"It is good for the fishermen and the fish," the red-cheeked former chef explained. "Our best fish and the freshest. If a catch isn't sustainable, we don't sell it."

 

 

He reached into vats filled with lobster brought in that morning. "You look for the feistiest one to get the freshest," he said. Inside a big cooling room, we saw a 75 pound halibut, chunks that had already been removed and another container with some fluke. 

With a promise to look out for Gianfreda's needs all season, Rottman sent us on our way.  We needed to get back down island to check out the annual Martha's Vineyard Wine Festival being held in Edgartown, a couple of bus rides away onboard the island's transit authority.  More winding roads, scrub oak and pitch pine forests, amid glimpses of sandy beaches.  Gianfreda said he completes the local sourcing for his food by buying produce from Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown.   The 60 acre spread raises everything from asparagus to nettles,  herbs and flowers as well as beef, pork and poultry.  

 

Of course, with his background, Gianfreda has added refined finishing touches to his menu, such as green apple mignonette, chile lime cocktail sauce and prosecco granita to set off those Katama Bay oysters.

 

The winefest was teeming with attendees, distributors and samplings under tents in the heart of Edgartown.  The several day festival also featured small dinners scattered at various venues.  We ran into Michael Holtham, the general manager of the Menemsha Fish House in one corner of a tent. He was busy shucking oysters and little neck clams to serve to visitors.

Holtham said his company handles more than half a million clams per year, a million oysters and 100,000 pounds of lobster, all from local fishermen.  What isn't sold on the island goes to Boston where the firm is affiliated with the wholesaler Red’s Best, the distributor for over 1,000 small American community based boats.  They sell at Boston farmers markets, trading any excess with other wholesalers to procure fish not grown in the area for local markets.

 

Martha's Vineyard is small, only 100 square miles in area.  And we kept running into other chefs whom Gianfreda had worked with in previous years.  Talk always about food, the wines we tasted at the festival and then he had to head home, way back up island on three buses.

 

Gianfreda and the rest of his cooking staff are camping out on the property at the inn, far from all the touristy activities available down island but he said they are all mighty glad to have their accommodations.   He lives in a funky '90s trailer, the refrigerator sitting outside. The rest of the staff are camped out in an A-frame cottage and at rooms in the loft of a barn.

 

Gianfreda says despite the seasonality of his work here, usually five to six months during the tourist influx, he loves being a chef here, for all the freshness and bounty of ingredients.  Especially the abundance of seafood that is probably the freshest anywhere.   He hopes one day to open his own Italian restaurant, featuring homemade pasta, but until then, "I'll keep coming back," he says. "Long as I can."

 

©2016 Sonya Zalubowski for SeniorWomen.com