Leader of the Team: A winning team at Theo's

By Julian Wise - July 19, 2007

While many chefs indulge in self-promotion, expect no evidence of it from Robin Ledoux-Forte, executive chef of Theo’s at the Inn at Blueberry Hill in Chilmark.

Ms. Ledoux-Forte is more likely to direct compliments and credit to the core kitchen staff. "I take pride in the fact that my staff has been working with me for a long time,” she says. "It benefits the customers because we have continuity, and it benefits the atmosphere of working in the kitchen. I take it as a compliment that they’re willing to come back and work with me year after year.”

Ms. Ledoux-Forte prepares a meal for her staff every night before the shift begins as a way to ground everyone before they all begin a busy night. "We call it our family meal,” she says.

A Marlboro native, Ms. Ledoux-Forte came to Martha’s Vineyard in 1978. Between on the job training at premier locations like Le Grenier and the Beach Plum Inn and her own experimentation with cookbook recipes, Ms. Ledoux-Forte, who for years worked as a waitress, developed her individual cooking style.

She was well prepared when the time came to make the transition from dining room service to the behind-the-scenes action in the kitchen: first when she and her husband Joe Forte purchased and operated the Brass Bass in Oak Bluffs in the late 1980s; then when they left the Island to run the Brass Bass Grille in Hyannis. They spent a decade selling fresh salad greens and egg-free Caesar salad dressing at the Farmer’s market. The dressing has proven to be a favorite at the restaurant. Ms. Ledoux-Forte became the head chef at Theo’s when it opened in 1995.

She is joined in the kitchen at Theo’s by sous chef Willy Wanamaker, line cook Matthew Millman, and pastry chef Amy Miller. Together the four of them have crafted a menu that has inn guests, Island visitors, and locals returning.

Theo’s menu features fresh seafood straight from the local waters, slow-roasted duck, seared sea scallops with melted leek risotto, center-cut sirloin, and roasted rack of lamb. Clams are prepared with spicy sausage, orzo and tomato in an Iberian-style broth. Roast duck is often garnished with sauce made from local beach plums. Ms. Ledoux-Forte uses local products as often as possible, including greens from North Tabor Farms and edible flowers and garnishing herbs from her garden at her Edgartown home.

After 30 years in the restaurant business, she still maintains the energy and enthusiasm to come in early and prepare handmade gnocchi and other menu favorites. A watercolor painter in the off-season (two of her still-lifes were displayed at an art show at Sovereign Bank in Chilmark) Ms. Ledoux-Forte expresses her creativity in season with her soups: a port wine and blueberry soup (reportedly a favorite of President Bill Clinton); savory gazpachos; and simmering seafood stews brimming with whitefish, shrimp, and mussels.

Saying she’s learned to put the demands of the job in perspective, she adds, "I think I’m a lot more relaxed about the whole thing.” She admits that she feels less pressure to come up with the latest invention in trendy dishes. "I just want it to be consistent, to get better at what we do, and to fine-tune things”.

She finds great satisfaction in a night when all the elements in the restaurant are in perfect synchronization. "It’s really great when you come in and everything is working right, people are loving the food, the wait staff is making money, the owners are happy, and the guests keep coming back year after year,” she says.

While the restaurant business is often competitive and intense, Ms. Ledoux-Forte focuses on maintaining a humane and positive environment in which everyone from the sous chefs to the dishwashers are part of a team. "We try to be human about the whole experience,” she says. "The restaurant business can be so coarse and hard. The part that makes it fun is the camaraderie and the customers that come back and believe in what we’re doing.

Julian Wise is a frequent contributor to the Times.