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Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the StarPhoenix talks to Kelly Burns, who along with two partners, recently opened Browns Crafthouse in Rosewood.

This is the third Browns restaurant for Burns, Jason Porat and Shane Hardy in Saskatoon, but the first of the Browns Crafthouse brand. The others are Browns Socialhouses. Browns Crafthouse has a bit more of casual atmosphere with a different menu than the Socialhouses.

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Burns has been running food service stores in Saskatchewan since first opening a hot dog stand in 2003 in Regina. He has owned a number of different restaurants since, along with Porat and Hardy, including a Liberty Kitchen, currently in Saskatoon.

Q: What makes Browns Crafthouse stand out from other restaurants?

A: The word ‘craft’ kind of explains it itself. Everything is homemade. Our dishes are all made in house. Our drinks are all made in house. We do a lot of local craft beers. We’ve got some staples, but we’ve got lots of local craft beers on tap. That would be the difference in Browns Crafthouse. I think the food quality is second to none. We didn’t take any shortcuts there.

Q: What is the difference between Browns Crafthouse and Browns Socialhouse?

A: Browns Crafthouse and Browns Socialhouse have different menus. Browns Crafthouse has more local beers on tap and the dress code is more casual. The room is similar as far as comfort goes with big booths and custom made insanely comfortable bar stools.

Browns Crafthouse is just a bit more of a casual brand. Both stores are all about homemade food. We’re not about packaging. We’re not about microwaves. We have very small freezers in our stores. They’re both similar that way. Browns Crafthouse has a different menu. There are items on Crafthouse that aren’t on Socialhouse. There are items on Crafthouse that might be called the same thing, but they are a different recipe or different tweaks to them.

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Our burgers are hand-pressed in house in both and that’s just something that we would never stray away from. Nothing beats a homemade burger. Why would you change that? The burgers are the same but the toppings might be different. The way they’re put together could be different.

Q: What kind of atmosphere have you created at Browns Crafthouse?

A: It’s such a great atmosphere and a great vibe. There’s a very large island bar right at the front door. It just kind of pulls you towards it. That’s where you want to sit. If you wanted a table and you see that bar, you suddenly want to sit at the bar. Our bar stools at this location were actually based off of the Top Gun movie, the newest one. They were custom made to look like that. So they actually have the wings and they swivel. They’re one of the most comfortable bar stools you would ever sit in. I would put that up against any bar stool out there.

We also have a private room upstairs. We’re just in the process of finishing some design tweaks up there. But we’ll be booking out that room for special occasions. We can hold up to about 40 people up there. And we have a great open-air patio with lots of greenery that seats about 40.

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Q: What stands out on your menu?

A: One of our top sellers is our dynamite roll – crispy prawns, mango, avocado, soy glaze and spicy mayo. It’s not something that you normally get out of a pub. But it’s done very, very well and it is delicious. The French dip is slow roasted beef in house on a baguette bun with homemade au jus, homemade garlic aioli, a bacon onion jam that we make in-house again. It’s just an excellent excellent sandwich. And then if you want something lighter and healthier, we’ve still got you covered. We’ve got the superfood avocado salad. Roasted yam, avocado, pumpkin seed, dried cranberries, garlic croutons a cider vinaigrette tumeric cashew dressing. You can add chicken or you can add ahi tuna to it. The tuna is brought in and then cut in house and seared in house. It is the freshest tuna out there.

Q: Do you have a popular dessert?

A: Exclusive within our Crafthouse brand is the warm chocolate sticky toffee pudding, baked in house, made with toffee rum sauce, made in house. We do buy the vanilla ice cream – we’re not turning our own ice cream, but the rest of that dish is house made and it’s delicious. It hits the spot for sure.

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Q: What’s going on at happy hour at Browns Crafthouse?

A: We have happy hour for both drinks and food. The lagers, the wines, the IPAs, our signature cocktails are all on special during happy hour. And then our happy hour snacks as well. We’ve got our fried chicken poutine, chips and guacamole, parmesan yam fries, crispy yam roll and little chicken quesadilla. Some of these items aren’t available during our normal time. Our policy is the answer is always yes, but they’re on special during happy hour. These items are specifically made for those slower periods that are made to be craveable and addicting that you’re going to make a special trip at 3 p.m. to get. Happy Hour is 2 pm to 5 pm and 9 pm to close.

Q: How many drinks do you have on tap?

A: We have 20 drinks on tap at Crafthouse. It’s a lot, there’s no doubt about it and in development right now are craft cocktails. We will actually build and keg our own cocktails, and we’ll pour those. We have a drink called the Chain Famous, and it is basically a deconstructed Bellini. That’s one that we sell a ton of. We put it on tap to make sure it’s consistent 100 per cent of the time and to make it quicker to make. That’s a trend that’s kind of taken over a lot of places now. Kelowna last year did their Old Fashions on tap because they just sold so many. And they did the same thing with the negroni. They said, we don’t want a bartender’s tweak on it, we wanted to be the same every time because we think we have developed the best one. That’s what the Chain Famous is to us.

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Q: What stands out in your cocktails?

A: The Chain Famous comes in a tower, or you can get a Mimosa Tower. The Chain Famous has a full bottle of bubbly in there, 6 oz of spirits and then our Chain Famous mix. It comes as a tower on the table, and you can pour it as you see fit. And then the Mimosa Tower is a bottle of bubbly and some orange juice, and it goes great with our brunch.

Q: When do you serve brunch and what’s on the menu?

A: We have a brunch menu 11-3 on weekends and holidays. My favorite is the avocado toast. We’ve got poached eggs on our thick cut brioche toast, fresh avocado, beef steak tomato, hollandaise and a kale salad on top. And then our hand cut potatoes in house that they come with. My secret is I add bacon to it, and it’s even better.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Browns Crafthouse

Owners: Kelly Burns, Shane Hardy & Jason Porat
Address: 210 Slimmon Road, Unit 10
Hours: Sunday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.
Phone: 306-242-3001
Email: Slimmon@brownscrafthouse.com
Website: www.brownscrafthouse.com
Check: Facebook, Instagram

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