When you head to a hospital for an appointment or to visit a loved one, a tasty meal is rarely on your list of expectations. Enter The Lakeside Café at St. Joseph’s Health Centre, one of the only hospital-owned cafeterias in Toronto and a fan favourite for staff, patients and community members. Now there’s another reason to visit: new head chef Beatriz Coronado.  

Working her way up from dietary aide to head chef, Beatriz Coronado is the first female in the cafeteria’s 37-year history to hold this lead role. Coronado brings a wealth of experience from her background in fine dining, banquets, and catering high profile events as well as certification in the Canadian Society of Nutrition Management. She has been adding some new flavour to the menu with her favourite recipes from her home country, the Philippines. 

We spoke to Coronado about her path to St. Joseph’s, knowing your worth and her go-to Filipino comfort food. 

What does your typical day at work look like?

You can find me in the kitchen starting at 6 a.m. Each day I prepare two to three main dishes (one being vegetarian) from raw ingredients to the final product, as well as side dishes and soup from scratch. I plan the weekly menu with my Manager and it typically includes 14-16 different mains per week. When we have salad or sandwich specials, I will plan and organize designated workstations for my coworkers to fulfill the orders.   

I follow recipes to ensure we produce the appropriate quantity and taste the food that we serve. During meal service, I also supervise the station to make sure food quality and presentation is always delivered. Often, I work independently, but do have a cook helper when we make cultural food specials such as West Indian doubles. My colleagues are Tibetan, Indian, Filipino, Jamaican and Ukrainian and we enjoy having an ever-changing menu each week.

Tell us about today’s menu.

We will be serving chickpea curry, rigatoni bolognese, Debriczini sausage on a pretzel bun and my own version of chicken adobo which is the Philippines’ national dish. It’s been my comfort food ever since I grew up in the Philippines, and my mom still makes it to this day. Today we are making 250 pieces of chicken thighs. The adobo sauce is made from vinegar, soya sauce, water, bayleaf, brown sugar, salt, whole peppercorn and garlic and I let it marinate overnight. When it is ready to serve, I add a boiled egg and chopped tomatoes on top with a side of vegetables and rice or potatoes. It’s really good – it’s sweet and savoury with a hint of tang. 

Do you prefer to make your own food or to eat out?

It depends on my mood. I enjoy making my own food at home, but I’m a foodie that loves to go out and try new restaurants. I like to experiment with recipes at home and research to see what’s trending in the food industry and bring it to the Lakeside Café. 

My partner and I recently went to a new restaurant called Mademoiselle Raw Bar + Grill on King Street. It’s a coastal-themed restaurant offering fresh seafood cuisine, sushi and grilled items from steaks and whole fish to seafood pasta. We ordered the ultimate seafood tower which included a whole lobster, king crab legs, hamachi, a dozen oysters, shrimp cocktail, sashimi, tuna crudo, and Osetra caviar. It was literally a feast for two people – it could feed four – but we could handle it.

What are some highlights from your previous work experience?

While working at Turf Lounge, part of Woodbine Entertainment, we took part in both Summerlicious and Winterlicious three-course prix fixe menu events. We would be fully booked and it always got very busy. There were times when I would make over 100 dishes in one-and-a-half hours while simultaneously filling a la carte orders. I was running on adrenaline, but it was fun.

There was a time when I worked back-to-back shifts at two restaurants. I would start at Pusateri’s Fine Foods at 6:30 a.m. to prepare and serve the breakfast and lunch stations, run to the Hilton Toronto and work until 12:30 a.m., then wake up and do it all over again. 

From September to December, the Hilton would be very busy with restaurant and banquet parties, sometimes two to three parties on the same night with 200-800 plated events. My most memorable experience was catering a private dinner for a Liberal party fundraiser. I was part of a team of chefs, there was media coverage, and I got to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

How did you transition from restaurants to health care?

I was working at The Carlu, owned by Oliver & Bonacini when COVID-19 hit and all the banquet events came to a stop.  We still operated as a catering service but only did a small amount of takeout. Around that time, I decided to go back to school for a one-year course in Food and Nutrition Management at George Brown. After that, I started applying to different places like hospitals and long-term care homes since I then had the food and nutrition background on top of my culinary experience. I did an internship at Cedarvale Terrace Long Term Care Home and then noticed St. Joseph’s posting for a dietary aide position. Dayalan contacted me for an interview and pretty much hired me on the spot and was like “when can you start?”

After doing fine dining restaurants, banquets, serving and catering, I really wanted to tap into health care hospitality because that was the only area I hadn’t been in before. Since my first day here, the team was like, “You’re just a natural. You kind of just flow.” Well, it’s not my first rodeo. I’ve been in the industry for ten years. Twenty-twelve

is when I graduated and started my career.

What do you like about working at the Lakeside Café?

The best part of my job is creating new dishes and being creative. I also love the close contact we have with our frequent customers that we remember their name and know their favourite burger or wrap toppings. 

Our team of 14 are friendly, helpful, very approachable, and easy to get along with. A few of us do the cooking, but everyone is a team player and is interchangeable between the grill, serving, snack bar, and cash when needed. I used to be a floater too, so I can jump in and help if it gets busy. Dayalan is a great manager who understands each person’s needs.

Executive chefs used to be a male dominated role, but times have changed and many women have entered the hospitality industry and succeeded. Unity Health talks a lot about diversity and inclusion and as a female head chef, gender is not an issue. It’s all about work ethic, knowing your worth and what you can bring to the table and loving what you do – that’s the key to success.

How would you respond to the assumption that hospital cafeteria food is boring or bland?

Many people assume that hospital cafeteria meals are created with dietary concerns in mind rather than flavour and are surprised to see what we serve at the Lakeside Café. Most hospitals contract out their cafeteria food to companies that focus on producing high volumes of food at low cost but don’t focus on the taste. 

At the Health Centre we try to create a variety of food for every ethnic taste as there is a diversity of people who work at and visit the hospital. We also pay attention to the presentation of the food on the plate using colour contrast between the various items.  Food is a large part of people’s lives in every culture, and it brings people together. For some patients, meals become the highlight of their day, especially if their time in the hospital is extensive. I’ve had patients and families tell me they keep coming back over and over through the years for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. Many have bought food for dinner and take it home to share with neighbors, friends, and colleagues.

What important role does a cafeteria play in a hospital?

We do our best to set high-quality standards when it comes to our nutritional offerings to promote health and wellbeing to the community, staff and patients who visit our café. We understand that patients need healthy food that looks appealing in order for them to ingest, regain their strength, and restore their health. Food that is nutritious and tastes good can impact a guest’s satisfaction and hospital experience on the road to recovery contributing to their overall sense of wellbeing.

Access the Lakeside Café weekly menu here or call 416-530-6000 x2433 (C-H-E-F) to hear the daily specials. 

Interview and photos by Katie Cooper.  This interview has been edited and condensed.