Never went in there but I did't realize they closed that location. Smart of them and Brewed Awakening to close underperforming locations quickly before they bleed to whole company dry.

It was packed when I went by last night. it's a good time for Asian fare it seems. Bubble Tea seems to be having it's day also.

Update: Went to India House the other night for their supper buffet. :tup::tup::tup::tup: Will be going back. Finally a true Indian restaurant in the south end!

Some great news for Regina craft beer and Mexican lovers: Pile of Bones is moving to a new taproom with 32 taps, local spirits, and Mexican food from Malinche.

Anyone know where the location is?


Official Facebook message:
"We're ready to share some BIG news.
Pile O' Bones Brewing Co. is nearly finished construction of a new state of the art brewing facility and Taproom in Regina's Cathedral area - in the shadow of the iconic Mosaic Stadium!

Our new facility is roughly 5x the size of our current Scarth Street brew house - and we're not scared.

A full service Tap Room features 32 taps of strictly Saskatchewan's best craft beer. Similarly, spirits will be 100% sourced from Saskatchewan distilleries.
With full service kitchen - Pile O' Bones has teamed up with Chef Mariana and Malinche. Mariana hailing from Tijuana, Mexico where she attended Culinary Arts School, traveled the world and moved to Canada to pursue her dreams of sharing, teaching and healing through her dishes.

Malinche is the place where delicious, surprising, sustainable and healthy dishes are shaped thanks to millennial Mexican recipes and the freshest ingredients from the Canadian prairie. Malinche is our channel to tell stories about Canadian field, Mexican culture and the struggle to protect our planet."

There's a building on Saskatchewan Drive that's being extensively renovated. Painted black w/ a few overhead garage doors added. Maybe that's it?

Definitely on Sask Drive. What a fantastic location to stop before or after a game. It will do wonders for that strip as well. I'm also a big fan of their beer!

Yes that is it. They also plan to have a tailgate party patio with actual tailgates.

To follow up on this, I believe it's this building:

https://www.google.com/maps/@50.4496...7i13312!8i6656

Here's to hoping it spurs more development on that section of Sask Drive.

That's going to be awesome. Imagine a future Regina where Sask Drive is lined with pubs and cafe's for before and after game festivities, similar to Clark Street by Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Which Brewed Awakening locations closed?

Downtown beside Avenue is one.

11th Avenue and Campion College are the ones I'm aware of.

Didn't 11th avenue just move into Atlantis?

81 regular season games vs 9, so not comparable, although the Brandt Centre, AffinityPlex and Cooperators Centre are all next door.

For a while Atlantis had Vic as well as 11th, then Brewed acquired 11th. Then they closed it. Shortly after that they acquired the entire Atlantis business, which was essentially the Vic location.

Bakery
 

For those of you familiar with Saltine (Farmer's market) they've recently opened a permanent location on Gordon Road. These guys are the best bakery in the city, on par with the former Orange Boot Bakery, and in the same location. They are only open certain days of the week, but if you haven't checked them out I suggest you do if you want some quality bakery eats!

https://www.facebook.com/saltinebakingco/

https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...c2&oe=5DE7F3DF

The A&W in the Southland Mall food court closed on Sunday. One of the other food court tenants said it was because the rent was too high.

Considering that malls are not as busy as they once were, maybe it is time for the landlords to adjust the lease rates. The former Robins Donuts closed and nothing has replaced it. The Mediterranean place never materialized, and supposedly there will be a sushi place going there, but again, nothing has materialized. Isn't it better to lower the lease rates and fill your empty units and give existing tenants a chance to make a living?

Revival Music Room reopens Labour Day weekend and Pile O’ Bones taproom (with food by Malinche) opens tomorrow on Sask Drive and Cameron St.

Has anyone been to the Pile O’ Bones taproom?

Doesn't open until 11 ;)

Chopped Leaf
 

I noticed last night signs on Victoria saying that Chopped Leaf was now open at Aurora. I imagine the other food services there will be opening soon as well.

...speaking of Brewed Awakening closing locations, this would be another location they closed, if Saltine is actually in the same location as Orange Boot was (Brewed Awakening bought Orange Boot's assets, and used the location as the bakery for their coffee shops around the city).

[EDIT] I see on their FB page that Saltine says they are located next to Brewed Awakening... so I guess BA is still open. Did they cut the bakery, and just focus this location on coffee? Would be weird to have a bakery open next to a bakery. Unless Saltine is related to BA? I'll have to pop by tomorrow.

The BA Bakery used to be a full service location but then found that making coffee during the day was a distraction to the bakers so they locked their doors to the public and now just concentrate on baking.

Saltine is 'sort of' next to BA, they're on the other side of the mini-mall. The difference being Saltine sells their goods out of their location.

Saltine is also available through Brewed one or two days a week.

Makes sense, re: BA... when Orange Boot tried to be a bakery & coffee shop, it really messed up customer flow.

We stopped in yesterday, grabbed a bunch of stuff - all excellent. Saltine isn't on the other side of the mini-mall... it's immediately next to BA. In fact, BA's sign extends over Saltine's entire storefront. It's clear once you're inside that they aren't connected, though - but from the outside, I can imagine someone not noticing Saltine, or assuming it's part of BA.

Really? OK, I follow their instagram and their outside photos look like it's over farther. I'm mistaken then.

Swiss Chalet and Harvey's are both closing on October 4th.

I didn't even know we had these.

We had a location on Albert & Gordon, too, but it shut down over a year ago.

Any rumors on Chili's reopening here ? Been some job posting for hostess, servers and kitchen staff over the last few days.

Seems strange it would come back

Bar Burrito is opening soon next to Meltwich in Harbour Landing. Also, cue the complaining, Olive Gardens opens on the 25th.

Very strange indeed. The address on those job postings is the address of the former Chili's...

Gud Eats coming to Regina
 

I noticed today that they were renovating the space that several Asian restaurants had previously occupied at 1810 Smith Street. Then I noticed Gud Eats (a vegan restaurant) from Saskatoon will be opening their second location in that spot. According to the Leader-Post article, Leo's Group has purchased Gud Eats.

https://leaderpost.com/business/loca...-by-leos-group

Amazing!!!!

Great addition to downtown. That area could become a bit a foodie neighborhood. Avenue, ,Gud Eats, The Cure...

Purchased by Leo's Group? Can't wait for an overpriced meal where I can't even hear the person beside me talking

Half price appys and cheap house draft.

Downtown has completely transformed in the last ten years. We've close to doubled the amount of restaurants.

Now we just need residential.

Hmmm... Sure, Leo's is small and noisy but I've never considered it overpriced. It's standard pub fare at standard pub fare prices. What are you comparing it to? The senior's special at Smitty's?

Definitely amazing that slowly more and more eating options. Agreed that we need more residential to spur more restaurant, retail, entertainment and office development.

Maybe high-quality pubs aren’t your thing?

I’ve literally never heard anyone call Leo’s overpriced. Even the most frugal people I know find it reasonable.

They’re getting to be quite the powerhouse... First location opened 6 years ago. Now? 5 locations in Regina, 4 in Saskatoon, 1 in Warman, 2 in Calgary and 2 in Winnipeg (including Victoria’s & Gud). Opening in Victoria BC soon. Plus, they own that co-work space in the Doubletree (and soon in the Bess).

Just went for a walk around downtown, and noticed some things about the Gud Eats site on Smith Street. They have a sign put up, and are clearly on the midst of renos on the space. It appears they are keeping a majority or all of the previous kitchen, as the kitchen equipment seems to be set up for the most part. They have a decent bit of work to do on the interior, as it appears they are just re-framing the walls around the kitchen, and have not completed any other interior finishes. It seems like this will be quite a tiny restaurant.

I still stand by my above opinions, but I think everyone can get excited about new things going on in downtown.

I haven't been in the space where Gud Eats is going for a number of years, but a few years back when it was Ming's they had additional seating around the north side of the entrance.

I sure hope so as the seating space on the south side of the restaurant only appears to be big enough for a handful of tables

Anyone got any info on the status of the Prairie Donair on Hamilton? It's sat virtually untouched for at least a month... did financing fall through, or something?

Jollibee Opens First Store in Saskatchewan and Fourth Store in Ontario this December

REGINA, Saskatchewan, Dec. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for the holidays, popular fast-food restaurant Jollibee is giving the gift of Jolly Crispy Chicken to even more Canadians. The brand will open its fourth location in the Greater Toronto Area at Vaughan Promenade on December 20, 2019 and its first store in the Saskatchewan province in Regina on Sunday, December 22, 2019.

...

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fast-...152600098.html

Probably just the city. Building permits are like 4 months.

"Food halls are the way to go"
 

As we all know, shopping malls are hurting across the country (and world) and have to re-invent the shopping experience. Someone had mentioned Eataly here previously, but judging from the attached CBC article it sounds expensive.

Story by Dianne Buckner, CBC News:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/foo...nada-1.5451268

Do you think something like this could work in Regina? At Cornwall Centre?

Did Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon miss the opportunity, or is this what they were going after? Their new food court is on the second floor which is probably not as easily accessible in the evening when the mall is closed, nor would it be easy for Skip the Dishes, Uber Eats etc. to access quickly.

What is your opinion?

There's a range of 'dining halls' out there - the article focuses on fairly high-end ones. I don't think Cornwall could make the shift - especially if it meant an increase in prices, and increased food production time.

Now, they could probably make the shift to Rideau Centre's 'dining hall' - which is essentially just an upscale food court, with all the usual vendors, but no disposable items... ceramic plates, metal cutlery, little glass dishes for condiments, etc. Weird eating KFC, Subway, or A&W without having anything to throw out afterwards, but the dining hall there was consistently busy, and with varying demographics, I saw professionals, students (it's near OttawaU), teens, etc. Prices didn't seem significantly higher. Gotta assume there'd be a significant loss rate on the dishes.

It wouldn't be an easy sell - but it could probably be done. More of a mindset shift.