Red Dory welcomes spring, new owner

Aaron DeRego moves from Westport’s Back Eddy to Tiverton restaurant

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 4/14/19

TIVERTON — There would be no easing into Aaron DeRego’s next step in the restaurant business.

The former chef/co-owner of Westport’s well-known Back Eddy restaurant had hoped to buy The …

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Red Dory welcomes spring, new owner

Aaron DeRego moves from Westport’s Back Eddy to Tiverton restaurant

Posted

TIVERTON — There would be no easing into Aaron DeRego’s next step in the restaurant business.

The former chef/co-owner of Westport’s well-known Back Eddy restaurant had hoped to buy The nearby Red Dory in Tiverton for awhile — it’s just that when it finally came to pass, “it all happened at once.

“We closed on a Tuesday and we opened on Wednesday. Just like that,” Mr. DeRego said.

The “we” is Mr. DeRego and The Red Dory’s founder and former chef/owner Steve Johnson.

Mr. DeRego is grateful to Mr. Johnson for help with the process and the timing.

They might have closed earlier but a mid- to late winter start, right in the midst of the restaurant doldrums, would not have been the best, he said.

“Instead it’s spring, people are getting out and things are picking up” for restaurants … He (Mr. Johnson) put so much into The Red Dory and he wanted to see it — me — do well. This place is very near and dear to him and he has been nothing but supportive.”

And so far, it’s been working, he said last week with the few days under his belt. Some of the regulars have made a point of stopping in at the 1848 Main Road restaurant for a meal and to wish him well.

Mr. Johnson, an acclaimed James Beard-nominated chef who had cooked at Boston restaurants The Blue Room and Rendezvous, took over the former Stone Bridge Restaurant by the water in Tiverton back in 2014.

He gave it a new name, “The Red Dory” (there’s a pretty picture of one out on the sign), and an all new menu and decor.

Mr. DeRego got his start in restaurants working at his father’s Chipp’s restaurant in New Bedford. He moved to The Back Eddy back when it was owned by chef Chris Schlesinger and later became chef there and co/owner with Sal Liotta.

But late last year, shortly before the Back Eddy’s annual New Year’s plunge off the dock into the bracing Westport River, he made it known that he planned to move on.

“It was a good go for 20 years but the time had come.” With children in school, it made sense to move to “an amazing restaurant right down the street from home.” He had a dream opportunity, he said at the time, though he didn’t want to reveal the restaurant and jinx it all.

Mr. DeRego, who lives close by The Red Dory, has been a fan and a regular there almost since opening day back in 2014.

“He (Steve) runs a restaurant, cooks in ways that I admire and it’s a tradition I am looking to continue.” To that end he intends few immediate changes to a coastal/Mediterranean menu that has built a loyal following. “I’m not going to change The Red Dory to The Back Eddy.”

He already knows better, he said, than to tamper with some of the favorites — he mentioned, for instance, the cornmeal-crusted fried oysters, the meatballs, the Pasta Bucatini and the lemon buttermilk pudding.

Like Mr. Johnson, he will stress the use of local vendors for seafood, produce and meat, something that makes sense given the abundance of such offerings close at hand.

He does plan to expand the wine and cocktail list under the guidance of Jared Marcus, a holdover who will manage the front end and beverage side of things.

And he said he’s also helped mightily by the presence of other Red Dory veterans, among them sous chef Nick Webster and Donna Macomber, “the heart and soul of the place.”

“My wife tells me I’m the only ‘new guy’ here,” Mr. DeRego said.

The first week — “It’s been hectic, all out, but exciting. Just jump in and get going — the best way.”

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