Claudio Aprile - More Than a Chef

As I walked into Bar Origin in downtown Burlington to meet chef Claudio Aprile, I had the feeling that I was stepping into a mood you can’t quite define. Warm wood, soft lighting and an elevated playfulness gave the room a sense of coziness. But one thing was clear: everything about it felt deliberate.

Celebrity chef Claudio Aprile has spent decades shaping Toronto’s culinary scene, from opening acclaimed restaurants to becoming one of the original judges of MasterChef Canada.

Now, he has revived one of his former concepts, Origin, as Bar Origin in downtown Burlington; bringing with him a career built on curiosity, creativity and a refusal to stay in one lane.

I approached Claudio who was sitting at a table waiting for my arrival. Within the first few minutes, two things stood out to me: his friendliness and how observant he was.

Claudio has the energy of someone who notices everything around him. The feeling of a room, the music, the details and the way a tone is being set, and is very deliberate about how he wants all of those elements to come together.

There is more to the man than the chef.

Born in Uruguay, Claudio moved to Canada when he was a boy. Curiosity was part of his personality from the beginning, and food was already close to home.

“I was born in Uruguay and moved here when I was four years old. I was always a very curious kid, constantly asking questions,” Claudio said. “My grandmother was a private chef. My father was a baker. And I think I got influenced by them in some ways.”

His connection to cooking appeared even earlier than anyone expected.

“My mother often tells me that when I was five years old, I told her that I would become a chef one day,” Claudio said. “Not that I wanted to, but that I would become one, which always strikes her as an odd thing for a five-year-old to say.”

His family’s decision to come to Canada was rooted in the search for a different life.

“It was tough. I think Uruguay back in the 50s, 60s, 70s was a tough environment. South America in general, there was a lot of political challenges,” Claudio shared. “And Canada was just a wonderful country to immigrate to. It was between Canada and Australia. We decided Canada. It really was this land of great opportunity. It was a really exciting time in this country's history.”

Although cooking would eventually become his career, it wasn’t the only creative path that interested him.

“Architecture was my first choice,” Claudio said.

That answer made sense as I looked at the interiors of Bar Origin. Claudio loves interior design, music, writing and the arts, and the restaurant feels like an extension of those interests.

“I love things that are typically related to, I guess, the art world. You know, great sight lines, writing, sound. Music is a huge part of my life,” Claudio said. “I do all the playlists for this restaurant. I think it's really important to set the tone.”

That attention to atmosphere is central to how Claudio views hospitality. After opening five of his own restaurants throughout his career, his biggest lesson about the industry is not simply about cooking.

“I've learned how beautiful this profession is,” Claudio said. “I think it's one of the most noble career paths. We are feeding people. We're giving people an experience, an escape from different life situations.”

For Claudio, walking into a restaurant should create an emotional shift.

“I think when you walk into a restaurant, you should feel something. You should feel that you are entering an environment where you're going to be taken care of. It's almost like a spa,” Claudio said. “Restaurants are very much like a Broadway play, where lighting, sound, sightlines, performance… everything comes together in this beautiful, magical way.”

It is a philosophy that has evolved through decades in the industry. Claudio’s first restaurant was Colborne Lane in Toronto, an experience that became a major turning point in his life.

“Colborne Lane to me was an incredible success. It changed everything for me. It was my first restaurant that I owned,” Claudio said “It was my first experience as an entrepreneur. I learned a lot of new skills from that.”

Eventually came Origin, a restaurant concept that would take on an unexpectedly personal meaning. When I asked why, after all his previous restaurants, he chose to bring Origin back, Claudio said part of the answer was simple: people remembered it.

“I felt that there was an audience already there. That knew the brand, believed in it and trusted it,” Claudio said. “Also, I just felt like there was unfinished business with this brand. I had more to say, and a lot of people would ask me, ‘When are you going to bring it back?’ You know, I would hear that all the time.”

This time, Origin would be reborn in Burlington as Bar Origin. Claudio, who lives in Oakville, described the decision as the result of several things aligning at the right moment. “The city's amazing. It was a real culmination of things,” Claudio said.

In 2022, he was cooking a dinner at a private wine club in Toronto when he met Maria Pagonis and her husband Chris, who would eventually become his partners in Bar Origin. The couple was already well established in Burlington’s hospitality scene.

“I literally thought, wow, these are really great people. There was an instant alignment back then,” Claudio said. “We talked a few times and when we met about doing a project together, and this spot just landed on our lap. It came at the perfect time. It was very organic and I just feel we have the same family values.”

Those values are visible inside Bar Origin itself. Claudio’s daughter works there. His son handles social media and marketing for the company, and his wife, a stylist, handles wardrobe. His partners’ daughters are involved as well.

“It's the most important thing, you know, our families and what we do, and having them involved.”

“I think when you're young, as a chef, you have a one-track mind. You want the awards. You want the accolades. You want the cash,” Claudio said. “You want all that, and then you take a step back and think what does all that mean? Does that make you happy? Are you fulfilled with that.”

Over time, the answer changed. “And I think generally the answer is no. I think once you peek behind that curtain and you see what's there you go, ‘Wait a minute. This was a bit of an empty promise,’” Claudio explained.

Today, his idea of a flex looks very different.

“I just did an interview recently where I was asked what's your biggest flex? And I said ‘not being at work on a Friday night.’ Being with my family and friends that's a great flex,” Claudio said. “I also think that if you are a micromanager, then you won't have a life.”

Part of making that possible is knowing how to lead without controlling every detail.

“I don't like micromanaging. I like you to know where we're going and give the team clear direction, almost like a GPS, I tell them how to get to where we need to get, and then move out of their way,” Claudio said “Let them achieve what they need to achieve.”

For Claudio, experience matters, but it should not become a reason to underestimate what someone new can bring to the table.

“One thing that is occupying a lot of my decision-making is don't judge someone because they are young. Don't write somebody off because they don't have a stacked resume,” Claudio said. “And I think you know the other thing is don't underestimate people. I think that's a mistake.”

In the creation of Bar Origin, for Claudio, part of the excitement comes long before the doors of a restaurant ever open. It’s at the moment when something imagined begins to become real.

“There are different stages of inspiration. There's the inception stage where you're creating. You have an idea. You have something in your imagination that isn't real, and then you write it down,” Claudio said. “Maybe you create a mood board, and you meet with people. And then you bring this imagination to reality. That's like a drug.”

For the interiors, Claudio teamed up with Solid Design Creative, an award-winning, interior design studio based in Toronto. When Claudio began working with Ian from Solid Design, he did not want to dictate every visual decision. His idea for the space was anything but conventional.

“What would Mick Jagger's place look like in the 70s?” Claudio said. “What if Mick Jagger and David Bowie adopted a kid and that kid grew up? What would the music and lighting be? I said to Ian, that's what I want the space to feel. Having a sense of refinement, but also a little bit of layers to it. Where you're looking behind certain curtains and trying to find things.”

Perhaps that explains the feeling I had when I first walked through the door. There are different personalities within the room rather than one perfectly defined style.

“I think it's got a lot of moments in it, and I feel like there's almost like a ‘your dad's basement feel,’ in the front with the wainscoting,” Claudio said. “Then there's little areas where it's feminine and then masculine and they all kind of clash together.”

Claudio’s curiosity has taken him well beyond designing restaurants and writing menus. One of the most public chapters of his career came through television.

While operating the original Origin, an executive producer of MasterChef Canada became a regular guest at the restaurant. Claudio was eventually approached to audition for the show. His initial answer was no.

“I didn't want to. I always avoided television as a chef. Because I just felt that it would compromise my credibility in a way as a chef,” Claudio shared. “I felt it would take away from me being, you know ‘the genuine article’ chef.”

For Claudio, credibility in the kitchen mattered enormously.

“I always, for me, held on very tight to being recognized as a real hardcore chef. Like legit. Street cred. I can cook. I can run service. I can do any station,” Claudio said. “I can butcher whole animals. I can do pastry. I can be thrown into a kitchen anywhere in the world.”

Looking back, Claudio recognizes that some of his hesitation came from fear.

“I think a lot of it was born from fear,” Claudio said. “Because I was worried about what other people would say, what my colleagues, my contemporaries would say about me doing a TV show.”

He was convinced to audition anyway and became one of the show’s original judges alongside Michael Bonacini and Alvin Leung. The experience gave him something unexpected.

“It taught me another discipline. It taught me how to be led, as opposed to being the leader,” Claudio said. “I just learned a lot of great skills from it.”

Claudio was involved in MasterChef for about a decade. When the franchise was eventually acquired by a new production company, that chapter came to a close for Claudio as he was looking for new things.

“I'm very deliberate in the way I operate and the way that I live my life,” Claudio said. “I don’t want to look back and see the same things all the time. I want to see a career that has different disciplines in it.”

One of those disciplines has even included writing.

Claudio worked with Best Side Magazine, writing six articles, including a story on George Stroumboulopoulos. Today, he is also the culinary director of Evolve Group, writing menus for Via Allegro in Etobicoke and Di Mario’s in Burlington and collaborating with their teams.

But his interests continue to stretch outward. Painting. Photography. Music. Travel.

“I want to be able to do these things, and I don't want to be locked into a category.”

When I asked Claudio if he considered himself a free spirit, his answer came immediately.

“100%. I just think you have this life and you can curate it the way you want and do things that are stimulating and educational,” Claudio said. “I love being a little bit afraid of the unknown. I love getting lost. I enjoy that. Just try to experience as much as possible.”

Bar Origin and Claudio Aprile are something of a masterclass in Burlington. As deliberate and intentional as he is, Claudio seems to leave room in his life for curiosity, a zest for adventure, and whatever experience might come next. That in itself is quite tantalizing.  ||

PS. The Little Things

1. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? Stretch.

2. What is your favorite thing to wear? Black. I love fashion.

3. If you could pick one word to describe you what would it be? Honest. 4. What’s your favorite genre of music ? 70s rock. Led Zeppelin.

5. Everyday is better with: Family.