Thunder Bay's south side revival

THUNDER BAY, Ont. — A new restaurant group in Thunder Bay is hoping to play a role in the revitalization of their childhood neighbourhood. 

After Shane Bannon purchased a building on South May Street, he was introduced to Derek Lankinen, the winner of the 2013 Thunder Bay Top Chef competition and former head chef at The Foundry. Together they began transforming the building — home of a former pizzeria — into The Crew on May. 

“We both love Thunder Bay, we both grew up here,” Lankinen said. “I grew up six blocks away. He grew up about 10 blocks from the restaurant.”

Although South May Street holds fond memories for Bannon and Lankinen, the neighbourhood has seen better days. 

“The area has had some challenges, it’s been abandoned basically,” said Lankinen. 

“But it is coming back. A lot of local young people are putting in new and exciting businesses.”

When developing their concept, Lankinen looked at the market and realized the south side of the city sees impressive daytime traffic. 

“We realized we could get a strong lunch crowd right away. Dinner would be a bit of a challenge,” Lankinen said.  

Bannon agreed to give Lankinen free reign on the menu, with two exceptions. 

“His only concern was he wanted the best Indian taco he’s ever had in his life on the menu, and he wanted a bannock burger,” Lankinen said. 

Building on the Indian taco, Lankinen added a chimichanga and a house-smoked salmon burrito. 

“A good chunk of the menu has First Nations influence, but we also didn’t want to hang our hat on that,” Lankinen said. 

Rounding out the menu is several pizzas, including the Norwegian, topped with smoked salmon, caramelized onions, capers with dill cream cheese and mozzarella, and the Hunter’s Pizza, topped with braised rabbit, roasted mushrooms and mint olive oil. 

“We tried to have a broad appeal, but the kitchen I inherited is a pizzeria kitchen, so you can’t do a ton of stuff out of it. I can’t do a huge menu,” the chef said. 

To build the restaurant, Lankinen and Bannon turned to repurposed and torched wood, completing much of the construction themselves. 

“For the three to six months before opening, I was running around in my truck stealing every possible pallet board that was lying around for free,” Lankinen said. “We still needed to buy some stuff, but we recycled as much as possible.”

The former pizzeria’s seating plan was also upgraded to accommodate 55 guests — a 20-seat increase. 

“I redesigned the floorplan, this was a whole new concept for me, but the Fire Marshall was cool with it,” Lankinen said. 

Operating as Venys Hospitality Group, Bannon and Lankinen are now working on their second restaurant, a speakeasy-style bar in a century-old building on South May Street. The bar’s theme will play off Thunder Bay’s history as a whiskey transportation hub during Prohibition. The property also once served as Lankinen’s college bar. 

“It’s an interesting situation. It feels really weird, all these memories I had in this place and now I’m the one ripping out the walls,” Lankinen said, noting their second venture will open next spring. 

“We have a strong plan, but it is a large expense and a long-term project.”