It ain’t fancy, but food, service are welcoming

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/05/2009 (6358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Every now and then I’m asked to recommend a good, upscale restaurant in the North End, and I can’t. I just don’t know of any. In fact, some of the area’s simple but most fabled establishments are no longer there either. Some have moved south — the White House is now on Grant Avenue, its ribs for takeout only, and Oscar’s has moved its corned beef sandwiches to midtown. Gone altogether and much lamented are Simon’s beautiful borscht and blintzes.

No, you won’t find foie gras on any neighbourhood menus — casual always was, and is, more characteristic of the area. But there are still a few institutions that have withstood the test of time, drawing a loyal clientele from even distant suburbs.

The baba of them all is Alycia’s, which has grown from a tiny corner nook into a cosy clutter of rooms seating 120, with the nicest tables next to any of the windows. For over 30 years now this bastion of Ukrainian comfort food has been hand-rolling its perogies and filling them with potatoes and cheddar or — on Wednesdays, and until the batch sells out — with sauerkraut or cottage cheese. They come boiled, deep fried or pan-fried; the last is best, in my opinion, but available at dinner only.

You can have them on their own (six for $6.95), or with either the rice-stuffed holubchi or a kolbassa that is very close to a fine ham sausage ($7.95 each), or with both ($8.95), Really serious eaters can have the enormous $29.95 dinner for two (which will easily do for three), comprising all the above, and plenty of them, plus soup and beverage. Even if you don’t have any of the combos be sure to try one of the soups — creamy beet borscht, tangy kapusniak (sauerkraut soup) or soothing potato soup, all delicious ($3.95 each).

The thin potato pancakes are wonderfully crisp ($7.95) and recently I finally ventured beyond Alycia’s signature specialties and tried the stuffed pork with its sage-seasoned dressing — moist, savoury and delicious. It’s available as an appetizer with an excellent beet horseradish ($5.95), or as a main course with cole slaw and a choice of perogies, holubchi or fries ($10.95).

I also tried a relatively recent addition to the menu, to wit, the tender crepes with a luscious cottage cheese filling ($5.95). They are listed with the appetizers, but if I were to have them again it would be as a dessert.

***

The look on her face was somewhere between pain and pity. If I could translate it into words it might have been "How could you ask such a question!" The question in question was, were the fries fresh or frozen, and her look made the answer obvious. Of course the fries were freshly made, just like almost everything else at Luda’s.

It’s a weathered little place, cramped enough to be snug, and decidedly downscale — a mere 32 seats squeezed around eight small tables, plus four stools at a counter, and is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. only, Monday to Saturday. With a mere 22 years behind it, it’s the baby of today’s bunch.

It’s been said that one of the first of my family forebears to settle in Winnipeg had a grocery store at this corner, a fact disputed by some of my cousins. I choose to believe the story for sentimental reasons, but the main reason I like Luda’s is for its authenticity and delicious straightforward food.

The first thing that strikes you is how cheerful a place it is. There was a camaraderie between the customers, and with the two women who were manning the kitchen on my visit, and seemed to know them all by name, and even what they would order. Most, when I got there, were still on their breakfasts, which looked terrific — the eggs runny, the hash browns glisteningly fresh, the bacon crisp and the toast well buttered.

They made me wish I’d come for one of those breakfasts, which are among Luda’s biggest attractions, but I hadn’t. I had come, primarily, for the excellent and notoriously big Reuben sandwich, a massive affair that might easily serve two ($6.50); a tuna sandwich is almost as generous ($4.50).

Those fresh shoestring fries were crisp and hot ($2.50) and there are also such iconic North End dishes as a slightly tangy, scarlet borscht ($2.95) and silken, house-made perogies paired with chunks of garlicky kolbassa ($7.95).

***

If Alycia’s is the baba, and Luda’s the baby, Kelekis is the great-grand-daddy, founded by Chris Kelekis as a chip wagon in 1931, and still operated by daughter Mary Kelekis, with several next generation family members helping out. It’s an obligatory Winnipeg stop, and the walls are lined with photographs of celebrities who have actually been there — the most notorious incident, possibly, was when Stephane Dion ate his hot dog with a knife and fork.

These are the fries some of us grew up on (only in those days we called them chips) and they are still skinny and seductive ($l.50 regular, $2.50 large).

Just about everybody has had a burger ($4) and/or a grilled hot dog ($3.50), but how many know about the sweet-fleshed fish (halibut) and chips ($11.50)?

Or, for that matter, the cinnamon-sprinkled rice pudding made from an old family recipe? It’s glorious.

marion.warhaft@freepress.mb.ca

 

 Dining Out

Alycia’s, 559 Cathedral Avenue, 582-8789

Luda’s, 410 Aberdeen Avenue, 589-2583

Kelekis, 1100 Main Street, 582-1786

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