Constructed amongst Welch, Minnesota’s rolling prairies and Mississippi River Valley bluffs, Treasure Island Resort & Casino opened in 1984 as a one-room bingo hall owned and operated by members of the nearby Prairie Island Indian Community. The casino now offers as a marina, golf course, 50,000 square feet of event space, a 100-passenger river cruise ship, and the newly opened 150-seat Tado Steakhouse.
The idea for a new F&B offering came after the resort conducted a series of guest surveys to better understand which of its amenities to improve. The results indicated a need for an upscale restaurant, especially for prospective business convention groups. To make the idea a reality, the resort approached Minneapolis-based RSP Architects.
“The project became a test for a new, more modern aesthetic within the casino,” explains project designer Ian Scott. “The owner was looking for an intimate restaurant with a more private area and teppanyaki room to add a high-end option to their existing offerings. We were on a tight time frame, so there were not a lot of changes once the concept was decided on.”
A series of small spaces are defined by wood, stone, and steel elements that work at a very intimate scale for dining while avoiding a themed environment. The larger dining space is divided by wood elements into two smaller areas further defined by custom light fixtures suspended through an overhead screen. In the main seating area, wooden beams directly correlate with the floor finishes below to delineate two specific seating zones. Designed to match the adjacent steel walls, a soffit drops over the main dining booths.
“Most of the hurdles we ran into were a result of opening up the existing structure and finding mechanical and structural issues we had to work into the design,” explains project manager Gordon Strom. “During demolition we discovered a large structural beam that cut directly through the wood ceiling in the main dining area.” To accommodate, the team dressed the beam with the same faux finish found on the adjacent soffits, shifting the seating areas and the correlating wood ceiling.
Located within the restaurant, the RARE bar and lounge features a wood bar with a smoked mirror backbar, lounge seating, and custom furniture, decked out with Pendleton blankets and positioned on a cowhide rug.
To reflect the surrounding landscape, Scott and his team chose natural materials—wood beams envelope both the entry and main dining space where a stone wall, small-scale detailing, and rough edges on stone and wood evoke naturally occurring textures. Backed by a white slate stone wall, curved booths line the perimeter. Historic photos, ranging from the late 1800s to the 1960s, of the Prairie Island Community hang on the slate walls to reflect the local Mdewakanton tribe’s heritage. Images depict historically significant families of the tribe, photographs of past chiefs, and snapshots of structures that once stood in the community.
“Most of the existing casino is constructed like a stage set where the materials are a reference to something else,” says interior designer Ashley Lundgren. “With this project we wanted to be direct and speak more to the reservation’s natural environment, which is quite beautiful. So we used local materials that were a more honest reflection of where this is located.”
