Eat Like The Sheepdogs in Riversdale, Saskatoon

Posted by Devon Scoble on June 17, 2016

“In the last five years, Riversdale has gone from rough neighbourhood to really cool place,” says The Sheepdogs drummer and Saskatoon native Sam Corbett of his favourite food neighbourhood. Come along with him on a culinary tour of the up-and-coming Saskatoon hotspot.

L to R: Ewan Currie, Ryan Gullen, Shamus Currie, Sam Corbett. Photo by Vanessa Heins

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Meet The Sheepdogs' drummer Sam Corbett

While Riversdale has been gentrifying, Sam Corbett’s star has also been rising. “The Sheepdogs formed in 2004, and we toured around for a long time without any relative success until 2011, when we won a contest to be on cover of Rolling Stone. Since then we’ve put out two albums and been continuously touring.” Despite their success, Corbett is happy maintaining a permanent base in Saskatoon, even if he’s not home much. “Every time I go back I make a list of the restaurants I want to go to,” says the self-proclaimed pasta fanatic.
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Little Bird Patisserie

“I think <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/creamy-lemon-tart-dessert-recipe-36721/" target="_blank">Little Bird Patisserie</a> is actually the best restaurant in Saskatoon. It's right by the gym I go to, so often me and my girlfriend will go and eat a bunch of sweet desserts there and negate the effects of working out. The menu is different every day, but every time I go there I have at least one thing that's outstanding. That’s pretty hard to do when you’re making different things all the time.”
Seoul

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Seoul

“One thing about Saskatoon being the size it is, is that oftentimes there will be just one restaurant in a certain category - sometimes it’ll be good and sometimes it’ll be okay. There’s only one Korean restaurant, and it’s <a href="http://seoulsaskatoon.com" target="_blank">Seoul</a>. I like it as much as any Korean food I’ve had anywhere, in Toronto or Vancouver. I ate there with the band before we went and watched a documentary that came out about us in 2013, that was playing next door at the Roxy Theatre.”
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Asian Hut

“<a href="https://www.facebook.com/asianhutrestaurant/" target="_blank">Asian Hut</a> is a Vietnamese place in Riversdale. Saskatoon has been starting to get a lot more international cuisine in the last few years, but it always had a lot of Vietnamese food. Everybody has their favourite spot – Ewan’s is The Wok, which is not in Riversdale, but if you’re in Riversdale the best Vietnamese is Asian Hut. They have a really great banh mi/pho lunch combo.”
Leydas Restaurant/Facebook

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Leyda's

“<a href="http://www.leydas.ca" target="_blank">Leyda's</a> has international cuisine with a healthier focus. It was the first restaurant in Saskatoon with gluten free food and that sort of thing. We know the chef, Miguel, who used to live with our friend Aiden, who is actually the person who introduced everyone in the band. Anyway, the food here is really good. I always get a kale Caesar. And this one time I had a trout quesadilla, which sounds kind of weird, but it was excellent.”
Cooper & O'Hara Photography

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Primal

“<a href="https://www.instagram.com/primal_pasta/" target="_blank">Primal</a> is a pasta spot, and I love pasta. Saskatoon is not known for its Italian cuisine. There’s a lot of quasi-Italian/Greek places that are not very good, but this is the first place that opened with more interesting pasta dishes. I went there for my last two birthday suppers in a row. The thing I always get there is this really good fried cornmeal crusted bread that you dip in olive oil. It's amazing.”
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