SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Ledge Cafe inside the NWT Legislative Assembly building has had a new manager effective April 1.

Dagmar Nielsen is the new manager of the Ledge Cafe, which offers soup and sandwiches at the legislative assembly building. - Jeanne Gagnon/NNSL photo

Dagmar Nielsen, who has worked as a chef in small and large kitchens in Yellowknife and abroad, started working at the cafe last October before obtaining a two-year contract to manage it.

"It's a change in my life to come here from the busy restaurant but it's time," she said. "I really like the cafe. It is a good place, a small place. It's a nice workplace for me.

"I've been a chef all my life and it's evenings, nights, weekends. This is a much more calm, relaxed atmosphere."

Nielsen started working as a chef in Denmark before moving to Yellowknife 18 years ago. Along the way, she said she's worked as a head chef in small and large kitchens, cooking foods from many different cultures. She worked at Le Frolic in Yellowknife for the past eight to nine years before starting at the cafe last fall.

Customers of the Ledge Cafe will notice only small changes, said Nielsen. The menu will continue featuring paninis, wraps, soups, sandwiches, salads and a lunch special.

"It will be more or less the same as it has been," she said. "I hope to make some very good food and get people to come down.

"It's more like a soup-and-sandwich kind of place. We don't have the equipment to operate big but we can make nice lunch specials."

Former Ledge Cafe manager Debbie Doody said she decided to leave to focus on a new cafe she plans to open in Old Town.

"It's been a good four years here and I've just decided to focus on the bed-and-breakfast and the cafe," she said.

Doody worked as a dietitian in various hospitals before enrolling in cooking school to channel her creativity, she said. She moved to Yellowknife from Baker Lake, and worked at Le Frolic for two years, where she met Nielsen. It was Nielsen who encouraged her four years ago to bid on the management of the Ledge Cafe.