STREET FOOD, INDIAN STYLE
Kensington restaurant goes for urban vibe
The last few months have done a number on even the most well-established restaurants in Calgary. But imagine what it’s been like for new businesses that either opened at the beginning of March or, after months or even years of planning, were slated to open their doors this spring. Needless to say, the pandemic has put a lot of those plans up in the air, pushing back openings if not quashing some new restaurants altogether.
But sometimes, once the wheels of a new business have been put in motion, there’s no turning back. That was the case with Indie Counterculture, a new restaurant in Kensington that officially opened last month, first for takeout and then for in-house dining. A “coming soon” sign first appeared in the window of the old 10th Street Burger 320 location at the end of January, promising a March 2020 launch. Naturally, COVID-19 pushed that opening date back, but after licking his wounds, owner Rob Crnkovic decided he had no choice but to move forward.
Crnkovic said that he’s been plotting the idea for the restaurant for years and had already invested enough to make opening make sense. After a career in custom home building, Crnkovic began to pursue his dream of running a restaurant and developed a vision for a fun and accessible casual restaurant focused on Indian street food.
“This is my passion meeting my business background,” Crnkovic says. “And it really came together in Indian food, which is my favourite style of food. But we wanted to do it with a very cool, urban vibe.”
Crnkovic used his home design skills to create a contemporary storefront that looks nothing like the more traditional Indian dining rooms that most of us are used to. He had originally conceived Indie Counterculture as a takeout restaurant, but his location has enough room for dine-in customers, while also making up for the current lack of Indian restaurants in Kensington. Crnkovic considers his Kensington digs a “flagship” location, having developed a business plan with room for expansion and franchising.
As for the food, Crnkovic knew he wanted to do unfussy streetstyle food, with names that would resonate with people new to the world of Indian food. He developed a pun-heavy menu, then hired chefs Arshad Shaikh and Gurpeet Singh to make those dishes a reality. The result is a relatively tight menu of curries that can be ordered a la carte or as combos with rice and naan ($10 for the one-choice “crater” and $13 for the two-choice “eruption”). The curries can also be incorporated in dishes like a hefty poutine ($11) and The Blunt rolled sandwich ($10), which is a riff on a kati roll. The menu is rounded out by selections like Mad Cow beef sliders dressed with coriander mint chutney and turmeric mustard ($14), battered shrimp slides dubbed The Gump ($16) and a “chaat room” section (the puns really are a thing here) full of Indian street snacks like The OG, the restaurant’s take on traditional papri chaat ($10).
Indie Counterculture is located at 126 10th St. N.W. The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and can be reached at 403-930-0232 or indiecounterculture.com.
As restaurants slowly reopen and diversify their business models, there’s plenty of other local food news to report this week. First up, after being closed since the beginning of the year for city flood mitigation work, followed by the pandemic, River Café
(25 Prince’s Island) is up and running. The restaurant is open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch Wednesday through Sunday and is also offering picnics for takeaway.
The baskets are packed to order, with a la carte items including tinned asparagus and side stripe shrimp salads ($12), the restaurant’s famous red lentil hummus ($6), and buttermilk chicken sandwiches ($14), as well as indulgent add-ons like chocolate truffles ($9) and Northern Divine caviar ($85). Non-alcoholic drinks, beer, canned cocktails and bottles of wine can also be added to any order. Guests who want to picnic in high style can also add on a classy wicker picnic basket. Baskets can be ordered the day before pickup at river-cafe.com.
River Café isn’t the only local restaurant giving customers plenty of options around social distancing protocols. Out in Bearspaw, Flores and Pine (254028 Bearspaw Road) is not only now doing patio dining and traditional takeout, but it’s also launched new cook-at-home kits as well as a Supper Club. The Supper Club involves a multi-course, prix fixe meal prepared by executive chef Rory Mcgouran, served to a small group of guests, with plenty of space between each table. The cost is $100 per person with the option of adding wine pairings. Reservations can be made at floresandpine.com.
Finally, I profiled chef Jamie Harling’s new venture Harling Food Co. right as the pandemic was hitting, but even as his public dinners with Dade Loft were thwarted because of the pandemic, the chef-turned-firefighter is still coming up with creative ways to get his food on people’s plates. Harling’s Sunday Supper meal kits are portioned to serve either two or four (good news for families who are finding takeout for four to be cost-prohibitive). The menu changes every week and orders can be placed at harlingfoodco.com.