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Tyson Reimer & Ryan Murfitt To Open “Peckinpah” In Gastown…

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Restaurant builder Ryan Murfitt (Bao Bei, Calabash, and many more) and restaurateur Tyson Reimer (Cobre, Deacon’s Corner) have secured a lease of the ground floor at 2 Water Street. If you’re not familiar with the address it’s the beautiful Italianate-style Byrnes Block (1887) next door to Six Acres. It’s a heck of a corner location, facing out on on both Carrall and Water. Photos and more after the jump…

  • Peckinpah coming to Gastown
  • Peckinpah | 2 Water Street (taken from the Chill Winston patio)
  • Peckinpah | Tyson Reimer and Ryan Murfitt
  • Peckinpah | The back brick wall where the open kitchen line and smoker will be
  • Peckinpah | The entrance, taken from an imaginary bar
  • Peckinpah | There will be seating in the window looking out onto Maple Tree Square
  • Peckinpah | The big door
  • Peckinpah | Rear door might see take-out cash/carry action
  • Peckinpah | The stairs to the lower level (office and storage)
  • Peckinpah | Looking out on Maple Tree Square
  • Peckinpah | Looking back across the kitchen and bar toward the dish pit
  • Peckinpah | Stairs below
  • Peckinpah | History of the Byrnes Block
  • Peckinpah | Coming October 2010 (give or take)

The restaurant will be called Peckinpah, so named after the old (and controversial) movie director Sam Peckinpah, who made The Wild Bunch, Cross Of Iron, The Osterman Weekend and a dozen other hard-edged films. “He was a hard balls fucking director”, Reimer says. “He was known for doing things his way”.

It’s a small space (just 900 sqft) but I’d put the ceilings at over 12 ft. and the walls (save for the old brick back) are lined with massive windows that open on to the street. They’ve only just received the keys today, but first imaginings see 35 seats all day, with a long, 16 seat open kitchen bar.

As for the food concept, it’s North Carolina BBQ. Expect dry rubs, pulled pork, brisket, St. Louis rib, smoked oysters, prawn boils, and so on (they’re getting a smoker installed front and center, one that can turn out 550lbs of meat a day).

In a cool little twist, none other than Barry Benson of R&B Brewing will be the guy putting together the 12 beer tap list. A few whisky cocktails will be on offer as well. “Imagine a saloon that has grown up”, is how Reimer described it to me in the space this afternoon. No problem.

Opening day is conservatively being set for October.

There are 13 comments

  1. The boys should consult Sally Pateman of Section (3), formerly De Niro’s, about the advisability of naming their restaurant after a Hollywood big name. Peckinpah is dead but his estate may still hold rights to his name.

  2. Yeah I don’t see the Peckinpahs havin a problem. 12 kegs in 900 sq. feet well…

  3. Sounds mighty good to me. Now that Dix is closed I need a new BBQ joint to hang out at…..I will see you soon Tyson.

  4. As per the other posts using the name of someone famous is a great way to meet ‘gorillas in suits’.

  5. Finally a tenant for that space. A lot of people looked at it, but it was quirky. Looking forward to see the end results.

  6. Hopefully his estate doesn’t come after you guys like De Niro’s. I watched “The Wild Bunch” only a few weeks ago.

  7. I heard an angel gets it’s wings when someone eats dry bbq then courageously goes online to comment on it . Congrats newly winged angel!!

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