Gretchen Allison
Chef, Restaurateur
Gretchen Allison, chef/owner of Duck Soup Inn on San Juan Island in Washington State, admits to taking her work home with her. In fact her smile barely fought back a small chuckle of satisfaction as she described being able to achieve a natural blend in her professional and personal lives that, like a balanced combination of ingredients, allows her to be a chef, restaurateur, mother, master gardener, cooking teacher, baker, gatherer of wild eatables from the sea, sailor and world traveler. She accomplishes all this without much need for a conscious role separation (or a therapist!) from a breathtaking island setting of cedar trees and eagles in the Pacific Northwest, which also probably explains a lot of her smiles.
This blending of home and business was apparent in our first meeting for this feature, which was a tour of her home gardens. There are two extremely diverse and prolific plots positioned in separate areas of the acreage based on sun exposure, plus an assortment of fruit trees dotting the waterfront property, which produce much of the herbs, edible flowers, fruits and veggies that provide an ever-changing variety to the restaurant's garden-sensitive menu.
The grounds appear to be guarded by two resident bald eagles who return each spring to nest in a nearby tree snag. The chef's eclectic collection of eatables is just too lengthy to include here, but the bounty certainly deserves this pair of majestic sentries. There are 39 herbs, 20 vegetables, 11 fruits, and 16 edible flower varieties according to the restaurant's website, but the chef has added more since the last update. Gretchen spends most mornings in the gardens both tending and gathering for that night's fare. Her intimate knowledge of what's going on in this living pantry gives her menu a flow like the island's tides as each item hits its peak in taste and abundance and then disappears again until next season.
Current Projects
Gretchen and her life-partner Patrick Kirby seem to be having more fun than any couple should in the planning and day-to-day chores of a successful restaurant business; especially an eatery located in such a popular destination vacation spot as the San Juan Islands during the hectic six-month tourist season from late spring through early fall. Patrick, a land surveyor by trade, has developed an expertise in organic growing practices and is a master bread baker in his own right. While it is Gretchen's business and passion, she credits Patrick with a lot of her inspiration for food and gardening.
When I entered the home, I noticed an open cookbook on the kitchen's island-counter; no doubt my arrival had interrupted Gretchen from research in preparation for something that was about to be harvested from the gardens. The floor plan of the main living area centers around the professionally-equipped kitchen, as one might expect. One of the ovens is bricked for Patrick's bread-making contributions; in fact, the couple met at a bread baking class in San Francisco some five years ago. The counter that I mentioned serves as both a demonstration platform for the live cooking classes that Gretchen teaches during the winter months, as well as a studio prop for a series of taped cooking lessons, the first of which is now available on DVD through the restaurant's web site at Duck Soup Inn.
Early Years
Chef Gretchen was born in Burlingame, California and graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 1981. She arrived on San Juan Island some 17 years ago, where her parents had moved several years earlier, and bought Duck Soup Inn from two rather infamously eccentric sisters who had run the restaurant for fifteen years. She kept the name of the eatery as well as the policy of including both a chef-selected soup and salad with each customer's choice of entree rather than a pricier ala carte format.
"I love to travel so I spent most of my twenties moving to fun locations, getting cooking jobs along the way. I also seem to have a thing for islands, having spent extended time on Maui, Gloucester (MA.) and Saint John (U.S. Virgin Islands), where I lived aboard my sailboat before coming here to the San Juans."
Having a seasonal restaurant has allowed Gretchen to merge her wanderlust with her business. "I still love to travel and combine it with culinary exploration. I've been through Europe several times, New Zealand twice, Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela. We try to take a trip every year; last winter it was a fascinating visit to Viet Nam. It is definitely the upside of having to close Duck Soup during the winter months. I always come back with some food ideas to spring on the customers."
Everything about the restaurant puts the diner in an immediate comfort zone, beginning with the private forested drive that meanders alongside a picturesque pond before presenting the first view of the cedar-thatched, red-roofed inn. The quaint building seems to grow out of a lush bouquet of tall hedges and is encased in overhanging plant life; even the sound of gravel on tires in the restaurant's parking lot somehow contributes to the hushed and peaceful setting of the property.
The decor beyond the large wooden door continues to calm as the patron is surrounded by the old inn feel that comes with the creak of the history in the wood floors. The walls of the main dining room are filled with a collection of paintings all done by a single island artist, Malcolm Ross, whose rich but muted colors and consistent style provides a soft background that lends warmth to the room. The interesting subject matter of each painting is eye-catching yet not overly distracting; it is obvious that this was also part of the chef's thoughtful design plan.
The crew at Duck Soup has been a surprisingly consistent team for many years in spite of the restaurant's seasonal schedule. Gretchen's line cook (and new cocktail menu creator extraordinaire!), Inness Davis, has been with her for ten years; sous chef, Jamie Richards, has worked next to the chef for the last few seasons. Most of the waitresses are also island residents who look forward to coming back every year. The entire staff meets regularly to learn about and discuss menu changes. Gretchen likens each night at the restaurant to putting on a play with a cast of actors who work as a close-knit ensemble. They all take pride in performing their roles with casual ease, while in truth it's a professional focus that should go unnoticed by patrons if done right. And it is.
"At the end of each evening, when the last table of guests has left, there is a cohesive sense of group accomplishment," said the chef, who further explained, "There is no real pecking order at Duck Soup; I pitch in with the clean-up along with the rest of my crew at the end of a day well done. It sounds a bit small-island fuzzy to say it, but it's true nonetheless: Duck Soup is a family of friends in the pursuit of providing a dining experience of excellence and having a good time while doing it. That's the great part of my job that makes this not a job at all."
In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that this writer lives on San Juan Island and counts Gretchen Allison as a neighbor as well as a most accomplished and thoughtful chef. While this feature is not a review but a profile, it has been difficult to guise my enthusiasm for Chef Gretchen's use of fresh ingredients, mostly locally grown by her own hand, to create a very comfortable dining experience.
I must say that an evening at Duck Soup Inn leaves one perfectly satisfied in every way, yet no dish or series of dishes could ever be described as leaving one feeling over-stuffed when the "performance" is over. The meal is simply the right balance of tastes and portion served in an extremely comfortable atmosphere that leaves a lingering glow long after the kitchen has closed.
For this feature, Chef Gretchen has walked her own gardens to come up with a group of very creative recipes that contain unique combinations of fresh ingredients. The collection will give the reader some tasty new ideas for your own summer tables. While I am not sure that anyone will achieve the light but full-flavored results that this chef has perfected in her craft, these recipes are still great fun to try. Or simply catch the next ferry to San Juan Island for a taste of the real Duck Soup! Enjoy!
