November 2014
smart biz The door to opportunity in Manitoba Formerly Smart Tab
Tallest Poppy is cozy in its new West Broadway neighbourhood
The former Main Street institution has made an easy transition to the welcoming Westminster Avenue The former Main Street sign rests on the new restaurant's walls. By Brenlee Coates T
he North End will always be home for Talia Syrie. “I love the North End. It’s my heart,” she says, plunked on a curb behind the Sherbrook Inn, the
new home of the Tallest Poppy. “But it’s a hard sell. I think they’re wrong… but it’s nice to
not constantly be fielding questions about safety.” While the Sherbrook Inn isn’t exactly the farthest cry
from the Poppy’s former digs in the Occidental Hotel on Main Street, the biggest difference is the West Broadway neighbourhood, which is bustling with foot traffic destined for its many restaurants. “Te neighbourhood is blowing up,” remarks Syrie, who
had visited the opening of Te Handsome Daughter the night prior. “I can’t really imagine us anywhere else. “It’s a nice middle ground. A lot of people feel comfortable
so then we can just focus on the food.” Anyone who was enthusiastic about the staples at the old
Tallest Poppy can rest easy, because a lot of them are back on the menu at 685 Westminster Ave. Fried chicken and waffles for breakfast and a pickerel po’
boy recall the Southern spin on local eats; and its renowned pulled pork is like the return of a tender lover. Te usual response to the Tallest Poppy’s fare regularly
rides the line between enthusiasm to full-out fanaticism. “Tey’re really knocking me out, honestly, the amount of
love,” says Syrie, of her loyal customers. When the former Poppy closed, “I knew people were sad, but the response has just been… quite humbling. “I’m very reverent about it. I don’t take it lightly.” What’s new
Te most popular new additions to the menu are liquid
– the Tallest Poppy is now licensed, and chef Syrie brought business partner Steven Ackerman into the mix, who has a way with creating considerate cocktails and spurring thoughtful conversation at his bar seats. His inventive ways with some of the usual suspects – and
Chicken and waffles are back. Photo by Steven Ackerman.
more unlikely ingredients, like black pepper syrup – are going to keep a lot of people in their chairs until the 11 p.m. closing time Tuesdays to Saturdays. “A bartender, in a way, you’re making soup in sixty
seconds,” muses Ackerman. “You need everything to be balanced… to work together.” Approaching his craft as if every drink were a dish, he
even sanitarily samples the flavour of each drink from the drippings on a straw before sending it out. Te caesar he serves up at the Tallest Poppy is a prime example of his sensibilities, which combines jalapeno hot
"Restaurant reflects warmth of its staff" page 11 The interior is warm and the staff are warmer at Tallest Poppy.
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