Open & Shut: Anchorage gets an upscale eatery, an organic diner and a new bread store with gluten-free options

Open & Shut is an ongoing series looking at the comings and goings of businesses in Southcentral Alaska. If you know of a business opening or closing in the area, send a note to reporter Alex DeMarban at alex@adn.com with “Open & Shut” in the subject line.

Open

Crunchy’s Real Food: Mark Anthony Cox had invested in the stock market since he was a kid, starting with money from his lawn-mowing and dog-running businesses.

Now, proceeds from those and other investments help Cox, an Eagle River High graduate, pursue his passion for cooking.

This summer, he opened Crunchy’s in a shared kitchen in South Anchorage.

“I just have fun,” he said. “I enjoy food. I enjoy serving people. And everyone gets to share in it.”

Cox uses only organic and non-GMO ingredients. He dishes up American fare and fusion-style cuisine. Most of his products are handmade, including the buns.

The banh mi burger comes with pickled cucumber and carrots, Sriracha mayonnaise and cilantro. The Hawaiian burger includes pineapple, barbecue sauce and colby jack cheese. The beverages include Olipops, a soda-like drink made with plant fibers and other ingredients.

The milkshake, made with organic ice cream and A2 milk for easy digestion, is also popular, he said.

“I believe the food speaks for itself,” said Cox, a U.S. Army veteran who grew up cooking for his mom’s catering businesses. “I take no credit for how delicious it tastes, even though I took the time to prepare the recipes.”

Crunchy’s is open Thursday through Saturday. It operates out of a shared kitchen at the Anchorage re:MADE building at 13500 Old Seward Highway, just south of Oceanview Drive.

Concoction Breads and Provisions: When people stayed home during the pandemic, Katie Wright made doorstep deliveries of her homemade bread. She baked out of a communal kitchen in South Anchorage.

Things went so well that this month, she opened her own storefront. It’s at 1443 W. Northern Lights Blvd., the former home of the Chicken Shack diner.

Concoction Breads sells handmade pastries, doughnuts, breads and pizzas. It features a wide menu of gluten-free items, such as New York-style bagels, or bread like The Golden Loaf made with coconut milk, ginger, turmeric and cinnamon. It’s great for French toast, she said.

Wright also makes traditional breads and products containing gluten. They include sourdough focaccia, sourdough jalapeno cheese, sourdough bagels and braided challah bread.

On Wednesday, first-time customer Debbie Benson took home a carrot-and-cumin bread loaf and gluten-free treats like a matcha coconut doughnut. She’d heard on social media that the gluten-free items are extra tasty, she said.

“We’re trying to give gluten-free bread a better rep,” Wright said.

Wright, a trained pastry chef and Service High graduate, said her family moved to Alaska when she was 10.

She didn’t know anyone at first, so she spent lots of time alone, learning to cook with her Easy-Bake Oven. That’s where the shop’s name comes from.

“My mom would say, ‘What kind of concoction have you come up with this time?’” she said.

Concoction is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and closed Sunday and Monday. Wright also hosts private events and cooking classes in the shop.

Stalk Steakhouse: Chef Aaron Schropp opened this prime steakhouse in Eagle River in August.

He’s taking his time to get it right.

Stalk Steakhouse is open just four evenings a week currently, Wednesday through Saturday, from 5-10 p.m. It’s been accepting reservations, but recently began taking some walk-ins.

“We want to have one of the finest wine cellars and the finest beef program in the state,” he said. “I want to build our program, build our staff, listen to our guests, and create something truly remarkable. And that doesn’t happen overnight.”

The beef for the filet mignons, ribeyes and other steaks come from Creekstone Farms, a Kansas company that works with Midwest ranchers who raise Black Angus beef.

After the meat arrives in Alaska, some of the cuts are placed in dry-aging cabinets at Stalk Steakhouse for about 21 days, he said. Evaporation helps concentrate the flavor.

“It creates this tsunami of nuttiness and richness and tenderness,” he said.

The restaurant has a 900-bottle wine cellar and wine sommeliers on staff to help with wine selection, he said. A “zero program” serves non-alcoholic drinks such as raspberry lavender lemonade and a Maui mojito with mint-infused syrup and a tropical fruit blend.

In addition to the steaks, popular items include the pecorino-and-herb-crusted halibut, shrimp cocktails, duxelle-stuffed mushrooms, and prime steakhouse meatballs.

“Our lobster mac and cheese has been absolutely gangbusters and the banana Foster creme brulee has been hard to keep up with,” he said.

Schropp, whose career has included working at the Delmonico Steakhouse in Las Vegas under Chef Emeril Lagasse, said he comes from a family of farmers in Iowa.

“I feel very fortunate to be in this small town, creating something that people have asked me for,” said Schropp, an Eagle River resident.

The restaurant is located at 12110 Business Blvd., Suite 2.

Stalk is planning a special wine dinner on Nov. 12 with JUSTIN winery from Paso Robles, California, he said. It will have five courses. They’ll start taking bookings on Monday, he said.

Bleu Sage Noshery: Heather Houck opened this eatery to provide an upscale option in Spenard and expand her catering business next door.

So far, Bleu Sage is available for private catering events and pop-up dinners. She plans to open the restaurant on a regular schedule in the coming months.

“We have an eclectic cuisine for the adventurous palate,” she said. “It’s not your regular American fare.”

A “Harvest Dinner” held this week featured international dishes with wine and Champagne pairings.

Waiters served French duck a l’orange, caviar with potato latke, and shrimp ceviche in panipuri, a breaded hollow ball from India. Oysters arrived with nuoc cham mignonette, a Vietnamese dipping sauce. The apple bread pudding in creme anglaise was topped with praline sauce.

Houck purchased Dianne’s Wild Fork Catering about five years ago, where she had long worked with colleagues who are now like family, she said.

When Tatilani Restaurant closed this spring, she jumped at the chance to lease the building and renovate it. She always wanted to serve “beautiful food in a space with enchanting ambiance,” she said.

Bleu Sage consists of three main rooms for dining, plus a bar seating 25. Rooms upstairs, where she’ll showcase local artists, can also be rented for events.

“I wanted to do something for the community,” she said. “And I wanted to help people make memories around sharing new experiences with food.”

Bleu Sage is located north of Enstar’s headquarters, near 31st Avenue and Spenard Road, at 3002 Spenard.

Houck said she’s planning another pop-up dinner in a few weeks. The menu will again include caviar and oysters, but in a different style from the first pop-up, along with new courses. People can make reservations at the eatery’s Facebook page, she said.

Alaska Food Co.: Josh Waisanen and fiance Samantha Spies started this freeze-dried food manufacturing company to support agriculture and food security in Alaska.

Alaska Food already sells a line of products called Breakup Bites at Three Bears grocery stores.

It includes backcountry breakfasts made with oats and dried fruit. There’s also blueberry custard ice cream using Alaska blueberries, Waisanen said.

“It is 100% made for someone out in the field hunting, or if you’re a parent coming home at 5 and you’ve got to make a quick meal before soccer or violin practice,” said Waisanen, a former Green Beret in the U.S. Army.

The company recently held a ribbon-cutting for its facility at 7240 Buttercup Drive in Wasilla. The site is home to a $500,000 freeze-drying machine the size of a container van, he said.

After hiring a chef, the company is starting to make freeze-dried products like Alaska seafood chowder, biscuits and gravy, and mashed potatoes. They plan to buy more freeze-drying machines. They’re talking with Walmart and Fred Meyer stores to sell items there.

They use as many Alaska ingredients as possible, like potatoes and carrots, Waisanen said.

“We import $3 billion worth of food into Alaska, so if we can increase the economy for our farmers and reduce the spending, and maybe create jobs that gives our kids a reason to stay here, then it’s a win-win for everyone,” said Waisanen, who also runs Collins Construction in Wasilla.

Sign Gypsies Anchorage: When the pandemic started, Jaimie and Daniel Sultenfuss cheered friends up by ordering them customized yard signs to celebrate birthdays, graduations and other events.

When the Texas couple moved to Alaska a few years ago, they realized the sign company they’d used didn’t exist here.

Last month, they launched Sign Gypsies Anchorage, joining the national chain that installed the weatherproof signs.

Customers rent the signs for a day or longer, or buy them to keep, such as for holidays, the couple said.

“We can do sign set-ups for basically anything and everything,” Jaimie said.

For now, they operate out of their garage in Eagle River. As business grows, they’ll probably move to a warehouse, Daniel said.

With Halloween coming, they’re installing large “Boo” signs decorated with ghosts, spiders and pumpkins. They recently made a sign for a fall festival at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

On Thursday, Jaimie prepared a flag-and-eagle festooned “Congratulations” sign for an Anchorage man who received his U.S. citizenship. A friend had ordered it as a surprise.

“It’s another way to make your loved one feel special,” said Daniel, a ConocoPhillips reservoir engineer and U.S. Army veteran.

Sudzy Salmon Car Wash: This express car wash recently opened on C Street north of Tudor Road, at 4103 Credit Union Drive.

Sudzy Salmon is one of multiple express car wash businesses launching in Anchorage that use conveyor-belt-style facilities to swiftly clean cars.

Sudzy Salmon also owns car washes in Eagle River and the Mat-Su.

Shut

Originale: The family that owns this Italian sandwich shop in downtown Anchorage is moving to the Lower 48.

They hope to keep it alive by finding a buyer for the business, at 400 D St., Suite 1B. But the restaurant’s lease ends in February, which could mark the end of the business if a buyer doesn’t come forward by the end of next month, said shop manager Cintia Elhard.

Elhard said her parents, Sergio and Roseli Anzilotti, opened the shop in 2012. They’re now nearing retirement age, and they want to live near family in Arizona, she said. Alaska’s heavy snow in recent winters added to the family’s desire to move.

“It’s bittersweet but we’re excited for a new chapter,” she said.