Spotlight Series: The Rev’s Kitchen – Created for Good!

Written by Jim Bamboulis

Omari Alonso is the Executive Chef at The Rev’s Kitchen and St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Bloor St. East in downtown Toronto. 

Pre-pandemic, local businesses would rent meeting spaces at the church and Chef Omari would cater those meetings in-house. But when the pandemic began, meetings disappeared and attention shifted fully towards the community at large. Omari then began providing meals for several shelters in the area and by the summer of 2020, he proposed a big idea: “Why not open a restaurant, and have proceeds go directly to support local shelters”? 

Their menu itself reflects never frozen, always fresh, and made in-house comfort classics such as tacos, bowls, salads, wraps, and burgers, including one that pays homage to Barry Parker, a past rector at St. Paul’s and for who the restaurant is named after. By and large, the restaurant was created as a result of, and in response to, the pandemic, allowing for an opportunity to not only connect deeper with the local community but to service it by providing weekly meals for those least fortunate during a time of most need.

“Takeout never existed pre-pandemic, it was always in-house events,” says Omari who adds, “we started a takeout restaurant because we couldn’t have anyone in the church.”

Although local businesses have begun rebooking conference rooms, takeout is not only here to stay for the foreseeable future but starting in the summer of 2022, Chef Omari plans on hosting weekly outdoor BBQs with proceeds still going to those who need it most. 

The Rev’s Kitchen – truly a noble, living example of people helping people, for good!