A new sweet spot

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This article was published 27/06/2019 (2321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Leave it to an ice-cream shop to serve up a “soft” opening.

Dug & Betty’s Ice Creamery (309 Des Meurons St.) is the latest in a wave of ice-cream spots to open throughout the city, including Chaeban in late 2017 and Milksmith on Corydon Avenue earlier this year.

Currently serving up 16 flavours of ice cream, Dug & Betty’s is the brainchild of the Kirouac family, best-known for InFerno’s Bistro, located just across the street from the ice-cream shop. “We’ve been using the soft opening for a good testing period to see which flavours are really popular,” says general manager Chris Kirouac, adding they’ve been experimenting with ube (pronounced “ooo-bay”), a yam-based frozen dessert of Filipino origins, which has been “flying out the door.”

Named after Chris’ father Fern’s two basset hounds, Dug & Betty’s is serving up its frozen treats from the takeout window while work is completed on a 20-plus person parlour and a patio that can seat as many. Fern continues making the desserts at InFerno’s, while taking on more of a management/advisory role at the bistro, entrusting the kitchen team to head chef Sean McGillivray. Once desserts are done, he’ll pop across the street to work on ice-cream flavours at Dug & Betty’s. “My little brother (Zack) and my dad are the ones making all the ice cream,” Chris says.

As is often the case with ice cream, there’s a twist. Pending regulatory approval, Dug & Betty’s is planning on serving floats, shakes and sorbets infused with wine, beer and more once its fully operational. “The other day we cracked a moscato that we tried with some sorbetto,” Kirouac says. “The flavours were amazing.”

Dug & Betty’s is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

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An award-winning Winnipeg chef has landed a plum gig across the pond.

Michael Robins, formerly of the French-inspired Osborne Village eatery Sous Sol, has been named head chef at the 22-seat east London restaurant Pidgin, which offers weekly four-course tasting menus and claims to have “yet to repeat a single dish.”

Robins moved to the United Kingdom late last year, cutting his teeth at Michelin-starred eateries such as Leroy and Bibendum before landing the gig at Pidgin, which was named London’s best restaurant in 2017 by the Guardian.

Robins’ work at Sous Sol landed him the top prize at the 2017 edition of Gold Medal Plates, which earned him a trip to the Canadian Culinary Championships the following year, where he won the people’s choice award. His first experience in kitchens was at Chateau Lake Louise before returning to Winnipeg to study culinary arts at Red River College.

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This weekend is the last for thirsty Winnipeggers to fill their growlers with beer at Manitoba Liquor Marts.

The growler-bar program at Manitoba Liquor Marts, whose taps began flowing in late 2014, will cease to pour lagers and ales as of July 1. Dwindling interest in the program, as well as an increase in the large number of growler-fill options at local craft breweries, as well as beer vendors, were cited as reasons the program was discontinued.

The remaining five Liquor Marts growler bars are offering a free bottle with fill while supplies last; for a list of where the taps are still flowing, as well as other options for growler fills, see liquormarts.ca/growler.

ben.macphee-sigurdson@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @bensigurdson