Lorenzo Cianciusi – brings new dishes and keeps the favourites

April 25, 2019 · 0 Comments

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

I’ve come here from Seattle, Washington, I had my own restaurant there but I’ve known these guys for almost 40 years. In the ‘80’s, when I was 19, I was a chef in the Monte Carlo restaurant [in Toronto] and he was was a waiter. I’ve known him since I was 16, back in the old neighbourhood at St. Clair and Dufferin. It was a huge Italian neighbourhood, coffee houses, very pleasant.” So Lorenzo Cianciusi began to describe his early life in Toronto and his youthful friendship with Bruno Bertone, owner with his brother, Robert, of Cheeks Restaurant in Bolton.

“At the time, people came from Woodbridge to hang out on the weekends. Now? It’s completely changed. All different cultures and when they put the streetcars in on St. Claire, they killed it.”

In Seattle, “I had my own restaurant, Sostanza Trattoria, from 1996 to 2010, until the economy suffered the big crash – the banks went down. People lost a lot of money, the Dow was way down, everything plummeted. People stropped eating out. It sure put a damper on my business. So, I shut it down and came home to my family in 2014.

“I packed my belongings in a truck and drove across the country with my brother. That was a good time. You really get to know somebody when you share a truck. It was a good time for both of us.”

Finally back to the “old neighbourhood,” as Mr. Cianciusi told us, “I renovated my rental house with my dad who was 82. My parents are in the same house for 60 years. They’re the main reason I came back.

“I came here [to Cheeks] for lunch and, a couple of days later, they called me to come and help out. They gave me carte blanche to do what I want with the menu.”

While the stock menus at Cheeks have kept the place open for almost 30 years, without giving up any of the mainstays, Mr. Cianciusi did say, “I try to do a little more upscale. Not always Italian menu items but some home cooking I brought back with me.”

Offered as specials, there is “Chicken Fried Steak, which is top sirloin, tenderized and breaded like chicken and I make a sawmill gravy. Chorizo meatloaf is a combination Spanish and Italian sausage ground up to make a meatloaf. I make Colorado black bean soup. Braised beef short ribs. I like going off the main stream, keep it interesting for everybody.”

He keeps all the favourites too – the best burgers, pastas and all the standards.

The proof is in the patronage. Said he, “The regulars come in every week. It says a lot for the business. To be in one place for 30 years, it’s an accomplishment. But it’s a lot of work for the owners.”

Tiny, stout espresso cups, their insides lined with the coffee’s froth, sat empty otherwise on the table where we were conducting the interview. Customers, like old friends, were coming in for a beer and Mr. Cianciusi excused himself to fill an order for spaghetti carbonara, the special of the day. The pasta is cooked fresh, not pre-cooked and reheated.

Returning, he went on to talk about the customer base at Cheeks, “We have a really good camaraderie with the customers. On Fridays, it’s busy with all the tables and at every table, we see familiar faces.”

Harking back to his career’s beginnings, he went to culinary school in Kensington Market.

“I just had the passion for it,” he commented. “I always watched my mother cooking and I wanted to do it too and I was good at it. At 19, I went to school and my co-op was at La Bettola Restaurant on Eglington. I got a lot of good experience; the chef there taught me the basics. I ended up moving to Vancouver when I was 22. Then, I went to Hawaii for four years. And made my way to Seattle.”

There are no short cuts to creating and keeping a good restaurant: “It’s a lot of work and your heart has to be into it. The hours are long. But if you can get over the three to four year hump, you’ll do okay.”

In all honesty, he said simply, “I loved living there. I miss it. We had a great location at Madison Park. It is very picturesque. The West Coast is a very interesting place…”

For his private life, he reflected, “It wasn’t a priority for me to have a family. I travelled in the States, Europe; had my business. My brother has children. For me, cooking is a vocation. That’s what I thought it was. When you’re doing the thing you love, it’s not work.

“When it gets to be too much work, what will I do otherwise? I might like to paint or do photography. I could write a cook book or a book about being a chef – the heartaches, the successes. I would like to teach people how to do this profession.

“What you do so well, it’s hard to think about something else. The camaraderie, the people you meet. You build it up.

“It makes you proud.”