Local cafe to support Ukraine through ‘Chicken Kyiv’ special brunch

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PITTSBORO — The Small B&B Cafe’s “Brunch Around the World in 80 Days” has added a new stop: Ukraine.

Owners Lisa Verwoerdt and her husband Christoffel have been working with their nephew, Chef R.L. Boyd, to create the global brunch tour at the cafe — located at 219 East St. in downtown Pittsboro — to allow customers to try new foods from a diverse menu.

But now, they’re also using it to bring awareness to the humanitarian crisis arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as provide Chatham residents a way to support the Ukrainian people from afar.

Small B&B Cafe will offer a special dish during its weekly Wednesday brunch they’re calling “Chicken Kyiv,” and 10% of the profits from the special will go to Direct Relief, a charity providing humanitarian and disaster relief which which has given more than $33 million dollars of relief to Ukrainians so far.

The global brunch concept came from the Small B&B Cafe’s head chef, Boyd, who had experience cooking various cultural dishes from around the world. The chef, Lisa and Christoffel wanted to create a place where Pittsboro and Chatham residents could have the unique experience of traveling the world through exposure to new food.

“Part of what he (Boyd) really wanted to do was share cultural dishes with people that you otherwise couldn’t get anywhere,” Lisa said. “Our vision is to offer people things that they can’t easily get anywhere else, be more globally minded, and have more global food.”

The weekly brunch special has been well received, according to Lisa, and the restaurant continues to offer the global special each Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Boyd decided he wanted to use the global brunch as a platform to support the Ukrainian people at a local level.

He texted his aunt to say he wanted to do something more impactful with the brunch to support the Ukrainians during the unprovoked attacks.

“This week, we need to do it with a humanitarian purpose,” Boyd wrote in the text. “Let’s feature Ukraine this week, help the Ukrainian people by donating the proceeds to a Ukrainian charity.”

From there, Chicken Kyiv was created. The trio decided they wanted to change the spelling of the standard name of the dish — Chicken Kiev — because it reflected the Russian spelling of the Ukrainian capital.

The dish traditionally is made with a chicken fillet pounded and rolled around garlic parsley butter, then coated with egg and seasoned bread crumbs, and either fried or baked. But Boyd is planning to put his own special twist on the dish, according to Lisa — but she does not want to reveal the chef’s secrets until the Ukrainian brunch in the coming week or so.

The restaurant will also no longer feature Russia on its global brunch menu, according to Lisa.

“We just all feel so touched by their (the Ukrainians’) strength — they’re just standing up for themselves, and they’re fighting alongside their soldiers,” Lisa said. “We just really felt like any way that we can support them, that we should do it. Whenever he (Boyd) came up with this idea, that was our way of just trying to support the Ukrainians against the Russians.”

The conflict in Ukraine troubles the Verwoerdts, especially Christoffel. For him, it hits close to home.

Originally from the Netherlands, Christoffel said his father and grandfather always spoke of the German occupation during World War II. He said when he heard the news of Russia’s invasion, Christoffel could not help but remember his father’s and grandfather’s stories, leading him to draw similarities between Russia and Nazi Germany.

“Germany just sent in a bunch of paratroopers, it was basically over in five days, and then they stayed in our country for five years,” Christoffel said. “Horrible things happened during those five years, and the same thing is possibly going to happen here. They’ve gone to pick people out, and it’s not a good thing.”

Christoffel still has family in the Netherlands, and he said they have been having to navigate the new political climate brought on by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said many European countries — including the Netherlands — rely on Russia to supply them certain resources, especially with natural gas or oil.

With new sanctions coming from NATO countries, Christoffel wonders what will happen to the supply chain back home.

“Mr. Putin can just close it up and all of Europe is freezing basically,” he said. “It’s a very strange feeling.”

With all of these working pieces in mind, Lisa, Christoffel and the chef were ready to have “Chicken Kyiv” as their weekly special this past week. Then, a crisis closer to home: Chef R.L. fell ill and had to be hospitalized.

But by Sunday, the chef was discharged from the hospital and will hopefully return to the kitchen in the coming week to cook up the Ukrainian chicken for the cafe regulars, also called “Smallers.”

If the dish is well received, Lisa said the restaurant will consider adding Chicken Kyiv to its permanent menu as a part of a new global food list, which will be completed by the end of the 80 weeks of their brunch specials.

“We are seeing what people like here, and we’re getting lots of positive feedback about it,” she said. “Whether Chicken Kyiv is on there, I don’t know, but if we get a really great response from it, then there’s a strong possibility it will be.”

The Verwoerdts hope to use their cafe in the future to help support other global causes. For Christoffel, he said supporting Ukraine is the first possible fundraiser of many.

“If there is something going on in a foreign country that is bad, or people need help, then we can make our tour stop in that country,” Christoffel said. “People eat the local food in Pittsboro here, and then we’ll donate money, so I think that makes our small cafe pretty unique.”

While Pittsboro is a small community, Christoffel and Lisa said it was important as a local business to support these international causes and bring awareness at the local level. For them, it’s an obligation they must fulfill.

“They need support from every level — from a local level, from a business standpoint, from other countries and from our country,” Lisa said. “The best way is to try and rally our local businesses and our community to come out. This is a way that they can also support Ukraine through us, giving to a charity.”

“We’re supporting the people of Ukraine,” Christoffel said. “We’ll do our little share that we can do in Pittsboro, and we are hoping that this is coming to an end soon, peacefully.”

Direct Relief says it is working directly with Ukraine’s Ministry of Health and other partners in the region to provide requested medical aid, from oxygen concentrators to critical care medicines — while preparing to offer longer-term medical aid to people displaced or affected by the conflict. According to the organization’s website, its focus now is on treating injuries and other trauma caused by the violence and to work with other partners to source the medical aid that will be needed in the coming weeks and months.

Reporter Taylor Heeden can be reached at theeden@chathamnr.com.