Nick Macksood
Jeff Wingo is the newest Head Chef at Isola Restaurant–an Old World Italian restaurant with a thoroughly modern take on the Sullo family recipes passed down from generation to generation. This week, I sat down with Wingo to chat about everything from what he likes about the island, to pasta, to identity fraud!
This Week: So, a weird day on this side of the table. Somebody just tried to hack my bank account for $1000–that ever happen to you?
Jeff Wingo: Actually, that has happened, yeah! I had like $2800 used on my credit card just this past winter. It was at the WalMart over in Falmouth. Somebody at the register had one of those information stealers.
TW: Did you have to go through all that fraud dog-and-pony show?
JW: No, luckily there were no questions asked. I was one of thirty or forty people who got hit. Yeah, it was bad… But they traced it all back to one person and they caught him and everything.
TW: So with that being said… let’s get into it! How long have you been the head chef at Isola?
JW: This is my first year. I had been the chef over at Sidecar over in OB for a couple years and doing some private catering the last couple years, too. But I missed restaurants, man, I love restaurants. It’s a whole different pace. I love the chaos–I thrive in it, seriously, especially when it works. Bad days are really bad, but good days are incredible. You know the feeling that you get, that adrenaline? I love it.
TW: And the awesome part about doing that on the island is that you get that feeling working with people from all around the world.
JW: I’m the only American in the kitchen during the daytime. They’re all Serbian, Moldovan, there’s a Macedonian kid, it’s crazy. And they work their a**** off, man, they’re hard workers.
TW: And you’re not an island guy, or are you?
JW: I’m a washashore kid. I’m from Holbrook, just outside of Boston. I came out here in June of ’08 and literally have never left. I mean, I own a house out here now. I’m not born and raised, but I’m definitely an island guy now, for sure. I’m never gonna leave this place–I love it.
TW: What is it about the island that does it for you?
JW: Everything. I’d never been on an island before, especially with such drastic seasonal changes where you could go from 150,000 people coming in two weeks’ time and then in the winter you could go three weeks without seeing a single person if you wanted to. And I love that.
But yeah, the fishing, the people, the beaches, just how kind everybody is out here. The diversity as well. You meet so many different kinds out here, it’s amazing.
TW: So we all know Isola is known for the Sullo family recipes. What’s it like working with those? Do you have any sway in that or how does that work?
JW: Well, I have access to everything. I mean, there are a few recipes that they wouldn’t let me change because it’s family recipe. But they have 100% faith in me and what I do, so it’s nice. We work together in that they might have some ideas and I’ll put my take into it, and that works.
But it’s easy no matter what when you’re working with the quality of ingredients we’ve got back here. I mean, literally everything is made from scratch: pizzas, pastas, breads, sauces–everything. It’s a lot of work, but it’s been awesome. This family is great.
TW: And it must be cool to work within those old family recipes too, right? Like, how does that inform how you study food?
JW: It’s really opened my eyes to what real family Italian is. You know, I’m not that versed in Italian food–I went to culinary school, so of course I know about it–but being focused on Italian food is different for me, but very exciting. I get to learn a lot of stuff too, which is cool for me as a chef. I don’t want to do the same things over and over again.
Like we’re gonna roll out some new things on the menu in the next couple weeks. I’m trying to source a local fish that we can roast whole with some feta-creamed orzo and some caponata. We made a romesco sauce, too, charred a bunch of bell peppers and almonds, red wine vinegar. Yeah.
TW: I don’t come here enough, man…
JW: There’s a lot of depth man!
