Mashpee chef among nominees for James Beard award. Here's what they're cooking

Gail Ciampa, The Providence Journal
·4 min read

A Mashpee Wampanoag chef with a restaurant in Charlestown, Rhode Island, and two Providence chefs and have won nominations for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards.

Sherry Pocknett owner of Sly Fox Den, Too, who grew up in Mashpee and owns a home there, Robert Andreozzi of Pizza Marvin in Providence and Milena Pagán of Little Sister in Providence, are all nominated for Best Chef Northeast. They are among 20 semi-finalist nominees in the regional category.

All three are first-time nominees for James Beard awards, considered the "Oscars" of the hospitality world. All opened their restaurants post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Sly Fox Den, Too chef, who serves up Native American cuisine, gets award nomination

Sherry Pocknett, owner of Sly Fox Den, Too in Charlestown, Rhode Island, and member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is among the nominees for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards. The winners will be announced in March.
Sherry Pocknett, owner of Sly Fox Den, Too in Charlestown, Rhode Island, and member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is among the nominees for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards. The winners will be announced in March.

Pocknett opened her Sly Fox Den, Too, in Charlestown in 2021 at 4349 South County Trail. The Wampanoag chef/owner serves Native American cuisine. The restaurant grew out of her Connecticut-based catering business.

She learned to cook at The Flume restaurant in Mashpee, which her extended family ran and she previously worked as food and beverage director at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center.

"It's like a lifetime of working hard and to get mentioned brings such joy," Pocknett said of the nomination in a telephone interview Thursday. "I never expected it. I just love what I do."

She spoke from a Rhode Island clinic where she was receiving chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

"I'm going to get through it," she said. "I have to get that big restaurant built in Connecticut."

Pocknett, who resides in Connecticut, told the Times in 2015 that she cooks the Wampanoag foods she learned to make with her parents and during her 12 years of working at The Flume, the restaurant formerly run by her uncle, Earl Mills a Wampanoag chief. Pocknett’s grandmother was Mills’ sister and The Flume’s dessert-maker.

"I don't know the outcome (of the Beard award) but just to have my name mentioned is unbelievable," she said. "I am humbled, very humbled."

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Pizza Marvin's chef receives James Beard nomination

Chef Robert Andreozzi has his first James Beard Foundation nomination for Best Chef: Northeast. He and Jesse Hedberg opened Pizza Marvin in Providence in 2020.
Chef Robert Andreozzi has his first James Beard Foundation nomination for Best Chef: Northeast. He and Jesse Hedberg opened Pizza Marvin in Providence in 2020.

Andreozzi is the chef/owner of Pizza Marvin at 468 Wickenden St. He and business partner Jesse Hedberg opened the old-style pizza parlor with a modern menu of food and cocktails in Providence in December 2020.

Little Sister in Providence receives James Beard nomination

Milena Pagán, of Little Sister in Providence, has just received her first James Beard nomination for Best Chef: Northeast. She opened her first restaurant, Rebelle Artisan Bagels, in Providence in 2017.
Milena Pagán, of Little Sister in Providence, has just received her first James Beard nomination for Best Chef: Northeast. She opened her first restaurant, Rebelle Artisan Bagels, in Providence in 2017.

Pagán is the chef/owner of Little Sister at 737a Hope St. in Providence, an artisan café with a menu of Puerto Rican specialties. They serve breakfast pastries, brunch and lunch. Her husband, Darcy Coleman, is a co-owner. Pagán also opened the popular Rebelle Artisan Bagels in Providence in 2017.

Other James Beard 2023 Semifinalists

The 2023 Restaurant and Chef Semifinalists cover 23 categories, and the five finalists in each category will be announced on March 29, according to a release from the James Beard Foundation. Winners will be recognized at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony on June 5 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

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The other nominees for Best Chef Northeast are: Paul Callahan of Vino e Vivo, in Exeter, New Hampshire, and Jeff Fournier of Thompson House Eatery in Jackson, New Hampshire; Mojo Hancy-Davis of May Day in Burlington, and Alganesh Michael of A Taste of Abyssinia in South Burlington, both in Vermont; Valentine Howell of Krasi, Yahya Noor of Tawakal Halal Cafe, Yisha Siu of Yunnan Kitchen, Derrick Teh of Sekali and Douglass Williams of Mida, all in Boston; Christian Hunter of Community Table in Washington and Renee Touponce and The Port of Call in Mystic, both in Connecticut; Sara Jenkins of Nina June in Rockport, Jason LaVerdiere of Flux of Lisbon Falls, Courtney Loreg of Woodford Food & Beverage in Portland, Tony Pastor of Fore Street in Portland and Isaul Perez of Isa in Portland, all in Maine; and Ellie Tiglao of Tanám in Somerville, Massachusetts.

The foundation made its first awards in 1991. The only Rhode Island winners of the Best Chef Northeast category were Al Forno's Johanne Killeen and the late George Germon in 1993. Aunt Carrie's in Narragansett and Olneyville New York System in Providence have been awarded as "America's Classics."

Times Staff Writer Anne Brennan contributed to this report. Contact her at abrennan@capecodonline.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Pizza Marvin, Little Sister, Sly Fox Den Too nominated for James Beard