You could say that Durham Street is a fancy food lover’s thoroughfare with Respect is Burning right next to Oscar’s Grill.
Oscar’s has been downtown for nine years now.
Richard Desjardins, the manager of the restaurant, only began there in September, but has already fallen in love with the place.
It offers great food, even better ambiance, and the magic of a piano bar for patrons on Friday nights.
Desjardins said one of the distinguishing factors is the quality of the beef for the burgers and the steaks with prime rib quality. Meat is sourced from Bruce Mines, near Sault Ste. Marie from Penokean Farms.
If you like your burger rare or medium rare, you just need to specify the instructions when your order is placed.
“It’s one of the only spots in Sudbury that offers burgers tailored to your satisfaction,” he boasted.
Desjardins said the pricing really cannot be beat for a high-quality, pub-style food, and relies on a client base of repeat customers who love coming back for their favourite dishes.
Those dishes include the burgers, the steaks, the Asiago Chicken Supreme with its broiled asiago cheese and marinated tomatoes, and the Grilled Atlantic Salmon dish with its honey sriracha glaze.
He said the seafood linguine and the salmon penne are also hot ticket items.
Desjardins said the restaurant believes that it needs to stay on top of the times and changes its menu with fresh new salads and appetizers every six months.
“We have never raised salad prices or took them off the menu but we follow trends and stay on top of what is trending,” Desjardins said.
Another special touch that Oscar’s offers is a piano bar on Friday evenings.
Sudbury musician Eric Pukara plays a variety of songs and takes requests.
“He can play nearly anything from any time period or genre of music. Not many song requests have stumped him yet from what I can see,” Desjardins added.
Eric will sometimes get called in on other evenings if big groups are expected.
Desjardins, whose background comes from bartending at Di Gusto for a five-year span, is working the bar to include signature and special occasion cocktails.
“We’ve had a homemade eggnog with bourbon and rum for the holidays. There will be mulled wine for the winter months and customers can expect a Valentine’s cocktail next month.”
Desjardins is also looking at 2023 as an opportunity to add one more lunch and one more supper opening per week.
Oscar’s Grill is located at 86 Durham Street in the downtown core.
Currently it’s open for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays 11:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Dinner hours are 4:30 to 10 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday each week.
It can be found at OscarsGrill.ca and on Facebook and Instagram.
Anastasia Rioux is a writer in Greater Sudbury. Let’s eat! is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
