Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 15/02) - Nine times out of 10, Fiona Lyall prefers to serve her family a home-cooked meal.

But given the number of restaurants popping up in the downtown core of Iqaluit, staying at home now proves difficult even for Lyall.

"We went to see how their prices and meals were," said Lyall, recently enticed to try the family dinner at the newly opened Mary Brown's Famous Chicken and Taters.

"They passed the test," she said.

Those are words of magic to franchise owner Sean Maloney. Opening the chicken eatery with a Subway franchise in the same restaurant was an addition to the city that Iqaluit diners were hungry for, said Maloney.

Seating 50 people and serving everything from fried chicken to Italian sub sandwiches, Maloney said their employees have been busy since opening day March 19.

"It absolutely adds variety," said Maloney. "It's another menu. It's affordable for families and everyday working folks."

Doug Lem, the owner of Nunavut Catering, is also getting in on the dining action. Opening a chicken-and-ribs eat-in and take-out this spring, Lem called his secret rib sauce recipe a must for restaurant go'ers.

"It's not hot spicy, but on the sweeter side of spicy," said Lem.

Hungry now? It gets better. Lem's combination platter and homemade chicken wings promise to make mouths water. He said a void in the dining market gave him the inspiration to open the 26-seat establishment.

"It's the only industry that hasn't followed suit with the population growth. It actually declined. So this is good for the people who love choice," said Lem.

The owners of Sub-Zero began making their sandwiches and sundries six months ago. Serving up a busy lunch crowd, owner Nick D'Alessandro also said they were getting busy feeding the after-Legion crowd -- it's open until 4 a.m. on weekends.

Sisters Kim and Donna Waters are also vying for a piece of the pie with their establishment, Wizard's Cafe. The pair recently began table service and added a liquor licence to the menu. With prices comparable to the city's other fine dining establishments, Donna said they offer diners entrees made entirely from scratch.

"It's better quality food. I can tell you that ... everything is from scratch. Nothing is from a package."

Bon appetite!