NO LONGER IN BUSINESS - The Tallest Poppy

NO LONGER IN BUSINESS

The Tallest Poppy
631 Main St
204-957-1708

August, 2008

Those of us who have been around Winnipeg for a while remember what the area south of the Main Street underpass looked like. Dozens of dilapidated buildings lined North Main in the central business district, each representing the worst of what people stigmatise as blight in a rundown neighbourhood. Central to this forlorn area stood the Occidental Hotel—a cockroach house and bar with a dubious reputation as Winnipeg’s dirtiest and roughest drinking dive and pass-out hovel.

In an effort to revitalise its core, Winnipeg made an effort to weed out the area’s disreputable bars and hotels. In 2005, the Occidental Hotel followed this trend under new ownership, who discarded its liquor licence and converted the building in today’s Red Road Lodge. Immediately beside and attached to the Lodge, the Tallest Poppy invites you into experience North Main’s latest effort at rejuvenating the street.

Walking into The Poppy, you can imagine how the building appeared in its most disreputable state, but the dining room today appears restored and clean. A lot of work and love went into turning this building into an inviting place for a good meal. Love is exactly what the people at The Poppy claim to put into their food as they boast about the locally grown and naturally raised ingredients. They also boast about the care that goes into the food’s preparation.
Be forewarned: the operating hours are quite limited, especially over the summer months. In August, you cannot get in on the weekday unless you reserve at least a day in advance. That’s right; the restaurant is always closed, unless you call ahead—we amazingly witnessed more than a dozen people turned away as they entered. They only prepare as much food as demanded by the reservations. While reserving our spot, they asked our preferences for food, for which they would prepare accordingly.

Seated at our table, our enthusiastic and friendly server (presumably one of the owners) presents three options: roasted chicken, bison salad (prepared like a chicken salad) and roasted pork, all served in sandwich form. The introduction consists of either a broccoli soup or an organic greens vegetable in a balsamic vinaigrette sprinkled with pecans. The salad appears fresh and crisp while the soup looks thick and dense. The server informs us that soup is not creamed as the thickness comes from the vegetable puree. The soup tastes flavourful but a dash of cream would give it more body.

Regardless of whether three items or 300 items sit on the menu, we always have trouble selecting the right dish that offers little regret for what the next person ordered. To aid our dilemma, the server brings us a sampling of each of the chicken, bison and pork. The Poppy roasts their chicken simply, which allows the unadulterated flavours of the natural meat to emerge—simple tasting but very well done. Both the pork and the bison run to the other end of the spectrum, where an assortment of flavours burst out of their preparations. The pork, covered with sautéed onions, comes slathered with a sauce reminiscent of the Chinese hoisin. The bison salad comes in a medley of herbs accentuated with a nice texture of celery bits. Both sandwiches taste delicious but I give the edge to the bison. All dishes come nicely decorated with sliced kiwi, fresh peas and fresh figs.

Following the movement to clean up the area, the Poppy does not serve liquor; soft drinks, juices and coffee with locally roasted beans are available. Another warning: while the people take a lot of care in the food selection and preparation, they are very laissez faire about their way of life and time passage sits low on their priority list. We seated at noon but our main courses did not arrive until well after 1 pm. As the clock nears 2 pm, the bill still has not appeared yet. If you get anxious about returning to the office, you should prompt them.

The Tallest Poppy adds a wonderful addition to an area on the rebound. We hope that they soon get enough business where they open regular hours. For now, the food is worth the effort that you have to make to get in.

**** /5

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