L'Etoile

Nation's Restaurant News, May 20, 2002 by Carolyn Walkup

Odessa Piper loves living close to the sources of the locally produced ingredients she uses at her restaurant, L'Etoile, which is devoted to featuring the harvests of regional and primarily organic farmers.

Once a farmer herself on a small commune in New England and later in Wisconsin in the late 1960s, Piper learned to cook because of a deep appreciation for produce and the dishes she could create from them.

Beginning with cooking meals for the farm crew, she learned her craft "by doing and trial and error," a method she subscribes to up to this day. "I would discover techniques intuitively. I came up with some unique recipes and takes on food because of not knowing you couldn't do things that way," she says.

Piper's first restaurant cooking experience was at Madison's original Ovens of Brittany, where she began as a baker. As she learned all aspects of the kitchen, she became opening chef of owner Joanna Guthrie's second restaurant, The Baker's Rooms, a French bistro.

Since she opened L'Etoile 26 years ago in a vintage downtown building that overlooks the picturesque domed state capitol, Piper has built the fine-dining restaurant into one that has gained national renown. Honors include the James Beard Foundation's Award for Best Chef Midwest 2001 and Gourmet magazine's designation last year as 14th best restaurant in the country.

L'Etoile, French for "the star," was named for "nature's edible stars" and in honor of the French mother tongue that inspires Piper's Midwestern interpretations.

An intense woman who prefers tying her hair back in a ponytail and wearing no makeup, Piper takes a philosophical approach to running her restaurant. "My drive to cook is to be able to put our message into delicious terms. That message is local, seasonal, regional and sustainable.

"We hone in on ingredients that express their spirit of place. They are not commodity ingredients; they come about as the result of an artisanal process," she explains.

Having developed business relationships with more than 100 small, regional farmer-suppliers, Piper credits them on her menu for specific ingredients. She also was instrumental in organizing the seasonal Dane County Farmers Market around Capitol Square, which has grown to become one of the largest in the country.

"I like to be soft-handed with the public," she says. "I don't want to clobber them with too much of the agricultural politics of my region," Piper says. Even though most of the products she uses, from sea salt to beef, are organic, she doesn't overemphasize that fact to her customers, she says.

She sets the tone of what her restaurant is all about by printing at the top of each menu: "Some of the finest food available anywhere in the world can be found in our own communities. This is the happy result of sustainable agriculture. We thank you for supporting the farmers who supply L'Etoile and for appreciating their commitment to these patient arts."

However, her message apparently gets through, since one of her busiest months is August, when local produce is at its most abundant. Many of L'Etoile's regular customers, most of whom know little about farming, do understand the rhythm of the seasons that is expressed in the ever-changing menus.

In the dead of winter, Piper includes products that are in season in other climates, with restrictions. "I would not use hothouse red peppers from Holland in the middle of winter or lamb from Australia. If I want sweet bell peppers in winter, I will put them up." She roasts them and packs them in oil.

Recognizing the importance of a good wine list in a fine-dining restaurant, Piper selects wines from the world's best wine-producing regions. "Wine also expresses spirit of place. Each bottle celebrates where it comes from," she says.

Like L'Etoile's food, the wines served tend to change with the seasons, says Evan Spiegler, assistant to wine director Michael Kwas. For example, the summer list includes more German and Austrian Rieslings and Gruner Veltiners, (very dry white Austrian wines) which pair well with asparagus, greens and other acidic or bitter foods. The winter selection includes more Syrahs and Cabernet Sauvignons.

"We focus very much on small producers, especially from France, Germany and Austria," Spiegler says. The restaurant typically offers nine still wines and two sparkling wines by the glass nightly plus ports and other dessert wines.

L'Etoile gradually has increased the amount of organic products it uses. Recent breakthroughs in organic meat production have helped to boost L'Etoile's percentage of naturally raised ingredients to its current 80 percent. "That last 20 percent is the hardest," Piper says, and it applies to products such as sugar and chocolate.

Nora Pouillon, chef-owner of Nora in Washington, D.C., which also is well known for organic ingredients and a market-driven menu, praises Piper as a pioneer. "She did things way ahead of her time. I know how truly committed she is to real food and to her local farmers. I wish there would be more Odessas around."