July 30, 2021

The owners of Watecha Bowl have purchased a bar in Freeman and plan to convert it into a restaurant, bar and casino with five Airbnb units on the second floor.

Doc’s Bar on Main Street, which has been closed for about a year, will become The Whiskey House.

“We’ll expand with our aesthetic, but it’s always going to be a Native American-based menu,” said Lawrence West, who with his wife, Sophie, started Watecha Bowl as a food truck in March 2020 and expanded with a restaurant in west-central Sioux Falls in April.

West said they saw the property and business in Freeman, which is 45 miles southwest of Sioux Falls, as an investment to diversify their offerings and fund additional growth, including opening a second restaurant in Sioux Falls and one in Rapid City next year.

For The Whiskey House, he’s planning a menu that will be elaborate than Watecha’s offerings. The signature Indian tacos on fry bread will be there for Indian Taco Tuesdays, but daily there will be buffalo and beef offerings such as steaks, roasts and barbecued ribs.

“It will be more like meals, more meat and potatoes,” he said. “There will still be fresh bread. It won’t necessarily be fry bread. Fresh biscuits, fresh loaves of bread.”

The bar will have a full liquor license, but that won’t be the focus, West said.

“We’re more food people than bar people,” he said. “Our aesthetic is definitely food, culinary treats.”

A small area will be set up with 10 video lottery machines.

West said he’s looking forward to restoring the building, which was part of the purchase.

“We’re doing a full overhaul, restoration inside and out, the brick masonry to everything inside. It’s kind of like my hobby, a thing to do to relax. It’s going to be a spectacle to see. You going to need all your senses to take it in — touch, see, hear, smell and taste.”

At one time, the second floor had two apartments, but it has been gutted. The new lodging will be “like little hotel rooms … modern with a hunting lodge feel, each with its own bathroom and shower,” West said.

“We’ve done some preliminary cleaning, and we’ll bring materials in this weekend and then Monday start tearing it apart and putting it back together. … It’s probably five weeks of solid construction.”

He envisions opening in October.

“It’s going to be something new for the area. Period.”