Yellowknife’s Wildcat Café is open once again, serving up dishes like bison meatloaf, fried Klik sandwich and a prospector’s platter with chef Niki Mckenzie.
Originally opened in 1937, the café is now owned by the city, which farms out the Wildcat to local businesses. Mckenzie has taken it on for the next two summers, along with Jonathan Crozier, who runs the operations.
Crozier describes what they’re doing this summer as a “finer diner.”
“The menu is a combination of old-school classics with a bit of a modern twist,” Mckenzie said. “We wanted to make things a little bit innovative and exciting while still sticking to the tradition of the café.”
The menu features lots of fresh local fish and as much local produce as possible.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“We’re growing all our herbs and a lot of our produce in a collaboration with the local gardener, Northern Roots,” Mckenzie said, as part of “a northern experiment to show how much food we can actually produce here.”
Being surrounded by the boreal forest means there’s so much edible wild food nearby, Mckenzie said. “I’m just really, really excited to create and build a sort-of taste of place on a plate, with everything that I can: spruce tips, juniper, fireweed, rose hips, edible flowers, Labrador tea…”
Mckenzie said she had lost her previous restaurant, Fishy People, due to a sewage flood following the city’s evacuation last summer. The Wildcat Café felt like a good fit for her next project.
“This is iconic. It’s part of the town’s history, and it feels very special to be able to contribute to this at least a little bit while I figure out what I want to do next,” she said.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Over the course of the summer, Mckenzie and Crozier are hoping to bring live music to the café. They’re also going to be an active participant in the Old Town Ramble and Ride, and will be catering the VIP section at Folk on the Rocks.
One change they’ve made is updating an area of the café that previously served as an ice cream bar. There wasn’t much point in it, Crozier said, with Sundog Trading Post just across the bridge, so they’ve turned the space into an actual bar and the Wildcat is fully licensed.
Mckenzie and Crozier are also working on organizing a Wildcat reunion for the end of the summer.
“There are so many people in this town whose first job was at the Wildcat, whether washing dishes, waitressing, or learning how to line cook for the first time,” Mckenzie said. They’d love to close out the season with a “good old shantytown party with everyone who was past or currently employed at the Wildcat.”
If that’s you, Mckenzie said, you can snag your invite by popping into the café or by emailing them.
