Odessa Piper (born Karen Odessa Piper, October 15, 1952) is an American

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

and

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

Early life

Odessa Piper was born in Pearl City,

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory ( Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding ...

, grew up in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...

, and developed an interest in food when she worked at a farm in

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, which was led by a group that was interested in sustainable agriculture. In 1969, Piper moved to

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, and worked with a mentor, JoAnna Guthrie, in Guthrie's restaurant, Ovens of Brittany. Piper was influenced by Guthrie, who used organic meats and produce that had been harvested or produced locally.

Career

Piper and a partner co-founded the restaurant L'Etoile in Madison in 1976; Piper eventually assumed full ownership of the restaurant. Like Ovens of Brittany, the restaurant uses local meat and produce, including the wares of local farmers that are featured at the noted

Dane County Farmers' Market The Dane County Farmers' Market is America's largest wiktionary:producer only market, producers-only farmers' market. It is held from April to November on Saturday mornings on the Wisconsin State Capitol, Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin and on ...

(which occurs adjacent to the restaurant). L'Etoile is part of a late 20th-century movement among some restaurants to create local cuisine using only regional food ingredients. (Other such restaurants include Alice Waters' Chez Panisse in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

and Sinclair and Frederique Philip's

Sooke Harbour House Sooke Harbour House is an inn and restaurant located in Sooke, British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The establishment has been owned by Frederique and Sinclair Philip since 1979. Sinclair is the Canadian represe ...

on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.) In 2001 Piper won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest and L'Etoile was #14 on Gourmet's list of America's 50 Best Restaurants. She sold the restaurant, to her chef de cuisine Tory Miller, in 2005. Piper's work has been featured in ''Fine Cooking'', ''Food & Wine'', ''Bon Appetit'', and ''Wine Spectator''; she has been featured on NPR and on

Wisconsin Public Radio Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) is a network of 34 public radio stations in the state of Wisconsin. WPR's network is divided into two distinct analog services, the ''Ideas Network'' and the ''NPR News & Music Network,'' as well as the ''All Classi ...

. Her creations have appeared in many restaurants and on the menu at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Personal life

Odessa Piper is married to the international wine importer, Terry Theise and lives in

Roslindale, Boston Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan. It is served by an MBTA Commuter Rail line, several MBTA bus lines and the MBTA Orange Line in nearby Ja ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Odessa American women restaurateurs Businesspeople from Madison, Wisconsin Living people 1953 births American women chefs James Beard Foundation Award winners American chefs 21st-century American women