Edwins, a restaurant where French cuisine provides a second chance in life | Along The Way

When our neighbor, Jon Stein, told us we were going to a restaurant where our food and beverages would be prepared and served up by ex-convicts, I became curious about where Janet and I were heading.

Turns out I had nothing to fear.  Edwins is a celebrated Cleveland restaurant founded by Brandon Chrostowski that helps those re-entering life after prison.  It is currently a finalist for the James Beard Award, one of America’s most coveted culinary recognitions.

Jon had invited us to a small party to celebrate the birthday of his wife, Nancy.  An epicurean in the best sense, Jon knows his foods and is well informed about wines too.

Where have I been?  Edwins has been in business for nearly 10 years and despite regularly reading the Plain Dealer and Crain’s Cleveland Business, I had not heard of it.  I am not a “foodie,” but I try to keep up on Cleveland news and Edwins has quite a story behind it.

As a 17-year-old in Detroit, Chrostowski was in a group of young men arrested for trying to sell drugs.  Instead of a sentence of five to 10 years, a judge gave him probation.  Chrostowski credits his good fortune to the fact that he is a white man and had a paid attorney.

As a probationer, he went to work in a restaurant and discovered he loved cooking.  Taken under his wing by its Greek chef, George Kalergis, Chrostowski advanced and eventually enrolled in the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in New York’s Hudson River Valley.  He then trained in restaurants in Paris to learn about the art of food and New York to learn the business of restaurants.  His training also included a grueling stint in Chicago at a restaurant made famous by the late Charlie Trotter.

While managing restaurants, his original cooking mentor, George Kalergis, kept in touch occasionally mentioning the names of people Chrostowski had known in his younger days.  Some had not fared as well.  One had been murdered. Another was killed in a dispute. Feeling it was time to pay back, Chrostowksi, while managing restaurants in Cleveland, began a training program at the Grafton Correctional Institute and developed plans for a restaurant that would give those who had served time a second chance.  The restaurant, EDWINS Leaderships & Restaurant Institute, a charitable organization, opened on Shaker Square in 2013.

Prices range from $30 to $50, with one exception, Canard a la Rouennaise or pressed duck, at $125 for two.  The menu is both in French and English.  Chrostowski said his favorite dish is Paupiettse de Merou or grouper wrapped in crispy potatoes for $35. Every dish is delicious and elegantly presented. Prices are below what they might be in New York or Paris.

In his early 40s and amazingly energetic, Chrostowski is about six feet tall with spiked prematurely gray hair.  He is married with three children and one on the way.  Always in motion, Chrostowski has expanded his operations on Shaker Square to edwins Too, a more casual incubator space.  Nearby in the so-called Buckeye Neighborhood, he has opened a diner, a butcher shop and a life-center campus.

Too busy for an in-person interview, Chrostowski conducted our conversation over the telephone while giving instructions to those helping him open a dining center that will operate Thursdays at Cleveland’s Polish American Cultural Center on Lansing Avenue. In addition to food businesses, Chrostowski also operates living quarters for trainees. Edwins says it graduates approximately 75 trainees every year.  Of those who train at Edwins, the recidivism rate is 1 percent.

Success attracts.  Deep pocketed donors are lining up to support Edwins and its mission. The Cleveland Browns donated a grant that help enrolled students from out of state find transport to Cleveland. On July 14, Bastille Day in France, Edwins in Cleveland hosts a large fund-raiser.  It also works with local churches and organizations that bring members together to hear the Edwins story.  Our friend Jon Stein and his church, the First Congregational Church of Hudson, recently hosted one such event and it drew more than 100 who came to hear the Edwins story and dine on its delicious preparations.

An evening at Edwins is memorable and dining there gives people who need it, a second chance in life.

David E. Dix is a retired publisher of the Record-Courier.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Edwins restaurant in Cleveland helping ex-cons find success