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Two-island chef

Ahh, the off-season – when busy Vineyard chefs can hang up their spoons, doff the aprons, and kick back for days, weeks, or months at a time. Maybe chef Deon Thomas didn’t get the memo. More likely, he got the memo and created memo flambé. When the tireless restaurateur isn’t commandeering the kitchen at Deon’s, his stylish new eatery in Oak Bluffs, he’s minding a hotel restaurant a world apart, on the Caribbean resort island of Anguilla. If it’s not high season on one island, it’s high season on the other, and Deon deftly plies his trade in both places.

Deon has been pleasing taste buds on the Vineyard since 2000, when he opened At the Cornerway in Chilmark. Like many celebrated Vineyard chefs who lean toward New American cuisine, using traditional techniques but sourcing global flavors, Deon serves up an eclectic menu, incorporating fresh Island and regional ingredients from sea and shore. What sets his cuisine apart is the gentle taste of the Caribbean – in an appetizer of mussels steamed with coconut rum and curry, for example, or in the mango-lime chutney he serves with his signature roast grouper. Hints of Asia and Latin America also wind up in his creations. Though he also offers a mean jerk chicken, he eschews the stereotype of basic home cooking that typically follows Caribbean chefs.

Much of Deon’s culinary inspiration is rooted in memories of the tastes in his grandmother’s cooking when he was growing up in the countryside of Jamaica. “My biggest regret,” he says slowly for emphasis, “is that I never learned how she put together her sauces and other creations.”

In high school, Deon was infatuated with a girl enrolled in a cooking class. He enrolled too. Still, cooking seemed like a girl thing, until he discovered male chefs on television shows like The Love Boat. His aha experience was a high school training assignment at a hotel kitchen in Jamaica. He continued to understudy the hotel chefs long after the class was over. He enrolled in culinary school. He was hooked.

Deon’s next island was Long Island, where he worked his way up to head chef for a consortium of seafood restaurants in the Hamptons. He also refined his expertise at the Culinary Institute of America. When the Hamptons restaurant owners decided to invest in the high stakes restaurant scene in Anguilla in 1990, they sent forth Deon, who set the tenor of the operation and ran with it. Six years later, an even better location became available, and Deon grabbed it. High on a hilltop with a renowned harbor view, he created The Overlook – a Caribbean-inspired fine-dining experience in a cozy, laid-back atmosphere. Deon eventually assumed full ownership of the successful establishment, which operated for thirteen years and galvanized his reputation.

Oddly enough, Deon’s Caribbean bent was unique even in Anguilla, according to Vineyard building contractor John Early. John has vacationed on Anguilla off and on since 1986. “There are something like twelve or fifteen really good restaurants on Anguilla, but the menus are mainly Continental or American,” says John. “The competition is quite fierce, and The Overlook was one of the best. Great food well presented and well served. It was also a very friendly place.”

John is just one of several Vineyarders who became enamored over the years with Anguilla, The Overlook, the personable young chef, and the chef’s savvy partner and wife, Emily. Also smitten was Vineyard real estate broker Eleanor Pearlson, principal and owner of Tea Lane Associates, who dined at The Overlook while on vacation in the nineties. “I don’t remember what I had, but it was delicious,” says Eleanor. “I was taken with his charm and his abilities. It was easy to like him.”

A determined Eleanor beseeched Deon to open a restaurant on Martha’s Vineyard “and didn’t stop,” he reminisces with a fond smile. Alas, some investors from Nantucket had been wooing him for a couple of years already. He nearly had one foot on a plane, ready to open an eatery on their island. “But Eleanor said, ‘No sir, you don’t want to go there.’ That was twelve years ago. I’ve still never been to Nantucket.”

Eleanor says, “I felt Martha’s Vineyard was more of a melting pot than Nantucket.” The Thomases had no clue before they arrived that the melting pot included fellow Jamaicans. On the first day, Emily went into the newly leased Chilmark restaurant to clean – and five Jamaicans walked in to apply for jobs.

Deon lost friends in Nantucket over the chain of events, but At the Cornerway’s unique dining experience quickly earned him a broad and diverse set of devotees on the Vineyard. He became a favored up-Island caterer as well. Bill Clinton dined at the restaurant on several occasions, including birthdays. When he had to undergo emergency heart surgery in 2004, someone jokingly blamed Deon’s Decadent Chocolate Rum Cake, which the former president may have eaten just days before.

By 2007, the Thomases were overseeing four restaurants on two islands – oh, and their two young children. Their two newest eateries opened that May. In North Tisbury, Deon’s – the original one – served up inspired New American breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. It was an immediate hit among up-Islanders, who otherwise lacked for eateries in the area that were inviting as well as affordable. Perhaps the concept was too good to be true: The restaurant met its doom in a devastating kitchen fire six months after it opened.

Meanwhile, on a stunning Anguilla beach, Deon’s casual, new, canopied outdoor restaurant and bar at Ku Hotel was quickly drawing a lively stream of vacationers from across the island. Vineyarders have been among them. Unlike the Vineyard, Anguilla is no mecca for fresh, local ingredients. Nearly all foods, save the fish, are imported. “I have to pay through the teeth to get fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Deon.

Deon owes the success of his international multi-tasking to a well-trained cadre of lieutenants – “they call me ‘restaurant boot camp’” – not to mention his own history of frequent island hopping. Some of his staffers island hop too. Yet with a growing family and a yearning to settle down – relatively speaking – Deon is back to running two places only: the restaurant at Ku and the new Oak Bluffs incarnation of Deon’s on Circuit Avenue. Deon closed The Overlook in January 2009, to a chorus of popular whining. Providing consistently high-end fare to a select clientele was a growing challenge, economically, compared with serving scores of light meals and beers at Ku.

At the Cornerway closed after the 2008 season. For several years, Deon and Emily had been seeking to relocate down-Island, where business could benefit from walk-by traffic, a liquor license, and the potential for a longer operating season. They finally scored the former site of Pomodoro Pizzaria on Circuit Avenue, which Emily transformed into a casually elegant salon in bold hues of red and black. The paint was barely dry when Deon’s opened Memorial Day Weekend 2009.

The cuisine that made destination spots out of The Overlook and At the Cornerway is now Deon’s claim to distinction. John Early has followed his favorite menu item – garlic-crusted snapper – from place to place to place. “The roads have reversed,” says Emily, noting that up-Islanders have followed them to Oak Bluffs, just as down-Islanders used to trek to Chilmark. Moreover, their following has mushroomed. In midsummer, Deon’s regularly served more than a hundred diners a night. She says, “Our worst nights at Deon’s exceeded our best nights at the Cornerway.”

Deon and his crew have scrambled to keep up with the new pace. “This business is not about me; it’s about my diners,” says the culinary artiste, who still likes to taste every salsa and condiment before it leaves his kitchen. “It saddens me if someone doesn’t enjoy what I prepare. I tell them ‘Let me try to make something that will make you happy.’”

Deon will keep striving to make diners on both islands happy – at least until he moves on to the next place. “I’m an explorer,” he says. You never know.

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Recipes from Anguilla adapted for Vineyarders

Fricassee lobster pancakes

These lobster-filled crêpes have a generous amount of lobster in them. They can be served simply as is, or Deon might tie them up with strips of scallion for a special presentation. The lobster meat left over from the lobster stock recipe that follows can be used in this recipe.

Serves 10 as an appetizer

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 tablespoon chopped green onion

• 1 tablespoon chopped celery

• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

• 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

• 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic

• 3/4 cup heavy cream

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 12 pounds chopped lobster meat

• 10 crêpes, recipe follows

1. Add cold oil to hot sautéing pan and reduce flame. Sauté onion, celery, parsley, thyme, and garlic for 1 minute.

2. Stir in heavy cream, butter, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Add lobster meat, and cook for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

3. Fill the crêpes with lobster meat and fold. Garnish with sprig of thyme and serve.

basic crêpes

Makes 10 crêpes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup low-fat milk

• 1 cup water

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons melted butter

• Oil for pan

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour and eggs. Slowly stir in milk and water. Add salt and melted butter, and beat the mixture until smooth.

2. Heat griddle or 8-inch frying pan to medium heat. Spray or coat the pan with cooking oil. Drop the cr êpe mixture on hot surface, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each crêpe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crêpe until the edges are brown and the underside is golden. Flip and cook 1 minute more. Slide the crêpe onto a plate. Repeat the p rocedure with the remaining batter. Stack the finished crêpes with waxed paper between each crêpe to prevent sticking together.

West Indian pumpkin lobster soup

This soup has a lot of lobster in it, so you can adjust accordingly, depending on what else you’re serving. If you don’t want to make your own stock, you can buy it from a fish market, but when you use it to make the soup, add a sprig of thyme, 3 bay leaves, and 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt when you sauté the vegetables – then remove the thyme and bay leaves before puréeing.

Serves 4 to 6

• 1 cup chopped white onion

• 1 cup chopped celery

• 3 pounds peeled, seeded, and cubed Calabaza (West Indian pumpkin) or 1 medium butternut squash (about 3 pounds, 5 to 6 cups)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 8 cups lobster stock, recipe follows

• White pepper to taste

• 1 pound chopped lobster meat

• Garlic herb toast (optional)

1. Sauté the onion, celery, and pumpkin or butternut in butter for 5 to 10 minutes, until soft. Add lobster stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.

2. Purée the mixture in a blender, adding a bit of hot water if the soup is too thick. Season to taste with pepper. Garnish with lobster meat, and a slice of garlic herb toast, if desired.

lobster stock

Makes 8 cups

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 white onion, chopped

• 1 stalk celery, chopped

• 1 carrot, chopped

• 1 tomato, chopped (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste)

• 1 sprig thyme

• 2 sprigs parsley

• 3 bay leaves

• 1 12 tablespoons kosher salt

• 12 cups water

• 2 lobsters

1. In a large lobster pot, melt the butter, and sauté the onion, celery, carrot, tomato, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and salt for 5 to 10 minutes, until soft.

2. Add water and bring to a boil. Put lobsters in pot, lower heat, and cook for 12 minutes. Remove lobsters and continue to simmer vegetables another 50 minutes.

3. Extract lobster meat to use in soup and another recipe (such as the above pancakes), and toss shells back into pot for extra flavor. Drain liquid for the stock and discard everything else.

Jerk tenderloin of pork with apple succotash

Serves 10

• 2 pounds pork tenderloin

• Jerk marinade, recipe follows

• Water for gravy

• Salt to taste

• Apple succotash, recipe follows

1. Trim the pork and remove excess fat.

2. Pour jerk marinade over pork, and rub it into the meat. Marinate, covered and at room temperature for 2 hours, turning occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

4. Save marinade, and sear pork on a grill at medium heat and cover for 5 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove pork from grill and put in an oven-safe dish.

5. Roast in oven for 5 to 10 minutes until cooked through, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

6. Put leftover marinade in a saucepan. Add water and salt to taste, and let simmer to desired consistency for gravy. Thinly slice pork and serve with the gravy and a helping of apple succotash.

jerk marinade

• 1 Scotch bonnet pepper

• 4 to 8 sprigs of thyme

• 2 tablespoons allspice

• 1 bunch (3 or 4 medium) scallions

• 1/4 cup fresh grated ginger

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

• 6 tablespoons molasses

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• Coarse salt and pepper to taste

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a paste. Adjust flavor to taste.

apple succotash

• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced

• 1 Anjou pear, peeled and sliced

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 cup baby lima beans, cooked

• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper

• 1/4 cup chopped red pepper

• 1/4 cup chopped white onion

1. In a large skillet, sauté the apple and pear slices in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil until slightly softened but not falling apart.

2. Place sautéed apples and pear, lima beans, green and red peppers, white onion, and remaining olive oil in a food processor and pulse. u

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Martha's Vineyard Magazine encourages reader comments, which are published immediately and not edited. Please keep your comments brief and avoid language that may offend others. The magazine reserves the right to remove comments. If you want to report a comment as inappropriate, please contact us.

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(Originally published in the Not Summer 2009-2010 edition of Martha's Vineyard Magazine)

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