Chef's Corner: At The Blue Hen in Rehoboth, chef Julia Robinson a 'perfect fit'

Wilmington native Julia Robinson looked to her roots at the Delaware beaches to figure out where her next kitchen would be after searching for a change from the city life in Philadelphia and Chicago.

She saw an ad in the local newspaper for The Blue Hen, a restaurant project from award-winning co-owners Joe Baker and Chris Bisaha of Henlopen City Oyster House. Having been coming to the Delaware beaches for much of her life, Robinson knew the brand and was intrigued.

Perfect timing for both parties.

Bisaha and Baker, along with executive chef Bill Clifton, knew they needed to hire a chef de cuisine to handle day-to-day operations of the new American restaurant to compliment their seafood eatery. Robinson interviewed in a bare restaurant at the Avenue Inn hotel on Wilmington Avenue and was hired.

“She seemed like the perfect fit,” Baker said.

So Robinson picked up and moved from Philadelphia's culinary mecca of East Passyunk and helped the new restaurant open in April. Her wife, Heather Sharp, a Cleveland native whom she met in Chicago, found a job here as well, working as the beverage director for John Trader at Liquid Assets and Our Harvest.

Robinson, 32, a Brandywine High School graduate, came to The Blue Hen after serving as the chef de cuisine at the highly-rated Brigantessa in Philadelphia. Brigantessa, a southern Italian concept, is one of many well-known restaurants in and around East Passyunk Avenue. Sharp, after helping open the acclaimed Abe Fisher, worked as the beverage manager at top-rated Laurel in East Passyunk.

Life in Sussex County, where Robinson's parents own a house, in Lewes, is much, much different.

“There’s a constant grind in the city. It gets exhausting,” Robinson said. “It motivates you and it drives you and it’s exciting, but I wanted to change things up a little bit.”

Robinson reckons she was in elementary school when the culinary arts first caught her attention. She'd watch PBS in her Wilmington home with a notebook and take note of what Julia Child and Lidia Bastianich were doing.

And with her grandmother, Addy, she'd help make complicated dishes like salmon mousse.

“I was always intrigued and interested and wanted to get my hands dirty in the kitchen,” Robinson said.

So it makes sense her first job was at Pickles & Chips, walking distance from her Wilmington house, which was essential since she wasn't yet old enough to drive. Robinson worked the grill, making everything from cheesesteaks to breakfast sandwiches.

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From there she spent summers working at King's Ice Cream in Lewes before going to the University of Delaware, where she studied and earned a degree in criminal justice.

But Robinson knew the kitchen was her calling, and after realizing she needed at least three months of staging (an industry term applied to unpaid training) to enter the Culinary Institute of America, she applied to the former Restaurant 821 in Wilmington. Under chef Nate Garyantes, she started as a pantry cook – "I diced more onions than I could possibly count" – and worked her way onto the line.

When it came time to apply to the culinary institute, Garyantes told her she'd be wasting her time and told her he could probably teach her everything she'd learn there. 

“He was a real inspiration to me,” Robinson said. “He would do everything, sweep the floor. His whole mentality was, ‘If you see me doing something, there’s no excuse for you to not be doing it. Nothing is beneath you.’

"So he was a workaholic and had a wonderful mentality about him. I try to maintain that.”

Wanting to escape Wilmington, Robinson headed out to Chicago and spent six years at Vivere, a contemporary Italian restaurant where her love of pasta was born.

That love was useful in Philadelphia when, after two and a half years working as the chef de cuisine at White Dog in University City near University of Penn, Robinson applied to Brigantessa, the popular restaurant from owners Francis Cratil Cretarola and Cathy Lee. There, she worked with executive chef Joe Cicala. The immersion in Italian cuisine included trips to Italy. Lee and Cretarola even brought Sharp on the trips with them, a useful experience for the wine professional.

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Perhaps one day Robinson and Sharp will open an Italian place of their own. The couple, married last year, talk about opening a restaurant frequently and would make a solid team of front and back of house professionals.

“It’s our lives,” Robinson said. “This is all we do.”

But for now Robinson said she's taking it all in stride at The Blue Hen. Like her days at White Dog, Robinson is commanding a much more free-flowing menu, which comes from a collaboration with Clifton, who oversees day-to-day operations at Henlopen City down the block.

The Blue Hen, open nightly for dinner at 5 p.m. (happy hour starts at 4), features wide-ranging small plates and selections of meats and cheeses. The main courses provide options like Amish chicken, duck fat halibut, stuffed rabbit, filet mignon and more.

“I’ve always like American cuisine,” Robinson said. “There really are no rules. I always have a place for Italian food, but you do get stuck in a very small box. Here I can do that kind of food if I want but I can also do Asian-influenced food or Southern food, whatever sounds exciting and fits the season. Why not?”

So far, Baker said he's happy with how things are going in year one of the new concept, which includes the selection of Robinson.

“She’s great," Baker said. "She just takes control of every aspect of the kitchen. She’s very organized and just sharp in her ordering and food preparation and management."