At Dad's Diner, a Regina chef is doing right by his German ancestors

Allan Pulga · For CBC News

· Posted: Mar 25, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

A caller German edifice successful Regina's Heritage neighbourhood is serving up each sorts of schnitzel and getting rave reviews.

But the cook — oregon should I say, the dad? — down Dad's Diner astatine 1419 11th Ave. is accustomed to precocious praise. He operated an award-winning nutrient motortruck called The Frying Deutschmann for years earlier launching his archetypal brick-and-mortar edifice successful November 2024.

"I've ever liked cooking," said Tim Philp, proprietor and relation of Dad's Diner. "It's conscionable a truly large mode to pass with radical and to marque radical consciousness good."

Philp grew up connected a workplace adjacent Souris, Man., but didn't turn up eating German food. Focusing connected German cuisine, including assorted schnitzels, spaetzles, bratwurst and currywurst, has been a mode for Philp to get successful interaction with his roots. 

"My grandmother's household primitively came from Bavaria successful 1750 and settled [in Canada], truthful [through the nutrient truck] I've been getting a small spot successful interaction with the nutrient of my ancestors."

Philp has worked hard to cleanable his recipes. The Zigeunerschnitzel, oregon Hungarian schnitzel, is simply a crockery he's peculiarly arrogant of. He was looking for antithetic schnitzel sauces online and recovered recipes for a tangy Hungarian condiment mostly made from herb sauce, reddish doorbell peppers, paprika, onions and chickenhearted stock. Philp combined the champion parts of a fewer recipes to travel up with his own. 

"I've had immoderate precise lukewarm lawsuit reviews," helium said. "People who are straight from Hungary, wherever that originates from, said it conscionable transports them straight location to their moms' and grandmothers' kitchens. So to beryllium capable to elicit that benignant of a effect from somebody, it's the best." 

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Philp takes large pridefulness successful making everything from scratch. The schnitzel, for example, begins arsenic pork loin, centre cut.

"The main muscle," helium explains. "We trim each the abdominous disconnected of it, chopped it into cutlets and past we manus lb it into the schnitzel with an aluminum mallet, and past breadstuff it and fry it."

The spaetzle, a German pasta-like dumpling, is made caller arsenic well.

"We marque an ovum batter, walk it done a sieve into blistery h2o wherever it forms small strings and balls, and past we cookware fry that. And for the food spaetzle, we besides flip it successful a food sauce."

It's not each German fare astatine Dad's Diner. Like galore of america increasing up successful the Prairies, helium is acquainted with Ukrainian nutrient too. Perogies and sausage made it connected the menu. There are besides schnitzel sandwiches, burgers, chili, chili food fries, poutine and a rotating crockery of the day.

For dessert, you tin take betwixt Mom's Chocolate Cake oregon cinnamon buns. His 3 children are particularly fond of his cinnamon buns.

If you inquire Philp for a burger recommendation, it's the chorizo one, which is uncommon to spot connected menus.

"I marque the chorizo from scratch, I toast the peppers, I grind the peppers, I premix the nutrient by hand. It's the bosom and soul."

Dad's Diner is the latest halt successful a agelong travel of edifice enactment for Philp, which began erstwhile helium moved present successful 2005 to survey planetary concern astatine the University of Regina. He bounced betwixt Boston Pizza, The Copper Kettle, Ramada Hotel, Grekos and much successful between.

All of that was abstracted from his acquisition operating nutrient trucks, archetypal successful 2014 with Nacho Fiesta and past successful 2019 with The Frying Deutschmann, the second which continues to run during the summertime season.

Philp said that if helium could talk to his younger self, helium would promote him to instrumentality the aforesaid path.

"I'd accidental commencement earlier, bash it faster. Take that leap 5 years up of clip and conscionable get going. This is my archetypal accidental to beryllium retired connected my ain and I wouldn't commercialized it for the world," helium said.

"It makes my day just to spot idiosyncratic enjoying a repast that I made. No amended feeling."