Poppy stands tall on Main Street

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This article was published 18/04/2010 (5676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WITHIN the walls of the Tallest Poppy restaurant customers can enjoy a different delicious plate every day. The menu changes daily — from roast chicken and Gouda to roast pork and grilled apples, to fruit skewers and spinach salad, among others. And as you sit in the cosy place, treating your stomach to tasty, home-style foods, know that this moment of bliss is brought to you by a former heavy-duty diesel mechanic.

Tallest Poppy owner Talia Syrie is the woman to thank. She runs the restaurant and catering business with a team of about nine employees. And although the Poppy is one of her joyful endeavours, it wasn’t something she had planned for.

"I never wanted to run a restaurant," says Syrie. "I ended up with a restaurant by accident."

It evolved from Syrie’s home-based catering company, which she began in 2002. In 2006 she decided it was time to expand.

"We were looking for a place to run our catering company," explains the 33-year-old. "This place became available at a very fair price."

The space had been a training facility for cooks. With its full kitchen and equipment already installed, the location seemed perfect, except for two things.

"The landlord thought the neighbourhood needed a restaurant and wanted one installed." Syrie had no restaurant experience. The other catch was its location. "A lot of people thought we were nuts to open here," she says.

The Tallest Poppy is located at 631 Main St., a building formerly known as the New Occidental Hotel. In the 1980s, the hotel had some of the highest beer vendor sales in the province and was notorious for scenes of crime and violence.

"It was the roughest bar in Western Canada," says Syrie. "It was a really, really scary place."

Things changed in 2002 when Richard Walls bought the hotel, shut down the bar and created the Red Road Lodge, a transitional housing facility.

Before finding her love of cooking, Syrie’s first career began at the South Winnipeg Technical Vocational Centre, now known as Winnipeg Technical College.

"I went to a trade school to learn how to be a heavy-duty diesel mechanic," she says. "It was just something I didn’t know anything about and I liked getting dirty."

After landing a job fixing truck motors, Syrie realized her first career choice wasn’t the right fit and soon began planting trees in northern British Columbia. It was a job she enjoyed but one that quickly ended. "I injured myself so I couldn’t plant trees anymore."

Being out of work and stuck in the West Coast wilderness proved to be one of the best things that happened to her.

"I spent the rest of the summer cooking in this sort of bush camp," says Syrie. "I liked it and went back the next summer and cooked again."

From there, it wasn’t such a big step for Syrie to start a small catering company in Winnipeg — a business that soon turned into the Tallest Poppy.

Its unusual name was derived from an old saying that one shouldn’t try too hard to be the tallest poppy in the field, for they are the ones likely to get their tops chopped off first.

"It means you shouldn’t try to stand out too much, because people will cut you down," explains Syrie.

By running a restaurant with a menu that changes daily, strictly using local meat, fresh produce and always creating every dish from scratch, Syrie has built her business around breaking the mould of conventional sit-down restaurants, so it may seem strange the place would have a name that warns of the dangers of that.

"It’s a little bit ironic," she says. "We kind of wanted to imply that we stand out a little bit and maybe that we’re brave, despite the potential for bad things to happen as a result."

The restaurant is a big part of her current happiness, Syrie says.

"I’m not going to say that it’s the only thing that will ever make me happy but it’s a good fit for me right now."

Syrie and her employees are committed to the Winnipeg arts community and the restaurant itself is like one big collaborative art piece. Syrie’s best friend, Sharon Johnson, and a crew of other local artists designed the restaurant’s interior. Everything from the walls, textured ceiling and photographs were created by crews of volunteers.

"Everybody in my life had come together and just did as much as they could. There was a lot of love put into this place."

With its booming business, constant friendly atmosphere and its artistic and sentimental value, the less-than-desired reputation of the Main Street Strip couldn’t even deter Syrie from keeping the Poppy right where it is.

"This neighbourhood doesn’t scare me. It never has scared me," says Syrie. The restaurant owner currently lives a few minutes walk from her business, and has a lot of pride in the area she grew up in. "I love the North End. I’m like the poster girl for it."

Syrie has been living in Point Douglas for the past seven years and feels it’s an underrated patch of the city.

"I think it’s the best kept secret in town," she says. "It’s super diverse. There’s tons of space and a lot of interesting stuff."

Living and working in the area for several years, she often sees the hardships area residents go through.

"It needs help for sure," she says, "but there’s so many people who have different visions for what this place should be and I can’t say which is the right one."

Syrie does know that developing and maintaining a healthy neighbourhood is a collective effort.

"I make my contribution to the neighbourhood. I do what I can for it and I think it’s up to everybody (to do their bit)," she says. "I think all of those individual things will all come together."