In tale of two restaurants, only one is top Dog

Enlarge Image

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Yellow Dog bar manager Greg Ash, left, and owner Michelle Chabot with beef-and-Guinness stew and pulled-pork sandwich. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

The Yellow Dog isn't some slick, retro gastropub; it's the real thing -- an unpretentious tavern in an old building, with a cosy mishmash of decor, and a convivial atmosphere. It sprawls over three rooms, with entry through a colourful and lively lounge, with its original pressed tin ceiling. A little farther on and you're in a quieter space with sofas and low tables, which in turn leads to a still more subdued dining room with conventional tables and chairs, plus some of those high barroom tables and stools, and an old upright piano in one corner. There are television sets in each room -- silent on my visits, as it happened, but never on game nights.

The food is honest, generous, well-prepared and reasonably priced. There aren't many typical pub dishes, but you can have a homey beef-and-Guinness stew with potatoes and other root vegetables, paired with garlic bread ($10). Or, at dinner only, a chicken pot pie topped by crunchy flakes of phyllo, which would have been delicious if there had been more than a few token pieces of chicken ($12).

Sandwich and burger prices ($8 to $11) include a choice of soup, salad or potato chips (there are no fries). The burgers are big, juicy and flavourful, the cheddar-topped bison burger with a slight peppery undertone, the beef with bacon as well as cheddar -- both very good, although I confess my bias for the beefiness of beef. Also tops were the pulled pork sandwich -- a mouth-stretcher, with plenty of pork in a good barbecue sauce and nice coleslaw -- and a tender, flavourful six-ounce sirloin sandwich on garlicky ciabatta.

Other possibilities are sandwiches, wraps, a perogy platter and a hot dog loaded with bacon, jalapenos, fried onions and cheddar. There are also such daily lunch specials as Tuesday's Philly cheese steak, Thursday's turkey burger or Friday's spicy Texas beef brisket chili, and, in the evening, a few pizzas as well.

The included soups -- an orange-flavoured yam soup and a slightly spicy beef and barley -- and the included lightly dressed green salad with candied almonds were all good. There are some fine la carte salads as well, among them greens with pear slices, walnuts and a sprinkling of feta ($8 small, $10 large), and a California club with chicken, capicollo and avocado ($10 small, $12 large)

The evening appetizers are few and simple ($7 to $11). Nachos topped by chili were OK, but the cream cheese- and bacon-stuffed jalape±o poppers -- described as baked, but actually near raw -- were disappointing. Other possible starters are chicken fingers or skewers, artichoke dip and four-cheese focaccia.

The only house-made desserts were chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, both enormous and delicious. There's a full bar menu with half pints of beer on tap, service is cheerful and friendly and it's a really nice, fun kind of place. I like it a lot. Open until midnight Monday to Wednesday, until 2 a.m. Thursday to Saturday.

-- -- --

The Park Cafe is worlds away, in every possible way -- in style, in ambience and, alas, in the food. The interior is stunningly modern, with massive windows overlooking the duck pond, or different aspects of the park, a soaring raftered ceiling and a huge Tyndal stone fireplace. It could pass for an après-ski chalet in some fashionable Alpine resort, but the park referred to is our own Assiniboine Park.

The setting is quite magnificent, but it presents problems for those who are in wheelchairs, or pushing prams, or who have difficulty walking any distance. That there is wheelchair access is almost beside the point, since getting to it can be difficult. Cars cannot come close to the entrance to drop off people with disabilities, and the walkway from the road is slightly uphill

In any case, getting there may not be worth the effort, since so much of the food was poorly prepared, skimpy and overpriced. I saw no reason to try the sushi ($5.95 each) since they are brought in from elsewhere. The Tiger Slaw with noodles was one of the few acceptable dishes -- not a lot of it for $6.50, but in a nice Thai-style sesame dressing. The other best (I should say better) was the pulled-pork sub with chipotle mayonnaise, Monterey jack, onions, peppers and tomato. But (and it's a big but) it was stone cold and (a bigger but) the bun was stale ($9.99).

And that was as good as it got. Dry was the word that kept coming to mind, as in the sub with inedibly dry grilled salmon with an unpleasantly fishy and oddly metallic flavour ($9.99). Burgers were dry and flavourless on two tries ($4.95). The tasteless and unco-ordinated penne ragout scattered with bits of dry beef in a smidgen of tinny tasting sauce ($11). The fries in the wee portion of poutine were OK, but not the rubbery slabs of mozzarella (instead of the promised curds) or the tasteless gravy ($5.99). Why, we wondered -- given the park location -- couldn't they offer a simple corned beef on rye, or an egg salad sandwich, which ought to be within any kitchen's competence.

The signature roast chicken is available in-house or to go -- a quarter for $9.99, half for $13.50, or the whole bird for 21.99, all with biscuits, gravy and either coleslaw or fries. It might have made a nice picnic lunch, if only the chicken hadn't been (you guessed it) dry, the gravy bland, the coleslaw drenched in an overpowering dressing and the tooth-defying biscuits burned to inedibility.

After all of this, our desserts came as delicious surprises -- a massive slab of banana bread pudding, and a velvety crème brªlée (each $6.50). Coffee comes in a pot that is left on the table, which would have been more impressive if it had been fresh. Service was pleasant but taxed when the house was full. Open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

marion.warhaft@freepress.mb.ca

Yellow Dog Tavern

386 Donald St., 775-6676

Licensed

Wheelchair access

Three and a half stars

Park Cafe

330 Assiniboine Park Dr., 927-6001

Licensed

Wheelchair access

Two stars

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 30, 2012 D3