Our friends at Yellowhead Brewing in Edmonton called me yesterday with a bit of news. On Saturday July30 they are launching a weekly restaurant/pub service. Every Saturday from 11 to 5 they will open their impressive special events room to the general public as an all-purpose restaurant/pub. (Actually they soft-launched it a couple of weeks ago, but this Saturday is the official opening.)

They have installed a full kitchen and the menu is beer inspired. It will be more than your usual pub offerings – no deep fried anythings. Instead they will offer ribs braised in Yellowhead Lager, and gourmet Reuben Sandwiches. The chef has used Yellowhead as an ingredient as much as possible – beer reductions, beer mustard, that kind of thing.

And of course, Yellowhead Lager will be on tap. At the moment that will be the only beer on offer, but fair enough. Maybe it will spark them to brew up a second beer – even if it is just for the weekly pub. Or maybe when they are feeling more secure they could offer a rotating guest tap to one of the other Edmonton breweries (it would probably create tons of good will).

They also have a website up and running (finally). It is still a bit rudimentary, but it has all you need, including where to find their beer. It is here.

I find their idea of a once-a-week restaurant fascinating. On one level it works – Saturdays are market days on 104 Street, so they have a nice built-in crowd that should be easy to entice for a cold beer and some lunch (if it ever stops raining). However, I hope 6-hours a week is enough to make the additional investment – kitchen, chef, waiting staff – worth it. I also kind of like the hours – clearly a lunch/early supper thing, which means no boneheads drinking till they fall down and the focus will clearly be on beer AND food – which allows for some education about food pairing.

I will try to pop by myself sometime in the next couple of weeks to try it out. If anyone beats me there, be sure to tell us all about it.