Former theatre features Latin American flavour

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This article was published 22/11/2018 (2842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The storefront is a bit unusual, but the owner of Latinos Market, which just opened its second location at 1769 Portage Ave., has a master plan.

Jesse Lemus, who also runs the Latinos Market at 173 Osborne St., wants to engage with the community, and the huge building — the former Kings Theatre in St. James — will allow him the space to realize his vision.

In addition to the former auditorium, which houses shelves and freezers full of Latin American foods, he has rooms to serve as a warehouse and a classroom to hold Spanish classes, which run Wednesdays at 7 p.m. starting Nov. 28 for $10 a class. Zumba classes will be held at the back of the store, where the screen would have hung in the theatre’s glory days.

He also plans to offer free English classes to new arrivals; Lemus was a teacher in the Spanish immersion program at Earl Grey School in Fort Garry last year.

The store is organized by geography rather than by product. Lemus, whose family is from El Salvador (his parents run Mercadito Latino restaurant and market on Sargent Avenue), says he has items ranging from Mexico, Central America and South American countries down to Argentina and Chile (though he says he sends much of his Honduran stock to Brandon, which has a much larger population of Hondurans). He will bring in more Portuguese items as of Dec. 3.

The market offers such things as yerba mate, sausages, tortillas, buñuelos (fried dough treats), goiabinha (guava) cookies and a dizzying variety of hot sauces.

“I sometimes say that I’m selling nostalgia,” he says, pointing out that many of his most popular items are snack foods that are tied to his customers’ childhood memories of home.

“They might not even be as good as things you can buy here, but people remember having them as kids, in their lunch box.”

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The paper labelled with “Something Tasty Coming Soon” covering the windows at 550 Osborne St., has been raising curiosity in the Riverview neighbourhood, as has the Black Market Provisions sign over the door.

Black Market small-batch ice cream is the under-the-radar project of Alana Fiks and Angela Farkas, well known for the frozen treats they serve from their mobile Pop Cart, which pops up at farmers markets, craft fairs and festivals all year long.

The two have been selling pints of their gourmet flavours — lemon-hibiscus sherbet, rice crispies square, buttered toast with strawberry jam, tahini snap, and blood orange sherbet with olive oil and dark chocolate among them — for about 18 months. The pints were available on request from the Pop Cart or by joining its Pint of the Month Club.

Black Market Provisions, which is across the street from Little Sister Coffee’s new location, will serve ice cream and ice pops, but also “so much more,” according to Instagram (follow them @blackmarketprovisions).

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Speaking of ice cream, the cold weather hasn’t deterred the folks at Not a Waffle from coming up with new cone ideas. The Japanese taiyaki shop at 353 Langside St. is serving four different flavours of ice cream — sakura (cherry blossom), chocolate, black sesame or matcha — in a cone shaped like a teddy bear, with your choice of toppings that include mini-candy canes. It’s adorable, and available until the end of December.

jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @dedaumier