Westworld Saskatchewan

GETAWAYS 16 W E S T W O R L D | W I N T E R 2 0 1 5 Rural Restaurant Revival: Part 2 Five more reasons to go out on the town for dinner story & photography by Christalee Froese e fall 2013 issue of Westworld looked at five off-the-beaten-track restaurants garnering heaps of praise and lineups of dedicated custom- ers. This issue we look at five more establish- ments further entrenching Saskatchewan's place on the culinary map. T he visionaries and believers who come to set up restaurants in tiny Saskatchewan communities aren't only creating food. ey are creat- ing hope. Take Caitlin Mroz, who came to Val Marie in 2007 to work at the nearby Grasslands National Park as a biology summer student. Falling in love with the town and its people, she ended up buying the former credit union building for $750 (plus two years' back taxes) and going into the restaurant business. "My boyfriend's dad is fourth generation in Val Marie, so they'd say to me, 'don't make any- thing too spicy and don't do all of this weird stuff because no one in town will eat it,' " says the thirty-something biologist turned self-made chef and restaurateur. She had to include items to please the local farmers, as well as visitors and artists, she adds. With menu items such as Saskatoon-filled perogies, wild Pacific salmon burgers and chocolate pâté, Mroz's Harvest Moon Café has made itself a beacon of both culinary bliss and small-town survival. ese are reinforced during my delectable lunch of curry lentil burger followed by salted caramel New York cheesecake. As I linger over a coffee, a young clean-shaven man nervously approaches me and slides a napkin onto my table. I flip it over to see a page-worth of hand- scrawled writing. He must have heard me talk- ing with my dining companion about the story I'm writing, but perhaps is too shy to talk to me. Simply signed "J.R.," his note sums up the spirit of this quaint rural restaurant: "Over the years we've seen a lot of withdrawal from Val Marie, from the closing of Sharpe's Rental Store or of iconic eateries like Cool Stop or Rusty's Café . . . What Caitlin Mroz is doing with the Harvest Moon Café is essential to the growth and prosperity of our community. Taking some- thing that has been abandoned and fulfilling a dream with her will is exactly what embodies Harvest Moon Café . . ." D own the road in Maple Creek, well-travelled Tina Cresswell greets guests with a robust handshake and her larger-than-life personality. "What can I get you to drink?" says the forthright silver-haired Cresswell, leaning comfortably against the sprawl- ing floor-to-ceiling oak long-bar that is the centrepiece of her upscale yet Old- West-inspired restaurant. With velvet curtains draping down from the vaulted ceilings and light fall- ing softly from wall-mounted sconces onto the dark hardwood floors, the Star Café & Grill captures a sense of both history and modernity in one fell swoop. At first glance, it would appear that this rural dining experience is all about the spectac- ularly restored 19th-century building in which it is housed. But as dishes of coconut shrimp, haddock salad and chicken curry arrive at the table, it is evident that something beyond prai- rie cooking is going on in the kitchen. Chef Joel Fitzpatrick hails from Guyana. e collision of southwest Saskatchewan cattle (left) Georgia Sinaki flambés a sauce at her Olive Tree Restaurant on Hwy. 12 north; (below) the Olive Tree's lava cake with espresso-laced sauce.

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