The Sound STC•Vol.2 Issue 02
February 2016
“
I don’t think the Kwong
Chow is going anywhere, but
before every product Home
Depot sells gets plastered on
top of our downtown, I think
we’d do well to develop an appreciation for the charm of a
place like Kwong Chow.
”
From Move On Up! to Move On Over!
By Chris Illich
On Thursday September 10, 2015, the Niagara Artists Centre put on a rooftop party that was
like nothing downtown St. Catharines had seen before.
The idea was simple, but the execution was both challenging and demanding. Steve Remus,
Minister of Energy, Minds & Resources at the Niagara Artists Centre [NAC] explained where the
idea came from: “NAC was looking for a way to do some quick fundraising, we’re a charity and
you [have] to keep the place humming along. If you don’t play it right, fundraisers easily turn into
fundlosers and you don’t want the events to wipe out your volunteers, your board, or your staff.
“We struck on a rooftop dinner with solid gold entertainment […] because we happened to
have this newly opened terrace above our gallery.”
The Thomas Craig Oliver Terrace, which opened earlier in 2015, housed 60 people for their
Move On Up! event, which was labeled as “An evening to enjoy Niagara’s superlative music, food
& drink”.
The event featured the Mark Lalama Band and a seven course tasting menu of farm-to-table epicurean fare created and prepared by Andrew McLeod and Kyle Paton of Bolete (opening Spring
2016) and Adam Hynam-Smith of El Gastronomo Vagabundo.
Throughout the evening, the chefs prepared each dish in front of the spectators, creating a
culinary experience unique to the audience.
“It was an awesome night. It was really hectic at times because we all have our own dishes that
we were doing, but events like this really make you slow down a bit and have fun for the night,”
Paton recalled. “It’s a really nice excuse to enjoy friendship and be collaborative with each other.”
“You can be a little bit more daring with flavours, because no one really knows what they are
getting. It opens us up a little bit to do what we want to do rather than what will sell, or what
makes sense monetarily,” added McLeod.
The success of Move on Up! prompted the idea to run a second date in December at Kwong
Chow on St. Paul St. in downtown St. Catharines, but due to uncertainties the event was unfortunately cancelled and rescheduled to February 11.
For those unaware with Kwong Chow, it has been at 310 St. Paul St. and has been operating
since 1981. It is one of the oldest restaurants in downtown St. Catharines, and serves traditional
Chinese cuisine.
Move on Over again features McLeod, Paton and Hynam-Smith, this time preparing dishes that
they “would all make if [they] owned Kwong Chow,” Paton explained.
“Kwong Chow is an institution at this end of St. Paul St.” said Remus. “The place is pretty
special. You never know what you’ve g