Mickey's Red Kettle owner seizes opportunity to serve homestyle breakfasts in Marksville

MARKSVILLE – Preston Tyler Pitka saw an opportunity in Marksville and took it. The owner of Mickey’s Red Kettle restaurant in Alexandria is opening a restaurant, Marksville’s Red Kettle at 615 Tunica Dr., that serves homestyle meals including breakfast.

“There’s nothing in this town. In fact, the parish,” said Pitka about restaurants that serve homestyle meals. “For breakfast, you've got fast food. And then for lunches, you've got Mexican, one Mediterranean place, one BBQ, Broken Wheel down the road, fast food in the casino and that's it.”

Pitka will have a soft opening for the new restaurant on Thursday,May 23, to train the staff. It will then open to the public on Saturday,May 25.

Marksville’s Red Kettle will be open the same hours as Mickey’s which are 5 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and and Sunday and be open on holidays including Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The restaurant will have the same menu as Mickey’s where breakfast is served all day long and they offer more than five different lunch plates each day that rotate out every two weeks.

They also sell pork and alligator sausages, pork and crawfish sausage, cheddar jalapeno and pineapple jalapeno that are served on a toasted bun covered with Cajun queso with crawfish in it.

The idea to expand into Marksville came to him as he drove past the building one evening. Some Marksville residents who are regulars at Mickey’s wanted a place in town where they could get a homestyle breakfast without having to drive to Alexandria.

“I started researching,” he said. “I came back here and literally went and interacted with the locals, went to the local shops, started asking, ‘Hey, where can I go get breakfast or this or this?’ They told me all the same, ‘You've got to go to Alexandria.’ So, I realized zero competition, and 100% opportunity.”

To Pitka, the location for Marksville’s Red Kettle is the best spot since it’s right in the center of town.

“Right on the corner. Five blocks from the casino,” he added, referring to the Paragon Casion Resort and Hotel.

The Markville location can seat about 20 more diners on the inside than Mickey's and another 20 on the front outside porch.

The building, which once housed a Dairy Queen and then a chicken place, reminds him of the old Hickory Hut that used to be on Highway 28 East in Pineville.

“That's where I first started cooking when I was 16,” said Pitka. “And this building, the setup, the feel, the design is very similar, so it's kind of like me going back to my roots,” he said.

For more the menu and other information, visit Mickey’s Red Kettle’s website mickeysredkettle.com.