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CLEVELAND, Ohio – Brandon Christowski has made a mission out of using his restaurant to change people’s lives. He takes the same approach with his world travels. Chrostowski, who runs Edwins Leadership & Restaurant Institute, is headed to Ukraine to cook and to spread the mission of food as a centralized way of helping others. The trip is Nov. 3-11. He sought to raise $25,000 for the trip; he wound up with $35,000. The money is earmarked for a children’s hospital project in Stryi for a kitchen remodel, putting money into the facility and using some to help wounded soldiers. In recent years Chrostowski has traveled to war-torn areas to serve food, cook and help people in need. It will be the restaurateur’s fourth trip to Ukraine and his sixth overall, including ones to Africa and Israel. But this trip is special: Two of his kids – Leo, 10, and Lilly, 8 – are coming along. “It’s a really strong trip,” Chrostowski said. “Food is the center of this, and healing. I’m really proud to take the kids to this.” They’ll start in Lviv cooking dinner with chef Evgeniy Sushko at the Citadel restaurant for 70 people. The three-course French meal includes caviar-filled scallops, veal loin and fruit elixir. They will prepare lasagna, Caesar salad and apple pie at an orphanage in Stryi. And he will speak at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. The Catholic church, he said, was underground for years when Russia banned Catholicism. The university is the oldest Catholic institution in Ukraine. “It’s a privilege to speak there,” he said. “I get to talk to their students and guests about the power of food and what it can change in culture and what it can heal, a really powerful trip.” They will move on to Kyiv and will visit a rehabilitation center in Morshyn for soldiers rehabbing their bodies and minds. Donations came from all over: Individuals mailed money. A bible-study group donated. Northeast Ohio-based Udderly Cream is sending some products. As Chrostowski sees it, for whatever reason, there’s been a resurgence in donating to the Ukrainian cause. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and reliable fatality and casualty figures have been difficult to come by. But numbers of amputees have been on the rise, according to media reports. “We needed to raise $25,000, and we raised $35,000,” said Chrostowski, who added the extra money might support purchase of a vehicle to transport soldiers between rehab centers and other places. Chrostowski’s willingness to travel more than 5,000 miles aligns with the restaurant’s mission to rehabilitate recently incarcerated individuals. Edwins hires and trains people for a variety of culinary and hospitality jobs at the fine-dining restaurant in Cleveland Heights and its butcher and bakery in Cleveland. He said they will seek an Airbnb with a bomb shelter. He said his kids understand the importance of the trip, which they are eyeing eagerly and as an adventure. When they found out about the trip, “They lit up,” he said. “They said ‘Really? OK?’ They’re excited to cook. They’re good carers. They see the world in that light.” More info To donate, go to the non-profit edwinsrestaurant.org or call 216-921-3333.
