Restaurant Staffed By Refugees Coming To Carroll Gardens

CARROLL GARDENS, NY — A restaurant that trains refugees and human trafficking victims how to work in a kitchen plans to open a permanent location on Smith Street next month, organizers said.

Emma's Torch, which held a pop-up in Red Hook last year, will take over the former Wilma Jean storefront at 345 Smith St. and serve up American cuisine made by refugees in their culinary training program.

"The experience is about how do we support our students and give them on the job skills," said Kerry Brodie, founder of Emma's Torch. The spot also helps diners see that "refugees are people, have so much to offer and should be welcome into our community," Brodie added.

The restaurant plans to serve its first meals on Mother's Day and be open from Tuesday through Sunday for dinner, with lunch on the weekends, Brodie said.

The new location was first reported by Bklyner.

Emma's Torch teaches recent refugees from countries like Syria, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia how to work in a commercial kitchen to help them find jobs in the food industry and practice their language skills, Brodie said.

The eight-week program, which will introduce four students each month, gives the trainees about 400 hours of training in the kitchen along with a stipend, according to their website.

Students mainly focus study in the kitchen, with a separate staff handling the front of the restaurant, Brodie said.

The nonprofit started in 2016 and launched their first pop-up location at the former Home/Made restaurant in Red Hook in June as a test case to see if the idea would be practical for a permanent location.

"Not only did it survive, it thrived," said Brodie.

The team then spent months trying to find the perfect location around the borough until they finally came upon the Smith Street spot after Wilma Jean closed their doors earlier this month.

"We wanted somewhere that felt like a community, somewhere that felt like home," said Brodie. "We took our jolly old time and we got very lucky in finding this spot."

While the group is focused on getting their Carroll Gardens restaurant up-and-running, Brodie said in the future they want to expand their idea to other cities.

"Our hope is to grow the program to offer it to students in New York and more broadly in this county," said Brodie. "Having this opportunity for the newest members of our community is something that could really benefit many cities in the U.S."

Image courtesy of Emma's Torch.