
After 26 years of providing fine dining for the Island, Chesca’s Restaurant owners Jo Maxwell and David Joyce have decided to sell their business.
Maxwell and Joyce have taken pride in giving people a fine-dining experience for many years in Edgartown. Even today, the duo’s attention to detail is among the best. Joyce told The Times that small things — from keeping the doormat clean to the hostess stand being organized — can make a first impression before guests even begin to eat. It’s that attention to detail that’s been one of the many reasons Chesca’s has thrived at its North Water Street location. The restaurant pairs fine dining and homey service with gourmet and comfort foods.
Maxwell began Chesca’s 26 years ago, and hired Joyce. Joyce attended cooking school in 1978, and has been a chef ever since. He came to the Island in 1997 to work for a season, but — like many people who say they’ll only stay for a summer — he ended up staying for much longer. He began at Chesca’s and fell in love with the owner.
“The joke is I got a husband and a chef out of the deal,” Maxwell said.
The first highlight to come to mind in their long history was former President Barack Obama dining at their restaurant. For his entire presidency, the two hoped that during one of his high-profile vacations he would stop to eat at their restaurant — it took eight years, but it happened. It was his last meal, on the last day of his last visit to the Island as a sitting president.
“We got him. We finally got him,” Joyce joked. “Everyone was just so excited.”
Maxwell and Joyce remembered the night as one of their best. The two said the staff handled it beautifully despite it being a Saturday night in August. Joyce said he took a step back to let his staff prepare the three-course meal, and was proud of how they executed it.
One thing that has carried the two through over two decades of owning a restaurant is the food itself. “There’s still that excitement for the food,” Maxwell said as she named dishes like the Grilled Salmon and the Sole Piccata that she feels deserve to be in a magazine.
Along with food, the two said their staff has been consistently amazing. Maxwell and Joyce take care of their employees by paying them well and having complimentary staff dinner every night. Maxwell said they get a lot back from their staff.
Some of their employees started out at Chesca’s when they were in high school and would then come back between between college semesters to work for the summer. “That’s really, really comforting — we just love that … you get to watch someone grow and learn, and teach us new things,” she said.
It wasn’t only staff relationships. Joyce said they would get to know neighbors, people who come each year, the staff at Chilmark Chocolates where Chesca’s gets its dessert toppings, and the other chefs in town. For them, the the Island and really the business community in Edgartown were all intertwined.
Maxwell laughed and got emotional as Joyce described some of their lasts at the restaurant. Not just the big goodbyes, the last payroll, and the last meals, but some of the more menial tasks, carrying compost buckets to their car to bring home for their garden. “Hauling that last bin of garbage down the alley out of the restaurant when we closed, I was like, ‘This is it, this is the last time I’m taking this lump of garbage,’” Joyce said.
The duo had been talking about selling the business for a while, but last month the two decided to officially shake on it. “We love it. We’ve loved it,” Maxwell said.
“It’s time,” Joyce said, “we’ve been talking about this for a few years. What’s our exit strategy, where do we go from here?”
With events like Taste of the Vineyard, the Martha’s Vineyard Food and Wine Grand Tasting, and the Local Wild Food Challenge, Maxwell sees a lot of energy and passion with Island chefs, and wants the Island’s culinary creativity to continue with Chesca’s next owner. “We really feel it’s time to pass the torch. To somebody in their thirties that’s looking for something tried and true that is a ready-made business, and they can then put their own signature on it,” she said.
Maxwell said Chesca’s will be a true “turnkey.” A new owner can open the door, do a little hiring, order food, liquor, and wine, and be up and running in a week.
“We’ve always wanted to have something after the restaurant,” Maxwell said. “It’s even weird for us to think about, that final or third chapter in your life, where even though you love what you do you want to be exposed to something else.”
Going to Maine, volunteering at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, and helping out with prop designs at the Vineyard Playhouse are all things the couple have been looking forward to doing more of. For them, the creative process in the restaurant carries over. “Creative in a different venue,” Maxwell said.
Joyce said he’ll do more photography, which he does every off-season. “As far as working, I don’t want to work nights anymore … I think I’d like to see some sunsets next summer,” he joked.
“We’re selling the business, but it’s not a retirement. We’re looking forward to other ventures. I see myself doing something next summer, I’m not sure what it is, but I’m excited. A little nervous … but excited. It’s a new chapter,” Joyce said.
“Twenty-six years is a long run in the restaurant business,” Maxwell said.
The duo will keep their 15-year-old sauce business, Chesca’s Kitchen, which sells their famous sauces at the West Tisbury Farmers Market. They sell a Thai chili glaze, a maple mustard balsamic vinaigrette, and a dark chocolate sauce.
Maxwell and Joyce are looking forward to exploring a side of Island life they haven’t been too involved in — seeing fireworks, going to the beach, and growing food in their garden.
“We love Chesca’s. It’s like you have a valued pet, and you’re moving, and you can’t have it, and you want to find the best home you can for it. We feel like we want to find a really good home for Chesca’s. It’s still new. Our goal is to have an Islander, someone who either wants a second restaurant or who’s starting out. We just hope that somebody else will have the pride and the love that we had for it — that’s really important for us,” Maxwell said.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I love that place—
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