After spending more than a decade living in London, Ryan Markkula returned to Sault Ste. Marie with an appreciation for the warm, inviting atmosphere of British pubs.
You’re probably familiar with the kind of place, Markkula says. There’s a quality of familiarity about the room, with wood tables nestled in a centuries-old building, a place that’s become an indelible part of the neighbourhood's fabric. The kind of place you can drop in, catch up with friends, maybe play a game of pool or two, or settle in to watch the game on TV.
“The funny thing about pubs in the UK is they’re not trying to reinvent anything, they’re not trying to become a modern place,” Markkula says. “Often, it’s probably a 200-year old building that’s changed owners only 10 times, and each one does their own little bit of work to add to it.”
“The end result,” Markkula says, is a charming mix of styles that evolve over time, while remaining instantly recognizable.”
That love for the British pub – that feeling of walking into a friendly place – is something Markkula hopes to recreate in the Soo as he sets sights on his newest project.
Just over a year ago, Markkula and a team of co-owners took over operations of Outspoken Brewing. The brewery has already earned accolades for its beers– including three recent trophies from the Ontario Brewing Awards – and after extensive renovations and adding a kitchen to the premises, Markkula is now trying to harness some of the award-winning magic as they roll out a full, new menu.
“We're just lovers of food, so it's great just having that extra kind of creative playground to play in,” Markkula says. “Not just the beer side, but also being able to add things to the menu, and how that goes with everything else we’ve got here, that was a pretty important part of it.”
The creative new food items – Wild Mushroom Dip and Stuffed Baked Avocado, for example – sit alongside pub standards like nachos, wings and tacos.
An important aspect of the food, Markkula adds, is how much care and attention go into the details.
“We just want to make sure that everything is high quality,” Markkula says. “We're not just ordering a bunch of frozen food. Everything's being made fresh every day by our chef.”
“We're going to keep the favourites like wings and nachos, but for the most part, if we find out there's a bunch of fresh fish that we can get, for example, maybe we'll add that to the menu that week, just try to keep it relatively fluid and flexible.”
The intention, Markkula says, is to elevate the experience for visitors, while still keeping the vibe at a respectable level of UK pub-like chill.
“There's aspects of this place that just kind of feel like it could be in your living room,” he says. “We’ve got a couch, and over there on the table we’ve got lamps, as opposed to kind of designed lighting.”
“So, it’s all a bit more organically grown than any kind of hyper-designed place.”
This will come as a relief to any of Outspoken’s loyal patrons who may have had concerns that the laid-back atmosphere would be disturbed by renos.
Not to fear, Markkula says. Before he was a co-owner, he was a big fan of the place.
“It's always been popular,” he says. “It’s one of those places where anyone who’s coming home for the weekend, or maybe who’s just visiting over the Christmas holidays, they can just come in and meet friends, because this is the place they used to go.”
That’s a big reason that Markkula says the team decided to keep the Outspoken brand going.
“It just had a history and an atmosphere that we didn't want to mess with,” he says. “There was certainly a really die-hard following at Outspoken and we felt that love from people as soon as we opened the doors.”
“But to maintain that, while also adding the kitchen and working on the renovations, we wanted to make sure there was a balance, and we didn’t change too much or upset the people who have always loved it.”
Chef Says…
Nigel Tenhagen, Outspoken’s new chef, has been around the kitchen since he was 13. He’s seen a few different trends come and go in the restaurant business, and he’s handled a few different menu items over the years.
But the ownership team at Outspoken, he says, is bringing a different approach to food.
“They told me that they had the best beer in town and one of the coolest patios in town,” Tenhagen says. “And I said, ‘I'd absolutely be a fool if I did not want to give this a shot.’ So full speed ahead.”
What sets his menu items apart is more of the appreciation for goodness and quality, Tenhagen says. You can have both the satisfaction of nibbling on finger food at the pub, while also enjoying high-quality ingredients.
“We're just trying to get away from all this pre-packaged stuff served at most pubs,” he says. “We’re doing everything from scratch. Down to earth and simple, and nothing out of a box and fried.”
At the end of the experience, Tenhagen says, anyone stopping by for food at Outspoken should be able to enjoy a particular kind of feeling – “warm and fuzzy.”
“Visitors should feel very comfy – not bloated, like they've eaten too much,” he says. “But they should also feel ready for more food.”
“We put a lot of love into the food, into the plateware and everything,” he says. “We just want to make sure everyone feels as comfy as possible and has a safe place to come and enjoy the best beer and the best food in Sault Ste. Marie.”
For more information on Outspoken Brewing’s new menu items, or to inquire about renting the space for a private event, visit their website or follow on Instagram.