There’s something remarkable going on inside the Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre at chef/owner Chris Klugman’s new Paintbox Bistro and catering company.
The first visual clue is the bank of windows on Dundas St. E. that gives passersby an open view of the kitchen — a rarity in Toronto, where virtually all kitchens are windowless and hidden from customers. A takeout window acts as a direct connection between the people on the street and the people creating food.
Then there’s the fact that Paintbox is a for-profit social enterprise, meaning it’s a business (not a charity or non-profit) with a mandate to train a new breed of restaurant staff.
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In Klugman’s new world order, there’s no division between the front of house (servers) and back of house (cooks). Everyone will be trained to work all jobs to better their chances for restaurant careers. Wages will be almost equal at $11 an hour, $12 for those who’ve done a semester at hospitality school. Tips will be divided equally among staff — and management and owners won’t get a cut.
“This is a different pay model than the rest of the industry, where cooks can’t feed their families and bartenders drive Mercedes,” explains Klugman, who has worked in the industry for 32 years. “And usually the business steals a lot of tips. It’s not atypical for 5 per cent to go to the house. It’s a nice windfall for them, but I think it’s an awful practice and I’m not going there.”
Paintbox is actually a collection of food-related businesses.
There’s a licensed bistro in the northwest corner of the arts centre. It hopes to launch this Saturday, serving dishes like braised veal cheeks in caramelized onion broth, and roasted carrots and sunchokes with burnt maple vinaigrette.
The bistro’s kitchen will also provide food for the takeout window, which has a menu-in-progress that might include fries with mayo, buttermilk chicken bites, bacon-cheddar burger bombs, milkshakes and coffee.
At the northeast end of the arts centre, Paintbox will run a coffee bar with multicultural offerings, like Bengali curry Panini, and lower prices. It’s slated to open later this fall.
Behind the scenes, there will be a food incubator that will nurture food-minded entrepreneurs, and a catering operation that is already busy with jobs.
The goal of the entire enterprise, says Klugman, is to create food that’s “important enough that it brings the whole city to Regent Park.”
Paintbox is housed in the arts centre, on Dundas St. E. between Sumach and Sackville, part of an ambitious move to revitalize one of Canada’s most well-known social-housing complexes and turn it into a mixed-income neighbourhood. It’s attached to the 26-storey Paintbox Condominiums, built by Daniels Corp.
“I stole the name from the condos next door while brainstorming with (Daniels’ president) Mitchell Cohen,” says Klugman. “What I love about it is that it connotes fun and playfulness and creativity. We’re not like other restaurants. We’re not like other catering companies. We are about diversity and we have many colours.”
Those colours were on full display Monday when Paintbox catered the media launch for Culture Days. A seven-member kitchen team, led by chef de cuisine Matthew Cowan, crafted two kinds of mini banh mi (pulled pork with tamarind-cider barbecue sauce, and chili-garlic tofu), three kinds of smorrebrod (open-faced Nordic-style tea sandwiches), falafel balls wrapped around cauliflower, and mini apricot and almond tartlets.
Little bites of polenta tapenade and Tuscan caprese were served from checkerboards. A non-alcoholic signature cocktail, designed for Culture Days by Paintbox manager Morgan Ashley Davidoff, featured orange juice, her own brand of ginger syrup, and soda.
“We do definitely want to make a name by being a little bit out there,” admits Cowan. “We want to push. We want to do more modern cooking.”
But what the “Paintboxers” want most is to play a key role in changing the area’s image.
“I’m delighted to see a neighbourhood that’s so vibrant and turning around,” says Paintbox trainee Pamela Oakley. “It doesn’t feel so marginalized.”
Adds fellow trainee Julie-Anna Gavadza: “The goal is really to show everybody the whole new face of Regent Park. Hopefully people won’t be so afraid to come to Regent any more.”
Maziar Moini, Broker of Record - Home Leader Realty Inc.
300 Richmond St. W., #300, Toronto, ON M5V-1X2
