Burnt Crust co-owner, Katrina McCallum’s fondest food memories are Thanksgiving dinners with family.
“My family, maybe I’m biased, but it’s better than everyone else’s family,” she says with a laugh. “They’re all awesome people. They’re funny, and so kind. Family gatherings for Thanksgiving dinners were the best.”
Even now, with the extended family split between Minden and New Brunswick, more than 20 relatives rent a lodge in Quebec, “with the longest table we can possibly find and gather around that.”
Glancing around the patio at Burnt Crust, McCallum comments the outside tables could be pushed together to form one long table there, “like that Thanksgiving table.”
The pizzeria opened June 27 in the former Algonquin Outfitters store at 12667 Hwy. 35
McCallum’s partner, Avi Berger, is co-owner. The two have renovated over many months, doing a lot of the labour themselves. “I’m glad to be out of construction mode and getting into restaurant mode,” she said.
McCallum said she comes to the trade naturally, as “my grandmother was a serious baker. My mom’s a really good cook. I got a lot of exposure from both of them to get skilled on both sides of the culinary industry.”
She’s Irish, not Italian, but says, “you can’t even get tired of Italian food.” She loves pasta, too, and says once they get the pizza side operating at full capacity, they can begin offering pastas. They’ve also applied for a liquor license. They have Donair sauce, desserts and non-alcoholic drinks.
They were aware of Godfathers, but did not know about New Orleans Pizza, which has recently opened. However, McCallum said their pizza is different.
They have a massive pizza oven, made by Marra Forni, that can cook 10 pizzas at a time. While baking, the stone rotates, making it easier and more efficient. Their pizzas are Neapolitan style, with thin crust and raised, bubbly edges. The dough is made by hand and left to rest and ferment for 24 hours before baking. McCallum said it increases the flavour and texture. And, like the business name, the idea is to have burnt pieces on the crust.
“We’re going to introduce weekly special pizzas and hopefully people will give us feedback on whether they want that one to stay… our menu will grow with people’s tastes around here. The nice thing about it is we’re not a chain. We can change it.”
They plan to operate year-round and have a portable pizza oven so they can visit events and festivals and cater as well.
McCallum said she and Berger moved to Minden Hills to be closer to her parents. “It’s touristy for a reason, because all the lakes are just gorgeous, and it makes summer time way more fun than being in the city or anywhere.”
As for how they’ve been received, McCallum said she hadn’t heard bad reviews, although on the Canada Day long weekend, they were short-staffed and it took longer to deliver food to customers. “Some people are understanding and some people are not. That’s the reality.” She added “everybody’s quite receiving” of the actual food.
She noted how other restauranters have welcomed them, too. “They’re happy to support one another.
“And we’re just excited. We’re going to expand and this is just the start.”
