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Tracy married a cattle rancher when she moved back to Saskatchewan (she’s from Regina but moved away in 1988). The couple’s beef is on the menu at Grain & Pulse, which opened in late 2017. It was the right decision to come home.

“Since moving back, all I’ve seen and experienced is opportunity. It’s an exciting time to be in the food scene in Saskatchewan.”

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The Dam Smokehouse

Nipawin

Southern BBQ is alive and well in northeastern Saskatchewan.

Faron Saufert always wanted to get into the industry. On a work trip (for agriculture retail), he was eating at a St. Louis BBQ joint and it got him thinking.

“One day, I woke up and said, ‘I’m done in ag.’ And we took the plunge into this industry.”

Faron, his wife Andrea and sister-in-law Stephanie Ylioja do all the cooking; the chalkboard menu features items like The Village Idiot (a smoked Gouda stuffed Angus burger) or Porky Pig’s Revolt (pork belly with cheddar, jalapeno, spicy mayo and BBQ sauce).

Faron’s always loved cooking. He learned from his mom.

“I don’t think you have to be a trained chef in order to love cooking. If you have a passion for it, you can make it work.”

Their business motto is to support as many Saskatchewan businesses as possible.

“Coming from the ag side of life, I know how hard farming is. To me, you try to support that as much as you can.”

The bar only stocks Saskatchewan craft beers and spirits, and that motto applies to the food, too: Bison comes from a Codette ranch and vegetables from a local grower.