City eatery joins Canada’s 10 best list

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This article was published 06/11/2024 (643 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been a whirlwind few weeks for the owners of Crumb Queen and Andy’s Lunch.

Cloe Wiebe and Andrew Koropatnick have been busy prepping ingredients for a major out-of-town event, celebrating in secret and telling little white lies. Their Osborne Street bakery and lunch shop was not in fact closed for renovations this week, as a recent Instagram post led followers to believe.

It was a necessary ruse: The local culinary couple was headed to Toronto to accept their place on Air Canada’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants in Canada list.

“It’s incredible,” Koropatnick said over the phone following Monday night’s announcement and gala. “To be in the top 10 and be able to come and be a part of this event is just incredible.”

“It’s crazy,” Wiebe added. “It feels good and a little unbelievable to be amongst all those other restaurants.”

Air Canada has been publishing a roundup of the best Canadian restaurants for 23 years. Crumb Queen and Andy’s Lunch made the Top 30 long list in September and placed 10th among this year’s finalists, with Montreal’s Sabayon restaurant taking first place. The winners will be featured in this month’s enRoute magazine.

Winnipeg’s food scene has served up numerous contenders for the annual rankings over the last two decades — including last fall, with Petit Socco clinching fifth place overall and Bar Accanto making the long list.

Wiebe and Koropatnick were the only Prairie finalists this year among a sea of restaurateurs from Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

“Everybody loves to go, ‘Oh, Winnipeg, good job, you guys,’” Wiebe said with a laugh. “I mean, we’re used to it, right? Our entire lives we’ve been like, ‘No, no, (Winnipeg) is really good.’”

They were also the only winners specializing in casual fare. At Monday’s gala, Wiebe and Koropatnick — along with several employees and friends — served up mini honey crullers and mortadella panini, which were well-received by attendees and fellow fine-dining finalists.

“We just try to have fun with what we make,” Koropatnick said. “I think we got a good response from everyone at the event.”

The event provided a chance to connect with other entrepreneurs navigating their first year in business. Notably, half of this year’s Top 10 list is populated by restaurants owned and operated by couples.

The pair launched Crumb Queen and Andy’s Lunch as a joint venture last September after a summer spent cooking at a tree-planting camp. Wiebe had previously gained a loyal following running Crumb Queen as a ghost bakery and Koropatnick was a former chef at the Roost and the Oxbow Natural Wine Bar.

“At times it is difficult being a couple, because we can’t escape the shop when we get home,” Koropatnick says. “(But) I couldn’t do this without Cloe and she’s voiced the same thing.”

“Big time,” Wiebe says.

Since sharing news of their win, they’ve received an outpouring of congratulations from customers and local fans.

“Winnipeggers, we’re a proud bunch … so when we see a couple people going for it, the whole city rallies around it,” Koropatnick says. “We just appreciate everyone so much for supporting us.”

Wiebe and Koropatnick plan to spend the next few days decompressing and dining in Toronto and Montreal. Crumb Queen and Andy’s Lunch is set to reopen Thursday, Nov. 14.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

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