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P U B W H E R E T H E C H E F S E A T
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It’s not the most obvious location, but the Dragon’s worth looking for. ERIK PETERSEN visits a city centre pub hidden in plain sight.
It’s an obvious trick for finding a good place to eat in a new city, but an effective one. Peek your head in a few doors just after hours, when the dinner rush is ending and the service industry folks are finishing their shifts. Keep going until you find the place filled with the people in chef’s whites or bar-staff tops.
Chances are you’ll find one place that fits that description. It’ll be not too expensive, not overly easy to find, and not at all pretentious or fussy about what it’s serving.
Congratulations, you’ve found the restaurant where people from other restaurants go. Now sit down and reward yourself with a nice meal.
The restaurant workers restaurant is a trend that can be found in most cities, and it’s one that Adrian Sudbury and Aunit Sandhu were happy to see recently when they looked around the Dragon their pub in Long Row across from the central library. They get to know their customers, most of whom are regulars, and it made them figure they must be doing something right one recent night when they looked around and saw staffers from four city centre restaurants and half a dozen bars.
The establishment that attracts this knowledgeable crowd sit smack in the middle of the city centre, but the Dragon still has that feel of a place you discover. It’s a long, narrow space, and you can easily walk down Long Row without ever knowing it’s there.
Before she became a partner several months ago, Aunit often worked at the pub. She used to get frustrated calling for taxis that never found the place or drove by thinking it was a Chinese restaurant.
Inside, the place can be a bit of a surprise. Earthy greens and plump couches welcome patrons into a decidedly laid-back place. DJs spin on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and during the summer the small back beer garden with adobe-like tables and benches has been getting plenty of use.
It’s in the middle of everything, but it doesn’t feel that way.
“This place is like a local in the city centre” Aunit says.
A local that also happens to do some lovely food. That’s Aunit’s province. She’s added new recipes ranging from unusual burgers to Asian dishes she learned from her mother. Some dishes, like the spicy lamb burger, started out as specials but have stayed around thanks to those regular customers and their requests.
She and Adrian also believe in doing the little things – buffalo mozzarella, sun-blushed tomatoes, those just a-bit better ingredients – that go without saying in better restaurants but that pubs often can’t be bothered to worry about.
They’ve recently gone from serving lunch, then dinner to keeping the kitchen open through the afternoon. The next project with be Sunday dinners. Within the next week or two, they’re also going to start opening at 10am for coffee. Among the other reasons for this, they noticed guests at the big Holiday Inn just over the road often coming down in the morning and heading down the street for a quick bite and a cup of joe.
“We just watched them going into McDonald’s all the time.” Adrian says. “And they’re not the kinds of customers who would come to McDonald’s”
Adrian figures they just need options. So the Dragon will offer them another one. Not unlike the option it offers fro top local chefs looking for an after work meal.
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