IS RIVERS CREAtING - The Rivers School

pride themselves on buying local. “For us, it’s all about forming
relationships with farmers and supporting local agriculture,” says
Jennings, who also co-owns La Laiterie Bistro. “It allows you to
have what I call ‘honest’ food.”
For many chefs, this emphasis on back-to-the-basics culinary
arts takes precedence over any particular business strategy in the increasingly
shaky restaurant industry. “Keep it simple,” Jennings says,
when asked about the take-home message of dealing with the current
economic climate. “Focus on buying great quality ingredients, and let
the food speak for itself.”
“For us, it’s all about forming
relationships with farmers and
supporting local agriculture.”
Matthew Jennings ‘94
Nantucket, Naturally
If you ask Christopher Willis ’93 what
keeps him excited about the food industry,
the discussion inevitably turns
to the adrenaline-fueled restaurant atmosphere.
“Everything’s accelerated in the
kitchen,” he says. “Things have to be done
quickly, efficiently, and correctly. It’s a rush
unlike anything else.”
Willis’ rise in the restaurant industry
has been surprisingly rapid. In 2001, with
one cooking job under his belt, he was
given the chance to work under famed chef
Jody Adams at Rialto in Boston, which ultimately
opened up opportunities at a variety
of two- and three-star restaurants
in both Beantown and
New York City. Since 2007,
he has served as chef
de cuisine at Nantucket’s
Sfoglia, where between
September and June he is
essentially the restaurant’s
head chef. “It’s definitely
more about dealing with people
and personalities now,” he says, “but
I’m still very hands-on.”
Having spent time cooking in cities
ranging from Boston to rural Vermont,
Willis has a breadth of experience at restaurants
that vary significantly in size and
intensity. Nantucket, for instance, certainly
gives off a more relaxed vibe than New
York—particularly during an off-season in
which it has only 10,000 residents. For Willis,
that translates into a more manageable
work schedule, even if he still has to work
his fair-share of 10-hour days.
For the formerly metropolitan Willis,
however, one of the biggest appeals of
working on Nantucket is being able to build
connections with local farmers. “In the city
it’s all middlemen and sales reps, but here
you’re speaking every week with the farmers
themselves,” he says. “It’s a very visceral
experience to be able to get your hands
dirty and taste the vegetables
coming right out of the
ground.”
Willis’ love for buying
local generally supercedes
his desire to “buy organic,”
especially given the nebulously
defined nature of
that certification. By the
same token, he also emphasizes
the importance of understanding the full
context of a purchase’s environmental ramifications.
“Buying organic isn’t the solution
if the food’s coming over to the island in a
giant, fuel-guzzling ferry-boat,” he says.
One trend Willis has noticed is the sizable
contingent of friends turning to the
farming industry rather than deal with the
hustle and bustle of running, say, a highend
restaurant on the Lower East Side.
“After six or seven years, people get to a
crossroads where they’re either going to
pursue cooking as a lifelong career path, or
“It’s a very visceral
experience to be able to get
your hands dirty and taste
the vegetables coming right
out of the ground.”
Christopher Willis ‘93
do something in the food industry that is
less rigorous,” he says.
He sees the latest economic woes for
the industry as a challenge to work more efficiently
with limited resources. “As chefs
focus more on the quality of their ingredients,
they will begin to more closely examine
the character of the product being sold
to them,” Willis says. “I think of it as a way
to respond to these challenges with enduring
changes that benefit the long-term future
of the industry.”
• Riparian • Spring 2009