North & Navy, one of Ottawa’s top restaurants, closed its doors to regular business on Thursday night in order to hold its inaugural dinner for the Parkdale Food Centre (PFC).
A sold-out crowd of 40, along with PFC staff members, enjoyed a multi-course dinner paired with fine wines to support the local non-profit and its efforts to keep people fed through free drop-in meal and grocery assistance for those in need.
Executive chef Adam Vettorel and his business partner Chris Schlesak own the fine dining restaurant, which makes a regular appearance on the list of Top 100 restaurants in Canada. They also own Cantina Gia in the Glebe. Both establishments specialize in Northern Italian cuisine.
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What connects the restaurateurs with an organization like PFC is their mutual love for food and their understanding of its capacity to alleviate social isolation and strengthen communities.
“We just feel like the Parkdale Food Centre has hit on the magic formula of how to help people in the community without it even seeming like charity,” said Vettorel. “In our opinion, they’re doing the best version of community outreach that we’ve ever seen.”
For Vettorel, giving back through his cooking is rewarding. “It’s the one thing I know about, that I feel I can help with.”
Last fall, North & Navy and Cantina Gia donated all sales from one of their menu items to PFC. The restaurateurs also shared their kitchen and commercial fridge with PFC when its culinary facilities were undergoing renovations.
On Thursday, Vettorel worked collaboratively with Parkdale Food Centre kitchen manager Simon Bell to prepare and plate the dishes served that night. The two chefs, who’ve known each other for 25 years, at one time worked together at Oz Café.
Also helping in the kitchen were PFC’s community kitchen coordinator, Anna March, and Chris Deraiche, chef for Cornerstone Housing for Women.
The dinner was hosted by Ottawa lawyer Alex Wilson, who joined the board of the non-profit organization two years ago. He believes “everyone deserves dignified access to healthy, nutritious food and to break bread with their neighbours.”
In its effort to be more inclusive and welcoming, PFC has neutralized some of its language. It has opted for the term “grocery program” in lieu of food bank and “community kitchen” instead of soup kitchen. Anyone with a connection to the organization is referred to as a “neighbour”.
Wilson, who’d never organized a fundraiser before, acknowledged he was a little nervous about reaching out to his network. The response was overwhelmingly positive, however. Among the attendees was restaurateur and PFC supporter Stephen Beckta, who’s very familiar with the North & Navy space. It was the original location for his Beckta Dining & Wine before relocating to Elgin Street 10 years ago.
Wilson had people reaching out to him in the days leading up to the dinner to see if there were tickets left. “Unfortunately not, but hopefully this is the first of more.”
For Wilson, the North & Navy dinner captured the community spirit he often feels when he’s at PFC. “You have a group of people coming together to enjoy a delicious and healthy meal, and sharing a sense of community. I think that’s something that every person should have access to.”
The goal of the dinner, along with raising money, was to increase awareness and to recruit more monthly donors, particularly among residents living in PFC’s catchment area of Hintonburg, Mechanicsville and the Civic hospital.
The Parkdale Food Centre, like many charities, has seen a decrease in donations and a spike in demand. Stubbornly high food prices have meant more people are finding it harder to afford the basics.
Its grocery program, named Mino’Weesini after the Algonquin word for “good eats”, serves 1,500 individuals each month. That’s up from 900 people about a year ago.
Sixteen percent of the PFC’s funding comes from the government and 14 per cent from grants. That leaves it relying on the public for the remaining 60 per cent of its financial support.
At the dinner was the Parkdale Food Centre’s new executive director, Beth Ciavaglia. The former physiotherapist took over the role in January. “I feel so fortunate,” she told OBJ.social of her new job. “I remember after my first day, I said to my husband: ‘These people care a lot’. And that’s saying something, coming from a background in health care.”
PFC makes a point of doing things “a little differently,” said Ciavaglia of their efforts to make the public feel as though they’re entering a restaurant or a grocery store when they drop in for a warm meal or for food supplies.
PFC aims to be a welcoming place to all at its community kitchen on Rosemount Avenue, she continued. “It’s the hill we choose to die on. When you come in for lunch, you don’t line up for food; you sit down at a table and we serve you.
“It’s about building community. It’s about sitting down and getting to know your neighbours.”
Similarly, their grocery program located on Hamilton Avenue North offers fresh and healthy produce. PFC also runs cooking groups, social justice workshops and an advocacy program.
Dinner guests heard from Landry Kalembo about the lasting impact the Parkdale Food Centre has had on both his academic and personal success. He was a teenager when he first arrived with his family to Canada, having grown up in Central Africa. As newcomers, they didn’t have a lot of money and sometimes turned to the PFC for food.
Kalembo became a volunteer at the PFC in 2015 and served as its youngest board member from 2019 to 2023. Currently, the aspiring scientist is a master’s student in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa.
He spoke of being at his late father’s hospital bedside while he underwent chemotherapy for cancer. Due to mobility issues, his dad was unable to attend his Canadian citizenship ceremony. Their friends from PFC, with the help of former politician Catherine McKenna, made it possible to bring the ceremony to the hospital.
It was “a remarkable gesture” of kindness, said Kalembo, who remains inspired by the PFC’s power of community to connect, lift and support one another.
caroline@obj.ca
