Café Reyes
Photos by Michael Piazza
Abbey Gould, her 6-year-old son Trevor and 4-year-old daughter Yveana, are frequent breakfast customers at Caf. Reyes on Shrewsbury Street. The Webster mom says she’s tried many of the menu items and describes her favorites: bocaditos (egg sandwiches) and café con leche (Cuban style coffee with steamed milk) as “awesome.” Her daughter prefers Cuban toast and son votes for tostadas Cubana Francés (French toast) filled with Nutella and topped with whipped cream.
Abbey willingly drives about 25 minutes to the café, not only for the quality of the food and polite service from the wait staff; she’s also drawn by its mission. Café Reyes provides job training and life skills for Latino men who are recovering from substance abuse.
Although Café Reyes opened four years ago, it’s still a “Food Find” for many in the area and is one of a kind in the life-changing opportunities it offers. The café is cozy—a dozen or so tables plus a sunny patio. It’s an oasis of bright tropical colors, Caribbean artwork, lively music and authentic Cuban cuisine.
Open daily for breakfast and lunch, Café Reyes features several Cuban standards: El Cubano, a grilled sandwich of roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mayonnaise and mustard; and Ropa Vieja, shredded beef stew with peppers and onions. Empanadas include beef with onions, tomatoes, raisins, green olives and capers; and vegetable with roasted seasonal veggies, cilantro pesto and mozzarella cheese. Other don’t-miss items are flan with caramel sauce and très leches cake.
Recipes for Café Reyes’ fare come from the family of its founder, Dr. Mathilde (Mattie) Casteil, now serving as commissioner of health and human services for the city of Worcester.
Ten years ago when Dr. Casteil founded Hector Reyes House, a substance abuse treatment facility for Latino men, she quickly realized that one of the biggest challenges they face is adapting to a work environment. Since it also was a childhood dream of hers to open a little restaurant, Café Reyes fulfills both goals. Café managers provide job training and teach soft skills: showing up on time, taking orders from a boss.
Wait staff at Café Reyes receive 16 weeks of training through a partnership with Massachusetts Access to Recovery (ATR), which includes ServSafe© certification and development of culinary skills. Another major goal is to give them a strong base so they can eventually find employment outside the support system provided by Reyes House and the café.
Orlando Fowling, training manager, notes that muscle memory is a key in developing kitchen and wait staff. “It’s not something you learn overnight,” he said. “Especially in the kitchen, where it can be high pressure. You have to be thinking and doing at the same time.”
In the Café Reyes’ kitchen, two cooks work the breakfast and lunch shift. Ramon stirs a pot of chicken noodle soup, while Matthew rolls out puff pastry to be filled with guava jelly for the dessert, guayaba.
Dr. Aaron Mendel, executive director of Reyes House, notes that Café Reyes doesn’t rely on a single chef. “We want everyone to learn all the responsibilities of running the café,” he said. “Ideally we would like people to be able to work here two or three days a week and have jobs in the community for the rest of the week.
This story appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of Edible Worcester.