Creating family and opportunity at Bistro on the Greens
The late Pam Pawloski once told John Moultrie that her time as a hostess at his restaurant, Bistro on the Greens, was the greatest time of her life.
“She was stylish and she was funny and she was sassy and she was just right,” Moultrie recalls. “I remember when she came in and interviewed, she didn’t think she was going to get the job. And I remember I couldn’t see anybody else for it who was more fitting than her. She was the epitome of what you would want,” adding that over nearly seven years they were inseparable, and she never took a day off except for one week to care for her son.
A marker honors her memory outside where the restaurant overlooks the greens at Legacy Hills Golf Club in LaPorte, Indiana. But her memory also lives on inside the restaurant. Right on the menu, as a matter of fact. “She loved our peach cobbler,” Moultrie says, “so we named it Pam’s Peach Cobbler.”
Pawloski is just one example of what makes Bistro on the Greens stand out. Whether it’s something on the menu, something on the walls or someone on the staff, everything and everyone has a story.
In the dining room, black and red tables and chairs, aligned neatly around banquettes and a bar overlooking the golf course, give an impression of relaxed elegance. Combined with the piano by the door and the other musical instruments and large colorful paintings on the walls, the vibe is reminiscent of a jazz club, which isn’t far off: Moultrie’s first restaurant was a jazz club in Chicago.
The instruments all belonged to musicians Moultrie knows. And the paintings? Also created by friends, some of whom he’s known since high school. “This reminds me of everything I’ve ever done,” Moultrie says.
The menu is equally personal, filled with classic and modern takes on the Louisiana cuisine of Moultrie’s childhood, passed down from his grandmother and his mother. There’s gumbo and crawfish etouffee—even fried alligator.
But the soul of the place is the people, something else unique about Bistro on the Greens.
Moultrie is a former member of the steering committee for LaPorte County’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, a bipartisan movement for reallocating government resources away from mass incarceration and toward investment in youth, families and communities. From that initiative, he created his nonprofit, Cooking for Change, which creates opportunities for disenfranchised, formerly incarcerated young people through the culinary arts.
These young people find themselves inside the justice system for a variety of reasons, whether it’s homelessness, drug addiction or any number of personal traumas, and they don’t always have the support to stay out of the system.
Through Cooking for Change, Moultrie hires young, non-violent offenders at his restaurant, pays them a living wage and provides uniforms, slip-resistant shoes and cooking utensils. The organization can also provide stipends for gas money or ride-sharing services so they can get to work. They learn basic food and culinary techniques through on-the-job training, working alongside Moultrie and the rest of the staff, as well as ServSafe food handling, CPR and first aid certification through Ivy Tech Community College.
For the program to run smoothly, communication lines are established with probation officers, social workers or any others involved. The restaurant staff receives sensitivity training to ensure everyone is treated with respect.
“There’s a lot of focus on understanding cultural differences,” Moultrie says, “and whatever their crimes are, making sure that they don’t make them feel uncomfortable and vice versa.”
“We are one restaurant, one family,” he continues, “Every family has those that have fallen off the beaten path, but they’re still family. The people who work here are family no matter what, and so we treat them as such. We all eat together, we talk together.”
This is important, Moultrie said, because many of these young people don’t get that at home. Some have come in on their day off because they need to talk about something. That mutual support, making sure to “show up” for these young people, as Moultrie puts it, is crucial.
Many of them eventually move on, but some keep in touch, and they have the skills they learned at Bistro on the Greens to put them on a good path.
As for Moultrie’s path, he has a few to tread. Other initiatives he is working on include Exit One Events, of which he is the executive director. Exit One Events is producing a season of festivals in 2026 in New Buffalo, where he lives with his wife, Ivonne. His newest restaurant concept, Back 9 Social, is planned as a lunch version of Bistro on the Greens, with soups, sandwiches, wraps and salads for hungry golfers and midday diners.
And finally, the restaurant itself is expanding with a 145-seat banquet and catering facility. Moultrie says this project will directly support Cooking for Change’s mission by allowing him to host more community-driven programs and initiatives.
“My biggest reward and recognition I want is to be able to change the lives of the people I come in contact with,” Moultrie says. “I want to be able to be a symbol of hope and opportunity.”
Bistro on the Greens
299 W. Johnson Rd.
LaPorte, IN
bistroonthegreens.com
Mike Petrucelli is a former food editor for the South Bend Tribune who now works in nonprofit communications. He and his wife live in Plymouth, Indiana.
