Wildly popular RAW:almond pop-up restaurant features 35 chefs from around globe

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This article was published 10/12/2018 (2519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Michelin stars and a reality TV star are among the more than 30 chefs who will create meals at next month’s Raw:Almond pop-up dinners on Winnipeg’s frozen rivers.

Since the popular winter dining event served its first meals seven years ago, Raw:Almond has grown beyond anything its creators could have imagined, said designer Joe Kalturnyk, who co-founded the event in 2013.

“To be honest, we thought we’d do it for a weekend,” Kalturnyk said Monday, at a media gathering to unveil the event’s guest chef roster. “The real game plan was: we’ve just got to sell out the first week so that we can pay for the second week. We really were just hoping that it would do well.”

While the fine-dining experience is often a big draw for guests at the annually sold-out events, Kalturnyk said the architecture and design of the structures that house the dinners have been years in the making. 

“It’s been kind of a dream come true in a way… When I was in school, (something like Raw:Almond) was one of those, ‘Wouldn’t it be a dream if you could do this?’” he said. 

“I’m interested in bringing an entirely different universe. I want people to step into a completely different space, be that lighting, sound, just the visuals. Everything is going to feel different.”

The hype surrounding the event has spread so far it’s becoming difficult to keep up with demand — both from people wanting to buy tickets, and from people wanting to participate in putting the meals together, said chef and Raw:Almond co-founder Mandel Hitzer.

“Word’s getting out across Canada, down in the States,” he said.

“Chefs are literally getting a hold of me to come here, and I’ve had to actually turn people down. So we’re really excited to bring people to Winnipeg that would never have the opportunity to come here.”

Hitzer said he’s excited about the variety of chefs involved in this year’s event, including 25 from outside the city from places such as Iceland, Tel Aviv, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Montreal and Vancouver.

Some notables on board include: New York-based Jonas Offenbach (formerly of the Michelin-starred Contra); Jeremy Charles (of St. John’s, N.L., restaurant Raymonds, and the only chef to have won EnRoute magazine’s best new restaurant in Canada title twice); Makoto and Amanda Ono (chefs/owners of Vancouver restaurant Mak N’ Ming, and formerly of Gluttons in Winnipeg); Tel Aviv-born, Montreal-based Yohai Rubin (various New York City Michelin-starred restaurants); and Los Angeles-based Joe Sasto (who finished third in season 15 of Bravo TV’s Top Chef earlier this year).

The 2019 event will also feature dishes by Winnipeg chefs, including Clementine’s Chris Gamma, the Tallest Poppy’s Talia Syrie, Ben Kramer of Ben Kramer Custom Catering, Deer+Almond’s Stefan Lytwyn and Scott Bagshaw of Enoteca, Maque and Passero.

The Raw:Almond weekend brunch will also return for another year (led by Kramer and Syrie). The event will also feature a brunch hosted by local fan-favourite drag queen Prairie Sky and her crew of queens.

“We look forward to seeing how the community grows. We’re celebrating food and design, and we’re bringing chefs here for Manitoba food lovers to have an experience in the middle of winter, the toughest time of year,” said Hitzer. 

“Not all of us can jump on a plane and fly to Montreal, and Toronto, and Vancouver, and get some of those experiences. So they get a little taste of something exotic and faraway when it’s -40 outside.”

The 2019 edition opens Jan. 24 and runs until Feb. 17. Tickets go on sale at 8 a.m. Saturday, at raw-almond.com.

caitlyn.gowriluk@freepress.mb.ca