DINE WRITE
RYAN LACHAINE GOES TO HIS ROOTS Riel ' s Multicultural Menu Shines
By Janice Schindeler | Photography by Sarah Miller
9.16.2017 3:16pm
Hangar Steak
THOUGH HE HAS BEEN AROUND TOWN FOR A DECADE OR SO , COOKING AT GRAVITAS , REEF AND UNDERBELLY , RYAN LACHAINE REACHED BACK TO HIS CANADIAN ROOTS ( AND HISTORY BOOKS ) WHEN CHOOSING A NAME FOR HIS 10-MONTH-OLD RESTAURANT .
He settled on Riel , after a 19th-century Canadian politician , Louis David Riel , who , according to wikipedia , is increasingly celebrated as a proponent of multiculturalism and considered the founder of the province of Manitoba and leader of the Metis or people of the prairie , whose cultural roots are the results of the merging of Aboriginal inhabitants and fur-trading European rascals .
Reading the menu , one sees the influences and blending of the cultures and food traditions that Lachaine loves : his Ukrainian heritage , his windy home province of Manitoba and his adopted Space City .
Take the cheddar and potato pierogi that accompanies Riel ’ s best-selling menu item , the juicy , moist hangar steak . “ I ate these my whole life . I like to eat them all the time . For the menu I just finessed them up a bit ,”
18 LOCAL | 10 . 2017