ESTEVAN - There's another new restaurant for food lovers in Estevan to choose from, and this one has familiar ownership and food.
Beatz Eatz opened at its location at 204 Souris Avenue North on Friday, with customers eager to enjoy the variety of appetizers, main courses and sides found on their menu.
Owner Riley Beatty said they put in a lot of work to get the building renovated so that they could be ready to serve customers.
"We redid everything we could to it," said Beatty. "It's a lot of hard work, and I hope it pays off for us in the end."
Beatz Eatz operates the Rolling Stove food truck that first opened in 2014 and can often be found in the community during the summer months. And he has the canteen at the SaskPower Boundary Dam Power Station, where he is busy and receives a lot of good feedback for the quality food served.
They decided to open the restaurant because they cater a lot of weddings and outdoor events.
"We're only able to accommodate certain sizes with what we had. So the main factor for that building was actually just to get a kitchen in there to accommodate more catering. And then things just snowballed into another thing, and then we're opening the restaurant."
Beatty said he would continue with his commitments to SaskPower and with the food truck.
Even before the restaurant opened, Beatz Eatz was getting a lot of interest from the public. When they were renovating, people would show up and ask when the restaurant would be open. The renovations started last fall, several months after they decided they would move into the location on Souris Avenue North.
"We're going to keep up with what we're good at," said Beatty. "We do lots of smoked foods."
Barbecued combo platters will include brisket, pulled pork, smoked turkey, ribs, chicken breasts, quarter chickens, Polish smokies, farmer sausages and more. Many of the foods they will be offering will be smoked. Homemade burgers and chicken burgers will be served.
"The menu is always going to change as well," said Beatty. "We like to not do the same things all the time, so we'll keep everything fresh."
The restaurant has a unique exterior as well, with a large cow painted on the south wall that draws people's attention.
Beatty recalled that when Estevan was suffering a rash of vandalism incidents late last year and early this year, one of his buildings was tagged. Beatty said he wished someone would do a really nice job of graffiti, and so he approached BJ Zieger.
"I went and worked with BJ at Lucky Buddha Tattoo, and we came across a few drawings. I said let's paint this cow on the side of my building, and he was happy and I was happy. It was awesome watching him work. It was cool."
Having a sit-down restaurant will be a learning curve, he said, although there are some similarities with what they do at SaskPower. But this will be a completely different experience, one that Beatty is looking forward to.
Beatz Eatz can accommodate up to 40 people inside the restaurant, and they will also offer takeout and delivery. At first they will be open from 4-9 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Weekday lunch hours will be added in the future, once they get the restaurant running smoothly.
Beatty hopes they can be open for lunch in mid-September.
