Building a food system at White Oaks Resort & Spa

White Oaks chef in residence Kyle Paton.

By Kristen Smith

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. — Chef in residence Kyle Paton is hoping to bring the philosophies he learned at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns to the masses at White Oaks Resort & Spa.

Paton came on board in April and has been working with the team to open a third on-site restaurant and develop a food system at the property.

Paton made a name for himself as a vegan chef after opening Rise Above in St. Catharines

at the age of 22, but his ideas surrounding ethical sourcing (and eating) changed during a stage at Blue Hill.

“You can’t poke a hole in any of their philosophies. It just changed everything for me, so when I came back, I sold Rise Above,” said Paton. “I want to take that concept, how ethical and sustainable it is, but do it in a way that’s accessible to the general public.”

This is guiding Paton’s development of Grow, which will add to the resort’s roster of existing restaurants, LIV Restaurant and Play Urban Café.

“For this project, it’s not vegetarian or vegan, but it is very vegetable focused, which my food always has been,” said Paton, who created a menu of soups, salads, grain bowls and tartines he expects will cost about $13.

Paton expects Grow’s menu to be about 16 items, with daily specials based on the harvest from a new onsite vegetable garden. Future plans include constructing onsite polyhouses and planting fruit-bearing trees.

The garden sits in place of a former roadway, which moved with the construction of the Outlet Collection At Niagara. White Oaks purchased the property from the region with the intent of expanding the existing parking lot.

“We would have had a half kilometre of asphalt. That didn’t sit well,” said White Oaks development officer Michael Wakil.

He turned to Niagara College for help creating a garden there instead and bringing beehives to the property. This year, graduate Meghan Beattie and horticultural student Mackenzie Haines designed, planted and maintained the organic garden.

Paton said the new restaurant will also be getting new and unique varieties of apples from the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, which will allow them to produce ingredients such as single-variety, small-batch apple cider vinegar, for example.

Over time, Paton sees the resort’s landscape changing to become more functional as opposed to aesthetically-driven, and plans to incorporate public education through activities like lunch-and-learn sessions.

“It’s not so much about just doing cooking demonstrations, or just being a restaurant, it’s more about the full cycle,” said Paton, who has been inspired by what he has seen in his travels as well as some local operations, such as Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery. 

Paton said he wouldn’t be able to pull off a project like this out on his own, but the infrastructure and the support of ownership and staff at the 40-year-old property make it feasible.

The 46-seat restaurant and café is slated to open in early September.

 “We’re growing a bunch of stuff and then we’re going to be forced to use it,” he said. “We’re obviously planting things we want to use, but it’s not going to come at ideal times. We’re going to get a plethora of something and we’re going to have to make do with what we have and that’s where I feel that I’m most creative is when there are restraints.”

With much of the resort’s lodging business based in corporate conferences, Wakil said there is an opportunity to bring delegates out to the garden.

“We will start integrating and bringing our guests out while on break,” he said. “It will be a fun experience for them.”

Next year, living walls will be created to obstruct the view of Taylor Road. Plans also call for an outdoor kitchen.