“The soul of Jerry’s wasn’t touchable,” says Jerry Kristian, owner of Jerry’s Food Emporium about the huge $375,000+ makeover of the Saskatoon landmark.. “The place is a reflection of my personality – eclectic and quirky – and we wanted to keep that.” To ensure that Jerry’s stayed true to its founder’s dream, Jerry and his business partner and wife Elyse Cullen spent countless hours seeking out the right people to take their popular eatery into the next decade.
After liaising with roughly eight to ten design firms across the country, the couple, who are also lovers of the Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover, eventually approached Toronto designer Meredith Heron to take on the massive project. In addition to transforming the look and feel, Jerry and Elyse also wanted to make dramatic changes to their menu. They had already established a solid reputation for their outstanding ice cream and gelato, now their goal was to do the same with their diner-style breakfasts, lunches and suppers. “We wanted jaw dropping baked goods,” says Jerry. “It was important that we keep the same quality with the new pastries as with the ice cream.”
A consultant and top-notch baker was sought out to create signature breads and baked goods. The person they found was Montrealer Mario Fortin, coach of the Canadian National Bakery Team at the 2004 and 2007 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie (Bakery World Cup) in Paris. In 2008, Mario was also the first ever Canadian invited to judge the Coupe du Monde. What Mario doesn’t know about bread, isn’t worth knowing. And he’s hugely passionate and very proud of what he does. “In Paris everyone knows their baker. They buy bread three times a day. The baker is the second most respected profession in France after the fireman,” he says.
While Meredith captured the couple’s personality, and created an outstanding space with cozy fireplace, whimsical design accents, and an airy yet comfortable feel, it’s Mario’s bread creations and help with the menu that will go along way to creating a whole new clientele for Jerry’s.
Chef Mario, whose company Forma-Lab travels around the world helping businesses set up professional, cost efficient and well run bakeries, flew in to create 20 different made-from-scratch preservative-free recipes – six breads, five muffins, four scones, a cinnamon brioche, an energy bar, and three different cookies. All the sandwiches at Jerry’s are now served on the new breads that Mario created. The ciabatta can be found on the Moroccan Chicken Sandwich (a definite A+ sandwich) and the Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwich (Maybe even an A++ sandwich!). Focaccia is used for various personal size pizzas (although Mario would argue they’re not pizzas, they’re focaccias!). The muffins are a normal size from the 100g rectangular mini-loaf Spelt-Raisin Bran muffin to the 120g Blueberry-Oat Bran muffin. These are terrific baked items – moist and tender and not sweet or greasy. You’ll also find a super gooey Cinnamon Brioche, Raspberry-White Chocolate Scones, and seedy Energy Bars. One of the cleverest creations is the “J-Stick” which is a quirky edible garnish found on various dishing including the salads and soup. Mario created this hook shaped bread to resemble the “J” in Jerry’s from degassed ciabatta dough.
Chef Mario also worked with Jerry and Elyse to create systems to help the kitchen manage the dramatic increase in product and serve customers bread and baked goods that could be baked fresh daily, often several times daily. He worked with them to purchase specific equipment for each type of bread and baked good. “It’s easy to make excellent product, but it’s difficult to make excellent product again and again.” Mario’s favorite piece of equipment is the scale to correctly measure all ingredients. “Scaling and baking must be right every time.”
Jerry also put his touch on the new look with a new hot drink item called the Gelatté, which is a latté with a hit of steamed gelato and milk. I drove back to Regina sipping on Jerry’s Gelatté made with espresso and a mixture of Chocolate, and Hazelnut gelato. Of course, Jerry recommends you charge up your latté with any flavour combination you desire of his homemade gelato. They’re delicious and not overly sweet.
Drop in a check out the new place. While you’re eating be sure to browse the photo wall, the custom-made wallpaper made from family photos and court documents and newspaper articles from the lawsuit Jerry’s endured with A&W. And bring the kids so they can play in the kiddy playroom. And don’t just have an ice cream. Drop in for lunch or coffee and indulge in some great baking.
Jerry’s Food Emporium
1115 Grosvenor (off 8th Street)
Saskatoon, SK