SASKATOON -- A Saskatoon restaurant where a slogan is “home is where the hearth is” has found another home — on a list of the 100 best restaurants in Canada.
Hearth, located on 2404 Melrose Ave., placed at number 85 on the 2020 edition of Canada's 100 Best Restaurants.
The restaurant, which was also featured in the Top 100 in 2019 via OpenTable, describes itself as being “unpretentious, thoughtful, and ingredient forward prairie cooking.”
Thayne Robstad, co-chef and co-owner of Hearth with his wife Beth Rogers, felt quite strongly about being in the Top 100.
“Interestingly enough, we actually were tapped in late February,” said Robstad. “The list generally comes out in April, and they had reached out to us, we were incredibly excited. Taken aback a little bit," Robstad said
"It was always something in the back of our minds that we would like to achieve someday, but it was quite shocking to hear that news."
The accolade comes as Robstad and Rogers, like many restaurant owners, navigate their way through the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Things are a little precarious right now,” Robstad said.
“Because of the pandemic obviously. We’re operating at far less than half capacity, just to ensure physical distancing in the dining room and to kind of ensure that we have enough revenue streams."
Robstad said he and Rogers are trying new things to offset the drain on business caused by the pandemic like offering take-out and gourmet "meal kits" for dining at home.
"We’ve received a lot of excellent feedback on that and have had a lot of success with it, Robstad said.
"I expect, and hope a little bit that this news (about the ranking) coming out might bring a little more interest to our business.”
