For anyone who has been to Bullocks, naturally you understand. For those of you unfortunates who have never been, words cannot do justice to this little shack (originally the Weaver & Devore outfitter’s shop), now a heritage building and home to Bullock’s restaurant for the past 20 years.
If you search for restaurant reviews on Bullocks, you’ll get everything from Hate It to Love It write-ups. Nothing in-between. If you hate it, then you missed the point. If you’re like Thurston Howell III’s wife, Lovey, you will leave in a huff decrying the rudeness of the staff and vow never to return. Some people don’t get Bullocks, and that’s a shame. You can’t be uptight or you’ll miss the very unique charm of this place. Expensive? This is the North, folks. Everything is expensive.
Bullock’s is not fine dining, it’s not a quiet romantic spot to share with your loved one, and it’s not a place where you might order an appetizer, an entrée and then dessert. At Bullock’s you dine with bearded patrons whose fashion sense stopped during the Gold Rush; Snow Goose parkas take up what little space is available between the rickety chairs and tables, and Japanese tourists who come to the North to conceive their babies under the northern lights sign their names to the ceiling, tables and walls like the thousands who came before them. You’d be crazy to pass this place up.
I eat at Bullock’s every time I’m in Yellowknife and the times I’ve gone and they’ve been closed (Mondays before 5 pm, Sundays and holidays), my tears freeze on my face as I stand outside in subzero temperatures, forlornly, banging on the door moaning, “Noooooo! Noooooo!”
The fish they serve depends on what is caught that day from the Great Slave Lake. You have three or four choices: whitefish, trout, pike, pickerel, cod or char. Sometimes there’s a wild game dish…musk ox, or caribou, but you go to Bullocks for the fish. In 2006 Reader’s Digest proclaimed Bullocks as the best fish and chips in Canada. For beer they offer a good selection of imports as well as Canadian brews, and for wine, you have two to choose from: red or white — $13 a glass but this isn’t a 3 ounce pour…this is a good 6 ounce glug all the way to the rim of the reclaimed Grolsch bottle fashioned into a sturdy cup.
We were in Yellowknife for two days, and we ate at Bullock’s twice.
Bullock’s has never pretended to be something it ain’t. If you expect candles, good wine and cloth napkins, you will surely be disappointed, but if it’s killer fresh fish and a unique experience you’re after, then this is the place to find it.
