Resilient restaurateur Robert West knows his prime cuts, whether firing up the band or the steakhouse grill
Carr, a morning-show host at Energy 106, and his partner Mitch were curious about area attractions. Among the must-sees suggested to them by their host was the Stead Ranch Steak House, a rustic, 60-seat restaurant-and-bar that operates out of a converted barn on Stead Road, close to Provincial Trunk Highway 12.
'The minute we drove up, I was like, 'Mitch, I have to make a video,'' says Carr, who moonlights as a digital creator.
'Everybody likes to overuse the term 'hidden gem' but without a doubt, the steakhouse immediately struck me as a hidden gem in our province.'
West purchased the 160-acre property in 2002. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Well, so much for hidden. Since its release on various social media platforms, Carr's 36-second spot, which shows him and Mitch diving into steak, ribs, onion rings and fries against a backdrop of barn-wood walls adorned with cowboy boots, Stetsons and cattle skulls, has garnered over a million views.
Comments have poured in from across the country, the majority being along the lines of 'Need to try!' and 'I think a steak is in my future.'
'It's sometimes hard as a content creator because you're expected to love everything,' says Carr, who also gave the resto's home-baked peach crumble a thumbs-up. 'But the truth of the matter is I wasn't paid to go there, we paid for our own meals and I made a video simply because of how much we enjoyed ourselves. It was just an authentic good time.'
'This is what Montana's (BBQ & Bar) wishes it looked like,' chuckles owner Robert West, settling into an upholstered booth in the Stead Ranch Steak House's saloon area, steps away from a raised stage populated with speakers, microphone stands and a full drum kit.
West, whose long grey locks and beard would make members of hirsute Texas trio ZZ Top green with envy, laughs again, commenting, 'How long have you got?' when asked whatever possessed him to open an eating spot/watering hole in, by his own admission, the middle of nowhere?
Under the moniker Bob E. Lee West and the Mainstreet Band, Robert West, now 74, toured Western Canada regularly in the 1970s and '80s, performing his brand of country-rock. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
The 74-year-old was born in Saskatoon. He moved to Calgary along with his mother, step-father and three half-siblings at an early age. He wasn't exactly an angel growing up, he states matter-of-factly, a set of circumstances that resulted in him being transferred to a reform school in Innisfail, Alta., 110 kilometres away.
'I got out when I was 16. They drove me to the bus and told me my mother was going to meet me at the other end, only when I got there, she wasn't anywhere to be found,' he goes on.
'I ended up getting a job as a busboy at the Trade Winds Motor Hotel. Later I headed to Vancouver, before hitchhiking to Toronto in, I wanna say, 1967.'
During his spell in Innisfail, West taught himself how to play guitar. He was well-versed on the instrument by the time he reached Toronto, which led to opportunities to jam with bands booked at the nightclub where he worked in the kitchen. One of those groups was the Hawks, who achieved global success in 1968 after changing their name to the Band, ahead of the release of their debut album Music From Big Pink.
Robert West (bottom) (Supplied)
Robert West (right) in the 1980s (Supplied)
West eventually became a professional musician himself. Under the banner Bob E. Lee West and the Mainstreet Band, he toured incessantly, delivering his brand of country-rock in bars and clubs across Western Canada and as far north as Alaska. He commonly rubbed shoulders with the likes of Ian Tyson and Prairie Oyster, and his greatest success occurred in 1988 when he won a Catch a Rising Star award for the single This Old Freight Train, recorded at Calgary's Smooth Rock Studios.
By the early '90s West was ready for a change. He'd long dreamed of running a bar of his own and after being introduced to the late Ross Kennedy, a Winnipegger who owned multiple hotels during a decades-long career, he and his then-wife Amy went to work for Kennedy. Together they managed the Travelling Inn in Arborg, followed by the Lockport Inn Hotel on Henderson Highway and finally the 44-room Balmoral Hotel on Cumberland Avenue in Winnipeg, which is now the Pimicikamak Wellness Centre.
Stead Ranch Steak House is located inside a converted barn near Brokenhead. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
In 2002 West spotted a listing for a 160-acre property in Stead that came with a two-storey, 1,700-square-foot home, as well as a century-old barn that had definitely seen better days.
West and then-wife Amy spent nearly two years converting the barn into Stead Ranch Steak House. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
He and Amy spent close to two years converting the weed-infested structure into the Stead Ranch Steak House.
The couple operated the steakhouse five days a week from 2004 until 2012, at which point West felt he needed a break. He returned to his original calling of music, a move that ultimately led to recording a full-length album, The Tree, which was nominated for best country CD at the 2015 Indigenous Music Awards ceremony, which was part of the Manito Ahbee Festival. (West, whose great-grandmother was Cree, showed off his deep baritone on the disc's 12 tracks, particularly the lead single A Dangerous Game, about murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.)
A wall of fame with copies of owner Robert West's recordings at Stead Ranch Steak House. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
West, since divorced, announced the restaurant's return in February 2016. 'We want to offer a full night of entertainment,' he told a reporter from the Beausejour Clipper Weekly, noting he intended to add 'performer' to his long list of duties there. 'You start with dinner and drinks and end with dancing to a live band.'
That formula proved successful, except the enterprise was forced to shutter once again in the summer of 2019 after West, who was also raising quarter-horses with his new wife Joanne, suffered a debilitating injury while out for a ride with two of his steeds.
The steakhouse-bar is currently open three nights a week year-round, from Thursday to Saturday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
'At the time I had three horses: a little girl, her daddy, a two-eyed jack stallion, and her mom, a two-eyed jack mare,' he explains. 'That day we were going up a ridge in the wagon, the two older ones pulling me along, when we came upon a big buck who'd been in the area for years.
'The horses had seen him before but for whatever reason they shied, and away we went, over the ridge, rolling the wagon.'
The buggy's drop pole came down on the male horse's back, killing him instantly. The mare suffered a broken leg, but somehow managed to remove herself from her rig and return to the homestead. Sensing something was obviously amiss, West's wife and employees set out to determine what had happened.
'It turned out I'd broken my neck, and had crushed my legs and pelvis,' West continues. 'I was flown to HSC, then to Toronto, where I stayed in bed for almost a year, pretty much paralyzed.'
The 60-seat Stead Ranch Steak House is located north of Winnipeg and is situated in a converted century-old barn on Stead Road, just east of Gull Lake. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
West credits the nearby South Beach Casino for assisting in his rehabilitation. For months after returning home, he was granted access to the resort's indoor swimming pool. Finally, despite a pronounced limp, he reopened the restaurant in 2023 with the assistance of Joanne. While he is no longer involved with the cooking end of things — he has trouble standing for long durations — he stays busy accepting reservations and greeting regulars who make the trek from Winnipeg, Selkirk, Lac du Bonnet and the Grand Beach area.
A wall of fame at Stead Ranch Steak House also features copies of owner Robert West's many recordings. The bar-eatery also features a raised stage with PA system and full drum kit to host live music performances. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
Stead Ranch Steak House owner Robert West at the restaurant (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press)
'We also get a lot of Americans in the winter months who come up for the ice fishing,' he adds, mentioning the locale, which is presently open three nights a week year-round, Thursday to Saturday, was utilized in the filming of Road of Iniquity, a 2018 flick produced by Cree actor and former Member of Parliament Tina Keeper.
West is also writing and recording again. This month he'll head into the studio to put the finishing touches to his latest project, which will include a Johnny Cash-like ode titled Ten-pound Ball (Hanging off a Two-foot Chain).
As for retirement plans, West says if he has his druthers, he won't be going anywhere, any time soon.
'Hey, I'm only 74. I'll have long enough to rest when I'm in the ground, for good.'
david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca
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Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Despite cross-border tensions, it's mostly business as usual for International Peace Garden staff, volunteers
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'And (it's) like… 'What do we have in common? Oh, we're one of few countries in the world with a massive border, and we're not constantly attacking one another.'' Spearheaded by horticulturist Henry R. Moore, the idea attracted the support of powerful philanthropic families on both sides of the border and the Manitoba and North Dakota governments. An estimated 50,000 people travelled to the site to witness the groundbreaking and dedication ceremony on July 14, 1932. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS The Hands of Peace at the International Peace Garden. CONRAD SWEATMAN / FREE PRESS The Hands of Peace at the International Peace Garden. Today, the non-profit's garden is a site of international conferences, music and cultural camps and meetings between American and Canadian officials amid calming flora and monuments with cosy names such as the Peace Chapel, the Friendship Rock and the Hands of Peace. 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Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Resilient restaurateur Robert West knows his prime cuts, whether firing up the band or the steakhouse grill
STEAD — Winnipeg radio personality Tyler Carr spent a weekend earlier this summer at Glamping InStead, an off-grid, eco-friendly facility situated 45 minutes north of the city near Stead, the so-called 'sod capital' of Manitoba. Carr, a morning-show host at Energy 106, and his partner Mitch were curious about area attractions. Among the must-sees suggested to them by their host was the Stead Ranch Steak House, a rustic, 60-seat restaurant-and-bar that operates out of a converted barn on Stead Road, close to Provincial Trunk Highway 12. 'The minute we drove up, I was like, 'Mitch, I have to make a video,'' says Carr, who moonlights as a digital creator. 'Everybody likes to overuse the term 'hidden gem' but without a doubt, the steakhouse immediately struck me as a hidden gem in our province.' West purchased the 160-acre property in 2002. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) Well, so much for hidden. Since its release on various social media platforms, Carr's 36-second spot, which shows him and Mitch diving into steak, ribs, onion rings and fries against a backdrop of barn-wood walls adorned with cowboy boots, Stetsons and cattle skulls, has garnered over a million views. Comments have poured in from across the country, the majority being along the lines of 'Need to try!' and 'I think a steak is in my future.' 'It's sometimes hard as a content creator because you're expected to love everything,' says Carr, who also gave the resto's home-baked peach crumble a thumbs-up. 'But the truth of the matter is I wasn't paid to go there, we paid for our own meals and I made a video simply because of how much we enjoyed ourselves. It was just an authentic good time.' 'This is what Montana's (BBQ & Bar) wishes it looked like,' chuckles owner Robert West, settling into an upholstered booth in the Stead Ranch Steak House's saloon area, steps away from a raised stage populated with speakers, microphone stands and a full drum kit. West, whose long grey locks and beard would make members of hirsute Texas trio ZZ Top green with envy, laughs again, commenting, 'How long have you got?' when asked whatever possessed him to open an eating spot/watering hole in, by his own admission, the middle of nowhere? Under the moniker Bob E. Lee West and the Mainstreet Band, Robert West, now 74, toured Western Canada regularly in the 1970s and '80s, performing his brand of country-rock. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) The 74-year-old was born in Saskatoon. He moved to Calgary along with his mother, step-father and three half-siblings at an early age. He wasn't exactly an angel growing up, he states matter-of-factly, a set of circumstances that resulted in him being transferred to a reform school in Innisfail, Alta., 110 kilometres away. 'I got out when I was 16. They drove me to the bus and told me my mother was going to meet me at the other end, only when I got there, she wasn't anywhere to be found,' he goes on. 'I ended up getting a job as a busboy at the Trade Winds Motor Hotel. Later I headed to Vancouver, before hitchhiking to Toronto in, I wanna say, 1967.' During his spell in Innisfail, West taught himself how to play guitar. He was well-versed on the instrument by the time he reached Toronto, which led to opportunities to jam with bands booked at the nightclub where he worked in the kitchen. One of those groups was the Hawks, who achieved global success in 1968 after changing their name to the Band, ahead of the release of their debut album Music From Big Pink. Robert West (bottom) (Supplied) Robert West (right) in the 1980s (Supplied) West eventually became a professional musician himself. Under the banner Bob E. Lee West and the Mainstreet Band, he toured incessantly, delivering his brand of country-rock in bars and clubs across Western Canada and as far north as Alaska. He commonly rubbed shoulders with the likes of Ian Tyson and Prairie Oyster, and his greatest success occurred in 1988 when he won a Catch a Rising Star award for the single This Old Freight Train, recorded at Calgary's Smooth Rock Studios. By the early '90s West was ready for a change. He'd long dreamed of running a bar of his own and after being introduced to the late Ross Kennedy, a Winnipegger who owned multiple hotels during a decades-long career, he and his then-wife Amy went to work for Kennedy. Together they managed the Travelling Inn in Arborg, followed by the Lockport Inn Hotel on Henderson Highway and finally the 44-room Balmoral Hotel on Cumberland Avenue in Winnipeg, which is now the Pimicikamak Wellness Centre. Stead Ranch Steak House is located inside a converted barn near Brokenhead. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) In 2002 West spotted a listing for a 160-acre property in Stead that came with a two-storey, 1,700-square-foot home, as well as a century-old barn that had definitely seen better days. West and then-wife Amy spent nearly two years converting the barn into Stead Ranch Steak House. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) He and Amy spent close to two years converting the weed-infested structure into the Stead Ranch Steak House. The couple operated the steakhouse five days a week from 2004 until 2012, at which point West felt he needed a break. He returned to his original calling of music, a move that ultimately led to recording a full-length album, The Tree, which was nominated for best country CD at the 2015 Indigenous Music Awards ceremony, which was part of the Manito Ahbee Festival. (West, whose great-grandmother was Cree, showed off his deep baritone on the disc's 12 tracks, particularly the lead single A Dangerous Game, about murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.) A wall of fame with copies of owner Robert West's recordings at Stead Ranch Steak House. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) West, since divorced, announced the restaurant's return in February 2016. 'We want to offer a full night of entertainment,' he told a reporter from the Beausejour Clipper Weekly, noting he intended to add 'performer' to his long list of duties there. 'You start with dinner and drinks and end with dancing to a live band.' That formula proved successful, except the enterprise was forced to shutter once again in the summer of 2019 after West, who was also raising quarter-horses with his new wife Joanne, suffered a debilitating injury while out for a ride with two of his steeds. The steakhouse-bar is currently open three nights a week year-round, from Thursday to Saturday. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) 'At the time I had three horses: a little girl, her daddy, a two-eyed jack stallion, and her mom, a two-eyed jack mare,' he explains. 'That day we were going up a ridge in the wagon, the two older ones pulling me along, when we came upon a big buck who'd been in the area for years. 'The horses had seen him before but for whatever reason they shied, and away we went, over the ridge, rolling the wagon.' The buggy's drop pole came down on the male horse's back, killing him instantly. The mare suffered a broken leg, but somehow managed to remove herself from her rig and return to the homestead. Sensing something was obviously amiss, West's wife and employees set out to determine what had happened. 'It turned out I'd broken my neck, and had crushed my legs and pelvis,' West continues. 'I was flown to HSC, then to Toronto, where I stayed in bed for almost a year, pretty much paralyzed.' The 60-seat Stead Ranch Steak House is located north of Winnipeg and is situated in a converted century-old barn on Stead Road, just east of Gull Lake. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) West credits the nearby South Beach Casino for assisting in his rehabilitation. For months after returning home, he was granted access to the resort's indoor swimming pool. Finally, despite a pronounced limp, he reopened the restaurant in 2023 with the assistance of Joanne. While he is no longer involved with the cooking end of things — he has trouble standing for long durations — he stays busy accepting reservations and greeting regulars who make the trek from Winnipeg, Selkirk, Lac du Bonnet and the Grand Beach area. A wall of fame at Stead Ranch Steak House also features copies of owner Robert West's many recordings. The bar-eatery also features a raised stage with PA system and full drum kit to host live music performances. (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) Stead Ranch Steak House owner Robert West at the restaurant (Mikaela MacKenzie / Free Press) 'We also get a lot of Americans in the winter months who come up for the ice fishing,' he adds, mentioning the locale, which is presently open three nights a week year-round, Thursday to Saturday, was utilized in the filming of Road of Iniquity, a 2018 flick produced by Cree actor and former Member of Parliament Tina Keeper. West is also writing and recording again. This month he'll head into the studio to put the finishing touches to his latest project, which will include a Johnny Cash-like ode titled Ten-pound Ball (Hanging off a Two-foot Chain). As for retirement plans, West says if he has his druthers, he won't be going anywhere, any time soon. 'Hey, I'm only 74. I'll have long enough to rest when I'm in the ground, for good.' If you value coverage of Manitoba's arts scene, help us do more. Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. David Sanderson Dave Sanderson was born in Regina but please, don't hold that against him. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Snow in August
Don't feel bad if you didn't see your name on Frozen's cast list. Rainbow Stage auditioned more 1,000 people in the open call for its summer production of Disney's most famous musical of the gen Z and alpha childhood eras, which opened Thursday. 'We wanted to find some diamonds in the rough [and] we wanted to feel accessible to every kid who loves Frozen… And our worst nightmares came true. Everyone could sing!' says Rainbow Stage artistic director and Frozen's director Carson Nattress. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS From left: Frozen music director Andrew St. Hilaire, choreographer Jaz Sealey and director (and Rainbow Stage artistic director) Carson Nattrass auditioned more than 1,000 actors for this production. 'It's been overwhelming in every sense — and then we went on sale and our system crashed, because people are so moved by this story.' If you're not someone who watches movies with the kids in your family, you've still probably heard Frozen's iconic power anthem, 2013's Let It Go. Like most contemporary Disney, Frozen takes its inspiration more from Top 40 than the jazz and Tin Pan Alley influences that coloured the musicals of the 1990s, so it may be confused for a regular pop hit. Also like so much recent Disney fare, Frozen is essentially an original story — bearing almost no connection to mythology, legends or fairy tales beyond a loose resemblance to Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen — which may mean its plot is unfamiliar. In short: when Queen Elsa (voiced by Broadway stalwart Idina Menzel in the movie) accidentally plunges her kingdom into eternal winter with her ice powers, her sister younger Anna (voiced by Hollywood actress Kristen Bell) sets out on a dangerous quest to find her and bring back summer. Along the way, this being Disney, she finds wisecracking sidekicks in talking or anthropomorphized creatures (a snowman and a reindeer among them) who join her for one reason or another on her journey — which is ultimately about love and sisterhood. Where some productions opt for older professional actors to play young leads, Rainbow Stage decided that for a show still so popular with children, it wanted to stay authentic. For the roles of Young Anna and Young Elsa, they were set on finding actors who fit this age description, even if they were amateurs. An open call format then just made sense. 'It's not teen years playing kids. We have true kid energy. It's very sweet,' says Nattress. But an open call, in this case, meant an open floodgate. Rainbow Stage's creative team saw groups of 10 kids at once for about three days straight in search of Young Anna and Young Elsa. It meant tough odds for hopeful talent and tough choices for Rainbow Stage. They narrowed their callback list to 20 children, but in the end just two actors felt too few. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS From left: Frozen music director Andrew St. Hilaire, choreographer Jaz Sealey and director (and Rainbow Stage artistic director) Carson Nattrass auditioned more than 1,000 actors. 'Layla (North) stole the role of Young Elsa,' says Nattress. 'And then we didn't know what to do, when Emmaline (Arnold) and Kari (Castillo) auditioned,' he adds, concerning the role of Young Anna. 'And I remember Jaz [Sealey] yelled from his car, 'Can we just have them share the role and alternate every night?' And we looked at each other and went, 'That's a great idea, because they both earned it.'' Sealey, Frozen's choreographer, had his Rainbow Stage debut himself as a performer in 2000. Like more than a few RS alumni, he's gone on to do notable things in the theatre world. After debuting on Broadway's 2012 production of Jesus Christ Superstar, he's continued to appear in Broadway's Aladdin since its original production in 2014. Nattress says this makes him one of the longest serving actors in Broadway history. Sealey's taken a little break from Broadway to choreograph Frozen. All this underscores the spirit of Winnipeg's musical theatre community, where casts are often mixed age-wise with child actors learning their chops alongside established performers who likewise got their start as kids. Nattress says that while young performers benefit from the example of adults, those adults are often charmed by their younger peers' energy and sincerity. 'It turns the tables,' he says. 'They — we — all battle our egos. And there's something about (a mixed-age cast) that takes the edge off for the adults… it removes cynicism.' North, Arnold and Castillo have their older counterparts in Julia Davis, who plays Anna, and Tiera Lee Watts, who plays Elsa. Both are from Winnipeg, but Watts — who debuted at Rainbow Stage just a couple of months ago in Rock of Ages — now lives in Toronto. '(Tiera's) Elsa is elegant, intelligent, a powerhouse… Her voice is stunning. She's exactly what you look for,' says Nattress. Supplied Layla Forth as Young Elsa (left) and Kari Castillo, one of two people playing Young Anna, build a snowman in the Rainbow Stage production of Frozen. While Elsa gets the musical's biggest tune, Let It Go, Anna is on stage non-stop as the hero of the journey. She's shot out of a cannon and sings number after number. 'Julia Davis, I can't say enough about her, because the role of Anna in Frozen is probably one of the hardest roles that in my recent memory of modern musical theatre,' says Nattress. Monthly What you need to know now about gardening in Winnipeg. An email with advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing. 'She's hilarious, she's sweet. It's like all the things that if I were a kid who loves Frozen and knows the spirit of Anna, you're gonna see her and go, 'There she is.'' While it's common these days for theatre productions to take boldly interpretative approaches to well-established material, postmodern-ing this and that, Nattress wanted to stay true to the source. 'It was our conversation on the first day of rehearsal: carrying the responsibility of telling the story to people who love it this music. (We come) from a place of honoring the source material,' he says. '(People) are coming because they love this Academy Award-winning film that changed animated musicals and the tropes within them forever.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. 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