SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The Cellar may be among the city's latest downtown eateries, but the two-month-old pub occupies a commercial space with a history dating back almost 45 years.

Server Jim Taylor presents The Cellar's daily special last Wednesday, a roasted chicken sandwich on gluten-free bread and vegan roasted red pepper soup. The pub offers gluten-free options for its bread, buns, tortillas and pasta, and a different vegan soup every day. - Daron Letts/NNSL photo

Restaurants and bars established downstairs at 4915-50th Avenue 1969 - 1986: The Hoist Room 1986 - mid-1990s: Millie's Hoist Room mid-1990s - 1999: a short-lived sports bar and The Bistro on Franklin 2000 - 2006: Jose Loco's 2006 - 2012: Surly Bob's 2013 - present: The Cellar

Quietly opened by co-owners Dale Bardeau and Rob Marshall on Aug. 6, the pub is located on Franklin Avenue next to Sutherland's Drugs in the downstairs venue that most recently housed Surly Bob's sports bar until 2012.

Numerous dining and drinking establishments have filled the dining room and kitchen in the 186 square-metre space ever since the building was constructed, beginning with The Hoist Room in 1969.

Despite the heritage building's storied legacy, The Cellar is crafting its own personality, according to the owners.

The vision shared by Bardeau, who works hands-on with serving and kitchen staff on a daily basis, and Marshall, who fills the administrative role, blends the warm, cozy intimacy of an elegant pub with the fresh flair of a health-conscious urban bistro.

"We wanted a comfortable place -- you could be 25 or 75, you're going to feel comfortable coming in," Marshall said. "You don't have to scream over the music."

A selection of feminine blues and subdued swing tunes played in the background last week. Acoustic live music nights are being planned later this fall, Bardeau said.

Two of the seven TV screens that used to broadcast sports all day and night at Surly Bob's remain, volume off.

The business partners oversaw a makeover this summer that featured new paint, furniture and flooring, and a rebuilt bar and kitchen. Portraits of rock formations shot by photographer Bob Wilson around Yellowknife and the East Arm of Great Slave Lake line the walls, giving the windowless, 71-seat dining room depth and texture. A burgundy backdrop showcases the room's original stone fireplace.

Bardeau designed the menu in consultation with Red Seal chef Frankie Parker, who cooks at the Gourmet Cup.

"Essentially, what I wanted to do was offer something for everybody," Bardeau said. "Our soup of the day will always be a vegan soup – no cream, no milk, no eggs, no nothing. For pretty much everything else, we offer vegetarian options and gluten-free options – gluten-free pasta, bread, buns, tortillas, as well. There is no real flour in our kitchen. We only have rice flour."

Sauces are homemade, though veggie burgers are frozen, but very popular, he added. The best-selling dishes are bacon-wrapped scallops, chilli-lime prawns and the Montreal-style smoked meat melt with a spicy southwest chipotle sauce.

"We've got a small kitchen, space-wise, so we've just tried to focus on things that the kitchen can cook up from scratch that we can put on for a reasonable price and that we can get out of the kitchen quickly," Marshall said. "Everything on the menu shouldn't take longer than 12 to 15 minutes."

A dozen staff are on the payroll. Full-time employees include Bardeau, former Surly Bob's server and Maritime musician Jim Taylor, and Christine Angel, originally from Baguio in the Philippines, who is working in the kitchen to log the 1,000 hours she needs to complete her Red Seal ticket.

Marshall, a general consultant who moved to Yellowknife from British Columbia to stay in 1997, is new to the restaurant industry. Bardeau has been in the industry for more than two decades. He came North from Nova Scotia in 1996 and worked at a string of former Yellowknife bars and restaurants, such as The Unicorn, The Gallery, The Cave Club, Jose Loco's and Lucille's. He managed The Black Knight from 2004 until earlier this year.

After more than two months in business, both partners agree they have presented the kind of simple, but unique, dining experience they set out to create.

"We just need to slowly do a bit more to increase our numbers," Marshall said. "I think there's lots of folks in town who have no idea we're open, still."

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