Instead of only doing a food review this week, I decided to learn more about Cafe Momentum, a restaurant and non-profit in Market Square. Not only did I taste the food, but I also learned about its mission of providing kids 15 to 19 years old, affected by the juvenile system within the last 12 months, with paid internships.
Besides a head chef, teachers and case managers, the staff in the kitchen is solely composed of students who willingly want to learn new skills to better themselves, according to Cheyenne Tyler, executive director of Cafe Momentum’s Pittsburgh location.
While it fluctuates, the restaurant currently has 27 interns in total. Some are active participants in the restaurant while others are there to simply seek support through the program.
Each student is paid a “livable wage” Tyler said. Depending on their age, experience and “tier of success,” they’re paid anywhere from $12 to $15 an hour. Instead of accepting tips, the cafe accepts donations.
In the program, the students are provided with an education along with mental health services. They are paired with momentum’s case managers who, according to the website, “help the interns work through issues such as anger management, trauma recovery, fatherlessness and abandonment.”
“After the 12 months of curriculum, successful interns are able to graduate from the program and are placed in a job with one of our community partners. These young people, who the juvenile justice system has referred to as ‘throw-aways’ are now employed, tax-paying, wholly contributing members of society.”
The restaurant’s hours run from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Tyler said that the cafe opens later because students work with these managers and teachers before 5 p.m. to learn things like social skills, life skills and legal employment in classrooms.
The purpose of the restaurant’s program is to teach the students “marketable skills to ensure a more successful future,” according to its website. In 2023 their interns earned a total wage of $429,950. 100% of interns ended the program with a bank account and 77% voluntarily received counseling. In the first six-day orientation period at the restaurant, each student receives a ServSafe license.
In the model of the restaurant, Cafe Momentum is “supposed” to gain 30% of its income from dining, Tyler said. She alluded to the restaurant not currently supporting that model.
The rest of the income comes through applications to sponsors like the Bank of America, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Eden Hall Foundation and a few more.
When my Editor-Elect Carson Folio and I went to dine there last Thursday, after a catering party of around four tables left the restaurant, there were only two other tables, including ours, seated until we left around 9 p.m.
Carson and I were shocked considering how tasty the food was. We tried excusing it, putting into consideration that it was a Thursday. Yet, I saw no reason other than lack of advertising to explain their shortage of customers.
A student on the wait staff said that on a good day, their regular dining crowd consists of around 20 people.
The interactions Carson and I viewed between the teaching staff and students were both interesting and constructive. When a student took all the candles off multiple tables to clean them, he wasn’t scolded by the teacher when she raised a question to him, rather she understood his way of thinking and let him do it the way he wanted.
Dining in on Thursday displayed that Cafe Momentum transforms these kids into young professionals with experience in the restaurant industry. The students seamlessly came together to display that, although they were somewhat inexperienced, they were able to learn on-the-fly.
Our first dish was the cure flatbread at $19. It had cured meats, whipped goat cheese, lemon vinaigrette and balsamic on it. The appearance looked like individually cooked pizza slices of a large tortilla.
The first and last bites were a mixture of creaminess from the spots of goat cheese and the meat cooked to perfection. It was crispy, and while spots of the flatbread were a little too crispy and burnt, that flavor added to the dish. The vinaigrette and balsamic sauce on top also added notes of savoriness.
It was an expensive dish, especially to be placed on the “Bite’s” part of the menu. I recommend sharing it with a friend because, after consuming two slices, the strong flavors begin to become overpowering.
As for the cheapest meal, Carson and I both ordered the smoked fried chicken for $27. It came with mashed potatoes, ham hock collard greens, buttermilk biscuit and black pepper gravy.
For both of us, it was tremendously difficult to slice into the chicken with the dull knives provided. However, once we both managed to get through the layers of the finger food, the first bite filled our mouths with a pleasant crispness and a smoky flavor. The high quality made me wonder how a student between the ages of 15 to 19 could achieve this level of cuisine.
The little saucer of gravy on the side was cute and paired well with the house-made biscuit. The gravy aided in softening the hard outside and soft inside. The mashed potatoes were unquestionably hand-made, creamy and paired well with the unsurprisingly tasty collard greens.
The last dish that I could afford was a heaping, large bowl of fried Brussels sprouts – that tasted very similar to French fries – for $7. There was no way that I could eat this whole thing alone, especially paired with our meal and appetizer. This side, or dish, rather, should be split among a party of four.
As for the taste, the sprouts on top were crispy and delightful. As we dug deeper into the bowl, there was a sweet sauce on the bottom that made some of the sprouts more moist.
Two Wednesdays ago, the day before I dined in on Thursday, they hosted a closed event featuring a film about the restaurant. It was filmed by John Craig, vice president of content creation for Fifth Influence. He said the video was filmed during an event called Global Mornings at the restaurant.
At the event, Peter Henry, the head chef for the cafe’s kitchen, said that one-eighth of the interns were present. Many of the students who come into the program begin with little to no confidence.
He said that the difference between his kitchen and any other commercial kitchens is that Cafe Momentum is, “more special,” and what they do matters more.
“Producing food anywhere for anyone is just work,” Henry said. “Teaching youth that are overlooked and stigmatized by other people who don’t know them, how to do beautiful work and how to trust themselves is something very different.”
“Our youth come to us with little to no confidence, and, working through us, they find their voice. They find that they have value and that other people don’t get to stigmatize them. They are the definition of resilience, it doesn’t matter what life throws at them, they will stand up and smile and have more charisma than I will ever have.”
Before deciding to focus on cooking, Henry said that he went to the University of California for chemistry.
“I always hoped that I would end up in a place that could educate and feed people,” he said.
Cafe Momentum currently has restaurants and programs open in Dallas and Atlanta. Craig’s film will be released onto Cafe Momentum’s website in the next coming weeks.
