THIRD LOCATION THE CHARM
More growth for Browns Socialhouse
One year ago I announced the opening of a second Browns Socialhouse location by the Calgary franchise owners, TMAC Restaurant Group, at Mount Royal Village.
Next Tuesday, they’ll open their third, a 3,900-square-foot Browns Socialhouse on the west side of the Marlborough Mall parking lot.
They are excited about the location that’s nestled between a M&M Food Market and a new home of The Old Spaghetti Factory. Their first two locations, at Mount Royal and on Elbow Drive S.W., continue to do remarkably well, and the third will no doubt be welcomed in the northeast.
Some 40 to 45 new hires are now being trained to serve patrons in the 143-seat restaurant that also has patio space for an additional 24 guests. The basic design was drawn up in the Vancouver office of Browns. A number of tweaks by the Calgary group include a new concept that places a hostess station toward the back of the restaurant, separating the dining area from the kitchen.
On the right-hand side of the room is a square bar with seating for 19. A majority of the dozen beers available on tap are local, like Wild Rose and Village, but the most popular could be the Brown Social Lager that’s brewed especially for the chain by Vancouver’s Granville Island Brewing Company. The pub area begins just inside the double doors, with a Social Table for 10 and a large chalk board to display that day’s on-tap beers. Two more community tables are in an area behind the bar, where a massive TV wall allows for nine different screens or any combination of them, all controlled from an iPad.
The kitchen has 20 staff under the direction of chef Ganesh Doiphode who moved over from Mount Royal Village location. He’ll serve the Browns food program of Asian and Western dishes, including my favourite, Dragon Boat. General manager A. J. Staysko worked his way up from a bartender’s job and Emilie Fortin will oversee operations for a while as the regional manager for TMAC Restaurant Group.
The partners have built a great reputation in this city under the TMAC Pub Group, which owns a family of unique pubs, including Point & Feather; Kilt & Caber Ale House; Berwick Public House; Kings Head, Tommyfield Gastro Pub; Bank & Baron; and The Black Bull Pub. In early December, they’ll open an eighth — the 4,200-square-foot, 140-seat Blackbird Pub in Auburn Bay Station S.E. Designed by McKinley Burkart Architecture & Interior Design, it will feature a Nano Wall system of windows that fold out onto the 20-seat patio.
The partnership group of Chad and Gord McCormick, Chad Taylor and Adam MacGregor will offer 24 beers on tap from five bartenders at this location. Chef Troy Raugust will direct the kitchen staff, while Christopher Atto, the general manager at Berwick for the past five years, will manage Blackbird and its staff of more than 40 young people.
NEWS AND NOTES
It was 18 years ago that my Postmedia colleague Bill Brooks launched the Bill Brooks Benefit for Prostate Cancer in memory of his uncle who passed away from the disease. Each event has been a fabulous, well-attended party that has raised almost $8 million for the Calgary Prostate Cancer Centre. Mark your calendars for The Billy Horror Picture Show 2017, to be held Jan. 27 at Hotel Arts. This will be Bill’s last hurrah as he says all good things must come to an end. It’s with a heavy heart that he has decided this will be the grand finale.