There are a couple restaurants in southeast Saskatchewan that are what one would call destination restaurants. People are willing to drive an hour, or more, or take a limo, to visit these locations.
One is the Olive Branch Bistro in Carnduff. The other is The Happy Nun Café in Forget. I've never been to either, and my wife has pointed out I haven't taken her to them, yet, either. Both of these restaurants have a reputation that well exceeds their size.
I've spoken to people who drove through freezing rain in January just so they wouldn't miss their reservation at the Nun. I'll have to take my wife soon, as they plan to sell the business at the end of the year.
Over the past two years I have been hearing similar things about a new restaurant in Stenen, very close to the farm I grew up on south of Hyas. My publisher, in Estevan, of all places, raved about it after a hunting trip around Hyas. Visiting family in Invermay, someone there asked if I had been to Rawhides. My aunt and uncle from Yorkton held their 30th anniversary there. No matter where I turn, people are talking about Rawhides.
I had been meaning to take the family there when I got a chance. That happened on May 24.
Walking in, my eyes opened wide. I was in awe.
The last time I had walked into this building, the former Stenen School, was 29 years ago, in 1985. I was attending the track and field meet as a Grade 4 student from Hyas. Now it is nothing like the four-classroom school I remember.
Rawhides is what one would call a roadhouse, a western themed bar and grill. Remarkably, I had just visited a very similar establishment in Williston, N.D., not 24 hours before, and Rawhides more than held its own.
The décor is remarkable, from the longhorns above the bar, to how they opened up the old classroom walls to create different dining rooms.
The proof is in the pudding, however, or in this case, beef. My father joined us for an early Father's Day supper, and between him, my wife and I, we ordered the tenderloin, ribeye and T-bone. While you can get a New York steak pretty much anywhere, I don't recall ever seeing a T-bone on a menu, so that's what I had. The three adults plus two kids were very satisfied, and very full, once we were done. They were the best steaks we had had in a very long time.
Before leaving I had to chat up the owner, who was working at a desk behind the till. "Why Stenen?" I asked of Frazer Will, who is half-owner and managing partner.
He said, "It's a big restaurant in a small town in the middle of nowhere, and the middle of everywhere."
Will has a commerce degree in human resources and international business from Concordia University in Montreal. Having grown up on the Main Street of Star City, he ended up in Montreal primarily because it is the national judo training centre. The short but incredibly built Will placed seventh in judo in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
His father Doug has a long involvement with the Norquay alfalfa plant. Doug and his partner Brenda Solsten bought the King George Hotel in Stenen a few years ago with the intention of owning a small pub. However, they had owned it for only a day when it burned to the ground.
"Somehow it morphed into this," he said, pointing to the 200-seat restaurant in a town whose 2006 census population was pegged at 91. In this case, Stenen may not be big, but it was within driving distance of a multitude of people, their research found.
Doug had travelled in South America and the southern United States and thus had seen many similar establishments.
The school had closed many, many years ago. "It was being used for Ukrainian dance class and a flower shop," Will said. "It was slowly wearing away."
They opened in July 2012, during the Stenen centennial celebration. They had no idea how much business they would get, and had just two servers and two cooks that day. Now they employ 20 people, including a manager who looks after the place when Will is working at his other job, doing human resources at the alfalfa plant.
He wouldn't say what they paid for the building, other than it was "not a lot." In addition to the school, there are four acres of property. They've put in 10 RV sites with water and electricity, plus additional tenting sites. A new playground joins the few remaining elements of the playground from when I was a kid. The playground isn't just for guests, but for the kids of the town, he said.
"We're an event destination," he said. Limousines bringing customers is a common occurrence. They've had companies like Viterra book the entire facility and bring in a band for corporate events.
There's a menu change in the works for a month from now. Instead of a broad menu that some people found confusing, there's going to be more of a focus on the steakhouse aspect. "We want to be the best barbecue steak joint in Western Canada," he said, setting their goals high.
I wouldn't put it past him. One thing about Olympians, of which I know a couple: they are all about setting, and achieving, goals that would seem impossible to mere mortals.
Will said, "What's incredible is the volume. We can serve 5,000 to 6,000 a week."
On this day it was actually one of their slowest Saturday nights to date, likely because the late seeding had every tractor and sprayer in the field. I told him my father used to get frustrated because graduations and weddings would fall during seeding time, and he agreed. That's life in a farming community.
When word of a place like Rawhides can reach 400 kilometres south, that's saying something. They will do well, and I look forward to my next steak. A ribeye, perhaps?
- Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at [email protected].
