What's new on the food scene in Waterloo region: Andrew Coppolino

The flux and change in the local restaurant industry continues — old favourites close and new businesses take their place. 

When downtown Kitchener's long-standing Jamaican restaurant Rainbow Caribbean Cuisine closed last August, a small GTA chain, Oh Bombay, laid claim to the space and is set to open soon.

With the evolving demographics and immigration in Waterloo region, a bevy of popular Indian dishes like butter chicken can now be found on King Street in Kitchener's core via several Indian restaurants.

Sticking with the popular and varied cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, Waterloo's long-standing anchor Masala Bay has changed ownership. Previous owners Ritesh and Jenny Bhargava have retired but the Masala Bay name continues at the corner of Erb and Regina streets under new owner and executive chef George Gomes.

Across from Masala Bay, Bodega Rose recently opened — and seems to have caught the attention of Waterloo restaurant patrons. Part of an ownership group that includes other food operations in uptown Waterloo, Bodega Rose offers a café and a dinner menu that includes Korean fried chicken, grilled halloumi, falafel and spicy rigatoni.

Making use of retail space in housing developments

The current urban housing development trend is for condo towers to sit on a podium of retail shops, including food businesses.

Next door to relatively new The Humble Lotus grab-and-go sushi, on the ground floor of the tower at 388 King St. E. near Cedar Street in Kitchener, Churrasqueira Madeira Barbecue and Grill is preparing to open.

Dealing with construction hold-ups hasn't prevented husband-and-wife team Marco Serrao and Liseta Abreu from estimating that the small barbecue take-away will open in a few weeks. Food with include Portuguese-style barbecued chicken, steaks and cod fish, among other dishes.

In Brazilian and Portuguese cuisine, a churrasco traditionally cooks up lots of meat (like the Brazilian Rodizio that was formerly in downtown): to balance that, Kitchener's west end has just added a unique vegan business, Coven, directly across from the defunct bus terminal on Charles Street.

An addition to their flagship Hamilton store, Coven is a shop for "all things vegan," according to Kitchener manager Alex Robson.

"Coven in a nutshell is a vegan specialty store. Everything is plant-based, and we specialize in products you can't find elsewhere," she says, noting that they seek out local product collaborations.

A couple of blocks away, the popular My Big Fat Pita has been dark for a few months now — and Big D's Hot Chicken is building out to open up in the location later in April. While it capitalizes on the cayenne-hunger people have for Nashville-style hot chicken sandwiches, it also features Halal meat and sandwiches with tangy tikka flavouring.

Long-time chef and caterer, Chef D, has landed in the former Stoyles Food Market building in Cambridge, east of the Grand River in Galt.

Chef-owner Darryl Fletcher has named the venue 184 Main and says the new location has him concentrating his efforts but keeping the door open for future flexibility; hence, the generic name.

"Right now, we're going to be doing take-out and have a small bakery with different loaves Wednesday to Saturday. As well, there will be donuts, croissants, cinnamon buns and butter tarts. Of course, there is also take-out meals but already prepared for you. I've seen a need for that through Covid," says Fletcher, who will also focus on catering events.

I will be honest and say that I have never thought of Skittles as a midnight snack, but clearly I am mistaken. In the centre of uptown Waterloo, Zero Waste Bulk has closed its doors permanently making way for a rather sweet niche business: candy. Midnight Snack, at 110 King St. S., can supply you with Nerds, freeze-dried gummy sharks, nori seaweed-flavoured Lay's potato chips and other unique treats.

Milagrosa Food has quietly been part of the shared kitchen space at Wooden Boat. A one-chef operation, Diana Garcia, who came to the region from Mexico last June, prepares what she calls authentic Mexican dishes such as posole, home-made tortillas and chicken mixiote with nopales in banana leaf.

A small start-up, with occasional Friday pop-up meal service, Milagrosa Food, according to Garcia, is a work in progress.

"I want to develop this food company," she says. "I want this business to grow."  

This is, of course, not a comprehensive list given column space: If you know of other openings and closures of food operations across the region, I'm interested in hearing from you.