Palomino Club to rise again on Main Street

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This article was published 23/03/2016 (3809 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE return of the Palomino Club is creating a domino effect downtown.

The iconic country bar, a favourite stop of NHL and CFL players and celebrities from its opening in 1988 on Portage Avenue to its closing a couple of months ago, is set to be reborn downtown in Whiskey Dix at 436 Main St.

Christian Stringer, a long-time employee and manager at “The Pal,” has bought the right to use the Palomino brand from Cary Paul, who founded the bar. Stringer will take occupancy of Whiskey Dix during the second week of April after it shuts down, with plans to reopen the Pal the following month before the May Long Weekend.

Wade Salchert, the long-time operator of Whiskey Dix, has already taken possession of the old Gio’s bar at 155 Smith Street, gutted the place and is preparing to christen La Roca, a Mexican supper club on May 5.

The capital improvements include the addition of 1,000 square feet to the building plus a 2,500-square-foot, two-level outdoor patio.

“The concept came from travelling extensively to Arizona and Mexico and seeing other (similar) establishments, plus my love of Mexican culture and food and the hospitality industry,” Salchert said, noting capacity will be 210 people inside and another 180 on the patio.

In addition to Mexican cuisine, La Roca will feature acoustic Spanish guitar and bachata music until 9 p.m. and then it will switch over to more of a “Miami club scene” with a Latin pop component until closing.

Stringer is confident that long-time fans of the Pal won’t notice much of a difference with the new address and noted the neon horse sign that adorned the outside of the old building will soon be erected and many of the signs and other fixtures have also been purchased.

‘(The Palomino is) an important name to me. I spent 27 years developing it’ — Cary Paul 

But if the Palomino has as much cross-country cache as some people believe, it may live on beyond Manitoba. Once the Main Street location is up and running — Paul will remain as an advisor for a couple of months — he’ll be setting his sights outside the province’s borders.

“The Palomino is a well-known name. My whole purpose of trademarking it was to see if there are any other parties, investors or operators elsewhere in Canada that could run a Palomino Club in other cities,” he said.

“It’s an important name to me. I spent 27 years developing it.”

The old Palomino location will be levelled within the next few weeks after which a condominium project will be built on the land. Construction of a four-storey, 60-unit building, which will be called the Icon, is scheduled to begin at the beginning of May and wrap up next spring.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca