Raw look at pop-up Challenges of building winter restaurant on the river explored in new doc By: Eva Wasney Posted: 2:00 AM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024

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This article was published 09/10/2024 (686 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ambitious construction, international chefs, health inspectors and a river that just won’t freeze.

Raw Almond is a new documentary about the ebbs and flows of bringing RAW:almond, Winnipeg’s ephemeral winter pop-up restaurant, to life.

Chef Mandel Hitzer, of deer + almond, and designer Joe Kalturnyk have been collaborating on the feat of temporary architecture and fine dining situated at the frozen junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers since January 2013.

The 90-minute doc from local production studio Farpoint Films focuses on the 2024 edition, an event plagued by unseasonably warm temperatures and challenging logistics.

Mere weeks before the first seating, Hitzer and Kalturnyk had to pivot from building on the flimsy ice to safe, solid ground at The Forks.

“It was definitely more worrisome for them,” Farpoint president Kyle Bornais says of the documentary subjects. “For us, honestly, it was like, ‘Well, this will make great television.’”

However, one thing did have to change from a filmmaking perspective: “Initially, the name of the film was Fire on Ice, so we had to get rid of that title because it no longer made sense,” Bornais says with a laugh.

The last-minute location change added an extra layer of drama to an annual event already filled with tight deadlines and bureaucratic hurdles. Raw Almond highlights the challenges of creating a dining room and kitchen out of thin air in the middle of winter.

Hitzer is frequently seen delivering impassioned pep talks to staff, while Kalturnyk spends most of the film helping with construction and making frantic phone calls to permitting and licensing offices.

It all comes to a head when the first guests arrive. Tables are still being built and the health inspection is off to a rocky start. Turns out the tension is nothing new.

“This seems to always f**cking happen,” Kalturnyk says in the documentary. “It’s part of the show — not part of the show I’d like to keep repeating.”

The film wraps with a jubilant staff celebration at the close of the restaurant’s 22-day run.

“Fears were conquered, dreams were made,” Hitzer says in a toast to the kitchen.

In addition to following the behind-the-scenes action at RAW:almond, the film crew travelled to Portugal, New York, Nashville and Toronto to interview the year’s guest chefs on their home turf.

“You don’t tell the full story if we just stayed here. You need to speak to these chefs and find out why they came, what they do at home and who they are when they’re not freezing their asses off in Winnipeg,” Bornais says.

The out-of-province participants spoke glowingly about the novel experience.

The inspiration for Raw Almond also came from further afield. It was executive producer Tara Mewis, a filmmaker from Saskatoon, who initially pitched Farpoint on the idea of making a documentary about RAW:almond.

“We’d been thinking about it for ages, but it took somebody from outside of Winnipeg to make it happen. It’s almost like you don’t know what you’ve got when you live here,” Bornais says.

Farpoint hopes to find an international market for the documentary — something Bornais is optimistic about thanks to the rising popularity of operational restaurant dramas such as The Bear.

“That behind-the-scenes look at a restaurant will probably get more viewers than had The Bear not existed,” he says.

Raw Almond premières Saturday at 8 p.m. on Super Channel and will be available on demand.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @evawasney