Winnipeg Restaurants

[trueviking]

Yuk Yuks comedy club will be opening a Winnipeg location in the basement of the Fort Garry Hotel. Competition for Rumours.

I remember when I was a kid they had a location on Osborne

[post_man]

Umaido [Yummy Mochi Donuts] finally opened in 555 Balmoral, after what seemed like a delayed renovation following 5 Star Pho's closure.

Cute shop, looks like a lot of modern dessert or boba shops, clean bright and friendly. They are in a really rough location, I don't know what the market is like for $3+ fancy donuts is around there, but I can attest to them being absolutely delicious.

The only downside is that you can only buy them in threes or sixes (even though their containers only hold two or six, which leaves you holding two containers for an order of three, I hope they change this), which costs ~$15 or ~$30 per order. I feel like being able to order twos would be better for take-out, dates, and lowering the price of entry.

Overall, I hope they do well, as the product is great, and lord knows that stretch of Col-Isa-Bal needs some places that aren't dumps. Being right next to the 546 Architecture's meth and prostitution den is pretty big disadvantage if you're not Jumbo Pizza or the beer vendor. Luckily, university students love fancy desserts and bubble tea, if they're brave enough to go that far North.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Yuk Yuks comedy club will be opening a Winnipeg location in the basement of the Fort Garry Hotel. Competition for Rumours.

I remember when I was a kid they had a location on Osborne

Wow! The old Broadways location. Worked there years ago. Beautiful room and well set up for this kind of thing. Hope it's a success.

[esquire]

^ So I guess the comedy club at the Marlborough didn't last?

I wonder if the Fort Garry will ever bring back a proper dining room... I'm not sure when it closed (probably sometime in the 70s or 80s?) but it would be a nice touch for a hotel like that.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ So I guess the comedy club at the Marlborough didn't last?

I wonder if the Fort Garry will ever bring back a proper dining room... I'm not sure when it closed (probably sometime in the 70s or 80s?) but it would be a nice touch for a hotel like that.

From the FP article:

The comedy club is the Fort Garry’s latest investment. Last year, it underwent an extensive restoration of the former Palm Lounge, now called the Oval Room Brasserie, and opened a large patio. It also joined the Choice Hotel’s Ascend Collection.

A plan is in motion to turn the hotel’s Broadway Room into a fine, white-linen Italian restaurant; a one-star Michelin chef from Italy has been lined up to run the kitchen. That venture should be ready by the spring, Albo said, barring any delays.

[craigbagel]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

From the FP article:

Yeah I think they're also opening a wine bar of some sorts at the Fort Garry.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

From the FP article:

Thanks! That is huge... proper fine dining has more or less disappeared from Winnipeg since the demise of Sydney's, Dubrovnik, Amici and the conversion of the Velvet Glove to a bistro type of thing.

[trueviking]

Now they just need to re-do the rooms. I wonder if the Fort Garry is still for sale.

[esquire]

Well, the Free Press finally mentioned what is going into the former Earls space at Main and York:

The king grabbed his fishing rod — and he’s headed to Main Street.

Chris Graves, owner of the King’s Head Pub, is opening an East Coast-inspired restaurant in the former downtown Earls location.

“I’m terrified… (and) I’m just excited,” Graves said.

He spent part of Tuesday morning renovating the future Friskee Pearl Bar and Eatery, taping its walls for drywall.

The goal is to open next February, but “there’s a lot to do” at 191 Main St., Graves said.

“We’re pushing hard,” he said. “I’m in there with my own two hands, doing a lot of the work on my own.”

The space will be split into a dining room and a lounge, with a room for private functions. The Friskee Pearl will host performers on its new stage.

“We’re going to be really focusing on a lot of local beers,” Graves noted, adding there’ll be signature cocktails.

Seafood will populate the menu, as will other proteins, Graves, a former Maritimer, said.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ar...iting-the-hook

[optimusREIM]

^ Could be interesting. Concept seems good. I just wish that that corner would get a nice 20-30 floor residential with a few floors of commercial at the bottom. Those lots around there are desperate for something like that. Even slightly smaller would be fine.

[Luisito]

As a former maritimer myself, I look forward to going there. Would be cool to see east coast donairs on the menu.

[rkspec]

Originally Posted by esquire

Well, the Free Press finally mentioned what is going into the former Earls space at Main and York:



https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ar...iting-the-hook

Wow, my bad on the mis information that Sabino had bought it.
Kinda odd, the info came from someone he knows really well.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

^ Could be interesting. Concept seems good. I just wish that that corner would get a nice 20-30 floor residential with a few floors of commercial at the bottom. Those lots around there are desperate for something like that. Even slightly smaller would be fine.

That whole stretch of the east side of south Main pretty much from the Federal Building to Union Station rivals the former McIntyre Building site at Portage and Main for unrealized potential. It's astounding to me that nothing has been built on that stretch since Earls went up some 30-odd years ago.

[Biff]

Originally Posted by rkspec

Wow, my bad on the mis information that Sabino had bought it.
Kinda odd, the info came from someone he knows really well.

Don't feel bad, I personally saw Sabino exiting the closed building with some suits a while back. I thought he bought it too.

[bomberjet]

Underwhelming. But I have no money, so who am I to talk lol

[Luisito]

I was kind of hoping they'd knock down the old earls in order to build up on that corner.

[GreyGarden]

Sounds like a good concept. I’m happy to see Winnipeg getting some more seafood options. It would be cool to have a proper raw bar. Though I suspect the market for that is very limited.

I agree with others. It’s too bad that the highest and best use for this land is a restaurant in a single floor suburban building and a parking lot. It’s just crazy how wide and fast Main is.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

Sounds like a good concept. I’m happy to see Winnipeg getting some more seafood options. It would be cool to have a proper raw bar. Though I suspect the market for that is very limited.

I agree with others. It’s too bad that the highest and best use for this land is a restaurant in a single floor suburban building and a parking lot. It’s just crazy how wide and fast Main is.

It would help a lot with the wideness and fastness if there were some buildings there to frame the street. As for highest and best use, who knows in Winnipeg, when you have people who sit on their land stubbornly even if the development pressures exist. The parcel could clearly be more profitable and valuable to the city in the longterm if it were the site of a large residential complex or commercial building, but alas.

[bomberjet]

The Kings head needed crowd funding to stay afloat during the pandemic. Now they're opening a new place on Main. Which I'm sure wasn't cheap to buy the restaurant and parking lot next door. Sabino was seen in there. So maybe they partnered on this place.

Sabino was involved with the SkyCity lot IIRC. So maybe the Earls thing is ultimately a play on the land long term.

[wags_in_the_peg]

Graves & the King's Head have a huge following so it'll be a nice new option.

and agree if he was seen in there, Sabino is probably bankrolling it somehow.