SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The owners of Bayside Bed and Breakfast are pouring new life into their Old Town establishment, with plans to open a cafe on the ground floor of the building early next year.

It all started with an improvement to the bed and breakfast's front facade, said John Doody, who owns the business with his wife, Debera. Together, they purchased Bayside three years ago from Mary and Wayne Bryant.

"I looked at the place and said, 'Hey, this has a lot of potential. I like it,'" said John. That being said, "There was a deficiency that really bothered me. There was no connection between the upstairs B&B portion and the cafe."

Whereas clients had to walk through the Doodys' house to exit the building, now occupants can do so using a newly-built staircase to the ground floor, where the Doodys have plans to open The Dancing Moose Cafe early next year (formerly the home of Mary's Tea Room).

"From the point of view of guests, if it's cold outside, you don't want your guests to do that, even if it's summer time. It's much more pleasant to walk down a set of stairs into the cafe, much more hotel-like," said John.

The cafe will be open to guests and the general public alike, featuring bread, homemade pie, freshly-ground coffee, sandwiches and, as John as keen to point out, French fries.

"We can actually compete with Bullocks' Bistro," he said. "We have a complete cooking system with overhead exhaust and air intake. And that's actually what's holding us up - we need a second boiler to heat the coil."

The cafe, which has seating for 30 people, will sport a more modern look than Mary's Team Room, but it will also maintain some sense of continuity with that former haunt.

"We're still keeping all that fine china and those tea cups from the Tea Room," she said. "We're also planning on getting a liquor and beer licence."

During last summer's Ramble and Ride, the Doodys set up a patio in their backyard facing Yellowknife Bay - a set-up they want to emulate on a regular basis during the summer season, said Debbie.

"We heard the Wildcat won't be open this summer, so it might be a pretty good opportunity," she said.

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