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Brewdebaker’s set to replace Lone Star in Clayton Park
Halifax News Net
By Lindsay Jones – The Weekly News

A local restaurateur is trading in Tex-Mex for all-American comfort food.
The lone location of the Lone Star Texas Grill in Clayton Park has closed its doors for good.
Now open in its place is a Brewdebaker’s, which is similar to the original flagship brewery and grill in Dartmouth.
Owner Mike Cormier says that after operating the Lone Star for 15 years it was time to part ways. He said people in Clayton Park want more mainstream food.
“The Lone Star was quite specialized. Their menu works better in a big city where there are lots of people,” Cormier said.
“It’s just that it’s a very narrow market and the sales, over time, were just slowly deteriorating. I could just see the writing on the wall. It just wasn’t a concept that I felt we needed to continue on with.”
Like the Dartmouth location, Brewdebaker’s has a mid-scale, Americana-style menu and at least a dozen types of beer on tap, including its own exclusive brews.
“It won’t feel as industrial because it’s not in a brewery,” Cormier said. “There will be something for everyone, from a pizza to a steak, to ribs to nachos.”
Cormier says the goal is to cater to a wider range of customers, including families, ladies out for martinis and appetizers, and those looking for some good comfort food.
The building has had a major facelift.
“We gutted everything,” Cormier said. “The only thing that’s the same as before is the kitchen is the same shell. Other than that, it’s pretty much all new.
“It’s definitely much cosier.”
While Cormier said the economic downturn makes him nervous about opening a new restaurant, the city is impervious to the slump.
“The economy in Halifax is not like most places,” he said. “We’re pretty flat. When the rest of the country is booming, we’re still just flat. So when it goes down real bad I think it stays flat, too.”
Originally from Moncton, Cormier has been working in the restaurant industry in Halifax for 24 years.
At age 15, he was washing dishes at a Bedford restaurant that’s now The Cellar Bar & Grill. He has been a cook at the Middle Deck, and a sous-chef at the Clipper Cay, which is now Salty’s on the Halifax waterfront.
“There’s nothing I haven’t done,” Cormier said.
He says the plan is to open more locations of Brewdebaker’s, possibly in New Brunswick and Ontario.
Cormier is also part owner of SAS Restaurants, which owns The Lower Deck and Brewdebaker’s in Dartmouth.

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