Prairie oasis

AYDEN BRINGS A TOUCH OF THE BIG CITY TO SASKATOON

Despite their other charms, Canada’s smaller cities have trailed their larger counterparts in reviving classic cocktails in recent years. So it’s fair to ask how Christopher Cho, a passionate student of that nearly lost art and a son of Ontario, found himself general manager and resident mixologist at Ayden Kitchen & Bar in Saskatoon.

It happened thanks to Cho’s friendship with Ayden co-chefs Dale MacKay and Nathan Guggenheimer. The trio met in Vancouver working at celebrity chef Daniel Boulud’s two restaurants there, which later closed in 2011. Where to take the Michelin-star-worthy know-how next? To a century-old heritage building in MacKay’s hometown, that’s where. “He’s always had a vision of going back home to where he was from. What we focus on is what we’ve learned throughout our travels,” Cho says. “In opening a restaurant of this calibre in Saskatoon, what we try to provide is that big-city feel in a small city.”

Ayden has since won acclaim from locals and visitors alike for its eclectic, locally sourced, made-from-scratch menu, notably the handmade pasta and house-aged steaks. Cho’s special responsibility is to reintroduce solidly made, traditional cocktails to a city where they’ve scarcely been seen since before Prohibition.

In the classic steakhouse style, the bar is a separate zone where customers can relax before a meal, or dine in a relatively casual environment. “You can get off the golf course and come here in your shorts and sit at the bar and enjoy a full-on, three-course meal,” Cho says. Though perhaps not in January.