Peg City Grub | Tourism Winnipeg

  • Home
  • Things to Do
    • Spring Top 50
    • Winnipeg Guides
    • Top 10s
    • Only in the Peg
    • Family Fun
    • Free Activities
    • Attractions
    • Performing Arts
    • Shopping
    • Nightlife
    • Tours
    • Recreation
    • Spectator Sports
    • Spas
    • Architecture & Design
    • 2SLGBTQ+
    • Summer Top 50
  • Places to Stay
    • Hotels
    • Campgrounds
    • Hostels
  • Eat & Drink
    • Eat & Drink
    • Best Eats
    • Peg City Grub
    • Breweries / Distilleries
    • Food Trucks
    • Patios
  • Festivals & Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Live Music
    • Annual Festivals & Events
    • Submit an Event
  • Plan Your Trip
    • Welcome to Winnipeg
    • Neighbourhoods
    • About Winnipeg
    • Getting Around
    • Travel Information
    • Publications & Maps
    • Moving Here
    • Manitoba Day Trips
    • Summer
  • Deals & Passes
    • Packages & Deals
    • Winnipeg Attractions Pass
  • Contact Us
Build an Itinerary
  • Home
  • Eat & Drink
  • Peg City Grub
Rudy's Eat and Drink: Where Mad Men Meets 2012 - Smoking hot creamed peppery pasta below a healthy serving of cream, green onions and fried carrot sticks

Smoking hot creamed peppery pasta below a healthy serving of cream, green onions and fried carrot sticks

Rudy's Eat and Drink: Where Mad Men Meets 2012

By: PegCity Grub // June 7, 2012 // International

rudys

Rudy's Special is Chef Michael Schafer's modern twist on a Manitoba favourite—perogies. The Ricotta gnocchi with house-cured bacon, crème fraiche and crispy onions has a comfort-food sensibility but with slightly more sophisticated ingredients and more depth in flavours than your standard cheddar cheese and potato perogie.

Rudy's Eat and Drink
Address: Manitoba Hydro Place, 375 Graham Avenue
Neighbourhood: Downtown
Webpage: www.rudyseatanddrink.com
Phone number: 421-9094

Sydney's At the Forks
Address: 2nd Floor, The Forks Market
Neighbourhood: Downtown
Webpage: www.sydneysattheforks.com
Phone number: 942-6075

When you go to a Michael Schafer restaurant, expect great service, imaginative food and a memorable time. The 35-year-old chef has made a name for himself on the Winnipeg restaurant scene as a creative force in the kitchen.

His first restaurant, Sydney's at the Forks, is the more serious, introverted older sibling who watches their Ps and Qs while the newest addition, Rudy's Eat and Drink, is the playful and scampish younger brother.

Sydney's is a polished fine-dining experience. A meal at Sydney's is truly an experience; the food is imaginative, complex and consistently splendid. For me, it's the closest restaurant I've found in Winnipeg to celebrated Chef Jean Georges Vongerichtenin's Central Park West location in New York City—that was the best meal I've ever eaten.

Sydney's five-course price fixe dinner and a la carte lunch menu changes monthly.

Meanwhile, Rudy's Eat and Drink is Schafer's crack at high-volume, casual eats that deliver big taste at easy-to-swallow prices in a modernized “Mad Men” era-setting. The new swish and slick downtown eatery opened in January but celebrated its grand opening in mid-May.

rudys_barLocated in Manitoba Hydro Place, downtown on Portage Avenue, Rudy's is a mash-up of contemporary and retro-inspired eats. The 277-seat restaurant and lounge was four years in the making and it's clear Schafer had his hands on pretty much every detail. In the summer, a patio facing Graham Street will add an additional 140 seats. A bank of iPads are mounted in front of seats at the bar so solo diners can surf, watch TV or return e-mails. Insider's tip: Rudy's is located on the south end of lobby of Manitoba Hydro Place. You can enter via Graham Street or Portage Avenue. The interior lobby sign wasn't posted yet, making it a little hard to find.

But what about the food?

Most everything is made in house from the pastrami and bacon to the charcuterie to the bread and pasta and pickles. Lunch is a medley of burgers wraps, old-school sandwiches (reuben, monte cristo, corned beef and pastrami) along with house-made pastas.

Rudy's even kicks it old-old school with a deviled eggs trio served with greens. On my visit, Schafer served me his version of Manitoba "perogies," ricotta gnocchi with bacon, crème fraiche and crispy fried onions. (Insert sound of squealing here.) So good, so yummy.

Rudy’s Eat and Drink is opening a new patio and we’re on the hunt to profile some more. What are some of your new favourite local patio spots? Leave a comment, email goodeats@pegcitygrub.com or tweet @pegcitygrub with your suggestions.

Back

Become a
Winnipeg Insider

Subscribe to our blog
for more great content

+No Thanks

More Inspiration

 
Three Winnipeg restaurants make Canada's 100 Best Restaurants 2025

May 6

 
Winnipeg's top authentic tacos for 2025

May 1

 
Shirley’s is surely a most delightful dining experience in the Village

March 12

Visitor Information

21 Forks Market Road
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R3C 4T7
1 855 PEG CITY (734-2489)

Newsletter Sign-up
  • Leisure
  • Meetings & Conventions
  • Travel Trade
  • Sport Tourism
  • Media
  • Site Map
  • Industry
  • About Us
  • Français
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
Visitor's Guide

Visitor's Guide

Discover the best of Winnipeg.

Download Now

Economic Development Winnipeg acknowledges that we are located in Treaty One Territory, the home and traditional lands of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Ininew (Cree), and Dakota peoples, and in the National Homeland of the Red River Métis. Our drinking water comes from Shoal Lake, in Treaty Three Territory.

© 2025 Tourism Winnipeg

logo - Economic Development Winnipeg
logo - Tourism Winnipeg