2008 Woodie Awards
"Yum's" the Word at The Market
Pete Kittredge, Executive Chef at The Market: Newport Gourmet
Jackie Sheridan
Issue date: 11/22/05 Section: Entertainment
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After attending Johnson and Wales University to obtain a degree in culinary arts, Kittredge worked for a buffet of local companies and catering businesses, including Sodexho, the Regatta Club, Blackstone, and Kathleen's Catering. An avid traveler and die-hard Newport native, Kittredge has now settled in his position at Newport Gourmet, having been there for nearly five years. He has platefuls to say about The Market, being a chef, and life in Newport.
Q: What's the goal of The Market: Newport Gourmet?
A: We're here trying to fill that niche for people who are on the go and don't have time to cook themselves home-cooked meals. We kind of have two niches: one is in the winter with "home crowd" people with busy lives and kids in school, and in the summer it's the yacht or boat people, or tourists who come into town, the beachgoers.
Q: What's a typical day like for an executive chef at The Market?
A: I don't think there is a typical day! Let's see, a typical day. We come in, set the [display] case up. Once that's all set, the guys get soups going. Now during the year we have our Blue Plate Special, so basically we make sure that that's prepared the day before, so that it can be chilled and cooled and we can put it out there the following day. And in between that it's everything from quiche to pot pies, to croutons and bagel chips, the salad dressings, things for the deli, and usually it's kind of thrust upon us, and catering orders on top of that.
Q: Have you had any unusual experiences with the catering part of your job?
A: I don't' know about unusual...I can give you moments when things went to Hell...and [we] didn't know what to do. When I was working for Kathleen's Catering, it was tennis week, where they had the inductees come in. For us, it was a big thing, we got…parties for a lunch of 750 [people]. I had a dinner on Friday for 225, and a dinner on Saturday for 225, but then I also had another event on Saturday evening. I'd go to a function and set it up, then I'd jump in my car and run to the other function and expedite that myself, and hope to God everything was good. It was stormy and windy and the little tents they had set up were shooting off into the air because they weren't tied down, I couldn't get the ovens lit for about forty-five minutes…yeah, we were freaking out a little bit.