By Clementine Wiley
Not until you’ve eaten at one of the island’s oldest restaurants and taken in a timeless view of the sunset over the ocean have you Vineyard-ed properly. At The Aquinnah Shop, you can kill two birds with one stone. The Vanderhoop family has owned and cooked for The Aquinnah Shop, perched atop the cliffs of Gay Head, since the 1940’s. For about four years, Jacob Vanderhoop has been the kitchen’s head chef, and he knows how to keep the tradition alive and evolving.
This Week: Your family has run the restaurant since the 40’s—is that right?
Jacob Vanderhoop: Yes, my grandmother’s husband’s father, Napoleon Madison, started the restaurant in 1944 or ‘45, my grandmother took over in the 70’s, and my dad took over in 2001. I’ve been working here a long time, since 2002.
TW: What would you say is a Vanderhoop signature dish?
JV: For dinnertime, our bass and lobster mashed potatoes. The bass is local and my uncles catch it. It’s even more in-the-family.
TW: So when did you take over as head chef?
JV: When I was about 18.
TW: What did you change when you took over? Did you bring a new style?
JV: Yeah. It’s expanded a lot since I took over. It used to be a lot more simple, frozen stuff. There’s a lot of recipes that I’ve created.
TW: Do you have a favorite one?
JV: Everything I’ve made I like—that’s why it’s on the menu. If I had to pick one, it would be, I guess, the lobster mashed potatoes. That’s the first thing I thought up that I really liked.
TW: Is there anything you did away with? You mentioned frozen food.
JV: Mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, chicken wings. I went to culinary school and I didn’t go there to do fried food. I was starting to get sick of it. That was my reason for getting rid of those.
TW: How do you find new inspiration at such an established restaurant?
JV: It’s tough. I like to go out and see what others are doing and get ideas that way. Or sometimes just playing around with a dish. Some days I wonder, “Why do we do it like this? It’s better like this.” Like, the veggie burgers used to be frozen. Then we started making them homemade—with hummus, Dijon mustard (etc). There’s still a lot of work to do. It’s gonna take years and years and years, but one day everything will be right.
TW: What do you envision for the future?
JV: I’m not sure yet. Seafood has always been our main thing. I kind of want to stick to that. As far as my goals, I’m not quite sure yet. We’re always busy in the summertime, so we don’t need more business, just improving the quality, and to renovate the place. Get a new kitchen, a new deck. Everything can be improved, so every year we’re working towards that.
TW: What’s it like working with family?
JV: It can be really difficult. It can also be really nice to be around them all day, but we can be surrounded too much.
TW: Do you have food disagreements?
JV: All the time. Some things I can’t change, some things I can. But then once you start getting used to something, it can always be like that. No one really likes change, so….
TW: What do you and your family cook at home?
JV: In the summer, I don’t cook at home at all. I don’t have time. But the main thing I like to cook at home is tuna casserole—that’s my favorite dish, a home-style dish. But I can’t even think of the last time I cooked at home.
TW: You must be really busy.
JV: Yeah. 14 hours a day. The other day, we had a wedding party and I was here from 8:30 in the morning to 11:45 at night.
TW: Who will the next generation be?
JV: I have a lot of younger cousins. I don’t have any kids. But I don’t know what it’s gonna be. I’m just happy to be here, and I’ll be here for the rest of my life—that’s my plan.
