to Arkansas in 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina.
“When I arrived in 2005, I think that the Arkansas food scene was starting to grow a little bit,” he said. “It was a lot of home-cooked, barbecue-style foods, home-cooked foods like meat loaf, mashed potatoes, chicken-fried steak, stuff like that that I didn’t grow up eating back home in New Orleans.”
Growing up, his Southern comfort foods included crawfish, crab, etouffee, jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice.
He described his flavors as bold and complex and enjoys comparing and contrasting different elements while keeping dishes approachable to guests. His background in French-Creole cuisine leads him to work with seafood, and some of his favorite dishes to make include paella, maque choux and scallops.
Fox, who has a degree in hospitality management from National Park College in Hot Springs National Park and earned his culinary degree from the University of Arkansas — Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, joined Saracen two years ago. He has three gold medals from cooking competitions and has also been named top 10 three times and top five once on a national level.
“Chef Tyrone came to the central Arkansas area after Katrina, so he came up from the New Orleans area with a heavy New Orleans influence on his cuisines that shows through, and we’re very privileged to be able to indulge in those,” said Todd Gold, senior director of hospitality at Saracen.
As executive sous chef, Fox has a hand in menu items throughout Saracen, and he took the lead on the Legends Muffuletta and blackened salmon sandwich at Legends Sports Bar.
Fox enjoys working with the fresh, exotic ingredients available at Saracen, as well as teaching his techniques to up-and-coming chefs.
“The next couple of years, I just plan to grow here at Saracen Casino and have my team grow with me so we can continue to lead the hospitality industry in the southern Delta region of Arkansas,” he said. “That’s the main thing for right now.”
