Junction cafe chugging along
[attach]4975[/attach]Paul Araujo and Vito Carnovale bring decades of experience in the food service industry to their new coffee, sandwich and bakeshop on Dundas Street West near High Park Avenue.
The name Locomotive, Araujo says, isn’t only fitting because it symbolizes the area’s railroad tracks and trains.
“Locomotive has a lot of positive connotations,” he says. “Speed, energy, tradition, classic and that’s what we’re all about, doing things kind of the old way.
“We’re thinking backwards to go forwards so it kind of made sense.”
Their old-world approach includes brining and curing meats in-house, a process that takes a day for chicken and 10 days for pork belly, as well as bringing back a European-style espresso flavour.
“This coffee is way more approachable on its own, whereas the one that is dominating Toronto is much more aggressive … more on the bitter side and definitely if you have it on its own it packs a punch, where our coffee can stand on its own, it’s not going to punch you in the face,” he explains.
Araujo, who also teaches hospitality at George Brown College, says the pair strive to offer concoctions that are unique to the store and plan on creating more menu selections like their own spin on a brisket or corned beef sandwich.
He says their background in the industry also came in handy when they were coming up with recipes because they received input from their culinary circle of friends and colleagues.
“We’re doing food here we’d cook for our families and our kids any day of the week,” he says, adding they also have breakfast options. “We’re looking for quality, we’re not trying to complicate good things.”
Araujo says their goal is to be approachable, unpretentious and welcoming. He says one of the reasons why they picked this location is because they’re both nearby.
“It’s a real Toronto neighbourhood that reminds me of 20, 25 years ago, the way most neighbourhoods were, where everyone knew each other, talked to each other, very community oriented, the almost small town feel,” says Carnovale.
“We definitely leaned toward this neighbourhood because we knew something good was happening here and we wanted to be a part of it,” adds Araujo.