A decade ago, the notion of establishing an upscale dining establishment in a rural Newfoundland community might have been considered a risky and somewhat foolhardy venture. But as evidenced by the success of such operations in the Bonavista area and a host of other small locales around the province with evolving demographics and tourist appeal, it’s a model that has the potential to work.
The latest is the Angry Urchin, located on the doorstep to the Bell Island ferry crossing in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s.
“When we were getting into the restaurant business, we were looking at something downtown, but being our first time I didn’t want to get in over our heads. The high rent and the turnover rate downtown is really scary,” says Paul Alexander, who co-owns the kitchen and bar style restaurant with his fiancée, Cindy Hann.
“We’re close enough to downtown that you can get the people to come out, but we’re far enough away that we can probably make some mistakes or have some slow weeks and it wouldn’t affect us as much.”
The duo is also banking on the patronage of local residents and those in neighbouring communities, a demographic that has grown to include a number of young families in recent years. The success of the nearby Grounds Café at Murray’s Garden Centre just up the road provided added confidence.
“We saw the clientele there and ran some demographics, so we knew the people were here, especially up towards Flatrock and Pouch Cove, there’s nothing really in this part of the Avalon outside of St. John’s,” says Alexander.
“For the people around here especially, they don’t have to travel into town in a one-way $60 cab ride anymore.”
The establishment was known as Wild Horses Pub and Eatery when Alexander and Hann took over ownership last July, and they kept it that way through a busy 2017 tourist season. It wasn’t until the winter months that plans for the Angry Urchin began to take shape.
The most important component of that plan was to ensure the menu and esthetic fell in line with Alexander and Hann’s passion for using as many local products and ingredients as they can get their hands on.
“That’s what most customers want when they go to restaurants,” Alexander says. “They want to know where their food is coming from, they want it local, they want it fresh, not frozen, they want to know exactly what’s on their plate.
“That’s how we cook and that’s how we’ll serve our plates in here.”
Alexander says 70 per cent of the menu comes from the Conception Bay area. Beef and pork is sourced from Taylor’s Meats in Conception Bay South, produce is coming from Coates Farm and Murray’s Greenhouse, Hann’s father provides much of the seafood and professional forager Shawn Dawson of The Barking Kettle provides a variety of edible products plucked from area woods and shorelines.
The commitment to local is so fierce that rather than using lemons and limes from the grocery store to meet their citrus needs, they’re using Newfoundland Beer Vinegar from Wild Mother Provisions and hybrid herbs like orange thyme and lemon balm.
The local focus also extends to the bar menu, where taps will pour beer from Newfoundland craft breweries and a cocktail menu with Newfoundland-inspired beverages like Mummer’s Last Dance and The Sally Brown, all of them using ingredients foraged by Dawson.
Other Newfoundland operations providing products include Five Brothers Cheese, the Newfoundland Salt Company, the Newfoundland Distillery Company, and Third Place Cocktail Company.
Even the tables and chairs are local, fabricated by Out of the Woodworks NL’s Josh Strong.
“A community feel, that’s what the main goal is,” Alexander says of their dedication to local first. “If one of us does better, we all do better, so let’s help each other out.”
Preparing all the culinary and cocktail creations is the team of Alberta-born brothers Jesse and Cody Woodland, both award-winning Red Seal chefs with a bevy of industry experience. The brothers, however, didn’t come as a package.
Jesse was living in Edmonton when he spotted Alexander’s online posting in search of a head chef and ended up applying without realizing the position was in Newfoundland, where, coincidentally, Cody was working as a sous chef in a Corner Brook sushi restaurant.
“If I had to envision a perfect chef for me, he was totally it,” Alexander says of Jesse. “If he was opening a restaurant it would look pretty much identical to this.”
With one accomplished chef already in the kitchen, Cody was recruited to run the front of house and create the cocktail menu.
“You can see making cocktails through the eyes of a chef sounds pretty damn awesome.”
Rather than employing the traditional appetizer-entrée-dessert menu, The Angry Urchin has adopted the shared plates style that is becoming increasingly popular.
“Nowadays, people don’t want to have just one thing, they want to try a bunch of things, they want to try the entire menu.”
Visit theangryurchin.com to check out the full food and cocktail menu and hours of operation.
Twitter: kennoliver79
