Hotel Food: Home Cooking, Steak Pits and Wing Nights

Fine dining at the Maple Leaf Hotel, Maple Creek, 1914. Glenbow Archives, NA-3811-75

The hotel dining room was always a busy place in the early 1900s. Meals were served to boarders, traveling guests, local farmers and railway workers. For many years, trains stopped in small towns every day and meals were served to the crews. Annual Christmas dinners served in hotels were real banquets. Dining rooms were decorated with bunting, miniature flags and evergreens, and lighted with gas lamps and Chinese lanterns. The guests sat down to a lavish menu, the likes of which few had ever seen.  

Cecil Hotel dining room, Colgate, c. 1910. From Prairie Gold (1980)

Hotel cooks came from a variety of backgrounds. Chinese cooks were the mainstay of many hotel restaurants in the early days. The Silver Plate Hotel at Govan boasted of “an English chef who has few peers” in a 1908 edition of the Prairie News. The Hitt brothers, owners of the Griffin Hotel, brought their staff with them from the United States. “The Negro cook [Chloe] prepared the best food I have eaten anywhere,” one customer recalls in the Griffin local history book.  “[The owners] provided her with the ingredients for southern items such as beaten biscuits, yams and fried chicken.” Chloe married a “coloured” porter from Regina. When the Hitts sold the Griffin Hotel and returned to the States, she and her new husband went with them. 

Other hotel cooks were more “home grown.”  In 1923, Mrs. Mari Lewis was hired by the Vanstone family to operate the hotel dining room at Central Butte. Mrs. Lewis had spent three summers on cook cars preparing meals for threshing crews. She brought produce from the Lewis farm to help out with meals. “The turkeys came in very handy for the banquet we served to about 50 war veterans,” Mrs. Lewis’ daughter, Gertrude Lokier, recalled for the town history book. During the 1940s, on a typically busy morning at the Mont Nebo Hotel, Annette Taylor was up at 4 a.m.  She baked 25 pies – eight lemon, eight raisin and nine apple. After serving breakfast she headed for the town butcher shop, where for a dollar she bought a good sized beef roast. “By nine a.m. the roast was in the oven,” Donna Kolchuck writes in the Mont Nebo history. “At noon the aroma of roast beef, gravy and mashed potatoes was prevalent.” Mrs. Buhler, cook at the Fairlight Hotel, was a favorite with the commercial travelers who stayed at the hotel. They called her “Ma” for they knew “that regardless of what time they arrived, Ma would get them something to eat.” 

Steak pit, Whitewood Hotel, 2006.  Joan Champ photo

Today, small-town Saskatchewan hotels offer everything from bar food (chicken wings, nachos, dried ribs) to fully licensed family dining with great food. The steak pits that were added to many hotel dining rooms in the 1970s can still be found around the province today. At the Jansen Hotel & Steak Pit, for example, customers can cook their own steaks on the natural gas grill in the 22-seat steak pit area off the beverage room. 

One of the best kept secrets in Saskatchewan has to be the White Bear Hotel. People travel from miles around to the town of 13 for the extensive menu and unique décor. In the summer, visitors check out the flower gardens and fruit orchard where the White Bear Hotel grows its own pears and crabapples. In 2007, a visitor to the hotel wrote the following on his blog: “A big part of the reason we make the trip to the White Bear Hotel is the warm hospitality and good food at a reasonable cost. The couple [Wayne and Patricia Spence] who own and have run the hotel and restaurant for 29 years take pride in what they do and genuinely enjoy visiting with their patrons. What gets me is you would never expect to find good food like that in such an out of the way place. It seems to me this is why people travel to White Bear and patiently wait for 2 hours plus for their food. It is so charming and unexpected – one of those little surprises that make life interesting.”  At the time of writing this post, the White Bear Hotel was for sale.

White Bear Hotel, 2009. Photo courtesy of Ruth Bitner

© Joan Champ, 2011

View Larger Map

Hotel Signs

My photos, taken on road trips throughout the province over the years.

Wynyard

Gull Lake

Fox Valley

Weyburn

Guernsey

Alvena

© Joan Champ, 2011

Chinese Hotel Owners: "Friends to All"

Chinese immigrants in Canada, c. 1900. Image source

“George Brennan built the first hotel and managed it until Prohibition came. When he could no longer get a license for the bar, he sold it to some Chinamen.” This line from Pennant’s history book describes a typical scenario. When Saskatchewan’s hotels hit hard times, the province’s small Chinese community stepped in to pick up the pieces, keeping those hotels in business. Many Saskatchewan hotels were owned and operated by Chinese throughout the Prohibition years of the teens and 1920s, and into the Depression of the 1930s. In his address to the annual convention of the Hotel Association of Saskatchewan in 1952, George G. Grant stated that, back in the early1930s, “the condition of hotels was desperate, and half the hotels were operated by Orientals.” (Saskatoon StarPhoenix, May 20, 1952, p. 3)

The “Chinamen” who bought the Pennant Hotel from George Brennan in 1916 were “Yock Yee, Yee On, Yee Kong, and Young Yenchew, better known to all as George, Doo Lu, Louie and Charlie.” Like many Chinese enterprises in small-town Saskatchewan, the Pennant Hotel was not, strictly speaking, a family business. Rather, it was run by several men – relatives or friends – who worked as partners. This was necessary because, from 1885 until well into the 20^th century, restrictive immigration laws prevented Chinese from bringing their wives and children to Canada. As a result, the Chinese Canadian community became a “bachelor society.” 

Chinese immigrants began arriving in what is now Saskatchewan in the late 1880s after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Fleeing from mob violence in British Columbia, they tended to disperse into the new railroad towns of the prairies. In his book, Sweet and Sour; Life in Chinese Family Restaurants (2010), John Jung explains that, upon arriving in a community, Chinese had to find or develop forms of self-employment as a means of economic survival. Other forms of work such as railway construction were denied to them. “Lacking English language skills, having little money, and little experience,” Jung writes, “one of the few opportunities was in domestic work, typically considered ‘women’s work’. Thus, they started their own small businesses such as laundries, grocery stores, and restaurants often in areas where there were few other Chinese.” Some became cooks in small-town hotels where they learned the business. 

Chow Chow on right, with Robin Chow, n.d.

                       From A Link to Our Heritage: Lacadena and District (1989)

Chow Chow came to Lacadena in 1925 and built a hotel with eight guest rooms upstairs, and a very good café on the main floor.  According to Lacadena’s local history book, Chow was a generous, good-hearted businessman. “At Christmas time he always had a gift of chocolates or Christmas cake for every family,” the book recounts. “He provided service twenty-four hours a day if food was needed.”  Other members of the hotel staff were Wing Chow and a nephew, Ernie Chow, who attended school in Lacadena for a year or two. In 1947, Chow Chow's life changed when the Canadian government repealed the Chinese Immigration Act. His wife, son and two daughters were finally able to come from China to join him. He left Lacadena and moved to Vancouver where his wife helped him in a confectionery-café until he passed away from leukemia in 1972. 

The Wong Gin family of Herbert, 1940. Image Source

Wong Gin was a lucky man.  He came to Canada from China in 1908, and by 1913, he was the owner of the Tuxedo Café in Herbert, Saskatchewan. Thirteen years later, in 1926, he was the owner of the Tuxedo Hotel and Café, advertised as “The Best Hotel in Town – Ice Cream and Confectionary – Meals at All Hours – Clean Rooms and Best of Service.”  Wong Gin was also fortunate because his wife and family were not thousands of miles away in China. In 1927, he married Mae Yea of Riverhurst, Saskatchewan, and they had six children. Wong Gin was in competition with the Herbert Hotel owned by Mrs. E.M. Stephenson – “A Home Away From Home – Home Cooking – We Employ White Help Only.”  He must have been a naturalized Canadian, because in 1935, the year the province allowed the sale of beer by the glass, he bought the Herbert Hotel from Mrs. Stephenson and he was able to obtain a license to open a beer parlour – something many Chinese hotel owners were not permitted to do. Chinese were excluded because the law required that the applicant for a liquor license had to be a person who was entitled to vote. The Chinese in Saskatchewan did not receive the provincial franchise until 1947. In 1939, N.B. Williams, chairman of the Saskatchewan Liquor Board, stated that some liquor licenses had been granted to naturalized Chinese "who had long operated hotels in communities and were respected there." It was not, however, the board's policy to grant a license to naturalized Chinese "who had bought hotels after the former white owners had failed," Mr. Williams said. (Regina Leader-Post, Aug. 22, 1939, p. 9)

The Herbert Hotel in 1908.Image source

In 1945, Wong Gin sold the Herbert Hotel. He died in January 1960. The Herbert history (1987) records the following tribute:  “Wong had more than fulfilled the requirements of any citizen. As a pioneer he took an active part in building Herbert, for the well-being of his children and his neighbour’s children. He had helped to build on every project that needed volunteer labour – the school, hospital, skating rinks, curling rinks, exhibition grounds and Bible School. … One winter he even won a trophy in a farmers’ bonspiel.” The Gin family has continued to be active and involved in the Herbert community ever since.  

Edam Cafe and Hotel, n.d Image source

Charlie Chan arrived from China in 1910.  In 1915, Chan and a partner built a hotel on Main Street in Edam that, according to the Canada’s Historic Places web site, “was considered to be one of the most elegant establishments of its kind in the region.”  Chan’s business consisted of hotel, café and ice cream parlour. He eventually bought out his partner’s share in the Edam Café, and his family operated it until 1986. The two-storey, wood frame building, designated as a Municipal Heritage Property, was moved in 2003 from Main Street to the site of the Edam museum. 

Back in Pennant, Young Yenchew (aka Charlie) and Yok Yee (aka George), owners of the Pennant Hotel for many years, were considered “friends to all,” especially the children. The hotel café was a great place to meet for a 25-cent banana split, or an orange drink called “belly wash” for five cents. Charlie loved the sport of curling, and attended many bonspiels throughout the region. “When they left Pennant,” the history book reports, “a large crowd gathered at the Memorial Hall to say thank you for all the years of service to the community.” 

Once economic conditions improved during the war years of the 1940s, the number of Chinese hotel owners in the province dropped substantially.

© Joan Champ, 2011

Simpson Hotel: The Bar Spells Success

Simpson Hotel, cafe entrance, 2006.  Joan Champ Photo

Eli “Tom” Tikotsky was tired of homesteading. He had lived for only a short time on the homestead he had filed on in 1906 – NE 24-29-26 – near Simpson. One day, he went over to his neighbours' house and told them he had decided to build a hotel in town. Even with the proceeds from the sale of his homestead, Tikotsky was not a wealthy man. He had to borrow some money, and in 1912 he built the Adanac Hotel – the same hotel that still stands today on the corner of Railway and Main in Simpson. The two-storey hotel provided accommodation for the travelling public, and it also had a small bar that sold beer, whiskey, even champagne. It became a meeting place for the men of Simpson and area. There were no seats; patrons stood up to the bar with a foot on the bar rail. Cuspidors (spittoons) were set on the floor for tobacco chewers. By 1915, Tikotsky's venture was a success. He sold the hotel, paid off his debts and moved to Edmonton where, it is said, he became the owner of several restaurants. 

With the advent of Prohibition in July 1915, the bars closed and, like all Saskatchewan hotels, the hotel in Simpson lost a lucrative source of income. The Adanac Hotel changed owners almost every year between 1915 and July 16, 1924, when Saskatchewan voters ended Prohibition in a province-wide plebiscite. In 1925, H. Leung and G. Yok bought the hotel in Simpson and renamed it the Royal Hotel. They operated the hotel into the 1930s. In 1935, when the government once again allowed hotels to serve beer by the glass, the Chinese owners were not permitted to hold a liquor license unless they were naturalized Canadians. Roger Cave of Simpson had to apply for the license in their place. 

Grants Hotel, Simpson, c. 1940.  From Down Memory Lane, 1986

The Simpson hotel bar, c. 1950

Cecil D. Grant owned the hotel from 1938 to 1944¸ calling it the Grants Hotel. Some improvements were made to the hotel, as financial circumstances improved during the years of the Second World War. According to Simpson’s history book (1986), “It comprised a small lobby which was seldom used, a good-sized café which served excellent and generous meals, and a beer parlour. The hotel was not blessed with running water in those days, but the Grants tried to make it as comfortable as possible, redecorating and refurbishing the rooms, and eventually having the outside of the building stuccoed.”  Grant’s daughter, Olive, remembered some of the people who frequented hotel during those years. “For a short time Dr. McFarlane, a dentist from Regina, came once a month and set up his practice in the upstairs parlour. Then there was Miss Margaret McCullip who came by from Liberty and gave violin lessons, returning home on the last train. Many people who worked in the hotel bring back pleasant memories:  our invaluable waitress, Elida Pederson who whistled like a bird when she worked; Rita French, Flunky (Elwood) Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ellams, Roger Cave, Percy Jarvis and many others.” 

While their husbands enjoyed a beer in the men-only bar of the Simpson Hotel in 1953, their wives visited in the cafe. From Down Memory Lane, 1986

During the late 1940s, Mrs. F. Borgonofsky owned the Simpson hotel. It must have been a management challenge for her, because, as a woman, she was not allowed to enter the bar of her own hotel. This at a time when¸ according to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, two thirds of the gross income of Saskatchewan hotels came from the sale of beer in 1949.  Extensive renovations were made to Hotel Simpson during the 1950s by owners Morris (Mo) and Ruth Kliman. The kitchen was relocated, a walk-in refrigerator was added, running water was installed from the hotel well, and a new bar was added.  On April 1, 1959, the province’s Liquor Licensing Act was passed which allowed women into licensed dining rooms and beverage rooms. Regulations required that hotels make renovations to their beverage rooms to accommodate mixed drinking.  Other owners of the Simpson Hotel were:

1959-61:  Stan Gilley

1961-68:  Adolph Kopp; Daisy Tebay ran the hotel cafe

1966-71:  Cliff Hagen

1973-76:  Adolph and Frances Kopp

1976:  Jim and Sandy Zitaruk

2011:  Jean Robert Matte and Helen Wallas

The Simpson Hotel beverage room, 2006.  Joan Champ photo

Entrance to the bar, Simpson Hotel, 2006.  Joan Champ photo

Watch video of the main street of Simpson, October 2008: YouTube link

© Joan Champ, 2011

View Larger Map

Dinsmore Hotel: A Floor-By-Floor Description

Dinsmore Hotel, n.d. From Dynamic Dinsmore, 1979

When the Canadian Northern Railway arrived at Dinsmore in 1913, it brought with it twelve railway cars of lumber for the construction of a hotel, built by T.W. McCrea & Delisle Bros. at a cost of about $25,000. John Amos Delisle, his wife Marguerite, and their six children (ages 2 to 15) were living in the Dinsmore hotel in 1916, according to the Canada Census of that year. The Saskatchewan town of Delisle was named after John, who served its first postmaster in 1905. Also residing at the hotel were three waitresses, two Chinese cooks, and several guests including a couple of salesmen.

Dinsmore, c. 1920 Source

Over the years – in 1916, 1931, 1935 and 1949 – many Dinsmore businesses were destroyed by fire. Amazingly, the Dinsmore Hotel survived these blazes, and it remains a community landmark to this day. The following, written by Bill Davidson for Dynamic Dinsmore (1979), is one of the most complete descriptions I have found on the structure and infrastructure of a small-town Saskatchewan hotel:

 

“The hotel was a well-built frame structure of 3 storeys on a full size basement, 41’ x 75’ and 35’ high, covered with cedar siding and a flat roof paper composition with a 1-3 slope. The original structure had a false front extending around 3 sides, open at the back (north side). It has always been painted cream with brown trim. Other buildings built at this time in connection with the hotel were a buggy shed, a stable with a loft, a chicken house which later became an ice house… ."

Tom and Hilda Davidson and family, c 1935

"The interior was lathed and plastered and calsimined most vivid colours [calsimine is a water-based paint containing zinc oxide, glue and colouring, used as a wash for walls and ceilings]. The trim and doors were fir and very darkly stained. The ground floor comprised of two small rooms for the proprietor’s dwelling, a pantry, large kitchen and large dining room, a very large rotunda with a horse shoe counter facing the stairway, and a huge sitting area. A portion of this was used as barber shop and a small room at the N.E. corner was a saloon, but used as a confectionery, lunch counter and store over the years. The first floor comprised of 14 bedrooms and the [third] floor 17 bedrooms. Total 31 rooms. The rooms weren’t all that large especially when two beds were put in some. Each floor has a very wide hallway 12 feet. The rooms were originally furnished with brass beds 48’ or 36’, a chair or two, a dresser or a combination dresser and wash stand, and one 60-watt light bulb in the center of each room, also a china pitcher, basin and thunder mug… . The original toilet system was built onto the N.W. corner of the hotel – a 12 x 12 addition comprising of two toilets on each guest floor and directly below sat the traditional known honey wagon – a 300 gallon tank on a horse-drawn wagon that had to be emptied regularly. There was a back stairway from top to bottom coming down into the kitchen. Also each room had a cotton rope coiled up beneath the window to be used in case of fire. … All the floors were fir, except the kitchen which was white hardwood and had to be scrubbed regularly. Eventually, some of the floors were covered with congoleum, linoleum, tile, etc."

Bill and Grace Davidson and family, c 1975

"The lighting system built into the hotel was an English Lister lighting plant 32-volt plus glass storage batteries. It was a gasoline engine in the basement with an outside exhaust, which had to be started each day at dawn and shut off at 11 p.m. when everyone was supposed to be in bed. If the plant wasn’t working properly the lights were very dim. When Dad took over [Tom Davidson in 1930], he doubled the number of storage batteries and installed a wind charger to keep them charged. This helped save the old plant. In 1948, Dad hooked up with Sask. Power, and after a lot of rewiring we could use an electric iron, bed lamps, hot water, heaters, refrigeration, air conditioning, etc. The heating system comprised of a sectional cast iron steam boiler, a one-pipe system piped throughout the building connecting to a cast iron steam radiator in each room, two in the larger rooms. It had to be hand-fired with coal and wood, so that was an annual job putting a car of wood and coal in the basement every fall. The boiler was in bad shape when Dad bought the hotel, so stoves were installed here and there to keep warm.”   

Bill and Grace Davidson took over the Dinsmore Hotel when Bill’s parents retired in 1953. They still owned the hotel when Bill wrote the above article in 1979.

Dinsmore Hotel, February 2006.  Joan Champ photo

© Joan Champ, 2011

View Larger Map