Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/162438
getaways Rural Restaurant Revival Classy bistros and funky diners put small-town Saskatchewan on the culinary map story by Christalee Froese S ucculent duck breast melts in the mouth in combination with soft bites of blue-cheese tortellini. Slow-cooked ribs fall off the bone. And the mild horseradish cream is a tantalizing complement to forkfuls of tender brisket. The barbecued delicacies on this Saturday night's menu at the Grotto Coffeehouse & Eatery in Vibank, Saskatchewan, have taken 18 or more hours to prepare and years to bring to a public setting. Owner Kevin Zimmerman, a Canada Post employee, is a self-trained chef who cooked alongside his mother when he was a youngster. Sometimes he still can't believe he runs a critically acclaimed bustling restaurant in the same small prairie town in which he was raised. With his wife Cecilia by his side, and her native Mexican dishes on the menu on Fridays, this 50-seat restaurant is booked to capacity months in advance. When limos ghost into this rural town of 374 residents a half-hour's drive east of Regina, it's 14 w est w o r l d p14-17_Getaways.indd 14 >> fa l l 2 0 1 3 (above, top to bottom) The Grotto Coffeehouse & Eatery occupies Vibank's former convent; the herb garden outside of Sisters' Boutique & Bistro in Montmartre. because they are headed to the Grotto, nestled aromatically inside the community's former convent. "People have said they can taste the love and my passion on the plate, and this is the greatest compliment," says Cecilia. She has made Mexican night famous at the Grotto by introducing traditional Oaxacan dishes such as Chapulines con Queso (grasshoppers with cheese) and Ensalada de Nopales (Mexican-style cactus salad). The Grotto isn't alone, though, in carving out a niche in the prairie culinary landscape. Indeed, the province is experiencing a rural restaurant revival, one that Regina-based food writer CJ Katz mostly attributes to the adventurous and committed chefs taking up residence in smaller towns. "I think there's a good argument to be made that chefs are creating the movement," says Katz, a judge in Gold Medal Plates Saskatchewan (whose 2013 competition finals are set for November 8 in Saskatoon). "Somebody says, 'I'm going to do this and (Grasshoppers, Mexican, Grotto exterior) CJ Katz, Sisters' Boutique & Bistro, (Olive Branch cuisine) Susan Hill Photography, Christalee Froese 13-08-19 9:26 AM