News Café now open

Canada's first News Café is now officially open.

Dom and his talented restaurant staff have put together a unique and delicious menu full of local dishes and ingredients. Traffic was brisk over the lunch hour today as keeners dropped in to sample the menu - the grilled aged cheddar and havarti sandwich and the Spanish pork and pasta soup were highlights.

Joanne Kelly from Shaw TV was in yesterday to record a segment on the opening. Her questions actually got me fired up again as they made me realize that the vision and work behind the scenes have finally paid off.

There was significant buzz inside the café today, and on Twitter. In fact, the cafe Twitter hashtag was trending in Winnipeg today.

The restaurant side is running at full speed, and the live video systems are almost fully installed. We're just putting the finishing touches on the sound and lighting systems.

Multimedia editor Tyler Walsh, reporter Tania Kohut, social media reporter Lindsey Wiebe and I are now based out of the café.

We have also had many cameo appearances from other Free Press journalists such as Dan Lett, Geoff Kirbyson, Margo Goodhand, Bill Redekop, Doug Speirs, Mike Deal, Trevor Hagan, Wayne Glowacki and Ruth Bonneville. It's been the perfect place for them to meet contacts and work on stories. Photographers have been dropping off 'viz' for editing and chatting about assignments with Tyler and Tania.

We'll be scheduling public events soon, so watch for those announcements. With a federal election approaching, and a provincial election in the not-to-distant future, we'll be hosting many town halls and Q&As in the weeks ahead.

Look forward to seeing you soon.