Dishing out diversity Garden City, West Kildonan home to cuisine with fusion of creativity and culture By: Alison Gillmor Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 Last Modified: 11:51 AM CDT Tuesday, Sep. 8, 2020 Updates

King’s Head owner sues law firm over amalgamation fallout

The owner of downtown Winnipeg staple King’s Head is suing a local law firm, claiming poor legal advice resulted in him taking on undue risk and may have cost him the potential sale of his pub last year.

According to a lawsuit filed earlier this month, King’s Head owner Chris Graves sought the services of Paolo Aquila, a lawyer with Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, after Graves closed his short-lived seafood restaurant Friskee Pearl at 191 Main St. in October 2023.

According to the documents, Graves had signed a 10-year lease agreement for the building, formerly an Earl’s restaurant, before opening his eatery through the Friskee Pearl Ltd. corporation, separate from the King’s Head corporation. The lease required Friskee Pearl be liable for unpaid rent or other financial obligations, even if the lease was transferred. After Friskee Pearl closed, the lease was transferred to Boujee Restaurant and Bar in March 2024, and Friskee Pearl remained liable.

In June 2024, Graves amalgamated the King’s Head and Friskee Pearl corporations; Aquila oversaw the amalgamation, and Graves regularly sought his advice, the lawsuit says.

Wheeler keeps things on level as Jets open camp with optimism, few distractions

Perhaps Blake Wheeler was getting a little tired of the hype building around the Winnipeg Jets, or maybe he just wanted to make sure the collective heads in the locker room didn't swell too big. Either way, Wheeler, the Jets captain and most influential voice, was quick to dismiss a reporter's question he clearly viewed as hyperbolic.

With the moves made over the summer, including a pair of trades to shore up the defence and some contract extensions up front to keep consistency with the forwards — all of which complement the top-end goaltending they have with Connor Hellebuyck — Wheeler was asked if this was the best team, on paper, that's he's seen in his 11 years with the Jets?

Wheeler, as he sometimes does, offered up a bit of a reality check, mixed in with some of his signature sass.

"Let's play some games," he quipped, noting it had just been one on-ice session with the team, "because 'on paper' means s---."

Province urges federal government to continue vital health-care funding

Manitoba wants the federal government to renew an annual $150-million health-care agreement that, for the last three years, has helped the province go “further, faster” to staff up the front lines.

“The loss of these agreements would mean that we’re losing predictable targeted federal contributions that have helped us stabilize staffing and strengthen health care — not just health care in our hospitals, but community-based care as well,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Friday.

The program, dubbed “Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians,” was announced in February 2023; the federal government has earmarked close to $150 million a year in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26. Tuesday’s federal budget made no mention of renewing those funding agreements.

“I think there was an opportunity missed today to signal that the bilateral funding agreements for your health care are going to continue,” Premier Wab Kinew noted in his response to the budget on Tuesday. One of the deals Manitoba signed is set to expire at the end of March.

Students join striking U of M profs in show of solidarity

STUDENTS say they are willing to make sacrifices as they stand in solidarity with striking faculty members at the University of Manitoba.

Many of them joined picketing professors and staff members at a rally at the U of M administration building Thursday despite being caught in the crossfire in the protracted dispute.

“Students are by far and away the ones most affected. We are the collateral damage,” said University of Manitoba Student Union president Brendan Scott.

Scott described the situation at the university as dire, as the longest strike in its history drags on.

Security guard in stable condition after grocery store assault

A security guard was taken to hospital after an assault at a Sargent Avenue FreshCo Friday, just days after another guard was stabbed during a robbery at a St. James Dollarama.

Winnipeg police said officers were called to a store in the 600 block of Sargent Avenue shortly after 1 p.m. for a report of an assault.

An 24-year-old male victim was taken to hospital in critical condition, later upgraded to stable. Charges against a 23-year-old man were announced Sunday. The suspect had tried to leave the grocery store without paying for merchandise before a confrontation broke out and he pulled out a knife outside of the store, the Winnipeg Police Service stated in a news release Sunday.

Peter Edwin Morrison Black, 23, has been charged with robbery, assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon. He was detained in custody. He was arrested Aug. 29, the day after the stabbing, in the area of Ellice Avenue and Sherbrook Street.

Garden City, West Kildonan home to cuisine with fusion of creativity, culture

This week we head to West Kildonan and Garden City, neighbourhoods full of quiet residential streets, lots of small businesses and layers of Winnipeg history. This area has been shaped by waves of immigration, and that makes for a richly diverse restaurant scene.

THE BIG BREAKFAST:Pares Bistro (675 Jefferson Ave., 204-334-0793) is a modest, family-run resto focusing on Filipino favourites, including breakfast dishes — served all day — that will really set you up.

The longsilog, which features two sweet longganisa sausages, two eggs cooked your way, and a huge — I mean, huge! — mound of garlicky, sticky fried rice, is a tasty bargain at $6.99. Other breakfast options swap in pork chops, chicken legs or crispy fried fish.