The best three public restaurants in town are Trader's Table, Gypsy's, and the lunch/burger place in Town Centre, in my opinion. It is only my opinion, my palate. Others may disagree.
Churchill Northern Studies Centre A non-smoker's and vegetarian's refuge.
The Churchill Northern Studies Centre offers meals to people staying or working at the Centre--volunteers, scientists based there while doing research, people with package tours that have arranged to have their guests stay at the Centre, people taking one of the Centre's classes--but it is not a commercial restaurant. To my knowledge, a person cannot simply walk in, sit down and grab lunch.
RECIPES FROM THE CHURCHILL REGION. Classic recipes of Northern Cuisine.
GYPSY'S: A meal at Gypsy's costs apx. $10-12 CDN. Food is ordered and paid for at the front counter and carried to a table. The establishment offers an excellent selection of decadent pastries, dominated by chocolate. It is a clean and pleasant place, nice and informal. It is a popular hangout for the locals as well as for visitors.
Gypsy's make an absolutely wonderful roast beef and gravy sandwich, served with fries. Non-Canadians should probably ask that no gravy be put on their fries. Beef gravy over french fries is a Canadian practice that I truly don't understand. I am pretty certain that Gypsy's is not licensed to sell beer and wine. If you are staying in town, not at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Gypsy's is a good, basic restaurant to take most of your meals.
TRADER'S TABLE: This is the most upscale restaurant in town, although not necessarily the friendliest. The food is the best of all three restaurants.
I went twice in November of 1994 as part of of an Adventure Canada package tour group. At that time, I really enjoyed my meals. When I dined there alone one early evening last July, I asked (very politely) if the restaurant had a no-smoking section, and got a whole lot of attitude from my waitress.
Decor in the main dining room, however, projects an ambiance of frontier Canadiana. However, the rough-hewn wood beams, animal trophy heads (this is NOT a place for animal rights activists!), pelts hanging from walls, is leavened by polished brass chandeliers, delicate wood chairs, white tablecloths and nice dinnerware.
The entrees are either beef or Arctic char, apx $17 per meal, excluding drinks.
Char, a classic arctic fish of the Salmonid family, is prepared in a variety of ways at Trader's Table, always with a cream-based sauce over it. (I would have preferred mine barbecued over charcoal with a squeeze of lemon, or better yet raw, as sashimi. Certainly in summer, when char is available absolutely fresh-caught, a more light-handed approach would enhance this delicately-flavored fish. Or maybe I am just being a snotty Californian. (Not outside the realm of possibility!)
The char chowder at Trader's Table, at approximately $3.50/bowl, is to die for! If you order nothing else, at least go there to try the char chowder. It is buttery and delicious, with chunks of the salmon-colored char floating around in it, thick but not too thick--probably very fattening, but hey, you're on vacation!. The restaurant also serves beer, wine and hard liquor mixed drinks.
TOWN CENTRE: I don't know what the restaurant here is called, but the facility is located on the second floor of Town Centre, the same floor that has the giant polar bear slide for children. It offers food comparable to McDonalds and Burger King. It's not bad and makes for another pretty good alternative. Plan on spending $10-$12 for a meal.
The ambience in this local hangout is very casual. Unless they have changed the decor since November 1994, its focal point is a giant stuffed polar bear that many tourists like to stand in front of and have their pictures taken.
Manford, the adorable guy who takes people out on the river by zodiac during the summertime whale season only does that on his vacation. His real job is managing Town Centre the rest of the year.
I wish I could remember the name of what I still think of as "the restaurant from Hell." Probably best I don't. My tour group went there one evening in November, 1994. We were given a choice of salisbury steak or stuffed fish--some smallish local species that is not char. Maybe some people don't mind fish served with the head and tail left on. I do. The poor dead thing's cooked eye was milky-white and staring at me. I had to put my butter's little paper serving cup over the eye before I could eat the damn thing. The skin was still on it, too, and had turned black from the cooking. Celery dominated the stuffing. Probably no beer wine or booze was sold there because I'm sure I would have gotten soused in order to help dinner go down more easily. I wish I had ordered the salisbury steak instead.
If I were you, and I'm sitting in some Churchill restaurant not mentioned here by name, I'd ask some very pointed questions about preparation and presentation before ordering any fish that is not char. They can't do that to char, because it's a large fish similar to salmon.
Vegans should probably forget about visiting Churchill unless they are either willing to compromise their eating principles for the duration or can tolerate an endless diet of peanut butter sandwiches. There aren't any good options for strict vegans. Any vegetarian meals you find will likely have eggs and/or cheese in them. About the best place for a non-vegan vegetarian to to eat, is the Churchill Northern Studies Centre I think you have to stay there in order to enjoy dining room privileges, however. That's ok, too (at least by me, because it's a no-smoking facility. Probably the only one in town. People up there smoke like chimneys!
Barbara the Centre's cook specializes in classic, hearty, northern-climate cuisine. She and Joan (her sometimes substitute who cooks on Barbara's days off) prepare a variety of side dishes and at least one meat-free (although not vegan) choice per meal. Meals are served family-style. Don't expect to be waited on.
The CNSC, although not at all a commercial establishment, offers room and board to individuals, tour groups and visiting scientists at rates comparable to those of the local hotels/restaurants. If you require a smoke-free, vegetarian accommodation, the CNSC is the ONLY way to go, and you need to contact them in advance.
The Centre also offers free room and board to unpaid volunteers--people willing to work four hours a day at various tasks. Volunteers need to be flexible about what they do, although no one will ask you to attempt something beyond your abilities. More on volunteering in The Churchill Northern Studies Centre experience.
Go toIn town, Churchill
Updated 3/20/97
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