Winnipeg couple’s dual-concept eatery short-listed for EnRoute’s Best New Restaurants list

September 10, 2024 Canuck

The couple behind one of Winnipeg’s buzziest eateries is celebrating a major culinary coup.

Dual-concept café and bakery Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch is a finalist for EnRoute Magazine’s Best New Restaurants of 2024.

The Osborne Village restaurant serving up melt-in-your-mouth crullers and mortadella-packed Italian sandwiches is Winnipeg’s only business in the running to make the top ten list announced in November.

Owners Cloe Wiebe and Andrew Koropatnick say they were shocked to find their humble restaurant, where patrons bus their own dishes, amongst the other fine-dining finalists.

“We just feel like we’re a silly little, chaotically thrown together, many different concept type of business,” Wiebe told CTV News Winnipeg in an interview.

“So it was kind of shocking and also really exciting and unbelievable.”

Every year, the magazine sends undercover writers across the country on a tasty mission to find the best new spots. The short-list has 30 of the country’s newest and brightest, including a Montreal brasserie and a Toronto Korean-barbecue joint.

A number of Crumb Queen confections are pictured at the bakery-café’s location on Osborne Street. (Cloe Wiebe)

From pop-up bakery to brick and mortar

Pastry chef Wiebe’s Instagram-worthy confections first made mouths drool during the pandemic through her pop-up, micro-bakery Crumb Queen.

Her online pre-sales for airy crullers and flaky loaves of sourdough were known to sell out within minutes, with Wiebe cooking out of her bachelor apartment’s kitchen to feed the hungry masses.

She joined forces with Koropatnick a year ago to open their dual-concept restaurant in Osborne Village.

Crumb Queen’s signature crullers. (Cloe Wiebe)

The pair, who are romantic partners away from the kitchen, previously cooked together at tree-planting camps in British Columbia. They signed a short-term lease for the Osborne space sight unseen, not really knowing how it would turn out.

Koropatnick is a chef with a lengthy CV and a taste for hearty Italian food. He describes his dishes for Andy’s Lunch as elevated comfort food, with a menu of ever-revolving, drool-worthy pasta dishes and Italian sandwiches to compliment Wiebe’s boulangerie fare.

The bakery-café is a nice change of pace for Koropatnick, career-wise. He has spent much of his 12-year career working in fine dining. He believes this resto better aligns with his broader culinary philosophy – to feed an appetite for a more casual culinary experience without sacrificing taste and quality.

“I know a lot of people who still work in restaurants, and you want to chase those nicely prepped dishes and all the expensive stuff. I still enjoy going to restaurants like that, too,” he said.

“But I think it doesn’t always have to be the molecular gastronomy kind of thing that we’ve been doing for the last 20 years.”

Bianca sandwiches, a staple in Andy’s Lunch’s ever-evolving menu, are pictured at the Osborne Village restaurant. (Cloe Wiebe)

Since opening its doors, Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch consistently sells out, with winding lines out the door. In more ways than one, Wiebe and Koropatnick know how to leave them hungry for more. The business’s short-term lease in its Osborne Village space expires in the new year.

They aren’t sure what’s on the menu next. As for making EnRoute’s top ten list?

“Just to be in this group alone is crazy,” Wiebe said.

“We’re just making crullers and pastries and sandwiches, and there’s so many talented people working in all those other amazing restaurants, so this is good enough for us,” Koropatnick said.

Holubtsi mezzalune, a half-moon pasta filled with pork, rice, cabbage and garlic and served in tomato sauce with sour cream and dill, was featured on the Andy’s Lunch menu in April. (Cloe Wiebe)