An Elegy for Nimrods'

Nimrods’ announced on Facebook this week that it’s closing its Stratford location:

Hello!

My name is Jesse and I co-own nimrods with my good friend Nigel and we have important news to tell you. Sunday September 4th will be the last day we are open at our Stratford location.

The last two years have been a heck of a ride. The pace and the scope of this project demanded so much just to keep moving forward that we began to lose sight of the reasons why we started it in the first place. We set out to produce food we were proud of, to create great jobs, and to do some small amount of good in our community. I think many of you reading this know how challenging running a small business can be. I think many of you might know how hard restaurant work is, and I think pretty much all of you can think back to the personal and professional pressures the circumstances of the last few years has put on us all. Nigel and I have never begrudged any of the challenges we’ve faced, but we find ourselves now, further from our core goals, our ideals, and our very mission statement than ever before. We both believe fundamentally that something worth doing is worth doing right, so conversely, maybe when you believe you no longer have it in you to do the job the way it should be done, you should step aside. 

Many of you have driven by this little old used-to-be KFC countless times since we moved in. From the outside you could never see how loud we were laughing, the cartoons we were drawing on the walls, or memories we were making. In the last two years when the whole world felt a little less warm and a little less funny, I got through it with and because of all of you Nimrods reading this. And I wouldn’t rather pandemic with any other group of people. 

And to you, our community and customers, we’re going to miss you too. You have cheered and supported us. You’ve always shocked us with the care and quality of your feedback. And my Lord, the patience you’ve shown us even when we messed up. You have all shown me and my staff unending kindness. I can say from personal day-in-day-out experience that the spirit of community and gentle nature is alive and strong on our Island. 

You’ll still be able to drink and dine with us at our locations on the Charlottetown Marina, and who knows, maybe somewhere else in the not so distant future, but as for Stratford - you’ve got two weeks to get your fix PEI. Then it’s time for these little Nimrods to take off their aprons and Birkenstocks and raise up our delis in a final toast to our corner in Stratford. 

Cheers,
Nigel & Jesse

After capturing the Stratford Nimrods’ website to the Wayback Machine, L-the-Younger and I went across the river for one last meal there. She had poutine, as is her habit, and I had the excellent vegan burger and a coffee slushie. As usual, it was good food, well-prepared, well-served by friendly people in a we-made-the-best-of-what-we-were-dealt old Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The heart of lunch for me and L-the-Y, however, wasn’t so much the food as the Donkey Kong.

“What’s Donkey Kong?”, she asked as it scrolled by on the NES-emulator installed table-side.

I am not a video game aficionado nor nostalgist, but even I know that, when an 11 year old says ”What’s Donkey Kong?”, it is the obligation of we greybeards to rescue them.

So we played Donkey Kong.

A lot of Donkey Kong.

In 2-player mode.

And it was fun. 

A lot of fun.

We ended up staying almost 90 minutes. Which can’t be good for turning tables in a quick-serve restaurant, but was certainly a joy for us, and a fitting swan-song for a place that, while I couldn’t claim “regular” status at, carved out a soft spot in my heart.

You will be missed, Nimrods’.

Bon voyage, weirdos.