Personal Chef in Freeport Brings Restaurant to People's Homes
Special to Business (Reprinted from Times New Record)

FREEPORT - When Joni Tompson was 15, she took a job washing dishes at what was then called The Freeport Cafe. There she met a chef who became her mentor. By 16, she was sautéing entrees for customers. After graduating from what's now called the Southern Maine Community College Culinary Arts program, she worked as a kitchen manager at Horsefeathers, now Crickets Restaurant, and helped open a Crickets in the Maine Mall. She realized she didn't want to open her own restaurant - too many night and weekend hours, said the 36-year-old mother of two.

After Tompson got pregnant with Hunter, her now-7-year-old son, she stayed home and didn't work.

"I really missed cooking for other people," she said. She missed the creativity. "The macaroni and cheese seven days a week is enough to kill any good chef."

So in 2003, the energetic cook opened her own catering and personal chef business from her home, calling it Dinner at Your Door.

It was a lifestyle decision as much as anything. She wanted to be home for her two children, Hunter and Bridget, and work around her family's schedule.

The number of personal chefs, of which Tompson is one, has been increasing exponentially, according to the American Personal Chef Association, a national organization, which defines personal chefs as chefs who are self-employed and own and operate their own businesses.

Ten to 12 years ago, there were only about 50 personal chefs. Now there are close to 10,000 nationwide, said Candy Wallace, president of APCA, who predicts there will be close to 20,000 personal chefs in the next five years.

"You don't have to be Oprah to have a personal chef," she said. Personal "chefs are eminently affordable," she said, likening them to a personal service like cleaning, shopping and yard services.

Menu and more ...

- To contact Joni Tompson and Dinner At Your Door, call 865-2116 or e-mail chef@dinneratyourdoorme.com. - Selections from Tompson's April menu are below. Each is served as a full meal with side dishes. Prices include delivery. When catering, Tompson speaks with the host(ess) and personalizes the ideas presented based on the event. Potato Crusted Salmon with a Dijon Shallot Sauce: shredded potato encase a filet of salmon that is crisply baked then topped with a zippy Dijon shallot sauce.  South West Sirloin: Tender Cajun-seasoned sirloin char-grilled to your specifications and topped with sautéed onions and peppers.  Hoisin Pork Medallions: An Asian inspired dish with pork tenderloin medallions sautéed in a sweet hoisin sauce.   Balsamic Chicken with Almond Peppers: Parmesan crusted chicken sits atop a delicious blend of almonds, balsamic vinegar and sweet bell peppers. Lemon Chicken Scallopine: A citrus infused chicken breast, lightly breaded with pinenuts, crumbs and fresh parmesan then pan seared.

Wilfred Beriau, department chair of the culinary arts and hospitality program at SMCC, where Tompson graduated, said professional couples want qualified cooks and chefs to put out well-balanced, nutritious meals for their families.

"They don't have time to cook their great meals, so they turn to our graduates," he said.

Enrollment in the school's culinary and hospitality management program has increased by about 35-40 percent in the last 10 years, he said.

Recalling Tompson in her student days, he said she was smart, ambitious and passionate. "If you don't have spine in this business, you don't make it - and that girl had spine."

On a recent wintery Monday morning, Tompson stands in her kitchen glazing pork chops, baking chicken parmesan and preparing Cajun macadamia crusted haddock and white chocolate mousse.

"I don't tolerate lousy food," she said, wearing a red chef's coat and white apron. And she's not "a stay in the background kind of girl."

Not surprisingly perhaps, she loathes diet fads, such as the low carb craze. "I just keep going back to this is what's healthy and reasonable portions." She uses local produce and tries to support family-owned Maine businesses. For her bistro steaks, for example, she uses filet mignon from Wolfe's Neck Farm in Freeport.

And she turns down certain requests. When asked to prepare a roasted goose and rabbit for a Swedish family this Christmas, she agreed to roast a goose but refused to cook a bunny. "I can't do a rabbit," she said.

Tompson has about 10 families she delivers meals to once or twice a week. "I swear, if money didn't rule the world, I'd be happy just with the look on people's face," she said. "Since my kids complain about most everything I make, I need kudos from some direction."

Her customers include vice presidents of companies, professionals and "regular folk." Hired by the L.L. Bean summer concert series, she has also cooked for rock stars, including Suzanne Vega and the Cajun musician Buckwheat Zydeco.

Gina Cressey and her husband in Yarmouth order dinners from Tompson twice a week. "It's just a pleasure," she said, adding that the couple moved here a year-and-a-half ago from Long Island, N.Y., where there were numerous restaurants. The opportunities for eating out in Yarmouth are limited, she said, adding that when her husband comes home from a day's work in Portland, "we don't feel like going out."

Having dinner delivered to your door is "like having a restaurant come to us," she said.

A gifted, creative and reliable chef, Tompson provides dinners to her clients at a reasonable price.

"Her meals are balanced in color and texture. ... It never feels institutional. It feels as if you've made it yourself in your own kitchen only a little better," said Cressey.

"Joni is one of the things we like best about having moved to Maine," she said.

Another client, Anne Washburn, a grandmother of 14 in Yarmouth, said, "it's nice when some of the kids from away come and I don't have to rush out and have to get everything. (Tompson) is just a lovely person. She's so easy, she's fun. I just couldn't do it without her."

Washburn's son chartered a boat for his brother and father one weekend and hired Tompson to prepare the food. "It was terrific," Washburn said. "She'll do whatever you want."

Tompson's menus change once a month. For March, her clients choose between seafood, beef and pork and chicken dishes, including a West Palm Beach Mango Chicken, a newer offering. Seafood and beef items are $14.50 per serving; all other entrees are $12.95 per serving plus tax. Customers can choose 10 entrees for twice a week delivery (which Tompson and her daughter drop off in their white van) or five entrees for once a week delivery.

Next fall, Tompson and her husband and children plan to move to a new home with a bigger kitchen. She'll continue with her catering and dinner delivery service. She cooks for events ranging from dinner parties and auctions to weddings.

Her mission is to create healthy, lower fat, lower sodium meals for people who don't necessarily want to go out all the time.

Tompson detests eating out. First, there's what she describes as "the hassle factor," which she said is compounded when you have young kids. But mainly, she said, "I'm a huge snob. I hate going out to dinner because I'm forever disappointed." Not only is the food quality poor, but also, she said, it's expensive.

Even going on vacation is painful for Tompson. "I couldn't wait to come back and have normal food," she said.

Why go out when you can eat top quality food in your home, she demands, especially if someone else (in this case Tompson) is willing to cook it for you?

So does the competent chef have any advice for cooking phobes?

"Anytime you try a recipe, follow it to a 'T' the first time," she said. "And season at every single step. Don't wait till the end." She favors chicken base rather than salt.

"Play with the recipes after you've done it once. But start simple," she cautions. She also recommends Cooking Light and Cook's Illustrated magazines. "But you can't beat some of the stuff grandma made."

Speaking of grandmothers, Tompson's 90-year-old grandmother calls Tompson for cooking advice, wondering how, for example, to best freeze lobster meat. (Tompson deferred that question to her grandmother, a lifelong Mainer.)

In her spare time, Tompson cooks. "It's fun to play with food."

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