NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER - Donna Bohnet pinches a perogy Friday at the new Baba Cluck in Redcliff. The restaurant opened recently and is staying busy during uncertain times.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
Lorelle Halderman has wanted to own a fried chicken and comfort food restaurant since she was a teenager.
Now, a few decades later, she and her husband have brought that dream to life.
The pair opened up the doors to Baba Cluck on March 16 and is now ready to serve Redcliff and Medicine Hat for all of its comfort food needs.
“I grew up in Kelvington, Sask. And we had a place there called Chicken Little – it was the coolest place to work as a teenager,” she said.
“I’ve always had it in my brain that I’ve wanted to open a place like that and I’ve always wanted it to be in Redcliff.
“This is such a supportive community and it’s really right where we want to be.”
The menu offers fried chicken, Ukrainian food and other comfort food options. Halderman says the restaurant wants to do a lot of different things well.
“We bread our chicken in-house every day,” she said. “We make our own borscht from scratch and our own perogies – they’ve been a huge hit.
“Our perogy sauce is a creamy mushroom dill sauce and people have been raving about it.”
Halderman says the business is in a partnership with South Country Co-op and aims to use as many local and provincial ingredients as possible.
“We’re trying to use as much local as possible,” she said. “That’s really important to us.”
With all that is going on in the world, Halderman admits it is a strange time to open a business, and says she is taken aback by the support.
“Amid all of this, we’ve been so busy,” she said. “We’re in a really unique situation right now, opening up in the middle of this all – we’re just trying to make the best of this.
“We’ve been getting a ton of positive feedback and we hope to continue to serve people high-quality food.”
The business is open Thursday to Sunday and is doing drive through service only for the time being. Halderman says delivery will be offered as well.
Halderman added the business is thankful for the support from Redcliff and Medicine Hat.
The business also offers catering services to Medicine Hat, Redcliff and the surrounding area.
More information can be found online at http://www.babacluck.com
