Windsor's Walkerville neighbourhood restaurant scene continues to expand with the addition of a new establishment, The Walkerville Eatery.
Owner Mark Hawken returned to Windsor after 12 years working at resorts in six different Caribbean countries including the Bahamas, Cuba and Jamaica. He says it was family and the changing dynamic of the city that not only brought him back to Windsor but out of retirement.
The restaurant at the corner of Walker Rd. and Niagara St. has been up and running for the past four weeks, and already he's considering expansion.
"It's got a lot of great bones," he says speaking about the layout of the building which has housed a number of restaurants over the years. "It's got a lot of little nooks and crannies that we're going to be exposing with different food outlets in the future. This is phase one of what we're doing."
So what's next? A take-out and delivery pizzeria called "1858 Pizzeria", a nod to the year Hiram Walker started operations.
There's no shortage of restaurants in the neighbourhood, but that doesn't worry Hawken.
"The city's changed a lot over the past 15 years, and Walkerville is on the cutting edge," he says.
Hawken says the success of other restaurants breeds success for his business.
"The more people that are successful in a cluster area, it draws everybody in," Hawken says. "We're not looking to try to knock anybody off; we're trying to find our little niche."
The restaurant is holding a Walkerville neighbourhood open house Thursday from 6pm to 9:30pm.
