Eternal eats

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/10/2017 (3262 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

According to a study conducted by the Restaurant Brokers, a commercial real estate firm, 90 per cent of newly-opened, independent restaurants in North America will close sometime during their first 12 months of operation.

Of those places fortunate enough to last until their one-year anniversary, 70 per cent will have shuttered their doors by Year 5, the report added.

Of course, there are exceptions to the culinary rule.

Take, for example, Stiftskeller St. Peter, a dining establishment in Salzburg, Austria, which, at 1,214 years young, is presumed to be the oldest restaurant on the planet.

Know how Kelekis on Main Street used to house a “wall of fame,” adorned with photos of Monty Hall, Burton Cummings and other celebs who popped by there, through the years?

Well, some of the noteworthy types who’ve reportedly chowed down at Stiftskeller St. Peter, which opened in 803, include Charlemagne, Christopher Columbus and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Obviously, there aren’t any restaurants round these parts that compare to Stiftskeller St. Peter, age-wise. That doesn’t mean we don’t have our share of time-honoured favourites.

Recently, we hit the streets to figure out what are arguably the 10 oldest restaurants in Winnipeg. Short of carbon dating an egg roll or slice of pizza, here’s what we discovered.

(Before you call or email to let us know who or what we may have missed, be aware we were looking for dine-in restaurants — a rule that eliminated venerable take-out joints such as the Dairi-Wip Drive In on Marion Street, which has been doling out fat boys and “chips” since the mid-1950s, and Chinese Food Delivery Service Ltd. on McPhillips Avenue, which was founded in 1954.)

(Also, although the Palm Room at the Fort Garry Hotel has been going since 1913, for the bulk of its existence it was billed as an “upscale meeting place,” while the late, great Provencher Room served as the Broadway inn’s chief dining hall.)

1. Oscar’s Delicatessen

Opened 1929 | 175 Hargrave St. 

Oscar Berman opened Oscar’s Delicatessen on Main Street in 1929. Famous for its Winnipeg-style corned beef sandwiches — piled high between two, thick slices of City Rye bread — Oscar’s opened a second location on Hargrave Street in 1982, three years after current owner Larry Brown entered the picture.

Oscar’s on Main closed in the mid-1990s, Brown tells us, but the downtown site is still going strong.

“Mr. Berman, the original owner, sold Oscar’s to the Ludwig brothers — there were four of them — after the (Second World) war,” says Brown, who has fond memories of visiting the original location with his father, when he was growing up on nearby Redwood Avenue.

“In 1971, the Ludwigs sold Oscar’s to their nephew Jimmy Shukster, who asked me if I wanted to go in on the sale. At the time, I had just started working for my father-in-law at Omnitsky’s Kosher Meats, so it wasn’t until 1979 that I eventually got involved.”

From the get-go, Brown has made a habit of handing out post-meal Coffee Crisp chocolate bars to every boy and girl visiting his deli.

“It’s funny, cause a lot of the people coming in with their children nowadays tell me they remember getting a free Coffee Crisp from me, when they were a little kid,” he says with a chuckle.

 

2. Salisbury House

Opened 1931 | various locations 

In 1931, an American actor who frequently performed in Winnipeg as part of a travelling revue borrowed $135 from his buddies to open the first Salisbury House restaurant on Fort Street.

By 1936, that site had been joined by five other “Sals.”

According to the company’s website, Salisbury House was named after England’s Lord Salisbury, whose favourite meal was reportedly salisbury steak — a dish invented by American physician James Henry Salisbury.

In 2006, Earl Barish, whose family was responsible for developing the Dickie Dee ice cream brand, became Salisbury House’s president and CEO.

There are 18 Salisbury House outlets in Manitoba — a number that includes a seasonal operation at Shaw Park, and a 24-hour location in Steinbach.

 

3. Nick’s Inn

Opened 1937 | 5392 Portage Ave.

Sure, Nick’s Inn is situated in Headingley, but “for the longest time,” Headingley was part of Winnipeg, says manager Vicki Ganas, pointing out “a good” 75 per cent of the people who visit the Portage Avenue mainstay for home-style meals such as hot turkey sandwiches and grilled hamburger steaks are from “the city.”

Nick Janakas founded Nick’s Inn in 1937. Long overdue, Janakas Place, a street in a new Headingley subdivision, was recently named for the beloved nook’s founder.

John Cholakis, a former florist, succeeded Janakas as owner in 1963. Cholakis’s daughter, Bertha Ganas, runs things nowadays, together with her son John Ganas, and his wife, Vicki.

“It’s true I married into the place,” Vicki says, taking a quick breather in a booth flanked by a movie poster touting Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “But it’s not like I haven’t been here forever, too. I grew up in Charleswood and my family used to come here for ice cream all the time.

“One afternoon, when I was 13, my dad asked if they needed any help, and I started working here the next day.”

 

4. Good Earth Restaurant

Opened 1952 | 1849 Portage Ave.

The Monday-to-Friday, lunch-hour buffet at Good Earth Restaurant doesn’t officially begin until 11:30 a.m. But because regulars typically start lining up outside by 11:15 a.m., Rong Dong Wu, whose father Yuan Zhong Wu co-owns the restaurant with Kim Wong, says it’s not unusual for the 75-seat locale to be three-quarters full by, “oh, 11:31 (a.m.).”

Bill Wong established Good Earth Restaurant, originally dubbed Good Earth Chop Suey House, on Main Street in 1952. Wu says Good Earth has been at its present location for close to 40 years,” a “wild guess” he’s able to make, thanks to customers who’ve been flocking there for Kung Pao shrimp and mushroom egg foo yong for decades.

“All the time, we have people who come in with their kids, who tell us they’ve been eating here since they were kids, so that’s how I know how long we’ve been at this spot,” Wu says.

Kim Wong, a longtime cook at Good Earth, bought the business in the early 2000s from Bill Wong’s widow, Wu says. His father, another of the cooks, joined Wong as co-owner 12 years ago.

 

5. Rae and Jerry’s Steakhouse

Opened 1957 | 1405 Portage Ave.

While it’s true Rae and Jerry’s opened on Portage Avenue in 1957, the tony steakhouse, named for founders John Rae and Jerry Hemsworth, actually traces its roots to a downtown, drugstore lunch counter, says owner Steve Hrousalas, who’s been at the helm since 1975.

“I don’t believe it was called Rae and Jerry’s at the time, which would have been in the late ‘30s, but it was the same two guys, for sure,” he says over the phone.

“In fact, they operated in two other locations before settling here; for a while they were on Kennedy Street, and after that they were in the 600 block on Portage Avenue, across the street from McNaught Motors.”

Hrousalas, a former food and services manager for the Bay, credits Rae and Hemsworth, when asked how Rae and Jerry’s has managed to not only survive, but prosper for 60 years, in the ultra-competitive restaurant biz.

“Those two gentlemen were very smart. The built an amazingly great restaurant, and had the forethought to have parking for 185 cars. They didn’t waver over anything they did and basically, I was dumb enough not to change a thing.”

 

6. Silver Heights Restaurant

Opened 1957 | 2169 Portage Ave.

This summer, we sat down with Tony Siwicki to piece together a story centring on the 60th anniversary of the Silver Heights Restaurant, the Portage Avenue hotspot Tony’s grandfather Anthony Siwicki founded in May 1957.

“The way I understand it, he was a cab driver, and he and three of his taxi-driving buddies pooled their money, and bought an existing coffee shop,” he said.

During that interview, Siwicki shared an anecdote about how “the Heights” is well-known for its barbecued ribs, in places far past the Perimeter.

“One time my dad (Jim Siwicki) was on vacation in Hawaii, hosting a luau. He was going to be cooking ribs, but he wasn’t happy with the sauces available to him, so he called me up and told me to FedEx a few jars of our sauce, to where he was staying,” Tony said.

“During the party, everybody was bugging Dad, asking him when the ribs were going to be ready. At some point he spotted a plane getting ready to land and said ‘Hopefully about 45 minutes.’”

 

7. Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar

Opened 1958 | 1 Lombard Pl.

On a recent Tuesday night, Hy’s Steakhouse general manager Jason Sohor googled Oct. 10, 1992, to find out what was going on that day, exactly.

“I knew it must have been a Saturday because that night, we had eight tables fully booked — and the people at each table were celebrating a different 25th wedding anniversary,” Sohor says. “It was really cool to see all these couples, all roughly the same age, holding hands and toasting 25 years of marriage.”

Ever since Hy Aisenstat opened his namesake restaurant on Kennedy Street in 1958, Hy’s, which is now owned by his son Neil Aisenstat, has been a go-to destination for Winnipeggers marking important events in their lives.

Just last Saturday, for example, 21 parties told Sohor and his staff they were observing wedding anniversaries, while 10 other groups were on hand for a birthday.

“From a business point of view, it was fairly seamless,” Sohor says, referring to Hy’s 2005 move to Lombard Avenue. “But because people were so attached to the original spot on Kennedy, there were some hurdles in that regard, for sure. I grew up in the North End and I can attest that Winnipeggers don’t always love change.”

 

8. Original Pancake House

Opened 1958 | 1049 Pembina Hwy.

In a 2006 interview with the Free Press, senior manager Harvey Hoch didn’t waffle on what the Original Pancake House’s most popular menu item has been since the get-go.

“For sure, the giant apple pancake. A couple of weeks ago I had a fellow drop in on his way to the airport who told me his wife was an ex-Winnipegger who would kill him, if he didn’t bring home one or two,” said Hoch, who started busing tables at the Original Pancake House in 1959, a year after Wally Guberman opened the local chain’s first restaurant on Pembina Highway.

Although the Original Pancake House’s Pembina location now closes at 8 p.m. most days of the week, that wasn’t the case close to 60 years ago. During our chat, Hoch recalled cooks tirelessly flipping flapjacks until 1 a.m., to keep up with the late-night rush.

Hoch said Winnipeggers found it very unique, in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, to be able to order pancakes into the wee hours of the morning.

 

9. Myer’s Delicatessen

Opened 1958 | 1842 Grant Ave.

Myer Ludwig was one of four Ludwig brothers who owned Oscar’s Delicatessen, when it was located on Main Street. In 1958, he decided to strike out on his own, by opening Myer’s Delicatessen on Grant Avenue, in River Heights.

Brothers Harrison and Tyler Steek became the deli’s third set of owners in 2010 when they purchased the business from Danny and Bella Weinberg. Their sister Amory Steek has since joined the fold.

Harrison says it’s “pretty remarkable” that, after 59 years, he and his siblings continue to greet fresh faces at Myer’s, on a daily basis.

“We have software on one of our computers that tracks our last 100 transactions and last Friday, when I took a peek, 43 per cent of sales were to new customers,” he says.

Since Day 1, one of Myer’s Deli’s top draws has been its coleslaw, whose recipe that hasn’t deviated a whit from the one Myer Ludwig came up with in 1958.

“It’s not easy to duplicate, because it’s not like anything was ever written down,” Harrison says. “It was more like ‘you take of handful of this and a scoopish of that.’”

 

10. Red Top Drive Inn

Opened 1960 | 219 St. Mary’s Rd.

Two years before he died in a drowning accident in Costa Rica in February, Peter Scouras, co-owner of the Red Top, told us he was trying his best to emulate his late father, John, stating, “people seem to appreciate that the owner’s around if you need him. Even if it’s just light conversation like, ‘How’s your meal?’ My dad was really good at that sort of thing.”

The Red Top, which has had its six-patty Monster Burger featured on Food Network Canada’s You Gotta Eat Here!, was founded in 1960 by Peter’s uncle Gus Scouras. Peter’s father joined Gus there in 1970, after working at the original Junior’s location (now VJ’s Drive-In), on Main Street, for 10 years.

During that same interview, Peter’s mother, Vicky, shared an anecdote about what happened when her husband tried to “change things up a bit,” by switching the brand of ketchup he used in his adored chili sauce.

“You wouldn’t think anybody could tell, but customers complained so much, John was forced to switch back to what he’d been using, after only four days,” she told us with a laugh.

 

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca