Chef Sherry Pocknett broke new ground when she was named the 2023 Best Chef Northeast by the James Beard Foundation. Pocknett is the first Indigenous chef to win the honor. A member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, she got her start in the restaurant industry years ago at the Flume in Mashpee, Massachusetts. Her uncle Earl Mills, who championed Native foods at the Flume, was famous for his shad roe preparations. She spent many years catering powwows and special events. She also served as food and beverage manager at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center adjacent to the Foxwoods casino.
Her current restaurant is a small spot on the side of Rhode Island’s Route 2 with overflow seating at outdoor picnic tables. It’s casual dining. The tweezer food usually associated with Beard awards really has no place on picnic tables. Sly Fox Den Too (4349 South County Trail, Charlestown, R.I., 401-642-7350, slyfoxdenrestaurant.com, BYOB $5) sits on Narragansett tribal land in the inland marshes nine miles north of the Charlestown Breachway.
We drove down from Cambridge as a birthday treat a few weeks ago. Not only does Sly Fox Den Too offer fine-dining dinners on Friday and Saturday, it also serves breakfast and lunch Thursday through Sunday. We applaud that choice, as it puts Pocknett’s food within reach of diners who might not be able to afford a big night out. There are no reservations, so it’s advisable to arrive early if you prefer indoor dining.
Menu celebrates the central role of Indigenous foods
Pocknett’s cuisine draws heavily on family traditions. The Wampanoag, she points out, have been here for roughly 12,000 years. Her food emphasizes Indigenous foodways of the Northeast: lots of fish and shellfish from spring to fall, then rabbit, duck, and venison in the cold months. The Three Sisters of Native foodways — corn, beans, and squash — are central to the menu.
We were initially disappointed to hear that the quahog chowder wasn’t available. But that’s the hazard of dining at a restaurant where everything is made fresh every day. We did opt for the plate of tiny smoked scallops with a side of rice, kale, and squash (above). The restaurant has smokers in the side yard near the picnic tables where the cooks smoke their own fish and shellfish. (Smoked mussels are sometimes on the menu as well.) It was a delicious plate that felt very indulgent. It felt loke eating a whole serving of the meaty portions of top-notch bacon.
We opted to have a delicious chicken salad with dried cranberries served on Navajo fry bread. It was an unusual choice for a Wampanoag cook. Fry bread was invented by Navajo cooks in the 19th century when they were forced to eat Army rations that included white flour and lard. It has since spread across Indigenous North America through the powwow circuit. The sandwich was a real handful!
Sly Fox Den Too is an interim project for Pocknett. She’s working on opening a larger restaurant, education center, and oyster farm at her home in Preston, Connecticut. It will be called Sly Fox Den, in honor of her father, Chief Vernon ‶Sly Fox″ Pocknett. Not coincidentally, it will be midway between the tribally owned Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos.