When Sherry Pocknett was a girl, family meals meant scallops, quahogs, eels and all manner of local fish that her father would catch and bring home. “Whatever was in the water, it brought us,” says the chef and restaurant owner. He also often hunted venison and duck. These foods, native to the Northeast, are a staple of the family’s tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag. They are also at the center of the menu at Sly Fox Den Too, Pocknett’s restaurant serving local fare in Charlestown, Rhode Island.

Pocknett made history in 2023 by becoming the first Native woman to win a James Beard Award when she was named the northeast region’s Top Chef. He began his acceptance speech with a shrill howl. “I represent all Northeastern tribes,” he said.

“I cook according to my story,” he says. “Looking at how I grew up.”

Pocknett’s food is rooted in heritage and family tradition. He learned to forage from his mother; On summer days, he would go out with his five siblings and several cousins ​​to pick strawberries, blueberries, and beach plums, small stone fruits that grow in sandy soil along the New England coast.

“We would compete with our cousins ​​to see who could make the most profit,” he says. He says the practice plays a role in the natural ecosystem around us. “It teaches people that we can still have these things as long as we pay attention to where we live.”

Pocknett draws her materials and inspiration from the regions of Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island where the Mashpee Wampanoag have lived for more than 12,000 years. “We eat from the soil. We eat mushrooms. “We drink sassafras tea,” says Pocknett.

At Sly Fox Den Too, which she runs with her two daughters, every meal celebrates the food of the Mashpee Wampanoag as well as the work and love of Pocknett’s family members. Smoky tender venison skewers reflect the meats his father hunted. Sunny strawberry shortcake reminds me of the sweet, juicy berries she and her mother pick every summer.

Chef Sherry Pocknett’s lobster bisque.Photographer: Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.

Lobster Biscuit

This lobster bisque is silky, richly flavored with garlic and thyme, and studded with generous chunks of buttery lobster meat—some sourced from her brother’s day’s catch. “Anything that comes out of the ocean is native food,” Pocknett says. He often prepares the soup at Sly Fox Den Too, “especially in the winter,” he says. The dish’s hearty potatoes and rich cream draw eager customers to the restaurant during New England’s coldest months.

Freshly caught lobsters from the Shinnecock Lobster Factory.Photographer: Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.

Chef Sherry Pocknett prepares this version of lobster bisque over an open fire in a black cauldron pot hanging from a wooden beam.Photographer: Elliott Jerome Brown Jr.

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The soup starts with a broth made from chopped fennel, onion, shallot, potatoes and six lobsters; Except for the tail and claw meat, he saves those for later. “I don’t throw anything away,” Pocknett says. Lobster shells add a salty, umami-rich flavor to the meat. These ingredients are covered with water and left to boil in a covered pot for several hours.

Lobster

Pocknett gets the restaurant’s lobsters from his brother, a lobsterman who works off the coast of Cape Cod. He sautes the meat from lobster tails and claws, drizzles it with cream and a splash of dry sherry, and adds it all to a reduced broth that turns a delicate pink after simmering with lobster shells for hours.