Take A Look Inside KITCHN

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KITCHN is bringing Windsor fresh food, fast, in a unique and tasty way.

KITCHN is a good-to-go establishment located in East Windsor, offering top-notch quality prepared food with a different menu each day, offering a wide selection from hot foods to salads that can be ready for pick up as well as for catering. There is no seating area as it is strictly for pick-up.

Restaurant owner Robert Niro has been a chef for 35 years and has worked on many food ventures before creating this high-quality, fast to-go food option.

“Every night I write out the menu, and early mornings I post it,” Niro explains. The changing menus allow for him and his staff to be creative and give the best food options they can think of every day at KITCHN.

Store owner and chef Robert Niro

Niro, who graduated from St. Clair College’s Culinary program, went on to work in Europe for 3 years after graduating where he worked in restaurants in Paris and Italy. He worked for large companies, hotels, casinos, and did work in Toronto for many years.

He also explained that he worked for years at the Ciociaro Club with his mother, who was a big inspiration to him as he grew up to cook. “She was an inspiration for me. It was just kind of a passion I fell in to; I always loved it, since the day I was born…I would watch my mom cook since I was little.”

Niro explains that he truly was inspired to cook since he was young and that when “most kids were playing sports”, he was “watching cooking shows.”

A young chef, he obtained his Red Seal certification when he was 21 years old, working for Casinos in Windsor right at the start of his career as well as banquet halls.

Onward in his career, he has owned restaurants himself in Windsor, including Fratelli Pasta Grill and Bona in LaSalle.

Niro’s wife, Giovanna Niro, has helped a great deal along the way with the business aspect of the establishment. He refers to her with a smile as the “president” of the company. “She handles a lot of the background stuff. She was excited for this adventure with me and knew we could pull it off. We’ve been together a long time now, so she knows what we are capable of; if there’s a problem, she can fix it.”

“I have very good staff,” he reflects on when asked about what makes coming to work great for him. “They have been with me for a long time…since day one. There’s the head chef, Curtis Doyle, and the sous chef Jake Lewsaw. We also have a part-timer Cameron Lapointe. Curtis has been working for me since he was 18 at my first restaurant.”

Head Chef Curtis Doyle (left) stands with store owner Robert Niro in the kitchen of KITCHN.

Niro decided to open up KITCHN as a to-go restaurant as he finds that it is a growing segment in the food industry as people are living more and more busy lifestyles. “I think its the top growing industry actually. People want high-quality food but they don’t want to wait for it, they want to feed their families with home-made meals with no preservatives.”

The KITCHN staff makes everything in-house, priding themselves on their fresh menu. Due to the menu changing every day, they are able to control the food they serve and are able to keep it fresh. They serve a wide array of types of multi-national authentic cuisines, from Jamaican food to Mexican food to Thai food; anything a customer can think of wanting to eat.

“We do a little bit of everything,” Niro explains. “You could look at the menu one day and one half could be Thai and the other could be Italian. Sometimes we’ll mash 2 together and see what comes out; fusion cuisine. Our main concern is the flavour and freshness of the end-result, that’s our primary goal.”

A fan favorite of Niro’s meals, prime rib, is available every Saturday where you can buy it by the slice or as a combo in a meal. At KITCHN, you can generally buy food by weight of combination plates.

KITCHN has a large catering menu found on their website. Niro explains if there’s something that’s not on the menu, they are always open to doing different things.

Niro stresses that customer service at KITCHN is very important; he and his staff are very customer oriented and will work with any allergy and/or dietary restriction. “We can take care of them because we know how to, and we have the experience to do that; we deal with some very severe allergies, people who are limited to what they can it. Since we make the food we can make it specifically for them. We don’t use preservatives that would cause allergies as we make it all ourselves.”

Robert Niro likes to grow some of his own ingredients, including tomatoes and herbs.

Niro puts great pride into KITCHN, from the food to the ingredients he uses, and even down to the name. “It’s the kitchen I’ve been waiting for… it is truly a professional kitchen. We have all the tools that we can do whatever we want to do. I’m not a trend chaser, my priority is to give the best food I can make.”

He also points out that there are no walls; the kitchen area is open. “Everything is visible, people see what we’re doing…there’s a level of trust you need to do this. We pride ourselves in that, and how we cook.”

KITCHN has been open for just over a year and is located at 3335 Banwell Road. Find more information on them on their website here and Facebook page here.