Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 21, 2008

IQALUIT - There are two distinct camps in the world of pizza-making: those who like it on top and those who like it on the bottom.

Cheese, that is.

At the Kamotiq restaurant in Iqaluit there's a little of both, and a lot of everything else.

Jamesee Takpanie has been a fixture in the Kamotiq Restaurant in Iqaluit for 20 years, off and on. He started working at the restaurant when he was just 15-years-old. Here Takpanie displays one of the Kamotiq's signature pizzas. - Karen Mackenzie/NNSL photo

"Personally, I think there are way too many toppings on this for my liking, but it's not up to me," joked chef Carl Butschler, as he generously layered the Kamotiq's signature pie with vegetables and meat.

Tuesday afternoons are a fairly slow time for any restaurant, and only a few orders were clipped to his kitchen wire at that time last week. The chef flipped a few burgers and sautéed onions while he chatted about the food.

Although far from the fanciest item, pizza is definitely the most popular.

Each week he and manager/chef Brian Czar churn out at least 45 of the heavily-laden dishes, with choices ranging from classic pepperoni to pineapple and shrimp.

That translates into roughly 15 kilograms of mozzarella cheese, six kilograms of mushrooms, 12 kilograms of green pepper and a whole lot of tomato sauce.

Also popular are fajitas. Though uncomplicated, they require a much more delicate balance of timing and are definitely the most time-consuming, he explained.

The caribou version of this item always attracts a lot of interest on the menu, but rarely makes an actual appearance. It's become almost impossible to get country food into the restaurant, as federal health regulations make it difficult to buy from local hunters, according to Butschler.

As he made his way through the orders, Jamesee Takpanie, the restaurant's all-around handy-guy, buzzed in and out, emptying the garbage and doing other errands.

Takpanie, who was born in Iqaluit, said he's been working at the restaurant off and on for the past 20 years, since he was only 15-years-old.

Not for much longer though, with the restaurant's much-publicized closure set for sometime after this year's Toonik Tyme in March.

"There are quite a few regulars who are already starting to worry, 'Where are we going to eat now?'" Butschler said.

Many loyal customers come in for grub two to three times a week. Others seem to be returning more often than before with the closure in mind.

Like Takpanie, Joanne Martel has also worked on and off at the restaurant for quite some time, having been one of the first people hired when it opened almost 30 years ago.

"I was one of the first waitresses here. We didn't even have a cash register, we just had a metal box there," she remembered.

"Yes, I started here, and I think I'm going to close it," she added, before running into the kitchen for yet another order.