Feast Cafe Bistro takes eating local to the next level

A Winnipeg restaurant coming to the corner of Ellice Avenue and SherbrookStreet aims to preparetraditional foods fora new, modern audience.

Feast Cafe Bistro opens Thursday in the same space as the formerEllice Cafe besideBandwidth Theatre and the Adam Beach Film Institute.

• Winnipeg's Ellice Cafe closes its doors

"I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring our First Nation foods to that next level and open up this restaurant and hopefully be a pillar in the community," said Feast Cafe Bistro ownerChrista Bruneau-Guenther.

Feast's menuwill span a range of indigenous dishes with local ingredients, such assaskatoon berry smoothies, dessert bannock, squash pizza, pickerel slidersand elk stew.

"It's modern dishes rooted in traditional First Nation foods, so a lot of focus on the bison, the berries, the wild rice, squash," Bruneau-Guenther said.

The big hit, however, is expected to be theIndian tacos,she said.

"They are a traditional, authentic frybread, and then you pile it teepee high with bison chili or a shredded maple-chipotle chicken, and then you have shredded lettuce, cheese, a couple of homemade salsas, and then a chipotle-sour cream on top and it is delicious," said Bruneau-Guenther.

Cooking studio

While the modern-traditional fusion food is a big part of Feast, Bruneau-Guenther hopes the caf becomes ameeting place for the West End community and a space where indigenous Winnipeggers can reconnect with their culture through food.

If Feast is successful, the next plan is to open a cooking studio attached to the restaurant, said Bruneau-Guenther.

"I've been blessed to travel around the world, and I've been to, for example, Italy, and to see how connected they are to their food," she said.

"I think that's part of our First Nation culture that's been lost, and I think I'm maybe that one that's going to bring it back to the forefront."

The public opening for Feast Cafe Bistro is Thursday, Dec. 10, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 587Ellice Ave. in Winnipeg.