Story and images by Kira Yanko

Saskatchewan's economic boom is enlivening Saskatoon's dining, entertainment and arts scenes. New, small galleries like Red Shift and A.K.A. on 20th Street add spice to the visual arts scene and have even used their space as intimate concert venues. Park Café and Diner is a new take on the classic red-booth diner, with in-house smoked meats and angus burgers, and an incomparable homemade bean and bell pepper veggie burger—vegan options are more prevalent at restaurants like Upstairs, popular as well for comforting cheese and chocolate fondue platters.

Spinning discs in Toon Town.

As a live music aficionado, I remember the sudden transformation in the number of bigger indie bands stopping in town for a show during their Canadian tours. Wolf Parade had just finished their set: a frantic, asymmetrical rock sound from Montreal, and Arcade Fire took the stage. Pushing their microphones aside, the dozen-odd members lined up along the lip of the stage and blasted voices and brass instruments into an awe-struck crowd.

Nightlife options are expanding in the city The Hip calls Paris of the Prairies. Most pubs, bars and restaurants that cater to an evening crowd are concentrated in two sections of the city: downtown and Broadway Avenue, just a fifteen minute stroll over a bridge from one another. As a 20-something woman with a deep love of music, live entertainment and good cheap food, allow me to recommend a few of my favourite spots in "Toon Town'':

Many city's have an alternative or artsy strip, replete with lovers of independent movies, musicians perched on street corners and hipsters with wine-stained lips. In Saskatoon, it's Broadway Avenue. Located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River that scoots along through the centre of the city. Broadway Avenue has a 1950s "Main Street" character with antique street lighting, handsome heritage buildings, the classic Broadway Theatre and the red-bricked Lydia's Pub.

Popular Lydia's, on Broadway.

Lydia's has three floors. The main one has a stage, dance floor and main bar, which certainly makes it the busiest. Tuesday night is Open Stage, where local musicians who signed up a week or two in advance line up their guitar cases in front of the stage, setting the order in which they will play. Usually it's acoustic guitar or keyboard solo acts, but bands sign up as well. Live music at Lydia's varies from alternative-country, to funk, to house techno on Wednesday nights. Expect a cover charge at the door ranging from $3-$5. With the only games room in the vicinity, however, the basement really sets Lydia's apart. Play some pool or set your loonie on the edge of a foosball table and challenge the winner.

If foosball tournaments are a little too fast-paced for you, the Yard and Flagon is the cosiest glass of red wine (or pint of locally brewed Black Cat Ale) in Saskatoon. The mustard-yellow walls that frame lacquered old wooden benches and chairs are gilded with curiosities such as a postcard image of a Greek island port strewn with fishing boats and a wooden coin-operated cigarette machine hanging from the wall. Friendly faces I would normally encounter in university hallways walk to and fro with serving trays in hand, singing along to Aretha Franklin's "Respect.'' The music starts off fairly quiet on the weekend but grows louder with the rising moon. You might see a handful of half-interested patrons watching a Habs game on the big screen television in the corner, but this is no sports bar (for that, I recommend Joe Dog's at the Patricia Hotel on 2nd Avenue downtown). In the summer months, the roof of the Yard is a prime gathering place and the only roof-top deck on Broadway. Across the street lies the Broadway Theatre, often showing independent and foreign films, but also hosting some live theatre performances such as the comedic Prime Time Saskatoon Soaps, our local improve group. Further south, you can see Bud's on Broadway, a blues and rock bar for baby boomers that prefer their beer in bottles.

If the thrill of live music runs through your veins, Amigos Cantina is the venue that brings in popular touring acts, many of which are indie, while retaining the intimacy of a smaller venue. Just off Broadway, Amigos is warm and lively, and it has the best nachos in town, according to the 2008 readers' poll by the respected, free community newspaper Planet S. The popular Mexican food attracts a rush for both lunch and dinner. Spider plants in clay pots hang from the ceiling and a frequently refreshed selection of vibrant local paintings and sculptures dangle precariously on the walls. Amigos' new sound system delivers a roaring weekend of live music. The regulars consist of a slew of local musicians, university students, and everyone else that enjoys a night of loud music with a pint of Bohemian beer. University student Edward Finn, a regular, explains that Amigos "pulls in bands that surprise me. It's always about the music." In the patio behind the restaurant is a painted fresco of a Mexican festival that runs the length of the building. Women with long braided hair and men wearing sombreros and brightly-striped ponchos dance in the middle of the street while playing trumpets and tambourines, hats and a Mexican flag soaring above the celebration. And here you, cerveza in hand, lounging under one of the vibrantly coloured patio umbrellas that line the fiesta-filled street.

Broadway has its charm, but Saskatoon's downtown also offers a range of pubs and bars (not to mention a shorter walk from most of the major downtown hotels). The Spadina Freehouse is a bustling restaurant that entices all ages and tastes with its rustic, but vibrant décor (not to mention their famous clay-oven, thin-crust, gourmet pizzas). The lit-up bar, which travels the full length of the wall, is enlivened with stunning slabs of yellow and green stained glass. Opposite the bar, in warm contrast, the wall is painted autumn orange, with a deep crevice that roams across the space like a root system. It is open, but the rounded booths and dim light of the dining area still offer a comfortable, pleasant atmosphere. Live music is prevalent, though meant more as background to conversation and dining. Wednesday night is a folk or funk theme, Thursday is jazz night, and Saturday there is a deejay near the front window where the picturesque Bessborough Hotel can be seen across the street. The Freehouse faces the river and is a stone's throw away from Samurai, a Japanese restaurant where chefs show off their mastery of chopping and sautéing right there on a grill in the centre of your table.

In keeping with Saskatoon's recent jump in downtown condominium developments and warehouses converted into trendy lofts, FLINT is a hip martini bar with a big city vibe and a newer take on style and design. "What we've been trying to do is support local artists," says owner Mark Gabruch. He describes FLINT as being a place for those wanting to "drink in local culture", along with an impressive selection of meats and cheeses including pates, candied salmon and hot Italian sausage, to tangy Beemster aged gouda, St. Agur creamy blue, and the mustard-seed cheddar named Red Dragon. The urban pace of downtown is captured beautifully in this avant-garde cocktail house, yet a feeling of home resounds in the varied seating areas. In the evening, the bar is lit almost solely by candlelight, and has a projector playing anything from old westerns to new-age Japanese anime cartoons, all on the wall. You become part of this experience while sitting on the long, black booth that faces the projected films. But if you're looking for real privacy, the best seating in the house is the cubby-hole table that separates the front from the back of the long room. It is an indent the size of a closet, with a table large enough for three or four people, the turquoise wallpaper matches a hanging lamp with an ornate, brass cherub dangling from its centre. Here, it feels like you're sitting in an apartment living room in Paris.

"Wednesday is the new Friday," is the slogan for the mid-week live deejay party, playing not only some dance music, but lots of indie bands that you simply do not hear in many bars around the city. Manager Ellen Balsevich has lived in Vancouver and New York City and describes the intimacy of FLINT as lending a big city feel to Saskatoon's nightlife menu. "You sit down at a table and just start talking to people," says Balsevich. Acoustic music on Mondays and poetry readings on Sundays round out the entertainment offerings at FLINT.

Winston's English Pub & Grill is located in the hundred-year-old Hotel Senator, in the central hub of downtown activity. The featured English motif is highlighted by the authentic red British telephone booth near the entrance.

Older scene-sters mix with the young in Toon Town.

The pub is renowned for an incredible selection of beer, touting more than 100 imported ales, stouts, lagers and ciders from around the globe. Examples include the "super premium" French Kronenbourg lager; Alambra pilsner from Granada, Spain; Kingfisher from India; and pale African Castle lager. You'll find specials on beer from various regions almost each day, but the highlight is Import Fridays, in which nearly all imported bottles of beer are on sale. Weekends up the pace at Winston's, for it's a popular spot for university beer nights. These beer nights are fundraisers where participants drink as much as they can over a two- or three-hour period, all for just 10 bucks. It can get a little loud.

Thursdays are UK night, featuring New-Castle-Ale battered fish and chips in addition to the UK bottles of beer. My personal favourite is the dark, creamy, Black Wych stout from the Wychwood Brewery near Witney. As with other beers of the same label, such as the Hobgoblin, the Green Goblin, and Fiddler's Elbow, the names are based on myths and legends from medieval Royal Forests surrounding Wychwood, Oxfordshire.

If you're feeling like tapas, The Barking Fish Tavern is your kind of place. Young professionals and business people make up most of the lunch and happy-hour crowd. The conch lamps shed windmill-like beams of light onto the dark walls, with more focused light on several large pieces of local artwork. The bright bar backlights the shelves of exotically-coloured liqueurs. The menu is unique and certainly worth a gander.

O'Shea's is Saskatoon's old fashioned Irish pub. Dark wooden benches, carved plaques with leprechauns spouting out drinking rhymes, and a large basket of excellent homemade french-fries for around four dollars - that's O'Shea's. There have been some renovations made to the roof-top deck and it is now the largest and likely busiest of the city on a warm summer's night. My eye is always drawn to a detailed mural of a forest featuring leprechauns and mythical beasts (look closely and you may recognize the faces of the leprechauns as the owners of the bar, often one of the same faces that just poured your pint). The bar itself is dense, dark wood that's worn smooth with wear, situated in front of fortress of beer taps and an extra clock set to Irish time.

Saskatoon's vitality is apparent in the restaurants and coffee shops, as well as the night spots. An example of the latter is Museo Coffee in the Mendel Art Gallery. Owner Jimmy Oneschuk is a young, Saskatoon-born entrepreneur who takes pride in the quality of each shot of espresso or artistic rosetta flower poured into a creamy latte. The Saskatoon flavour is spreading, with different atmospheres for different moods, and live music on almost every night of the week. Take it from Arcade Fire: "Sleeping is giving in, so lift those heavy eyelids."

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