Homeside pub opens with meat-free twist
Owners want to expand plant-based offerings you can find at watering holes
Customers of Jordan’s Homeside Pub can expect some of the regular pub fare, but with a nomeat twist.
The new Main Street East bar and restaurant, between Kenilworth Avenue and the Queenston traffic circle, is entirely vegetable based. That is, all the typical meat dishes they serve — which is most of the menu — are meat free. Co-owner Sonya Bessette says, as a vegan, she was sick of going out and finding only fried potatoes and perhaps a few other items on the menu.
But her pub, serving dishes like plant-based “Impossible Burgers” and Reuben sandwiches, is not just catered to vegans.
Bessette and her husband, Greg, are looking for input from regulars and future regulars. They plan to not fully stock the drinks to wait and see what folks want.
She wants Jordan’s, which opened in October and is named after the Homeside neighbourhood, to be primarily a neighbourhood bar.
The 1521 Main St. E. pub had no phone and minimal online presence, but don’t think that the lack of promotion and drink selection is reflective of inexperience.
Area hospitality industry insiders will recognize the Bessette’s names as the folks that installed and clean the draft beer tap lines at many area businesses.
In fact, Jordan’s is a time capsule of other Hamilton-area establishments, as it is built with components of shuttered bars and restaurants. For example, the pub’s bar was the back bar from Slainte Irish Pub, and the tin ceiling is from the closed down basement bar at the former Ye Olde Squire in Westdale.
Also, if you plan to bring the kids, high chairs are available, courtesy of Cat ‘N’ Fiddle.