C4 Central Canada Comic Con Aftermath

Another C4 Central Canada Comic Con has come and gone on Halloween weekend and when the numbers are finally counted in full, it is likely to be the best attended one in Winnipeg history. The newly expanded RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre was put to full use for the first time for C4. The weather cooperated and despite both Blue Bomber and Jets game occurring Saturday and Sunday, attendance did not seem to wain in the least.

William Shatner led a Friday panel on 50 years of Star Trek. The Pan Am room on the second floor hosted several other panels over the three days and the Theatre room hosted celebrity Question and Answer time.

So what was the best and worst of the this year's outing?

People: The people are what make C4 amazing. Lots of innovative costumes from men, women and children. It is truly a great family day.  Lots of people watching and just enjoying the day. The weather cooperated which only encouraged more and more people to go.

Volunteers: There are an abundance of volunteers who directed people around and were both inside and outside the building. It is a strength of C4 that they have this many people to help.

Costumes:  More and more people are wearing costumes and that makes for a great convention.

Arena: The open space of the Arena this year was a great size for displaying light sabre battles and the like. There should be even more use of this area next year.

Signage: The overhead signs were a good way to navigate. Sadly, I didn't get a map till mid-way through. It also included a schedule of events. I didn't see too many of those around!

Alleys: There was a Cosplay Alley and an Artist Alley, etc. A very good idea and more organized this year than ever before. Would love to see more to help with navigation.

Food Area: This has been a sticking point for years but this year the second floor had an area to sit and to order food. A huge improvement. At many tables, it just look like families were using the time to rest a bit before resuming their fun. A little lunch, a little rest and back up to the third floor convention.

Cosplayers: This year the Cosplay Alley featured in the main space and very popular selection of artists. This was a great idea and a good use of the expanded space. My only observation was that it may have even been better if the Costume Alliance and some related groups were all in that area. What star power then!

There were some huge improvements to this year's C4 so there is a learning curve as to how best utilize the space in the expanded RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre.

Website: It is not too bad and has good information on guests and events. I can't speak for phone apps but is a good start to any C4 adventure. It would good to see even more updates on on all social media.

So those were some of the best, what are some of the worst?

Line-ups: Simply getting into the convention can be a chore, Haven't got a ticket...must stand in line, arrived at noon, stand in line, want an autograph...stand in line. Now, success can do that and even San Diego's Comic Con suffers from this complaint. Fortunately weather cooperated but it could easily have been snow or rain and families standing outside probably would not wait too long before abandoning the day. No easy solutions here but it is something to think about for future tickets sales and event planning. Thankfully, lots of volunteers out helping people.

LAN Party: The large area network gaming area is not really part of Comic Con. I don't care for it on the third floor convention site. It is a separate thing with it own admission, takes up a lot of space and is not visually appealing. My opinion is that it should be moved to the first floor.

Genre Cars: I like them but the best place and most vehicles we ever saw was when they were in the loading dock area. This time wrestling was there. Would prefer cars there and wrestling where the LAN party is.

Celebrities: There were a few, most notably William Shatner, but it was a little lighter compared to a few years ago. Granted, they have more Cosplay people but TV and film stars still are an attractive feature. This year, like many years, saw last minute cancellations but it is good when the numbers of people are varied and deep.

Lay Out: Despite improvements on lay-out this years including a proper dining area on the second floor, the floor lay-out on the third floor could be better. Pipe and draping and skirting around the tables makes it easier for vendors and for convention goers it is more visually appealing and provides clear line for traffic.

Program and Map: I got a map but not when I got my wristband. It had a schedule on it. The map was extremely tiny in terms of printing. Calgary and Toronto Comic Cons both have program books. Would love to see in Winnipeg.

Don't want to be too critical of such a great event that attracts tens of thousands of people. The newly expanded convention centre opens up so many exciting possibilities. New sponsors and the like could also enhance the weekend event to include aspects not conceived of yet for the genre crowd.

It is had not to see a stronger movie studio presence in coming years with previews of movie trailers, visits by movie directors and writers and ever more stars.

The new construction of a hotel and public square between the MTS Centre and the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre could play a role for incoming guests and break-out sessions and after parties. The timing of Halloween around C4 is an advantage,

Here's to many more years of the Central Canada Comic Con!

Pictures from Winnipeg's Central Canada Comic Con

Central Canada Comic Con Coming this Weekend

The largest convention in Manitoba is coming Halloween weekend of October 28 to October 30 at the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre. This will be the first time that Central Canada Comic Con has been hosted in the newly expanded building. William Shatner  (Captain Kirk) will be the featured guest and on the Friday he will host a 50th Anniversary of Star Trek discussion at 5:30 PM.

The convention had a modest start in 1995 as River City Collector’s Expo. At that time the hotel ballroom event featured antiques, sports cards as well as collectibles. Antiques were dropped and sports cards reduced when they show was re-branded in 2000 and called Manitoba Toy & Comic Expo.

By 2006, the name was changed to Manitoba Comic Con and focused on toys, comic books, gaming, anime, and local artists. In 2007, they started to bring in TV and film genre guests and attendance started to really take off.  The only facility to be able to handle the numbers for the 2008 event was the Winnipeg Convention Centre and each year progressively got bigger and better until 2010 when Wizard World purchased the convention.

For whatever reason Wizard World pulled put and the original organizers had to rush back in and salvage what they could in terms of putting on a show that was re-named Central Canada Comic Con or C4. Fortunately attendance didn't drop for what was the smallest guest list since 2007. By 2011. the guest list of celebrities and artists was massive and the show began to really go on a tear in terms of attendance.

The last two years of the convention have been subject to the near endless construction of the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre. Despite the complications of using a facility being renovated, attendance topped 48,000 in 2016 and the show seems destined for even more success.

In addition to William Shatner, the convention features will Tia Carrere from Relic Hunter and several others. A fair sized number of comic writers and artists are in attendance. The Cosplay artists continue to grow with Yaya Han and Meg Tulley being a few of the several coming.

The 1966 Batmobile and Optimus Prime truck will be in the gallery of genre vehicles.

Wrestling team Demolition will among the guests.

The big attraction is people watching as C4 is the biggest costume event of the year in Winnipeg. The 2016 convention will possibly be the best attended ever so people should plan their days accordingly and look online for schedules of events or people they want to see. It all starts Friday afternoon and runs through till Sunday. There are a number of after parties that attendees can also look into.

Gooch's Closes

Gooch's Bicycle and Hobby Shop first opened in 1927 and for the next 89 years served Winnipeg. Sadly,

This is what is now up on a real estate site. A note in the door and on their website thanks everyone for 89 years in business.

I used to go Gooch's regularly for bike servicing when they were at 185 Sherbrook Street. The expansion of the Cancer Society led them to downsizing 3000 square feet and relocation to the Portage location which had about 6000 square feet in 2010. This had been in its previous incarnation Movie Gallery and another video store for many years.

 It is difficult to say whether this was a mistake or not but I always felt that there was more upside on Sherbrook than at 1046 Portage Avenue. There always seemed to more activity at the old Gooch's location.

In truth, the retailing sector on bikes over the years has expanded and grown more sophisticated. It was probably a challenge competing on price and selection. It does seem sad that has biking has grown ever more popular that the business that led the way won't be around anymore.

Spice Affair: Essence of India Restaurant Coming Soon.

Dhoom Indian restaurant at corner of Donald and York has been there for a while. A keen reader took a picture of the closed restaurant and discovered a sign promoting Spice Affair: Essence of India coming soon.

It is unknown how much construction and remodeling is taking place but there are a few new places to eat in the area. In its earliest incarnation the building housed a Pizza Hut for many years. In the last Dhoom was a sports bar and buffet.

DT Urban Kitchen + Oyster Bar is almost immediately across the street on York Avenue.

The massive expansion of the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre across York Avenue and the large Chipman hotel office and condo/hotel project seems destined to draw far more people downtown. Both projects have taken up massive surface parking lots.

Sadly, Donald Street is one long stretch of parking lots and only a few places are actually street friendly in between. The Jets, Moose, concerts and conventions attract a steady crowd of people and some of the large apartments and offices nearby should provide clientele for the restaurant. However, the wasted space of surface parking lots is more pronounced than in many places.

Spice Affair and a number of other new restaurants, coffee places and bars are adding some life to the streets and hope this continues to be true.

The old Dhoom being converted

It will take some time to fill in all the gaps in such an expansive city such as Winnipeg. It is good the people still want to build restaurants downtown but building a neighbourhood is slow and organic. Too many buildings are bunker-like and decidedly not friendly to the street.

Spice Affair could be a sign of more activity coming down Donald Street and for that, we can all be happy.

Movie Review: The Queen of Katwe

In 2012, Tim Crothers wrote Queen of Katwe about young chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi from the Katwe district of the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Crothers, a former Sports Illustrated writer, managed to capture an inspirational tale of a young African woman in sport that rarely attracts attention. The book was reviewed well and got noticed in Hollywood for its plucky feel good story.

Disney senior creative executive Tendo Nagenda was of Ugandan descent and immediately optioned the book for the studio. He then enlisted the help of Oscar nominated director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay) also of Uganda to sell the studio on the merits of a story. This wasn't as easy as it sounded since the story was primarily set in Africa covering a sport not high on the lists of Americans.

Nair brought in screenwriter William Wheeler (Ray Donovan TV series) to help with the interviews of Phiona, her mother Harriet and chess coach Robert Katende and filmed a short proof of concept that Disney could at.

Disney greenlit the project and in conjunction with sister company ESPN Films, a story and casting began to take place. The part of Phiona Mutesi went to 15 year old Madina Nalwanga found at a community dance class in Uganda. The newcomer was chosen after looking at over 700 girls in the country. The cast was rounded out with Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) cast as Phiona's mother Harriet and David Oyelowo (Selma) as Robert Katende.

A feelgood movie can be cliched and lack nuance but Nair's direction captures the story of Phiona well. The filming in Katwe feels like a character unto itself. It has colour, texture and depths that give you a feel of the hardscrabble life of the poor in Kampala. Some of the scarier aspects of that community described in the book are left out of the movie but the sunny aspects of the vibrancy of the people are mitigated by what they don't have and that finding a place to live and eat is foremost on everyone's mind.

Phiona's father is dead and her mother, sister and two brothers and mother work every day to feed themselves. She looks longingly at the children with school uniforms and know that this life will never be hers. She can't read or write and her future probably will lead on the same path of her older sister who has taken up with an older man.

As it turns out, Phiona's future lies in the unlikely sport of chess taught by Robert Katende in a Christian ministry using sport as a youth outreach. Katende acts as coach while he waits for an engineering job to come up. He knows something about grinding poverty as he was a youth who lost his mother twice. Somehow, he overcame those obstacles and graduated first in his class in university. Still, he waits for his chance at the ministry while living hand to mouth with his wide and child.

Phiona has many obstacles to overcome and throughout the strength of her mother and her coach and to some extent her faith propel her from one championship to another. It is interesting to note that one of her humbling defeats takes place in Russia in a chess match against a Canadian competitor.

In the hands of other filmmakers, it is easy to how this story could have been ruined. A white character might have been made a focal point to better reach audiences, an older actress might have been recruited to play the lead possibly from the west, the Christian faith might have been pushed hard as a motivator or the source of transformation. None of that happened though. Instead a delightful, nuanced and character focused story unfolded that took the audience in and never let it go.

The end titles of the movie cleverly show the actors and the actual people they played and where they are now. Disney magic is often seen in animation but live action is sometimes hit and miss. This particular story shows what can be done with maturity and great talent. One of the finer movies to come out this fall and one deserving a good audience in seeing it.

Winners Coming to Grant Park Shopping Mall

There has been talk about it for some time but a Winners store is indeed opening in the space between McNally Robinson and Red River Co-Op grocery store at the Grant Park Mall. A series of store closures and moves inside the mall and of ones facing out to Grant Avenue are signs of the logistical chess game in preparing the mall for another key anchor.

Modern Taco Company is closed now and Magiccuts has a sign inside the mall indicating where they will be moving to in the future. Once all the spaces out front are vacated, the interior walls will be removed to create the larger space. It is unknown whether this includes an expansion outward to the same line as McNally. Both Shopper Drug Mart and the former Target also pushed out northward to create space in past years.

It seems Grant Park has been under construction for years and in truth, it has been. Only now one of the last corridors is being modernized in the same design as the rest of the mall. Canadian Tire is now open in the spot that Target once occupied. However, they did not take the entire space in July leaving room for Goodlife Fitness to join them on the east side.

Goodlife Fitness will have to do some work on the space as there are literally no windows or entrances out front to the space. Nor is there a trailer out front yet selling memberships. Expect to that and work being done soon.

The addition of Winners will make Grant Park Mall a strange hybrid of big and small stores. Not wholly a big box mall or traditional mall, it keeps evolving and has has big money spent on it to achieve success. Contrast this with what has been happening at Garden City Mall which has seen a steady decline that borders on neglect.

There is no timetable on Winners but the opening seems likely in 2017.

Goldeyes Win Championship!

From Goldeyes Twitter

It has been one heck of a year for the Winnipeg Goldeyes and on Monday night in convincing fashion, they beat Wichita Wingnuts 11-4 in the last of a best of 5 series of the American Association Baseball league. Every time the Goldeyes looked like they were down for the count in the play-offs, they battled back and for only the third time, they bring back a championship.

The previous years the Goldeyes won were 1994 and 2012. Sadly, the final game this year took place in Wichita and while Winnipeg weather was fine for a game, they played under sticky 33 C weather to win it all and despite tickets being $5, there were only a few hundred people in attendance. Imagine the crowds and celebrations in Winnipeg for a hometown win. A number of fans and team front office staff made the trek now south including owner Sam Katz.

It was a team effort for the Goldeyes this year. Pitching and hitting as well as good management in signing players and managing the team roster and game to game line-up. It is never easy to win against the teams that Goldeyes have been rivals with since the 1990s.

Congratulations are in order as this looked like a team in the latter half of the season that would not be denied a long play-off run. It took to the last game but they are the 2016 champions.

IHOP Coming to Seasons of Tuxedo

They've fooled us one a few years ago with a site plan that showed a International House of Pancakes going up but this time it is for real. Seasons of Tuxedo has put up a revised site plan showing IHOP and Dairy Queen as among the first restaurants of many going up in the parking lot.

Construction continues all over the site which will be dominated by factory outlet mall Outlet Collections of Winnipeg. It opens next year. The Garden Hill Hilton Hotel is well under way as is the Porsche and Audi dealerships. On the west side of the mall multi-residential unit should be ready to go in the new year.

IHOP has never had a location in Winnipeg and given Winnipeg's love of pancakes, it should do well. The Original Pancake House that opened by the VIP Odeon Theatre has been very busy. The IHOP down the street is likely to see as much or more traffic.

Expect to see a flurry of restaurant announcements in the weeks ahead.

Winnipeg Goldeyes Beat Saint Paul Saints and Advance to Championship

It took till the final game in the best of five series for the Winnipeg Goldeyes to defeat the Saint Paul Saints 3-1. The divisional series was never a sure thing and at one point the team had to fight the odds on enemy territory to come from behind and win 3 games to 2.

A small contingent of Goldeyes fans made the trip down to watch their team win in the Twin Cities. the final game was a mix off defensive and offensive success. Goldeyes pitching was solid and when needed, the team ripped hits out of the ballpark.

The 2016 Goldeyes don't get much rest. They are back it for the American Association Championship Series against Wichita Wingnuts on Wednesday and Thursday in the best of five series. A forecast of rain may affect that schedule in much the same way as the series with Saint Paul was affected. The series heads back to Wichita Saturday and through till Monday if needed.

The team has had an outstanding year and once again get to prove it in a championship series.

The Prep Montessori School Coming to Charleswood

The large space in the middle of 3500 Roblin's shopping complex in Old Charleswood has sat empty for some time save for a few elections where it served as temporary quarters for voters registration. Prior to that, the space was last held by U-Weight Loss and before that another weight related business.

Signage has gone up indicating that The Prep Montessori School will be taking over the whole space. They will occupy 3554 feet of space and create a large daycare within. The street already has several daycares nearby so this is a critical mass for parents in the neighbourhood.

The mall becomes fully leased with this move and now there is very little if no space for retail in the area. The second floor of the Charleswood Medical is now the largest space in the area waiting a tenant.

Shopping Malls are finding they need to be more clever in filling space and a daycare in the middle of this complex is likely to be seen as a smart move.

Goldeyes Make the Play-offs

The unrelenting rains on Sunday pushed the Goldeyes/Redhawks game to Sunday and a double header was scheduled on Labour Day. It quickly became known that the Goldeyes needed one more win to clinch a play-off spot ahead of the hard driving Laredo Lemurs.

The first game of the double header was won by 6-1 by the Goldeyes and the result was a jubilant celebration on the field with all the players and managers. It is the 18th time in the 23 year history of the team that they make the play-offs. Only a very strong performance in the latter part of the year got them the spot this year.

On Wednesday, the Goldeyes will face another old rival in the first round of the the play-offs. The Saint Paul Saints will arrive for a best of five series. Shaw Park will host Wednesday and Thursday and CHS Field in Saint Paul will host game three on Saturday and if need be games on Sunday and Monday.

This past weekend also saw the Goldeyes make history with the first play by play called by a woman in radio broadcast. Danielle Doiron did an excellent job and will continue to be a force in the Goldeyes front office.

Goldeyes To Make History Saturday

The Goldeyes complete their final four games in a play-off run against their rival Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. This Saturday though will be one for international history as Danielle Doiron will become the first woman to ever call play by play in a game.

Doiron has been doing great work in her second year as assistant in media relations at the Goldeyes office and is recipient of the Jack Matheson Award from the Manitoba Sports Writers and Sportscasters Association.  The award goes to the top Manitoba-based student currently studying in the sports field.

A recent graduate of Red River College Creative Communications program, Doiron has been handling increased responsibilities on the excellent Goldeyes radio broadcast for away games.

Game time Saturday starts at 6:05 at Shaw Park and Doiron will call the third inning. Goldeyes are in a dogfight for the wildcard spot so should be a great game.

Movie Review: The Light Between Oceans

In 2012, Australian writer M.L. Stedman drew reader in with a story of Tom Sherbourne who returns from the brutality of World War I to take a job as a lighthouse keeper. He is accompanied by his wife Isabel who is the light in her husband's life and wishes to start and raise a family with him on the remote Janus Island. After a number of failed pregnancies and despair at ever having children, a baby washes ashore in a boat. Despite his better judgement, Tom agrees to Isabel's request to raise the little girl as their own. Only a return to the mainland two years later shows that their decision has serious consequences for all.

It easy to see why a studio thought the Stedman material was cinematic and could be a three hanky weeper. Producers brought in Derek Cianfrance to adapt a screenplay as well as direct the movie. Relationships crossing into dark territory is familiar territory for Cianfrance who wrote and directed Blue Valentine.

The casting for the movie brought in the exceptional acting talents of Michael Fassbender (Tom Sherbourne) , Alicia Vikander (Isabel Graysmark) and Rachel Weisz (Hannah Roennfeldt). It was during filming two years ago that Fassbender and Vikander became a couple. The chemistry between the two is obvious.

Fassbender is familiar to Winnipeg people because very on in his now acclaimed career he played Harry Colebourn in the CBC movie A Bear Called Winnie which filmed in Manitoba. Vikander is the new it girl in Hollywood and was seen earlier this summer in Jason Bourne.

The movie is shot on location by Adam Arkepaw in the rarely seen Tasmania. The cinematography is breathtaking in its beauty and loneliness. The other worldliness of the lighthouse and the ocean far from the mainland is a compelling setting for our characters and the blissfulness of their romance is easily felt.

The solitude is also present with the growing number of little crosses representing two failed pregnancies. Vikander as Isabel is exceptional in capturing the emotions of the promise and loss of each child. The arrival of a rowboat washing ashore with a dead man and a new born presents our beleaguered couple with agonizing choices. Fassbender as Tom shows how his dedication to duty of crumbles in the face of his wife's despair at losing the baby to an orphanage just because they followed the rules. Ultimately, they keep the little girl and name her Lucy.

The most unforgiving role in the movie belongs to Rachel Weisz (Hannah), the little girl's real mother. It when Tom and Isabel return to the mainland for a visit and Christening of their child that Tom learns how their Lucy came to be in a rowboat. In the aftermath of World War I, antipathy towards people of German heritage still runs high and in one particularly ugly incident, a man and his newborn are driven into the sea to escape a mob. This leaves the grieving Hannah mourning their loss.

Tom is no longer able to deny the consequences of keeping Lucy once confronted with the truth. He anonymously writes Hannah to assure her little girl is safe and cared for. It has this moment that the movie becomes a love triangle and it is Lucy who is at the center of it. This is where the movie runs into problems.

The writer/director Cianfrance has to show that Hannah was not only a good wife but a good mother before losing both husband and child. The difficulty of this is how to do it with nuance and subtlety. The solution was the insertion of an origin story of Hannah's romance with a German and their marriage and subsequent baby. The segments shown feel like an intrusion rather than imparting information and a long movie gets even longer.

The inevitable conclusion to this tragedy is that Tom's tortured soul eventually results in the truth coming out. The beautiful scenery, talented actors and the very good score of Alexandre Desplat are never able to overcome the fall-off in drama towards the end. There is no villain  except the failure of good intentions. It is difficult to say whether the Stedman book could be adapted without veering away from the source material to create more complex characters and a more sweeping storyline. This is unfortunate because a lighthouse keeper, his wife and a boat washed up shore still sounds like a promising tale.

Brown's Socialhouse Coming to Centrepoint 2017

It has been known for some time that Browns Socialhouse was going to open in Centrepoint opposite. However, week after week would go by and all that can be seen was paper in the windows. Meanwhile the Merchant Kitchen tucked beside the Alt Hotel entrance has been bubbling along.

One wonders if we will ever know why Milestones backed out of a long term lease at the last moment.

The new Brown's Socialhouse will join two others already on the city at Main Street and another at Plessis Road. The restaurant group started in 2004 in Vancouver and has expanded rapidly across the country. The founder Scotty Brown was one of the principals of Vancouver's Cactus Club group. His new enterprise has surpassed his old one and now there are 40 locations.

The casual dining/pub crossover is growing more popular as people want to gather together and move around rather than just be parked at a table. The evolution of flat panel and high definition televisions has changed bars and restaurants. No more picture tube TVs, projection screens of flat panels that are blurry. It is all large HD screens and can be done cheap enough that even the a mom and pop restaurant can now transform to sports bar.

The increasing isolation and a change in television has meant that people are craving certain meeting places and the focal point is the only thing that really isn't worth watching in a recording: sports. The return of the Jets in 2011 coincided with widespread HD channels in that same year. Can't go to the Jets games cause they're sold out? Well, attend any number of bars and restaurants and be part of the excitement.

The bars and restaurants surrounding the the MTS Centre have done well. Moxies, Boston Pizza, Tavern United and others have not just the Winnipeg Jets but the Manitoba Moose and numerous concerts to bring people downtown.

The Jets owners have improved their facility and doubled the sports events with two professional teams calling the arena home. Still, the Chipman family have been instrumental in the plan to expand the entertainment footprint beyond the arena. At first they did this by using the building across the street to bring in special touring events such as Bodies and Titanic. This proved wildly successful.

It is hard to say when the Chipmans decided to embark on a grander scheme for just north of their building but it is likely the event center's popularity made them believe a large project would work. It was thus that Centrepoint was born.

The parkade, hotel, office building, condo and restaurant complex has taken a very long time to complete. It seems that barricades and the like have been around that area of Portage for a few years. In that time though, each section has opened up. The offices and hotel appear to be doing well. The parkade is well used although the neon lights on the side still take a bit to get used to.

The one glaring area giving the whole thing an incomplete look has been the papered over windows on the main level. Brown's Socialhouse says that will change in January of February of 2017. At that time they will build a 225 seat restaurant with a 75 seat patio. This will be double the normal Brown's location and as such, it has been a daunting task to fill the space.

The connectivity of the restaurant and bar scene to venues like the MTS Centre and the RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre is seen as critical to their long time survival.  The proximity to each other is also essential.

Brown's Socialhouse will fill a hole on the north side of Portage and will likely make that corner more lively and pedestrian friendly. More people draws more traffic. There are safety in numbers but no one will stick around for papered over windows. They will for a patio filled with people.

Folkorama 2016 German Pavilion

Still posting pictures from August's Folklorama!

Banh Mi King Coming to 510 Portage Avenue

510 Portage Avenue has had many things operate out of it over the years from the Label store, UPS store, University of Winnipeg offices and for a while now...nothing.

I saw something going up in the window a little while ago and now it is confirmed via Twitter picture from Dave Shorr that a restaurant will be going up.

The sign for Bahn Mi King Vietnamese Eatery indicates they are opening soon.

People in Winnipeg have gotten a taste of bahn mi style food at Chosabi restaurant in the Exchange. It seems a good bet that the University of Winnipeg students and faculty will likely embrace this new entrant opposite the school.

Stella's, Sushi Gen and Long Island Cafe coffee are down the street, Subway is next door. Casa Burrito is a few doors down. This is the making of a solid selection of a restaurant row.

The only thing missing are more patios.