Salad dressing isn’t just for lettuce anymore.

Chef Eric Giles hopes to use Chef Giles Café Dressing & Marinade as a gateway to community enrichment.

One day during a lunch service, Giles and his team ran out of Italian dressing. He panicked for a moment, then realized that he could easily conjure up his own recipe. But this dressing wouldn’t be run-of-the-mill. Sure, he included the usual: oil, vinegar, onions and herbs, but he added a personal touch.

The response was immediate.

For the first time, diners whose main course had already been served, actually wanted more salad. Intrigued by its robust yet light flavor, Giles couldn’t keep the recipe in just the restaurant; it eventually became a good idea to bottle it and sell it over the counter.

“The dressing is wonderful: it’s garlic, onion, rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano, it’s 100 percent natural,” Giles said. “It’s also a wonderful marinade as well. Currently it’s in Westborn Market in Ferndale, Westborn Fruit Market in Berkley, the Holiday Market in Royal Oak, and I do presentations in all of these stores.”

Giles, a member of Eastlake Church of Detroit, has been the church’s executive chef for more than six years. He has also been a guest on Fox 2’s “Cooking School,” but wants one thing to be clear: even though the accolades are great — and flattering – the approbation of his fellow church members gives him confidence that he can cook.

“The thing I’m most proud of is being the chef of an 89 year-old Black Baptist church,” he said of the 3000-member church. “If nothing else, that says I can cook.”

Giles was behind the Kingdom Men’s Café, a full service restaurant that was located within the church. According to Giles, it was the only such establishment to be located inside a church in the state of Michigan. A four-star restaurant, Kingdom Men’s Café, made many of the “best of” lists, from the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and others.

“This dressing was born in Eastlake Church,” Giles said. “The church is open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. It’s real ministry. We’re feeding and clothing people. We have a day-care there. It is truly ministry for the people, that’s why we have not marketed
it to any market close to Eastlake Church.”

It is his hope to able to create more jobs in the community
by giving young people a chance to serve and cook at the restaurant.
Giles and other members of the church have to bottle the dressing themselves. A labor-intensive process that needs to follow the state law and code, without a factory, he has to solicit the help of teens in the community.

“You have to sterilize everything,” he said. “It’s a 100 percent Michigan product too. My herbs and everything come from Eastern Market. This is a Detroit product.”

Though Giles is at the head of the operations, he credits Eastlake Church’s pastor, Michael Cunningham, as a “man of vision,” an inspiration who inspired others to follow.

“When we started the Kingdom Men’s Café it was as simple as just going to him with a suggestion,” Giles said. “We even opened up a culinary
arts school after the café. I wouldn’t be doing any of this (without him).”

He also acknowledges the efforts of his business partner,
Rev. Andrew Robinson, who has not only helped to coordinate
events, but has rolled up his sleeves and helped in the kitchen.

“Anyone who works with me at some point has to get in there,” Giles said. “There’s some dishes to do, or we’ve got some chicken to bake, fry or whatever.”

Another individual responsible for the success of the salad dressing venture is business partner David Theriault, who brings 25 years of business background to the group.

“We all have the same vision in helping out the youth of Detroit,”
Theriault said. “Chef brings incredible talent with food and how he works with youth. The reverend brings this energy and youthfulness as well.”

Not only do Giles, Theriault and Robinson seek to bring jobs to the community, they also want to bring opportunities for at-risk youth. The idea is to start a youth development program, giving them skills they’ll need once they reach adulthood, including entrepreneurship.

“We’re going to help them to understand the business,” Theriault said. “The vision that he we had when I first met him, including the concepts, was exactly what I wanted to do. We jumped off with the salad dressing and the food production of that and we want to keep it Detroit based. The people that will be doing the bottling will be from Detroit.”

The group is planning to open a restaurant in the summer. Modeled on the famed New Orleans Café Reconcile — a community gathering place for business men, city politicians, spiritual leaders — they hope their own establishment will be a spawning ground for bringing communities together
and helping youth.

“We’ve got such a ripe opportunity in Detroit to be able to do that,” Theriault said. “You would think it would have been done by now. Not only is it a wonderful product, it could be a pride of Detroit. The product is absolutely solid.”

For Giles it isn’t just an intangible dream, he’s seen it in motion: prison-bound kids, convicted of armed robbery and other crimes, now on their way to college with four-year scholarships.

“That’s the leadership of Michael Cunningham,” Giles said. “I think the church is proud of the salad dressing.”

Bottom line: Giles wants to employ 200 people from the community surrounding Eastlake Church, which is a hard-hit area. The salad dressing is merely a catalyst to affect change.

“That’s why it’s important,” he said. “Let us stay focused on creating jobs as entrepreneurs in the city of Detroit. Not just an entrepreneur who’s going to make some money for our own business. Let’s impact the community with a salad dressing. So I’m really excited about the prospect of that.”

For more information on Chef Gile’s Café Dressing & Marinade or for personal chef services, call (313) 586-1507. The salad dressing is also available at Eastlake Church of Detroit, 12400 E. Jefferson.