43
No. 43
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OFF -SEASON 2021/2022
OUR FOOD, OUR STORIES, OUR COMMUNITY
Member of Edible Communities
OFF-SEASON 2021
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FISH • FARM LUNCH • STATE ROAD • THE ROADHOUSE • BEACH ROAD • DOGS • GLEANING • THREE SISTERS SALAD • SOUPS • TOMATOES • PORK • KEITH MCNALLY
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WORKING GIRL ROSIE
LITTLE BIT OF SUMMER ALL YEAR
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Frank Williams at Beach Road
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Edible Vineyard magazine is published by The Martha’s Vineyard Times, publishers of The Martha’s Vineyard Times weekly newspaper, Martha’s Vineyard Arts & Ideas Magazine, Bluedot Living Magazine, The Minute daily newsletter, Vineyard Visitor, and the websites MVTimes.com, bluedotliving.com, VineyardVisitor.com, and MVArtsandIdeas.com.
What’s your favorite pie or comfort food? Publishers Peter and Barbara Oberfest (Chicken pot pie) You can see the digital version of this magazine at Editors ediblevineyard.com. EV is available at newsstands, select Tina Miller (Pumpkin) and Jamie Kageleiry retail locations, inns, hotels, and bookstores, free of charge. (Apple, especially for breakfast) Find Edible Vineyard on Instagram and Facebook tina@mvtimes.com • jamie@mvtimes.com @ediblevineyard Design Director Kristófer Rabasca (Strawberry Rhubarb) Subscribe Production/Design Manager Please inquire at mvtsubscriptions@mvtimes.com Dave Plath (Shepherd’s pie checks both boxes) about subscriptions by mail. Design Nicole Jackson (Baked potato topped with horseradish sour cream. Salt, too. Lots of salt) Contact Proofreaders Edible Vineyard Connie Berry (Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie) The Martha’s Vineyard Times Barbara Dudley Davis (My favorite pie is whatever my niece, P.O. Box 518, 30 Beach Rd. Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Lizzie Davis, feels like baking today) 508-693-6100 Ad sales Jenna Lambert (Blueberry Pie! Totally worth having blue teeth all day) jenna@mvtimes.com
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DEPARTMENT section
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Dishing 8 Finds: Cool Culinary Things out and about on-Island. By Gwyn McAllister
Features
14 Weighing In
The Fishermen’s Preservation Trust Adapts and Grows By Lucas Thors
Essay
28 I Opened a Restaurant
34 It’s Soup Season
By Tina Miller
On the Farm 18 Farm Lunch
36 Frank Williams,
Chef at Beach Road By Mollie Doyle
40 Three Sisters Corn, Beans, and Squash: Find out how (and why) to make them sing. By Mollie Doyle
Recipe by Catherine Walthers
43 Jarred Sunshine:
Tina Parisi and Ned Casey Make Tomatoes Last By Tina Miller
A Tradition from the Beginning. By Tina Miller
58 Wonderful Island Pork
30 Working Girl: Rosie
Done ! 64 Keith McNally
the Border Collie in Action Photo essay by Jeremy Driesen
24 State Road: One Location, Many Restaurants By Geoff Currier
In Season
50 Gleaning Time
New York’s restaurant genius at home on Martha’s Vineyard
By Kate Athearn
Sip
56
A Field Guide to Fall Wine By Sam Decker
Cover photo by Jeremy Driesen
4 edible Vineyard
Image on this page by Tina Miller.
Editor’s Letter
T
o our loyal Edible readers: Welcome to the off-season. The air has a nice bite and the beauty of the Island enfolds us with shorter, golden days. In our final Issue of 2021, we jump into the colors, food, wine, and coziness of the off-season. We introduce you to Rosie, a hardworking Island girl. Jeremy Driesen created a photo essay with the quick-wicked, smart border collie who wakes up every day ready to tend Mermaid Farm’s flock of sheep. It reminds us that after the crush of the summer season, when everyone worked so hard, the reward is this beautiful time of year. Geoff Currier asks you to sharpen your memory skills and see how many restaurants you remember at the location State Road restaurant now inhabits in North Tisbury. We bet you cannot guess them all. We meet up with Tina Parisi and Ned Casey as they turn their home in Edgartown into an old-fashioned canning kitchen, preserving the bounty of backyard summer tomatoes, creating summer magic in a jar to savor all winter. Ned says their tomato sauce becomes a base for everything they cook. We caught up with the M.V. Fisherman’s Preservation Trust, whose work and focus are supporting Menemsha’s fishing fleet, as well as feeding the Island. You may have found it hard to get into restaurants this past summer, but now is the time to enjoy some oysters, friends, and the creative, delicious food at Beach Road restaurant prepared by Island-grown chef Frank Williams. Warm up with a great soup recipe from Catherine Walters, and eat some Island pork!
Tina Miller
This past year has been a wild ride, and a lot has changed, but the core of the Island and Edible Vineyard remains the same — great food, great stories, great community. We look forward to our off-season of rest and renewal, and to more great experiences next year.
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— Tina Miller and Jamie Kageleiry
s or d.
CONTRIBUTORS For this issue, we asked people, “What is your favorite pie, or your favorite off-season comfort food.” Here’s how they answered. KATE TVELIA ATHEARN writes our “On the Farm” column.
KAREN BLACKERBY LOGAN is an architect and freelance designer who illustrates our “On the Farm” column in each issue. In summer her favorite pie is Blueberry Pie from Morning Glory Farm. In fall/ winter, warm pecan pie.
GEOFF CURRIER is an associate editor at The MV Times and writes often
for The Times’s magazines. We asked what his favorite pie is and he said “Blueberry pie, but only with native blueberries, preferably those I hand pick. The trick is to get out in the woods and pick the berries before the birds get to them. And try not to eat them all before you get home.”
SAM DECKER writes “Sip,” for each issue of Edible Vineyard. Favorite pie? “Banana pudding. Pro tip: Graham cracker crust.” Continued on page 17
off-season 2021/2022 7
DISHING finds
Cool culinary things
for your kitchen or your belly Gordon Moore
8 edible vineyard
a couple of different places,” says Moore, who earned a B.A. in the history of art and architecture from Brown and a B.F.A. in animation from RISD before returning to the Island during the beginning of the pandemic, in March, 2020. “I've always had an interest in forms becoming abstract or turning into patterns and repetitions of form,” he says. “As an animator, I've always been fascinated with repetition and how it creates movement.” Perhaps the most interesting example of repetitive images found in Moore's work is an elaborate design featuring birds whose images create an Escher-esque patchwork that can be viewed simultaneously as either black birds on a white background or — photoneg-
atively — as white birds on a black background. That design, which shows up on a variety of Moore's pieces, is created using a process called sgraffito (“to scratch” in Italian). The technique involves applying a dark, glazed layer and then, when dry, the glaze is scratched away to reveal the natural color of the clay beneath. Another technique that Moore employs comes from East Asia. The traditional inlaying process involves carving into the clay surface and then adding carefully cut pieces of colored clay into the recessed areas to create a design. The intricate art form appeals to Moore. “I first started experimenting with it when I was studying art history,” he
says. “I found the technique so difficult and so humbling. It became a new obsession.” Moore says he owes his appreciation for high-quality materials and simple glaze combinations to a mentor — local ceramist Micah Thanhauser of Merry Farm Pottery. Moore works for Thanhauser as a studio assistant in exchange for materials and studio time. This past summer, the ceramicist and two of his family members opened the Moore Family Gallery in HartHaven, Oak Bluffs. The gallery features Moore's ceramics, along with paintings by his father Andrew Moore and his sister Hannah Moore. Each artist has an individual style, although all three incorporate the natural world in their work.
Photo courtesy of Gordon Moore’s Pottery.
Gordon Moore credits a childhood spent fishing, hunting, sailing, and surfing on Martha's Vineyard as the inspiration behind his ceramic designs. Moore creates detailed images drawn from nature on vases, mugs, and other pottery pieces. His designs — created through either an inlaying or a scratching technique — often echo Asian art in their quiet simplicity and reverence for form. A school of hundreds of tiny fish form a wave pattern around a shapely pot; black and white egrets fly across the top of a tall vase; a mug features a colorful image of a blue heron poking his beak into fish-filled water, which reflects back the bird's image. “My inspiration comes from
finds DISHING
Illustration courtesy Alley’s General Store
Alley’s The good news is Alley's General Store is open again after a six-month closure. The even better news is that the new owners — Michael and April Levandowski of LeRoux home goods store in Vineyard Haven — are working hard to get the store fully stocked and back up to offering the full general store experience. “When the trust asked us to take over operations, we realized that we needed to close down to address a number of structural, electrical, plumbing, and mold issues,” says Michael. “As we got going, the bigger the project grew. When we could finally see the light
at the end of the tunnel, we fast-tracked it to get it open as quickly as possible.” The Levandowskis took over the business when the Vineyard Trust, which owns and maintains the historic building, realized that the landmark store was not sus-
tainable for an organization with no retail expertise. The LeRoux owners, who have 40-plus years of experience in Vineyard retail, decided to take on the ambitious project in order to save the 150-yearold business. “We were really concerned
about what would happen if someone didn't step up and do this,” Michael says. “The community involvement is what really drew us in. It's a cornerstone of West Tisbury, with a great history. We knew we could get in there and apply some modern practices so that it would be a viable business.” Michael promises that any changes will not substantially affect the overall nature of the store. However, the Levandowskis plan to provide more practical items like groceries, hardware, and housewares, and focus less on things like clothing, perfumes, and boutique-type goods. That being said, the store will continue
CHEESE • BEEF • PORK • LAMB • EGGS VEGETABLES • RAW MILK • BREAD • PASTRY
FARMSTAND HOURS: 8 AM - 5 PM Closed Tue & Wed
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Check out our website for winter activities
T HE G R E Y BA R N A N D FA R M .C OM
off-season 2021/2022 9
DISHING finds to feature some of the most popular offerings, like penny candy, fresh-brewed coffee, and a children's section. Among the improvements the Levandowskis are considering are the reopening of the summer house and the addition of a garden and patio to the space between the two buildings. “We want to provide a genuine service to the up-Island community, while still retaining the business model,” says Michael. He and his wife are looking to find a happy medium between the original “necessities” nature of the store and what it had become in more recent years. “This area, with the library, the Grange, and the Field Gallery is really the West Tisbury town center,” says Michael. “We want to keep the store going and, of course, continue to offer a place for people to meet and socialize.” According to Mi-
chael, the regulars have already returned, and have staked out their spots on the front porch.
MV the Dressing Are you pining away for the farm-fresh options offered by Oak Bluffs' MV Salads, now that the popular Circuit Ave. restaurant has closed for the season? Well, you can still purchase MV Salad's all-natural, preservative-free MV the Dressing online, and create your own combination of greens, grains, protein, and veggies. The dressing, based on owner Susanna Herlitz-Ferguson's special recipe, actually predated the restaurant. While still enjoying a successful design career, she concocted an herb- and spice-infused vinaigrette that became so popular among her friends that she was constantly being asked to reproduce it for dinners and get-togethers.
When Herlitz-Ferguson’s four children were all grown and out of the house, and she started spending more time on the Vineyard, she wanted to explore a completely new venture — something that would
challenge her and offer a very different career path. And so MV Salads was born. For two years, signage on the shuttered storefront served as a tease to Islanders eagerly awaiting a health-conscious eating option
Get fresh fruit from your own backyard!
Come experience the bounty We are now open year round Growing together with you, our community
Growing your own fruit not only means you get fresh-picked fruit but also that you know how it was grown. There is still time to plant fruit trees for this year’s harvest. Come visit us for home orcharding ideas & options, including organic solutions. 45 Edgartown Vineyard Haven Rd., Oak Bluffs 508.693.3511 - www.jardinmahoneymv.com
10 edible vineyard
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finds DISHING able to purchase through the MV Salads website. Each eightounce bottle includes a little recipe card with instructions for making your own Green Goddess or Spicy version. mvsalads.com
Photos Courtesy MV Salads
Winston's similar to those offered in urban areas. While Herlitz-Ferguson navigated the complicated, often frustrating, process of opening a new business on the Island, she took her dressing to the public. During Tivoli Day in 2018, she and her staff offered free dipping samples, and the response was enthusiastic. MV Salads opened for business in the spring of 2019. The signature dressing (made fresh onsite daily during the summer) is the only option at MV Salads, although a Green Goddess and a Spicy
variation are created for some of the salads with a few additions. Herlitz-Ferguson has found that the blend, which includes two types of oil, coriander leaves, scallions, and turmeric, serves as the perfect accompaniment to the wide variety of ingredients that the restaurant features in its signature salads — from maple-glazed bacon, lobster, and feta to roasted cauliflower, watermelon, fennel, and grapes. “It doesn't overpower the flavors, but complements just about anything,” she says. MV the Dressing is avail-
Looking to grab a quick, inexpensive meal on the go? Winston's Kitchen, located next to Our Market in Oak Bluffs, offers a huge menu, featuring far more than the usual sandwich and snack takeout options. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Winston's, which opened just this past summer, offers the expected — standard subs and sandwiches, as well as some very interesting dinner options. On the regular menu (Winston's has daily specials as well) you'll find Jerk Chicken and Pork, Thai Chili Salmon, Stewed Lamb and Chicken Marsala, as well as fan favorite Fried
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off-season 2021/2022 11
DISHING finds Chicken — all priced under $20 for a complete meal. You might be surprised to find such an eclectic variety in a takeout joint. But Winston Christie, who co-owns the restaurant along with his wife Lisa Christie, has a unique background. Born and raised in Jamaica, he's worked at a variety of cooking jobs on the Vineyard, including most recently as a chef at Chesca's, where he honed his skills in Italian and New American cuisine. The Christies make the perfect team. They both have years of experience in Vineyard restaurants — Winston in the kitchen, Lisa in the front of the house. Although they had no definite plans to take off on their own venture at this point, when the space that formerly housed the bait and tackle shop opened up, the couple decided that the location was perfect — plen-
Winston’s Kitchen, Rueben sandwich.
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finds DISHING
Winston’s Kitchen eggplant parmesan.
ty of parking and just shy of downtown Oak Bluffs traffic. So far the takeout spot has been very well received, with customers grabbing food to take to the beach or enjoy while
sitting on a bench along the harbor. Favorites, according to Lisa, include the Italian and the steak and cheese sub and the Jerk Chicken. She notes that they have a hard time keeping
the Fried Cheese Curds in stock, while the chive mashed potatoes have become almost legendary. Popular morning options include the breakfast sandwich on your choice of Cape Cod
bagel (arriving fresh on the Patriot boat every morning) and the Chicken Fajita Wrap made with eggs, spinach, peppers, onions, Swiss cheese, and black bean salsa on a spinach wrap. Want to try something different for lunch? How about the Philly Steak Dog — a steak hot dog smothered in onions and peppers — the Tzatziki Salmon Sandwich, or a BBQ Mushroom sandwich with hummus, avocado, spinach, and more? You can always go the more traditional sandwich route with a bursting-at-theseams Pastrami and Cheese or Eggplant Parmigiana. Winston's will stay open year-round, serving from 7 am to 8 pm. “We want to be a part of the Oak Bluffs community,” Lisa says. “We know how outrageous the prices can get. We want to keep it affordable and be year-round to attract the locals.”
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Martha’s Vineyard is home to hundreds of makers and artisans creating unique, locally inspired goods - and we’ve got a place for you to show them off. Made on MVY products make great gift ideas and timeless keepsakes of the Island. Contact us at adsales@mvtimes.com to discuss print, web and sponsored content options.
off-season 2021/2022 13
FEATURES‘Eat DISHING section more fish’
‘Eat more fish’’ fish M.V. Fishermen’s Preservation Trust works to support the Island community, one catch at a time.
14 edible vineyard
‘Eat more fish’ DISHING
Pete Lambos helps dump freshly caught bass into the processing area.
T
Story by Lucas Thors | Images by Jeremy Driesen
he Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust (MVFPT) is continuing its work to support local commercial fishermen and the restaurants and fish shops that rely on the day’s catch. Last fall, the organization received a grant for food donation from Catch Together — a project of the Trust for Conservation Innovation that seeks to support fishermen, fishing communities, and ocean conservation. According to John Keene, president of the board of directors for MVFPT, the grant allowed the organization to purchase black sea bass and scup from local fishermen and process it into filets that were then made into fish stew. “That worked out really well because it helped us ensure a good price for the fishermen, and we absorbed all the product they could catch,” Keene said. “We were able to
distribute that to Island food pantries and some places off-Island as well.” According to Keene, the MVFPT was one of five groups in America that were selected for the fish grant, among hundreds of applicants. One of the recent steps the benevolent organization has taken to support the fishing community (and the community at large) is to establish the Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Collaborative in the old Menemsha Fish House building. According to Shelley Edmundson, executive director of MVFPT, in this first pilot year the collaborative will figure out how to best serve the Island. “Just having the doors open and being able to purchase whatever comes in has been a huge success,” Edmundson said. “[The Menemsha Fish House] wasn’t buying everything, so they haven’t been purchasing lobsters for the last few years, which was really hard on the lobster guys, especially during the pandemic.” When things start to slow down in the
off-season, Trust officials will go through the numbers and see what they can change about the operation, and what has worked for them so far. “Maybe there are ways to market it more, ways to get in and help the restaurants or tell the story behind all the seafood more, so people understand why it’s important to buy local seafood and who they are supporting. All of that will build as we keep going with it,” she said. Keene added that the role the seafood collaborative played through the pandemic was a difficult one. Many restaurants and fish shops across the country, even though they were extremely busy, weren’t operating at full capacity because of the nationwide labor shortage, Keene explained. Because of this, many establishments weren’t buying fish at nearly the same rate as they normally would. “Of course, it’s the first year, so there are going to be components of it that aren’t going to be what they should be because of COVID and everything,” Keene explained. “We are still trying to think outside of the box and evolve with the challenges as they come up.” off-season 2021/2022 15
Black sea bass being off-loaded onto the dock.
Pete weighs each fish.
As the start of the collaborative coincided with the start of COVID and the economic downturns to follow, Keene said, he anticipated there would be tribulations and a significant learning curve to tackle. Particularly, Keene noted that the Island economy maintains a delicate balance of supply and demand, and it would have been easy for the collaborative to accidentally upset those balances that have been established over the years. “We are trying to be really careful because we don’t want to come in as a nonprofit into a for-profit neighborhood,” Keene explained. “You don’t want to hurt by helping. That’s a huge part of our mission, because we are trying to help the whole industry, not just fishermen. It’s the restaurants, it’s the other fish markets, it’s all one big organism that if you start wobbling one side against the other then things fall apart.” As the Island enters the off-season, Keene said, the abundance of people on Martha’s Vineyard and the lack of labor 16 edible vineyard
Pete cutting the fish.
will have repercussions even going into the winter. Even if the demand for fish is there and folks want to go eat at restaurants and purchase fish from fish shops, many of those establishments don’t have the employees to process the fish and serve it to hungry customers. “So the challenge then becomes, how
Tony and Dana Rezendes, father and son, pulling in to off-load their catch of black sea bass. Tony is the owner of the Square-Rigger restaurant in Edgartown.
does [the collaborative] keep buying fish if we can’t get rid of it by selling it? It really is all connected that way. That’s why we have the truck. It’s our purge valve, where we can truck fish off-Island if we can’t market it on the Island,” Keene said. He added that the fish truck has Continued on page 23
CONTRIBUTERS
JEREMY DRIESEN is a photographer who contributes frequently to Edible Vineyard, Bluedot Living Magazine, and The MV Times. His favorite pie is cherry.
GWYN MCALLISTER When we asked writer Gwyn McAllister what her favorite pie is, she answered, “I don’t
even have to think about that one. Strawberry Rhubarb. I love anything tart. I would never attempt to make my own since it’s a bit more involved than other fruit pies. You have to cook the rhubarb first and you really need to get the sugar ratio just right so as to preserve the rhubarb flavor.
LUCAS THORS is a reporter for The MV Times and says his favorite pie is Boston Cream.
CATHERINE WALTHERS
Continued from page 7
Cookbook author says her favorite pie is apple crostata with crumb topping (recipe at Catherinewalthers. com). Her favorite comfort food meal is meatloaf, kale, and mashed butternut squash.
MOLLIE DOYLE is a writer, yoga teacher and head chef of her household. Winter fare includes soups and lots of potatoes, lots of ways. “My name,” she told us, “might explain the spuds.”
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FEATURE Farm Lunch
JUST SIT DOWN for a Farm Lunch
Farm Lunch on Beetlbung Farm.
The new Beetlebung farmers gather with their staff each Thursday. Story and Photos by Tina Miller 18 edible vineyard
Words Jane Do Images Jane Do
W
hen Kate Woods and Nick Doherty started their positions as farm managers at Beetlebung Farm last February, they had a huge mission ahead. Moving to a new community and farming unfamiliar soil is daunting enough, but because they were joining an operation in its infancy, they had to hit the ground running. Kate and Nick first met at Stone Barns, where they were field managers on the 80-acre nonprofit teaching farm located on the old John D. Rockefeller estate in Pocantico, N.Y. It was created as a dairy farm back in the 1930s, but over time, farming faded, and the property was used for storage. In 2002, the Rockefeller family donated the property, which became a nonprofit, and restoration of the farm began; eventually Stone Barns Centers for Food and Agriculture was born. The farm includes the restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Chilmark’s Beetlebung Farm was sold in 2018 by the Fischer family, after four generations of farming, to longtime seasonal residents John and Amy Weinberg. The Weinbergs purchased the beloved family farm in the town center with a mission to preserve and renew the property. By using regenerative growing practices, restoring and rebuilding the soil with minimal disruption, and encouraging biodiversity, they began the process of making it their own. Even though Beetlebung was only going into its third season, Kate and Nick got lucky — the farm had two seasoned year-round farmers, Theo Gallagher and Seth Miller, and another returning seasonal farmer who came back later that spring. At least they would have some historical knowledge, and, small as it was, the team was created. With this, Kate and Nick began their new journey, insisting on a ritual they had experienced during their time at Stone Barns — farm lunch,
Farm Lunch FEATURE which they initiated shortly after they arrived last February. “At Stone Barns, we had family meals on Thursdays, with both the restaurant and the farm,” Nick told me. “It was so many people, all the chefs and the farm team. We ate a lot of pasta, but it was great,” Kate said. “We also both traveled a bunch to farms, especially in European countries, and a farm lunch was often celebrated. Farm lunch was a long event, and there was always wine; everything felt very celebratory, and after lunch, we would mosey back to the fields.” In the beginning, the couple would plan what they would cook for the lunch ahead of time. They soon realized the meal would come together depending on ingredients available that day, and what they were feeling like that day. “It kind of just fell into place,” says Nick. “Sometimes friends, family members of the farm team come. Just last week, we just had Clara Coleman for farm lunch. That was great.” (Clara Coleman
Kate and Nick began their new journey, insisting on a ritual they had experienced during their time at Stone Barns — farm lunch.
Pole bean and parsley salad with an almond vinaigrette made by Nick Doherty and Polenta made from flint corn from the farm.
Pole bean and parsley salad with an almond vinaigrette made by Nick Doherty.
off-season 2021/2022 19
FEATURE Farm Lunch
1
2
1. Polenta flint corn from the farm, seafood Shakshouka with mussels made from farm tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers, made by Kate Woods. Pole bean and parsley salad with an almond vinaigrette made by Nick Doherty. 2. Kate Woods removes whole wheat pitas from the oven. 3. Beetlebung ginger-infused ice cream with a local wild grape granita made by Nick Doherty.
3
na
20 edible vineyard
Farm Lunch FEATURE
Seafood Shakshouka.
off-season 2021/2022 21
FEATURES Farm Lunch of the famed Four Seasons Farm in Maine, is a second-generation farmer, farm consultant, writer, and friend of the farm.) Days on Beetlebung Farm can be long, and with only two West Tisbury farmers a week all summer, and plenty of harvest deadlines, farm lunch has always been a priority. “It happens every week no matter what, even if it is just three of us or 12,” Kate says. “It’s a nice time for all of us to be together and relax, and not have to worry about work, just connect. I also think a lot of times, which seems ridiculous, farmers don’t always get to eat the food they grow. The food does become precious, because we need them to sell what they grow.” With their first summer under their belt, one of the biggest discoveries to the farmers is how different every month is on the Island, from the people who are here to the growing of vegetables. “This community is super into food; there are a ton of food-obsessed people on the Island,” Nick said. “It makes for
“Farm lunch was a long event and there was always wine; everything felt very celebratory, and after lunch, we would mosey back to the fields.” great conversation at the farmers market, speaking to customers. You know they really appreciate the food we grow.” As for the farm itself and the land, there were surprises there, too. “The biggest surprise is the wind,” Kate said. “It’s a thing, especially up in Chilmark where we are. Also the soil here on the farm is very sandy. “The humbling part is to farm on a new piece of land, because you think you have it all figured out, and all of a sudden the land is a foreign land, and you need to reteach yourself to learn the land.” “Also a big surprise,” Nick said, “is all the food products available — from yogurt to cheese, pastry to bread, milk; it’s amazing.” As the growing season shifts to cold-weather crops, the pace becomes less frenetic, and Nick and Kate can take a breath with their team and reflect on this past season. What better way to celebrate all the growth and vegetable production that happened this year at Beetlebung Farm?
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Nick Doherty opens the wine for lunch.
22 edible vineyard
‘Eat more fish’ DISHING
The Martha's Vineyard Seafood Collaborative is located in Menemsha where the old Menemsha Fish House was.
also allowed the MVFPT to bring bait, gear, and other things back for Island fishermen when they are delivering fish off-Island. “They can call us, and we can go and pick it up for them,” Keene said. Although some fisheries can sustain themselves through year-round work, Edmundson said, many fisheries are not year-round. “A lot of people take the winter months to get their gear ready or do maintenance on their boat. Different cycles happen because of the winter anyway,” Edmundson said. “So I think what we will probably do is meet with fishermen one-on-one and get feedback on how things are working for them, meet with restaurants, and try to get out there with chefs and hear what worked and what issues they are facing now.” According to Edmundson, the trust ended up making around 140,000 meals out of the scup and sea bass they purchased with the grant money. The organization still has some fish they are donating to different food organizations on the Island that need them, along with some going to the Greater Boston Food Bank and the United Way in New Bedford. Now the trust is partnering with organizations like the Island Grown Initiative and Slough Farm to donate fish so they can make meals for their benevolent food programs that operate year-round. “We still have funds in the grant to make that happen, so that will be ongoing,” Edmundson said. Some exciting new developments for
“You don’t want to hurt by helping. That’s a huge part of our mission, because we are trying to help the whole industry, not just fishermen. It’s the restaurants, it’s the other fish markets, it’s all one big organism that if you start wobbling one side against the other then things fall apart.”
Continued from page 16
Bass!
the trust include using a grant in partnership with the University of New Hampshire and St. Joseph’s College to research ways of improving the sustainability of conch fisheries, and working with the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation and the Rhode Island Division of Marine Fisheries to develop a welk research fleet. “Those are all cool projects that will help us understand what the fishermen are seeing, and be able to be a part of collecting
that data and giving it to different management groups,” Edmundson explained. When asked if there was one thing Islanders could do to benefit the Island fishing economy and support our fishermen, Edmundson said, “Buy more fish.” “The more we can create a strong demand for local seafood on the Island, the better prices will be for our fishermen, and the better the quality of food will be on-Island,” she said.
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FEATURE
The State Road Shuffle Hortense Haynes at the Haynes’ Ice Cream Parlor.
Since 1960 there have been nearly a dozen restaurants where the State Road Restaurant now stands. Story by Geoff Currier 24 edible vineyard
S
tate Road Restaurant in North Tisbury has become a beacon for fine dining on the Island over the past five years, but didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The location on State Road where the restaurant stands has had a rich history of restaurants that can trace their roots back to a little ice cream parlor. In 1951, Bill and Betty Haynes moved to a house pretty much directly across the street from where State Road Restaurant is today. Bill’s family was from Pawtucket, R.I., and his father decided to retire to the Vineyard. What attracted his father to the State Road property was that there were eight acres right across the street from his house, and he wanted to have a big vegetable garden and a farmstand. Soon, he was able to sell his produce from a little shack on the property, which Bill’s mother, Hortense, ran. It was called Sundown Gardens; around 1960, Hortense converted the vegetable stand into an ice cream parlor by the same name, which became a must-stop for people returning from the beach. In 1967, a few years after Bill returned from the Air Force, his mom turned the business over to him; he expanded the menu, and it became the Haynes Luncheonette. Haynes operated the Luncheonette until around 1980, when he sold the property to Fred Feiner, who, at the time, owned and ran the Beach Plum Inn in Menemsha. And Feiner, in turn, gave the business to his daughter, Bonnie, who lived in Montana at the time. I reached Bonnie (Castle) by phone. She lives in Haynes Florida now, but said that Janice she doesn't have fond memories of either the restaurant or the Island. She called the restaurant the Mid-Island Cafe, and said that it offered what she called “a small country dinner menu,” of sandwiches,
The State Road Shuffle FEATURE fries, and burgers, but she never could get the business off the ground, and it went bankrupt. “All in all,” Bonnie told me, “I had a very bad experience.” In 1981, Feiner sold the Mid-Island Cafe to Tony Friedman, who changed the name of the restaurant to Fat Tony’s. I talked to Friedman on the phone from his home in West Virginia, and he said that he found the business to be both satisfying and challenging, but after a few years decided to lease out the restaurant and pursue other ventures. Next up was Joe Hall, former general manager of the Black Dog, who opened up a restaurant called the Wayside in 1987, which lasted about two years and then was
the Red Cat Bookstore, across the street from the restaurant. “The Black Dog was the most successful restaurant on the Island,” Tony Friedman said, “so I was looking for a two-word name with an animal in it.” “Red Cat” fit the bill, and it operated on State Road for about five years. Deforest's restaurants — Balance, Red Cat on Kennebec, the Oyster Bar 02557, Cardboard Box — have become well-known for fine dining, but the Red Cat on State Road was also known for its freewheeling "scene." “We had a little bar downstairs at the Red Cat that Dan Aykroyd used to call the Bottom Lounge,” Deforest said. “It was his clubhouse. One night after the Nantucket Nectar Fest, which was held at the Performing Arts Center, many of the musicians came to the Red Cat, including Bo Diddley and Bob Weir, and Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson were in there tending bar; it was bedlam.” And then there was that night that (President) Clinton threw an engagement party for his friend Richard Friedman, and they set up a piano out in the backyard and Carol King played until one in the morning. “I guarantee no one ever had more fun at that place than Mary Kenworth me,” Deforest said. taken over by our own Tina Miller, an ediIn 2000, after the Red Cat closed, Tony tor of this magazine, who worked as a line Friedman, who still owned the property, sold cook at the Wayside and went on to open a it to Eleanor Pearlson, the longtime owner restaurant called the Roadhouse (see Tina’s of Tea Lane Realty. “Eleanor passed away in essay about this adventure in the pages 2010,” Abby Rabinowitz, Pearlson’s niece, told following this story). me, “but she was a force of nature and had Miller was born and raised on the Vinea real vision and a passion about what she yard (her father, Allan Miller, built and was wanted the property to be in the community.” the first chef at the Black Dog Tavern; see Pearlson was one of three partners “The Black Dog Turns 50,” bit.ly/BDog50). who purchased the property; their first She and her boyfriend had just returned restaurant involved one of the three partfrom a road trip through the South and ners, Pat Harrison, who was, herself, a bit Southwest, where Miller had become larger than life. She had previously had a infatuated with BBQ. “We decided to open career in the foreign service, and was an a chicken and ribs joint,” Miller told me. accomplished high Himalayan trekker and The property, which was still owned by a seasoned sailor. She was also a graduate Friedman, was the first restaurant to really of Le Cordon Bleu school of cuisine, and put the State Road location on the map, was the owner of the catering company offering patrons innovative new cuisine in Vineyard Haute Cuisine. Harrison opened an up-Island setting. up a catering and takeout business on the In 1993, the next restaurant to follow property that she called As You Like It. up on Miller’s success was the Red Cat “But for whatever reason,” RabinowRestaurant, operated by local restaurateur itz said, “It was a short-lived experience, Ben Deforest. The name was inspired by and Harrison moved on.” But Pearlson off-season 2021/2022 25
FEATURE The State Road Shuffle
Bill Hay nes, Ho t Maida rtense H at the H aynes L aynes, and uncheo nette.
Margare
used Harrison’s departure as an excuse to turn the business into a full-service restaurant. And in 2001, she brought on Chef Keith Korn, who had recently made a name for himself in Chicago. The name of Korn’s new restaurant was the Ice House, and it quickly took the Vineyard by storm. Suzanne Provost (Flanders), Keith’s girlfriend and co-worker at the time, said that Keith was a genius at cooking, and that they were a big success almost immediately. “Korn was one of the first to introduce the farm-to-table concept to the Vineyard,” Provost said. “The food was fabulous, and the vibe was casual and fun.” Then tragedy struck. Scarcely a year after opening, Korn died in an automobile accident. The restaurant staff and the community were devastated. After closing for a couple of weeks, the restaurant rallied, and the sous-
rs. ovost Flande d Suzanne Pr
Keith Korn an
chef, Job Yacubian, took over as chef and kept the restaurant open into the fall. It became untenable for Suzanne to continue running the restaurant, so Pearlson offered the lease to Yacubian and his wife, Stacey Trevino. “It was a fairly seamless transition,” Trevino said. “A large part of the staff stayed on.” The new restaurant, called Bittersweet, continued to have a booming business, but after three years, the one thing it couldn’t survive was the breakup of Stacey and Job’s marriage. In 2006, Bittersweet called it quits. Once again, Eleanor Pearlson was there to pick up the pieces. When vacationing in Anguilla, she had frequented a restaurant owned by a Jamaican-born man named Deon Thomas. She liked his charismatic personality and his Caribbean-influenced cuisine. She encouraged him to come to the Vineyard, where, she said, she would find a
space for him to open a restaurant. When Deon decided to take her up on her offer, the space at State Road wasn’t yet available, but he found a home at a restaurant in Chilmark called the Cornerway (someday we’ll tell you the story of the illustrious chefs who’ve come and gone from that space in Chilmark). Deon ran the Cornerway for eight years, and when in 2009, Bittersweet closed, Pearlson invited Deon to take over the space. The new restaurant, called Deon’s, was another success, and the future looked bright for Chef Deon until the following year. “I was in Anguilla drinking rum punch, I had my toes in the sand,” Deon said, “when I got a call from the West Tisbury fire chief telling me Deon’s had burned down.” “I cried a bit,” Deon said, “Deon’s was one of the best restaurants on the Island, it had great revenue, it was a great oper-
“We had a little bar downstairs at the Red Cat that Dan Aykroyd used to call the Bottom Lounge,” Deforest said. “It was his clubhouse. One night after the Nantucket Nectar Fest ... many of the musicians came [up], including Bo Diddley and Bob Weir, and Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson were in there tending bar; it was bedlam.” 26 edible vineyard
The State Road Shuffle FEATURE
From left: L
uke Weinst ock, Keith
ation.” He didn’t have much time to feel sad, because Deon also had several other restaurants in Anguilla and on Long Island, not to mention the Chilmark Cornerway. So with the fire, Deon closed Deon’s down. But as with so many other twists in the saga of this spot on the side of State Road, this gave Pearlson a new opportunity. She had grown to like and respect the two people who owned the Sweet Life Cafe in Oak Bluffs, Jackson and Mary Kenworth. Abby Rabinowitz said that it was Eleanor’s favorite restaurant on the Island. “We hit it off right away,” Mary Kenworth said. “Eleanor liked people who worked hard — that was the highest compliment she could pay, and she recognized that we worked hard.” “Eleanor just loved Mary and Jackson,'' Rabinowitz said, “and I think they loved her too. Eleanor had a vision and passion about what she wanted a restaurant to be in the community, and I think Mary and Jackson shared that passion.” “We talked about how the State Road location could be an anchor for the community,” Kenworth said, “and to do that, it needed to be open, not just in the summer but for all four seasons [see editor’s note].” After Deon’s burned down, Rabinowitz said that there was an opportunity — Eleanor was thrilled at the idea that Mary and Jackson might take over the restaurant and
create something wonderful. In 2008, with the help of backers, the Kenworths bought the building from Pearlson and opened up State Road Restaurant. Rebuilding from the fire gave the Kenworths the opportunity to create something wonderful; after extensive renovation they
Before there was State Road Restaurant there were Sundown Gardens Haynes Delicatessen The Mid-Island Cafe Fat Tony’s The Wayside The Roadhouse The Red Cat As You Like It The Ice House Bittersweet Deon’s opened up in 2009. The restaurant, reminiscent of an old tavern, had a great stone fireplace, rough-hewn beams, artwork from local artists, and often-whimsical antiques. And the fare was contemporary American cuisine sourced from regional farmers and fishermen, with many herbs, fruits, and vegetables harvested from its own gardens.
Korn, and Jo
b Yacubia
n.
“Eleanor ate at State Road many times,” Kenworth said. “She absolutely loved it, and we’re happy to have the memory of her in our building.” “State Road is one of the few fine-dining restaurants on the Island that stays open year-round,” Rabinowitz said. “This is a huge contribution to the Island community. And during COVID, they offered takeout, which has been a wonderful thing for so many of us. State Road has been many things over the years — all according to what the community needs.” “We have held fundraising events for the West Tisbury library,” Kenworth said. “We hold farm dinners for Island Grown Initiative; we’re always looking for ways we can cement our relationship with the community.” “And that would have made Eleanor smile,” Rabinowitz said. It’s been an interesting 60-odd years for this little property in North Tisbury. As the Island’s tastes in dining have changed, so too have the little restaurants on State Road evolved. Where once stood a simple ice cream parlor, today stands a world renowned eatery. But then again, I guess that’s just who we are these days.
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Editor’s note: State Road has traditionally been open year-round, but due to COVID and a shortage of staffing, they may be temporarily closed this winter. off-season 2021/2022 27
ESSAY When I Opened The Roadhouse
WHEN I OPENED THE
Inspired by roadside food on a cross-country trip, I decided to open a restaurant in West Tisbury Story by Tina Miller 28 edible vineyard
ESSAY
D
uring the fall and winter when I was 22, I traveled across the country with a boyfriend, camping through the South and Southwest. We camped throughout, rom the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and cooked shrimp over a propane camping stove. We headed down to Key West to see my father and eat at his fabulous restaurant, Pepe's Cafe. We drove up and down the west coast of Florida to eat oysters in Apalachicola. We camped in Slidell, La., and went into New Orleans to eat in the French Quarter and listen to some music. We hit Texas, which by the way is 18 hours across. We ate chicken-fried steak at a truck stop in East Texas, and camped down south on South Padre Island. We drove down to El Paso to buy Tony Lama cowboy boots, where I learned, “If the heel don’t slip, the boot don’t fit.” We ate BBQ and cooked local steak on the grill in Austin. We made a stopover in Tucson, Ariz., for a few days to see my mother and younger brother — I hadn’t seen them in years. She greeted us with a big pot of green chili pork and beans. She took us down to the border town of Nogales, where we ate fancy Mexican food and drank beers and had mariachis sing at our table. We ended up in Santa Barbara, Calif., sitting in a Mexican restaurant called Pascual’s. I had heard about Pascual’s for years from my father, who went to Santa Barbara in the ’70s, and became friends with Pascual. He was from Mexico, and had opened this restaurant
years before. He spoiled us with delicious enchiladas with tender tasty pork and cold cervezas. We considered staying in Santa Barbara — Pascual offered me a job. But by the time we arrived, we were so inspired by all we had seen and eaten through the South and Southwest, we decided the only thing to do was to return to Martha’s Vineyard and open a restaurant and share what we had tasted. In West Tisbury, there was a restaurant called the Midtown Cafe I had worked at twice, once as a dishwasher with my friend Beach, when we were teenagers, then again the summer I was 22, as a line cook, when it was known briefly as the Wayside. It was operated by Joey Hall, who was the general manager of the Black Dog at the time. When we returned from Santa Barbara, I heard that the Wayside location might become available, and we were interested. It was small, and seemed like it might be manageable (whatever that means in the restaurant world). It is good to be naive at times, assuming the best will happen, if you have a can-do attitude. You can get a lot done without overthinking. That’s how the Roadhouse came to be. The Island food scene was quite different in 1989 — not many restaurants, and those were very much New England–style dining — Lawry’s Seafood, Anthony’s, Seasons, and David Ryan’s. Up-Island had the Home Port and the Aquinnah Shop. By this time in my life, I had done almost Continued on page 62 off season 2021/2022 29
FEATURE Working Girl
g l
30 edible vineyard
Working A day in the life of Rosie of Mermaid Farm
Girl Photos by Jeremy Driesen
off-season 2021/2022 31
FEATURE Working Girl
Allen Healy, co-owner of Mermaid Farm with Rosie and the herd.
Rosie in position.
32 edible vineyard
Working Girl FEATURE
Rosie at work.
Mermaid Farm Sheep.
M
ost dogs don’t have jobs — unless you count stretching out on the couch, begging, tail-wagging, and sleeping. Rosie is different; she’s a Border Collie who works full time, maintaining her herd of 80 or so mostly Icelandic sheep owned by Allen Healy and Caitlin Jones of Mermaid Farm. Border Collies are highly intelligent, tenacious, hardworking, and very trainable herding dogs, originally from Scotland. They love to work and are probably not ideal apartment dogs because they really need to work. Rosie, who’s 6 and a half, came to Mermaid Farm mostly trained when she was 2. The day Edible Vineyard visited, she had no interest in visitors or in the wide-open fields or in the rain falling around her; her only focus was on her master, Allen, and her herd. It was mesmerizing to watch the sheep — swirling and floating like Cinderellas on a dance floor, as Rosie — looking blissful as she stalked, crouched, and sauntered — coaxed them to twirl onto greener pastures.
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A Soup troough
h t u o y e k a t theOff-Season
Cookbook author Catherine Walthers shares a favorite. Photo by Alison Shaw
Rustic Root Vegetable Soup IN SEASON
Rustic Root Vegetable Soup with Wild Rice and Barley Recipe from Soups + Sides, by Catherine Walthers
T
he toothsome root veggies coupled with the wild rice and barley add a pleasant chewiness to the soup, and enhance the earthiness of the root vegetables. Though the list appears long, it’s an easy, uncomplicated soup to make. It makes a large batch, and can be frozen. Serves 8.
1 ½ oz. 2 Tbsp. 1 1 2 2 8 cups 4 1 1/3 cup 1/3 cup 3 to 4 Tbsp. 1 Tbsp.
onion, diced dried porcini mushrooms olive oil leek (use all parts) rinsed and sliced small to medium rutabaga, peeled or pared with a knife, and cut into small dice cloves garlic, minced Tbsp. tomato paste chicken stock carrots, peeled and cut into small dice celery root (or 2 parsnips, if unavailable), peeled and cut into small dice barley wild rice (not the quickcooking variety) minced fresh parsley fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
In a small bowl, soak porcini mushrooms in 2 cups of hot water for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, but save the soaking water to add to the soup. Chop the mushrooms finely. In a soup pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the leek and rutabaga, and cook until leeks are soft, another 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often. Add garlic and sauté another 1 or 2 minutes. Mix in tomato paste. Add the chopped porcini and the soaking water (being careful to leave any grit at the bottom of the bowl), chicken stock, carrots, celery root (or parsnip), barley, wild rice, 1 tsp. salt, and thyme, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover partially, and cook until the barley and wild rice are tender, but not mushy, approximately 50 to 55 minutes. Stir in the parsley, and add additional salt to taste, and some pepper.
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off-season 2021/2022 35
FEATURE Beach Road
IN THE KITCHEN WITH FRANK WILLIAMS
Delighting us year round at Beach Road. Story by Mollie Doyle Photo this page Elizabeth Cecil, all others Tina Miller
C
hef Frank Williams has spent the last seven hours in the Beach Road kitchen experimenting. “I love when the seasons change,” he says to me. “In some sense, it gives us a whole new clean slate. So much of our food is from Island farms so we are always asking, ‘What does this farm have? How can we use it?’” Frank doesn’t believe in throwing out an entire menu every season — there are Beach Road essentials — but likes to introduce new, meaningful flavors as they emerge or, as he says, “I don’t like doing one big traffic change.”On the day we talked, he and his sous chef had been working with two pigs from Jo Douglas’ Fork to Pork.
“I really do enjoy black bass season,” he laughs. “I love the process of cooking, the universal language of food, putting love on a plate. But there is also the reality that we spend 8 hours producing a plate of food that is gone in two minutes.”
Frank creating his special Pot-au-feu made with Pork to Fork.
Beach Road FEATURE The next day, Beach Road would feature Frank’s riff on Pot-au-feu. “I spent some time messing with the broth, getting the vegetables right,” he says. “I bought the two pigs because Trevor was very interested in learning how to break one down. So we worked side by side, me teaching him how to make the cuts. And now we are working on how to put forth as much of each animal as we can.” Frank believes that a huge part of his job is being the leader and head teacher. He is the first one to arrive and often the last to leave, putting in regular 16-hour days. “I try to lead by example. And communicate that cooking, working in a restaurant, is a lifestyle. My hope is that our kitchen is a place of solace. Here’s a place to get away from issues outside of work, to focus. It is about process, efficiency, anticipating next steps. That’s why mise en place is so important. Then it becomes a playground. I want my cooks to want to come to work. I want them to be asking, what am I going to learn today? And if they mess up, I understand that it happens, but we also have an extremely high standard for our food. I taste everything that everyone makes.” Frank grew up with two sisters, Maria and Gina, in Katama, surrounded by food, fishing, clamming, and crabbing. As he tells it, both his parents were amazing cooks. His mother, Donna, is from the Azores, and there were regular family feasts. “I remember my great-uncle coming up here with a van full of food. Thirty people. It was amazing.” And when he asked for an allowance, his father, Frank, who died in 2006, suggested he get a job, which seeded the roots for a life with food. Frank’s first job was at Papa’s Pizza in Oak Bluffs. From there, he worked at the Edgartown Golf Course during the day and Giordano’s at night. “I was lucky because I had people teaching me how to do things the right way, right away. To pay attention to how hot things can get. To respect structure, organization, and time management. And to double check the labels. I once made the mistake of making pies for Thanksgiving with salt because the sugar lid had been swapped with the salt bucket. Huge mishap. A lot of unhappy people that day,” he laughs. Frank graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 2009 and headed off to study architecture at Roger Williams College. While in school, Frank continued to cook, taking the Amtrak train from Providence to work at Boston’s Red Lantern, and then at Providence’s much lauded Al Forno restaurant. When Frank graduated, he returned to the Island to work for an architect, but soon learned that he enjoyed working in kitchens far more than designing them. He helped JB Blau open the Copper Wok, and then moved to Alchemy where he worked for four years. “In 2017, Mary and Jackson [Kenworth] hired me to work at State Road,” he says. “So many doors opened up.” And in 2019, he became the head chef at Beach Road. When asked what it was like to inherit Beach Road and work with Mary and Jackson, he said, “Incredible. The space is so beautiful. I wanted to serve more than chowder and fried clams, and Mary and Jackson embraced it. Our Baker Leslie Hewson is fantastic. I use as much of her product as we can. And we have incredible freedom with our menu. And the food from the farms and sea just makes it even better. We have an enormous wine list. Mary is in charge of that. And I work with Adrian, our mixologist, who is great. We were just working on a new fizz today.” As Frank talks more about the fish he gets from Johnny Hoy and the joy of spending three hours scaling fish, he becomes more animated. “I really do enjoy black bass season,” he laughs. “I love the process of cooking, the universal language of food, putting love on a plate. But there is also the reality that we spend 8 hours producing a plate of food that is gone in two minutes.” He tells me his uncle wants him to bring the spaghetti with clams off-season 2021/2022 37
FEATURE Beach Road back. “I just don’t have the staff for it right now. Staffing has been an absolute nightmare this year. It’s hard. I understand. There are kids who just want a summer job, but I need people who are passionate about food and who are going to care. Yes, the food might be eaten in a minute, but the person will walk out with an experience, a feeling, a memory. That is forever. And, obviously, I want it to be a good one.” We are delighted to report that Beach Road will be open this fall and winter. And we at Edible salute Mary, Jackson, Frank, and their entire team for being a dedicated year-round gorgeous place for us to gather, slurp oysters, sit at a bar and have a drink with a friend. For creating a menu that serves marvelous high/low fare — hot dogs and lobster linguine!! So we can pause and talk about our days and maybe even process a bit of this complex and wonderful life we have here.
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Oysters with mignonette, classic cocktail sauce, horseradish, lemon.
His mother, Donna, is from the Azores, and there were regular family feasts. “I remember my great uncle coming up here with a van full of food. Thirty people. It was amazing.” And when he asked for an allowance, his father Frank, who died in 2006, suggested he get a job, which seeded the roots for a life with food. Au jus for Pot-au-feu.
na
Tempura Shrimp With Haricots Verts, Chili Crisp.
38 edible vineyard
Beach Road FEATURE
Pot-au-feu made with Pork to Fork
off-season 2021/2022 39
FEATURE Three Sisters Salad
TheThree
Sisters Sing a recipe from a decolonized diet The classic combo of corn, beans, squash is a celebration of the fall harvest. Story by Mollie Doyle Photos by Mollie Doyle
Three Sisters are corn, beans, and squash.
40 edible vineyard
I
’m very late to the podcast party. It was only this summer that I discovered the delight of the form. During these less-traveled Covid times, it was wonderful to hear voices from around the country and world. Of course, me being me, I then turned into an apostle, telling everyone they too should tune in (“You must listen to Chana Jaff-Walz’s ‘Nice White Parents’! ‘This American Life.’ ‘Gastropod.’”) And, of course, because nearly everyone else has been listening for years, each has their personal favorite, which is how I found the Green Dreamer podcast: My friend Tara recommended it. What I appreciate about Green Dreamer Host and producer Kamea Chayne’s work is that she has introduced an entirely new (at least to me) set of global thinkers, healers, and leaders. I have been challenged and invigorated by the conversations. In Episode 312, Kamea Chayne interviews chef Brian Yazzie about his work for “the betterment of tribal communities, wellness and health through indigenous foods.” Brian Yazzie, also known as Yazzie the Chef (Diné/Navajo), is from Dennehotso, Arizona, and now based in St. Paul, Minnesota. In their conversation, Yazzie shares his story of what it was like for him to grow up as one of eight children with a single mom on a reservation. After an early life on the streets and in
As you may know, the Three Sisters are corn, beans, and squash, which were traditionally planted as companions. The corn provides long stalks for the beans to grow up. The beans fix the nitrogen in the soil and the squash provides shade for all three plants so that they need less water and the soil has less light, which means less weeds. And when the Three Sisters are cooked together they provide nearly complete nutrition.
Three Sisters Salad FEATURE and out of county jails, he says, “Cooking saved my life.” Brian is now a part of the Gatherings Cafe in the Minneapolis American Indian Center, which he says is “basically the birthplace of the American Indian Movement.” One of the cafe’s projects is called #FeedingOurElders, which serves what he calls “the decolonized menu.” He says, “I realized after traveling to so many tribal communities, most of them are still in ‘third-world’ poverty status, regardless if it’s in urban spaces or if it’s in rural areas like on reservations. The reason is the food access that we have right now — not a lot of tribal communities have access to organic or decolonized menus.” In 2005, University of Kansas professor Devon Abbot Mihesuah introduced the idea of a decolonized diet in her book Recovering Our Ancestor’s Gardens. Cal State professor Luz Calvo and her partner Catriona Rueda Esquibel’s 2015 book Decolonize Your Diet added to the conversation. In very simple terms, a decolonized diet means a largely plant-based diet with no gluten, no sugar, no dairy. As I listened to Yazzie and Chayne talk and then read more, I was struck by the fact that recently so many of us have arrived at some version of a decolonized diet — no gluten, no sugar, no dairy — from other routes: to reduce inflammation from things like Lyme disease; to reduce glucose levels for those who live with diabetes; for better athletic performance or sleep; and from a climate change mitigation/regenerative farming perspective. Yazzie uses the Three Sister Salad as one of the best examples of the power of a decolonized menu. As you may know, the Three Sisters are corn, beans, and squash, which were traditionally planted as companions. The corn provides long stalks for the beans to grow up. The beans fix the nitrogen in the soil, and the squash provides shade for all three plants so that they need less water and the soil has less light, which means fewer weeds. And when the Three Sisters are cooked together they provide nearly complete nutrition. In other words, they have complex carbohydrates, essential fatty acids, and complementary amino acids that when combined amount to a complete protein. There are 574 recognized Indian Nations in North America. So, not surprisingly, because there are hundreds of Indian Nations, there are thousands of recipes for cooking with the Three Sisters. Stews, salads, casseroles. I went in search of a recipe. I could not find the salad that Yazzie mentions in the podcast and reached out to him, but did not hear back. Alas, cookbooks, the internet, and friends were my sources. I was not drawn to the recipes where the ingredients sounded like they were cooked to become essentially one. Too mushy for me. Others, the ingredients felt like they were still too independent and not married at the end. My bias entirely, but I was looking for a dish where the Three Sisters would make each other sing. I wanted the end product to feel like a celebration of the fall harvest. I wasn’t asking for much, was I? I called the Orange Peel Bakery’s Juli Vanderhoop to talk about the Three Sisters and see if she had a family recipe. “It’s so funny that you called. My niece Emily [Vanderhoop] and I have been putting together a recipe. It’s so good, ” she told me. As we talked more about the symbiotic magic of the three plants and their nutritional value she said, “I mean, why did we ever move away from eating like this?” I tried the recipe of Yazzie’s I’d seen on Delish for a Three Sister dish with roasted butternut squash, black beans, kale, and hominy, tweaking it for my tastebuds. He uses hominy. I used Morning Glory corn. And he uses garlic powder while I used off-season 2021/2022 41
FEATURE Three Sisters Salad garlic from my garden. It was delicious. I then moved on to Juli’s recipe. Also wonderful. After trying these recipes — and reflecting on decades of cooking variations of enchiladas and chilis with corn, zucchini and beans — I realized the third wonder of the Three Sisters: they are family. No matter what you do with them on the stove or in the oven, they work together.
Juli and Emily Vanderhoop’s Three Sisters Salad This is based on the idea of a confetti salad where everything is a small dice. 1 medium-sized red onion, chopped into a small dice 2 jalapenos, finely chopped 1 red pepper, chopped into a small dice 1 green pepper, chopped into a small dice 1 pound cooked lima beans or fava beans 3 ears of corn 1 large hubbard, 2 acorn, or several pattypan squash cut into small ¾” dice 1-3 Tbsp. butter 1-3 Tbsp. olive oil Fresh or dried sage & thyme. If fresh, a handful of each finely chopped 1-3 tsp. cumin Cayenne (to taste), but if you are not sure, start with ⅛ teaspoon Salt Pepper
Juli and Emily’s Three Sisters Salad
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Method: Grill (or roast) 3 ears of corn on a flame until they are a little scorched. Allow to cool and cut the kernels from the cob. Melt 2 Tbsp. of butter and 2 Tbsp. of olive oil together in a large saute pan. Add the squash. Cook over high heat for about 5-7 minutes. Turn down and toss in the herbs, spices, salt and pepper. Add more butter and olive oil if necessary. The aim here is to not make a mash with the squash, but to create more of a home-fry consistency. So do not overstir or push on the cubes. Allow the squash to get golden and crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. When the squash is done, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Taste. Maybe add more salt or a little more pepper. We like to balance the salad with a peach infused balsamic vinegar and a little more olive oil. Of course all of this can and should be adjusted to one’s taste. If spice is not your thing, you can use or lose the jalapeno and add more savory herbs. This is just a basic structure and approach to a salad that is flexible. It can be served while the squash is still warm or cold. The Three Sisters are such a compliment to each other that they can serve as the foundation for so many flavors.
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JARRED SUNSHINE It’s tomato saucing season for Tina Parisi and Ned Casey. Story and Photos by Tina Miller
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IN SEASON Jarred Sunshine
T
hough social media has its problems, and some elements totally annoy me, good things happen, like finding long-lost friends, staying in touch with friends far away. And then there are the times when you think, “I want to find someone preserving local tomatoes during the harvest season …” You look on Facebook and presto! You find Ned Casey and Immacolata (Tina) Parisi in the middle of their saucing season. Usually, I see posts on Ned’s timeline of this energetic couple from Edgartown on Ned’s boat or near the water with their three Jack Russells. This time, I found a photo of Ned in front of a table full of their end-of-the-season tomato harvest. I reached out to him and he enthusiastically invited me over to catch the action. When I get there, Tina and Ned are set up inside their house and out on their deck for the production ahead. The deck table is covered with gorgeous, perfectly ripe tomatoes. Their Edgartown home is clearly designed around the kitchen, with large slabs of Carrara marble for the countertops and a huge working island.
Quart jars are being sterilized in water baths on the professional range. Tina stands slicing tomatoes with a small paring knife, then Ned patiently sends them through the tomato press on the deck. After the final press, the large pot of fresh tomato puree will go on the stove to reduce and thicken a bit. Ned has been hunting and fishing on the Island for decades, so growing food isn’t a stretch. “This year we grew Persimmon paste tomatoes, and two types of Roma, slicing tomatoes, and cherry,” Ned tells me. “You never really know how the sauce is going to taste, because of all the varieties we grow. We had over 50 plants this year.” “A lot of the tomatoes didn’t really mature this year,” Tina says. “July was really rainy, then the humidity. Tomatoes like sunny hot weather.”
For the start of the process, they use a tomato press called a Spremi, which removes the skins and seeds. “We run each batch at least three times for the optimum flavor,” Ned says. He shakes his head. “It’s a lot of work — this is our fourth tomato sauce batch of the season.” He insists you get a lot of sweetness from the skins, and that you can avoid the bitterness of the seeds using the Spremi versus using an emulsion blender or food processor. Tina chimes in: “The women in my mother’s generation would never have kept the seeds in their sauce.” Tina is the diminutive name of Immacolata, which means Immaculate, as in Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. She grew up in Brooklyn with her parents, who are from Northern Naples. Her parents came over on the Andrea Doria and settled in Brooklyn the year before the Andrea Dorian sank. “My father is 95,” she says, “and my mother is 91.”
Tina and Ned.
Tina
Jarred Sunshine IN SEASON “They still cook every day,” Ned says. “All the Italian Americans had kitchens in their basements and made huge batches of sauce,” Tina says. “My father even pressed his own wine. He would order 50 cases of red and white grapes, and after pressing he would store the wine in big old Kentucky bourbon barrels. He made enough wine to last a whole year.”
This year they started the whole process from scratch. In the kitchen, there are tomato seeds drying on the countertop to save for planting next year. “All the tomatoes this year came from seeds, which makes the process even harder,” Tina says. “In the past, we started with small tomato plants. but we did get a few really incredible plants out of the seeds, so I guess the extra effort is worth it.”
Tina is the diminutive name of Immacolata, which means Immaculate, as in Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. She grew up in Brooklyn with her parents, who are from the north of Naples. “They still cook every day,” Ned says. “Every time we would go back to Tina’s parents in Brooklyn, the sauce was so good, so we thought, why shouldn’t we make our own?” Ned tells me. Ned and Tina have been growing their own tomatoes in their backyard and making sauce for the past five years. “The sauce that we make is the base for all of our sauces — Putanesaca, Bolognese, pizza, even Bloody Mary mix — we use it for everything.”
Tina and Ned’sTomato Harvest.
To really know if it is worth the effort, on some cold, gray day this winter, Ned and Tina will spend the afternoon in their kitchen creating a Bolognese with the tomato sauce. It will bring them back to the gorgeous late summer harvest of their jarred sunshine. Lucky for us, they’ve shared their recipes. You’ll have to get your own tomatoes, though.
Tomato Puree 1. Wash tomatoes. Dry them somewhat to minimize water content. 2. Cut tomatoes lengthwise into pieces which will fit easily through the opening of a specialty processor (Spremi or other brand). 3. Skins and seeds can and should be passed through 3 or 4 times to get all the tomato juice, pulp closest to skin, etc. This reduces the mess and gives you more puree in the end. 4. Eliminate most of the water content by reducing your finished tomato juice at medium to high heat (not too high; you don’t want it to burn at the bottom of the pot and ruin the batch). When juice is heating, there may be foamy, frothy stuff on top (sludge). Skim this off — it may add a bitter taste to the sauce. Do this for about 2 hours or until maybe 1/5 to a 1/4 of the liquid remains in the pot. It should appear as a puree, neither liquid nor sticky or pasty.
Reducing fresh tomatoes to be jarred.
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IN SEASON Jarred Sunshine
5. Sterilize the Ball jars and the lids first. Clean the jars first, then place them in a pot of water to cover jars at least 3/4 of the way and boil lightly (simmer) for about half an hour. Lids can be re-used next year if not rusty. 6. Put 1 teaspoon of salt into each jar. Basil is good for tomato puree, unless you don’t like the flavor or are allergic. It isn’t needed. Tina says she likes lots. Put leaves into each jar after the salt. Fill the jars with puree to tippy top. The less air the better. Too much air will leave room for spoilage. Seal the jars as tight as possible but not dangerously to break or injure yourself. (Careful: All this stuff is still very hot.) 7. Put the filled, sealed jars into a water bath. Tina uses hot water to start because she says she’s afraid of broken jars, which can result in bringing together extreme temperatures. Bring the water to a simmer over low to medium heat and leave enough space between jars so they don’t touch each other. While boiling, if Tina hears them knocking into each other she uses a utensil to carefully and gently move jars enough to separate from clanging into each other. Go about 20 minutes at a real simmer. 8. Remove the jars from the hot water and line them up in rows, where they can rest undisturbed and again not touching. Cover with a towel to cool slowly at room temperature. When COMPLETELY cool, remove the towel and store. These jars of puree will last a year and longer stored cool and dry and unopened. Sometimes a jar will go “off.” If you open and there is mold or it looks funky at the top DON’T use.
Good luck! .
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Jarred Sunshine IN SEASON
To really know if it is worth the effort, on some cold, gray day this winter, Ned and Tina will spend the afternoon in their kitchen creating a Bolognese with the tomato sauce.
Several versions of Tina’s sauce.
off-season early summer 2021/2022 2021 47
edible
M A RK E T PL AC E
Communities
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section FEATURES
off-season 2021/2022 49
ON THE FARM
Gleaning Essay by Kate Tvelia Athearn Illustrations by Karen Blackerby Logan
W
hen I first started growing vegetables, I felt like a complete failure. In farmstands and markets, I saw piles of smooth, straight string beans, unblemished tomatoes, carrots that didn’t twist around each other. My own garden produce was perfectly delicious, but in no way market-ready. How did those farms work such magic? As turns out, the key is overproduction. Commercial farms have to plant an excess of what they need, so they can pick the best for their customers. It leaves behind an abundance of imperfect crops in the field. Traditionally, farmers make every attempt to use the leftovers, either by donating them or using them in prepared foods, but a decade ago, Island Grown Initiative saw that they could help farmers be more productive, while increasing access to fresh, local food. The Island Grown Gleaners were born, and now, every week, all year long, a dedicated group of volunteers gathers in fields across the Island to harvest food that isn’t pretty, but still delectably and locally grown, offsetting a significant portion of that waste, and helping IGI distribute it to community members in need. I had the opportunity to join this group of gleaners one bright weekday morning in early fall. Accustomed to “Island time” as I am, I thought I was early when I made my way to the meeting spot a few minutes before the 9 am start time. Instead, I was just in time to see the rest of the group disappear around a greenhouse, sun hats and gardening gloves in hand, eager to get started. I caught up with the crew just as Jackie Hockhanson and Marjorie Pierce, longtime volunteers and today’s glean captains, were giving tips on picking green beans, bending a few to demonstrate how we could tell which ones were too far gone to pick. There were careful instructions on which rows were to ours to pick, and where the farm was still harvesting. For farmers like Simon Athearn of Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown, communication and organization are crucial
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to the success of IGI’s gleaning program. Allowing strangers onto your meticulously planned fields requires a fair amount of trust that the plants and soil will remain undamaged, and that the team will take only what has been designated for them. He says this is really where IGI shines. Simon can check his fields on Monday, leave a message for the IGI Gleaning lead, and trust that the gleaners will arrive Tuesday morning and carry out the exact plan he had in mind. They do seem more like trained professionals than a random assortment of volunteers. There are few experiences more humbling than picking with this seasoned group of gleaners. While I was standing up to stretch and give my back a rest, feeling pretty good about my half-full box of beans, these hearty volunteers, most of them a few decades older than I, were squatting down in the rows, hard at work, exchanging their full boxes for empty ones to fill. After an hour or so, Jackie let everyone know that we were finished with the official glean, and volunteers were given a few minutes to pick some beans for themselves, while our boxes were consolidated and brought out to the distribution van, where the culmination of the gleaning program takes place: getting this food into the bellies of Islanders in need.. On this particular day, the beans were destined for the elementary schools, where creative lunch ladies would decide how best to use them in their lunch programs. But depending on the size and type of the harvest, the time of year, and the needs of the community, gleaned produce goes everywhere from the Food Pantry and senior centers to the Wampanoag Women’s Center on a fairly consistent basis, and many others as needed. IGI also processes vegetables and prepares meals for distribution in a partnership with local chefs and Slough Cove Foundation. According to Kayte Morris, senior director of food equity programs for Island Grown Initiative, the goal is to get the right food to the right people at the
right time. It takes an intense amount of coordination and keeping up with who is growing what, and who is in need. Luckily, they have their gleaning lead, Astrid Tilton, in charge of figuring all of that out. Astrid is passionate about food equity, and believes that everyone should be able to obtain food in a way that is conve-
ON THE FARM
nient and feels good to them. She has spent years forming relationships not only with farmers but with Island organizations, and people feel comfortable telling her what they want and what they don’t. She’d much rather find another recipient for a delivery, or feed it to livestock at Island Grown Farm, than leave a recipient organization
feeling stuck with something it can’t use. Bolstered by the support of her gleaners and the farmers at Island Grown Farm, Astrid is continually improving the system, working on more efficient ways to harvest, and keeping up with new produce being grown on the Island. It’s an ever-changing program that works
because it plays on everyone’s strengths, and what everyone has to share. Farmers are empowered to be more generous with their bounty, volunteers feel they are provided a needed service, Islanders in need get a helping hand, and all those funny-looking vegetables get the appreciation they so truly deserve.
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off-season 2021/2022 51
SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S farm map
Farm
fresh Take a farmstand tour, and discover the flavors of Martha’s Vineyard. Story by Tina Miller Illustration by Tara Reynolds
SPONSORED BY
52 edible vineyard
farm map SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S
I
t’s summer on Martha’s Vineyard, and the bounty is exploding from land and sea. Locally grown foods are found on menus around the Island, and in a few markets such as Cronig’s, North Tisbury Farm and Market, Vineyard Grocer, the Chilmark Store, Katama General Store, the Larder, and of course the fish markets. We recommend getting a real sense of our diversity by taking a ride around the Island and checking out the variety of farm stands. The farmstands here are open to the public without appointment, so if you are out cruising around, and just happen by one of these beautiful farmstands, you may find a bouquet of flowers, some chilled fruit, yogurt lassi, fresh greens, ground lamb, pork chops, or a wool throw blanket. Some are cash, Island checks, or Venmo, bring small bills to make change. Many stands collect your payment by the honor system: Just put the money in the can.
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SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S
Martha’s Vineyard Farmstands and Shellfish Farmers Slip Away Farm 199 Chappaquiddick Road, Edgartown
Slough Farm 15 Butler’s Cove Road, Edgartown
Tea Lane Farm 161 Middle Road, Chilmark
Whippoorwill Farm Old County Road, West Tisbury
OYSTER FARMS
Allen Farm Sheep & Wool 42 South Road, Chilmark 223 Vineyard Haven–Edgartown Road, Vineyard Haven
Beetlebung Farm 410 Middle Road, Chilmark
Blackwater Farm 40 Cottles Lane, West Tisbury
Breezy Pines Farm 164 Tiahs Cove Road, West Tisbury
Flat Point Farm 164 Great Neck Road, West Tisbury
Ghost Island Farm 27 Davis Look Road, West Tisbury
The Grey Barn 22 South Road, Chilmark
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1056 State Road, Vineyard Haven
Island Grown Farm Hub 80 Stoney Hill Road, Vineyard Haven
Mermaid Farm 9 Middle Road, Chilmark
Menemsha Crossroads Farmstand Chilmark
Morning Glory Farm 120 Meshacket Road, Edgartown
Native Earth Teaching Farm 94 North Rd., Chilmark
North Tabor Farm 4 North Tabor Road, Chilmark
North Tisbury Farm 632 State Rd, West Tisbury
Signature Oyster Farm by Jeremy Driesen
Bayes Norton Farm
The Good Farm
Blue Moon Chilmark Oysters Cottage City Oysters D+E Oysters Honeysuckle Farm Little Minnow Martha’s Vineyard Spearpoint Menemsha Creek Menemsha Oysters Roysters Oysters Sweet Neck Farm Signature Oyster Farm Snows Point Top Shell
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off-season 2021/2022 55
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6/7/21 1:40 PM
THE SIP
FALL WINE
A Field
Guide
Writen by Sam Decker
B
y late August, our rituals of summer drinking — high SPFs and low ABVs—have begun to unravel. Our susceptibility to festive millennial branding, at least in the context of canned rosé and hard cider, does (thank God) appear to have a limit. So when fall rolls around, most of us are more than ready to switch gears. But to what, exactly? And what about that case of Whispering Angel left over from the family reunion in July? My advice: Save it for the spring — you don’t want to waste the year’s best wine-drinking season slowly depleting your stash of forgettable rosé. To help ease your transition to more intentional modes of drinking, here are three wine categories that touch on some of the themes I’m personally exploring this fall.
Co-ferments In the summer of 2020, when wildfires were ravaging Northern California and many producers were calling it quits, Jason Charles of Vinca Minor was dreaming about apples. His fascination had been sparked during one of his regular commutes — now through billowing smoke — up the 101 to Mendocino’s Redwood Valley, the region that supplied the majority of his grapes. At first it was simply the sheer volume of orchards along the highway — a feature of the landscape he’d previously overlooked. But what really interested him was the fruit’s unique set of attributes. Apples are, well, kind of stupid. Compared to Vitis vinifera (the common grape vine), which transcribe every molecule of their environment into a complex array of flavors and textures, apples communicate very little about their surroundings. An apple’s ripeness level might tell you how sunny it was during the growing season — any other details are left to the imagination. In normal times, this makes grapes the far more compelling of the two fruits. But normal times these were not — and driving past endless acres of vineyards devastated by smoke taint, Jason couldn’t help but wonder: Could apples be wine’s answer to climate change? To find out, Jason started Moonland, a project devoted exclusively to co-fermentation. Apples, grapes, and pears — all organically farmed or foraged throughout Mendocino Country — are intermixed, 56 edible vineyard
Fall Wine THE SIP
Is it time to concede that the lines between cider, beer, and wine are all in our heads? How can we break from our dependence on monoculture to make room for more biodiverse agricultural paradigms? either at the fermentation stage or during blending, in an attempt to explore the no man’s land between cider and wine. The results are delicious. But more importantly, they address many of the questions that have been circulating through the natural wine community: Is it time to concede that the lines between cider, beer, and wine are all in our heads? How can we break from our dependence on monoculture to make room for more biodiverse agricultural paradigms?
Moonland Apple wand Carignan Sparkling Rosé Meet the bird-of-paradise of the wine kingdom. As for plumage, expect wild apple blossoms, tangy dragonfruit and mineral hues. Fizzy and dry. Nine percent alcohol. No added sulfur dioxide.
Earthy whites After having watched red wine shift to lighter and brighter styles over these past few years, we’re now getting to see white wine embrace its dark side, abandoning zingy simplicity for more complicated, nonfruit tones. Sipping one can sometimes feel like burrowing into a pile of freshly raked leaves. One unlikely hero of this story is Vermentino, a grape that makes most of us think of the sun-soaked Mediterranean. Yet here in the States, Vermentino is being recast as brooding protagonist in an effort among California producers
to make serious white wine that is structured, age-worthy, and most importantly, isn’t Chardonnay. For instance, Keep Wines, part of Napa’s vibrant indie scene, sources organic Vermentino from the Windmill Vineyard in rural Yolo County. Owners Jack Roberts and Johanna Jensen succeed in tempering the grape’s French Riviera vibes by harvesting early and bottling late (after aging the wine for 18 months in neutral oak). This supplies an earthy, oxidative character, offset by a vibrancy that will surely outlive us all.
Keep Windmill Vineyard Vermentino 2017
Iruai, Cole Ranch, Ruth Lewandoski, and Idlewild. But you don’t necessarily have to fuss over all those crampons and carabiners. Increasingly, winemakers are leveraging mainstream grapes like Pinot Noir and Syrah to hit these herbal high notes. One such producer is Tim Sakhuja, who founded the tiny Berkeley-based winery Toshokan in 2020. Tim and his partner, Ayaka Nonaka, see winemaking as an act of curation (Toshokan means library in Japanese), with each wine serving as a record of a specific place and time. Because Tim and Ayaka came of age during the New California wine movement, which started gaining steam in 2013, their reference points are largely domestic (unlike previous generations, which looked to Europe). As a result, Toshokan wines feel refreshingly self-assured, evoking a free-wheeling spirit of creativity and craftsmanship that’s grounded in the here and now.
Toshokan Non Vintage Pinot Noir N 1 Rips with tangy, graceful energy. Like getting your first tattoo, it will make you feel startlingly alive. Dried plums and juniper berries. 12.0 percent alcohol. Four barrels produced (roughly 75 cases).
A swirling galaxy of toasted hazelnuts and wild fennel. The closest California has come to capturing the flinty, supernatural beauty of the Jura. 12.0 percent alcohol. Ninety cases produced.
Herbal reds If you’re searching for brisk, savory reds this fall, one obvious place to look is up: Alpine wines have you covered. In fact, enjoying these wines is now easier than ever thanks to a handful of producers making exciting headway with alpine varieties like Trousseau, Poulsard, and Teroldego right here in the U.S. Brands to look for include off-season 2021/2022 57
IN SEASON Local Pork
Morning pork hash.
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IN SEASON
LocalPork Story and photos by Tina Miller
F
Roasted Delicata squash.
arms on the Island continue with robust, diverse offerings of vegetables, eggs, dairy — such as cheeses, yogurt, and raw milk — and great local meat. You can find pasture-raised chicken, beef, lamb, and a fantastic selection of pork. All these locally raised animals have had quality lives on the Vineyard, spending time outdoors in pastures, being nurtured by humans who genuinely care for them. The good husbandry pays off with delicious, flavorful meats. I recently bought a beautifully marbled T-bone steak from Grey Barn. I let it rest in fresh rosemary, garlic, a tad of mustard, olive oil, a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper, then grilled it — it was yummy. I often buy local pork; the pig provides a variety of options: sausage, hot Italian, breakfast, and chorizo, bacon, chops, roast, butt, loin, ribs, ham. In my opinion, pork from small farms, humanely raised, is superior to commodity-raised pork. The flavor — well, it has flavor, and is always juicy. If you hit the farmstands around the Island, there is a good chance there will be pork in the freezer. Also check out Jo Douglas, who raises only pigs at Fork to Pork, forktopork. com; you may see this locally raised pork on some Island menus. The reality is most will not be able to buy local pork all the time; the best options at Cronig’s are Niman Ranch — I find their pork chops consistently delicious. At this time of year, I’m thinking of homey comfort foods; this pork hash recipe is perfect for fall.
Spicy Pork Hash with Kale and Winter Squash This hash is basically a base for a few meals — breakfast hash with eggs, a fantastic pasta sauce (just add chicken stock or pasta water), or add two cans of drained and rinsed white beans and chicken stock for soup. Most of the ingredients I used were local. The hash could not be easier — my favorite kind of cooking: clean, simple, local, very tasty, and full of color. Serves 4. ¼ cup 1 lb. 4 cups 1 Tbsp. 1 large or 2 3 1
EVOO ground hot Italian sausage winter squash, such as deli cata or butternut. Slice and peel if needed, slice in half and remove seeds, dice into two-inch pieces fresh rosemary, chopped medium shallots, halved and thinly sliced medium or two large leeks halves, rinsed, then sliced large bunch kale or chard, bottom stems removed, sliced keeping the rib intact (large-cut chiffonade), then soak and spin dry
Preheat oven to 400°. In a heavy saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil; heat on medium-high heat and brown the sausage, breaking up the meat so it is not too chunky. Rinse your delicata squash well — you will leave the skin on and eat it. Peel your butternut. Halve, remove seeds, and cut into two-inch slices for the delicata, or dices for the butternut squash. Toss in remaining olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Bake at 400° for about 25 minutes. Once your sausage is browned, add rosemary, combine, then add your shallots and leeks. Combine, turn heat down, and cook for about 5 minutes to soften the shallots and leeks. Add chiffonaded kale, combine well. Cover for about 2 minutes. Continue cooking until kale has softened. Remove from heat. Carefully fold in roasted squash.
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SPONSORED BY CRONIG’S Health tips
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ronig’s Markets and Healthy Additions feed and care for your family. And this includes all your important family members — your pets! Your pets’ health, happiness and wellbeing are just as vital. Cronig’s Markets and Healthy Additions have a wide selection of healthy pet foods, treats, and even leashes. Bone appetite!
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ESSAY When I Opened The Roadhouse
A lot changes in your life between the ages of 24 and 28. Good and hard things, but one thing was constant: The Roadhouse was a magical time. all the jobs in restaurants except bartender and owner. Now I’d be an owner. I was by no means a trained chef — I was a decent cook, and I liked fresh, colorful, simple food. We wanted to create a local hangout, without an overly complicated theme. My father was a helpful advisor, telling me about food and labor costs. He talked about the importance of consistency in food and operations. No mood food! He meant it didn’t matter who made the chili, it should be always the same, always good. With my restaurant experience and lots of good friends to help out, we decided to go for it. It was early spring of 1989, and we were able to get a four-year lease. Now we just needed money to open, to pay rent, to pay ourselves, and give the nondescript diner a makeover. I went for a commercial loan at Dukes County Savings Bank for $25,000 dollars. What I didn’t realize at the time was you needed money to borrow money — collateral. I was turned down. But with some muscle from old Island family friends who had several accounts at the bank and were pillars in the community, the bank reversed its decision, and the loan was approved, small-town style. Once the money was approved and the lease was signed, we had just a few months to open. We had planned to do some updates to what was essentially a plain-looking diner, with white walls and brown trim. There was a low Formica counter bar and swivel diner stools. It didn’t feel like a place where Having a drink you would want to eat a nice dinner. at Pascual's in So we went to some of the best woodSanta Barbara. workers around. My brother Andrew, a boatbuilder, designed and built a beautiful mahogany bar. Ross Gannon of Gannon and Benjamin Boatyard built eight tabletops out of recycled yellow pine to replace the bland tabletops that came with the place. There wasn’t a lot we could do in the timeframe and with that budget, but it felt like a fresh start for the old restaurant. In the kitchen, we bought a new restaurant range and a chargrill, since the concept was grilled food. The logo was inspired by a Western silhouette we had seen on a country album. I can’t remember who the artist was, but a good friend’s boyfriend was an artist, and he painted the sign with three bold colors — red, a deep marigold yellow, and black. We hired friends and family. Word got out, and a group of young college girls from Sarah Lawrence showed up to waitress. My cousin, my best friend, and her sister were all hired. A friend’s boyfriend’s brother who was an experienced line cook would be my No. 2 in the kitchen. The other guys in the kitchen were all surfers, including two young boys, John and Jon (I think they were 14), who were our dishwashers. Continued from page 29
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Opening a restaurant to a layman might look impossible, especially in the last few days. You usually get people walking in saying things like, “You really opening tomorrow?” Everything comes together in the last days. By mid-June we had spiffed the little restaurant up, and we were getting ready to open. I had a family friend print the menus in North Carolina and — big surprise — they didn’t arrive in time, so we handwrote menus on white-lined paper. Since that memory is the clearest of opening day, I would say things went pretty well. A lot changes in your life between the ages of 24 and 28. Good and hard things, but one thing was constant: The Roadhouse was a magical time. I think the average age for the staff was always several years younger than me. We liked each other, and worked and played together. The surfers in the kitchen surfed during the days and worked hard late into the night. The customers felt that sort of clubhouse vibe, and they became loyal and constant. We didn’t take reservations, but always had a list. People would hang out in the backyard, sitting in the summer grass, relaxing, waiting for their table. One of the best parts of the restaurant business is the friendships you make, not just with the team you work with but also all the great customers whose routine you became part of. There were the Millers (no relation), who loved France as much as I did, and would bring in a bottle of exceptional wine and make me sit and have a glass with them. There were Carol and Michael, who would bring in cheese that he smuggled back from his frequent work trips to Paris. Eleanor Pearlson and Julia Sturgis showed up with an old syrup bottle with booze (the Roadhouse was BYOB). They always had a group, at least six or eight people. Everyone wanted to wait on Eleanor’s table; she was a big tipper, but she had her favorites, so not everyone had the privilege. My grandfather, Richard Miller, would stop by on his way to get the mail, and have a cup of soup. There were the Aronies, who would sit and chat past closing. Trudy Taylor loved my gingerbread with rum glaze, and Mark and Patty, who were just dating at the time, rolled in on a Harley-Davidson. My friend Cory, a record company owner from New York City, would come up on weekends. He left his tequila and Cointreau with us: He would be at the last table of the night, bringing his cool friends to eat chicken and ribs and drink margaritas. By the end of the fourth summer, my lease was ending. We had gone through a lot together. Everyone was growing up. The surfer boys had graduated from high school, and the gang was ready to move on. Some traveled, one went to cooking school, everyone moved on to new chapters in their young lives. As the years have passed, I never stop hearing how much people loved the Roadhouse.
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DONE!
EV: So what made you come to Martha’s Vineyard? KM: I first arrived on the Vineyard in the summer of 1976. Gerald Ford was president, and the country was celebrating its bicentennial year. I was 24, and had been in America for nine months. I was staying with a friend in Boston who mentioned an island off Cape Cod that he thought I might like: Nantucket. He claimed it was an interesting place to cycle around. I bought a secondhand bicycle, and cycled from Boston to Hyannis where, 64 edible vineyard
in those days, it was still possible to take a ferry to the two main islands off Cape Cod. Arriving in Hyannis, I bought a ticket to Nantucket. Five minutes after the ferry from Nantucket docked, an identical ferry docked close by. Watching the passengers arriving from Nantucket walk jauntily ashore, I felt uncomfortable about how white and preppy they all were. Disembarking from the other boat was a very different set of people; a mix of farmers, dropouts, and academics, a few of whom were African American. I was told the second ferry was from Martha’s Vineyard. I quickly switched my ticket and
Photo courtesy Keith McNally
Done: Keith McNally
boarded the ferry for the two-hour journey to Martha’s Vineyard, a place I’d never heard of until five minutes earlier. Cycling around the Island that summer, I was struck by its understated beauty and its immunity from the excesses of commercialism. No chain stores, no roadside billboards. Just a coastline of sandy beaches, with a lush, green interior dotted with farms and old stone walls. I’ve been back every summer since.
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Keith McNally was born in London and moved to New York in 1975, where he worked in a series of restaurant jobs from oyster shucker to busboy to general layabout. In 1980 he opened his first restaurant, The Odeon. Since then he’s opened Café Luxembourg, Nell’s, Minetta Tavern, and Pulino’s, the biggest restaurant flop in history. In 2010 he was mistakenly given the James Beard award for outstanding U.S. Restaurateur.
J O S E P H W. D I C K A RC H I T E C T U R E , I NC .
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