ARTHUR GAUDREAU: Easy Street leads to Fairview

Easy Street Diner, set to open Friday, is modern but the decor nods to the ’50s and ’60s.

“Our landlord successfully ran the Astoria Family Restaurant and Grill for many years at this location and we are trying to live up to that wonderful history and replicate its success,” says general manager Kelly-Jo Beck.

Beck co-owns the Fairview neighbourhood diner with her fiancee, Lalanya Kaizer, who runs the kitchen, and Stuart Lally, who is not involved in the day-to-day but takes care of the money side of the business.

Lally also co-parents a son with Beck. This is a modern family-run business that aims to be family friendly.

“Many experiences have brought the three of us here. For me, personally, this is a dream I’ve been chasing for the last five, six years. I left a career in the insurance industry that I’d been doing for 10 years to go to culinary school in search of ‘what I wanted to do when I grew up’” Beck said.

“The menu is small but with diner classics, all-day breakfast and daily dessert features. We aim for affordable but also many items are made in-house so that we can control the end product and differentiate ourselves and what we offer.”

Easy Street will first open for takeout and then, as restrictions allow, dine-in. The menu, which is online, has breakfast items like sandwiches, omelettes, pancakes, waffles, yogurt and granola and Toad in a Hole, classics like burgers, hotdogs, club sandwiches and modern twists like Vegan Delight. Of course, they will have pie and cake by the slice, and no diner is complete without milkshakes.

The partners decided to go with Fairview as it is starting to see a bit of rebirth, there are lots of new developments and they thought the space and neighbourhood suited their brand.

They kept an eye on the location as they waited for their financing to come through. They also live nearby, in Clayton Park, and consider it their home area.

The diner will be open 9-9 Wednesday through Saturday, and 9-3 on Sundays. You can find it at 3625 Dutch Village Rd. and easystreetdiner.ca.

Here are more retail happenings:

• Kabayan Filipino restaurant and Asian grocer is opening a second outlet in the strip mall at 117 Kearney Lake Rd. The first store is on Wyse Road in Dartmouth.
• New Indian Bazaar grocery has opened at 127 Chain Lake Dr.
• A Salvation Army Thrift Store opens in Bedford Commons on Tuesday.
• Lucky Penny on Quinpool Road has decided not to renew its lease and will close June 27.
• Moonlight Restaurant on the Bedford Highway has closed.
• Brawta Jamaican Jerk Joint on Grafton Street will be opening a kiosk on the Halifax waterfront this summer.
• Candy store Sour Me Sweet is opening soon at the corner of Agricola and May streets.
• The former Crocodile Ice Cream on Cumberland Drive, at the entrance to Colby Village, will be reopening as Cole Harbour Cones.
• The Noble Grape on Oxford Street has moved to the corner of Robie Street and Lady Hammond Road in the north end of Halifax, replacing the Maritime Beer & Wine Emporium.
• Pizza giant Domino’s will be opening a location on the Bedford Highway at Hammonds Plains Road.
• Ceilidh Sutherland, Katie Tower and Natalie Rosen, the group behind Field Guide, are opening a restaurant in the Pavilion on South Park Street this fall featuring food inspired by local ingredients.

Arthur Gaudreau is a retail enthusiast and publisher of a blog on retail comings and goings.