Molly Shaw, brand manager of Saddleback kept on inviting me to come up and meet their newest head chef pretty much ever since she started late last year, and now I understand her enthusiasm.

Chef Coco Chretien has a passionate intensity combined with an appreciative spirit that is well suited for her chosen profession. “As a young female chef, it’s an honor,” she said in a direct matter of fact kind of way.

“I’m definitely privileged to say they’re trusting me to lead this team in culinary victory so to speak,” she said cheerfully.

After speaking with her for just a few minutes I was correct in guessing that besides snowboarding and skiing, she had played team sports. A three-season player, she played basketball, softball, and soccer.

It’s probably because she has an abundance of team spirit that she is the kind of leader that is not only put into a position of seniority, but naturally attracts followers. She spoke of team effort and team mentality and quickly wanted to share any credit of positive reviews with the rest of the kitchen staff. “My sous-chef John (Bowie), who has been with me since Sugarloaf and Farmington experiences as well as my pizza chef Kyle (Watson). Very, very small skeletal team at this point and a numerous amount of foreign students.”

Prior to Saddleback she worked at Uno Mas in Farmington as well as Mas Amigos in Sugarloaf, and she also managed a few restaurants in the Mount Washington Valley area.”

“Mexican theme, it’s close to my heart. It’s what I grew up eating along with French vibes.” She laughed, “French and Mexican don’t always vibe together, but it was just always a comfort food and something that I really cared about.”

She has been well accustomed to life in a kitchen from a young age.

“My mother and father were involved in cooking and hospitality in the ski industry since I was young, so I didn’t really have much of an outlet or an option. So as soon as I was able to read and write, seeing my parents work in that function was my comfortability and my normality. So I would say is you know before 10 years old and before secondary school is when I really started just really learning all aspects from a young age. My mom was front of the house and my dad was executive chef.

Yeah, it was very, very easy to assimilate into the culture growing up in the Mount Washington Valley. With five ski resorts in 50 to 25 miles of our radius just seemed natural that as a high schooler I would develop in culinary to make money locally as well as to develop my passion.”

Whether it was bartending or cooking, she never really desired any other profession other than in the hospitality industry.

I asked her what her favorite style of food was. “Gosh I would say coastal French cuisine is really beautiful to me: a lot of butter, a lot of fish, a lot of fresh preservation of seafood. That would probably be my favorite, followed by fun Mexican fiesta or family style.”

“I feel like with my family’s French history, it was definitely comfortable- what we grew up eating, from crepes for breakfast to any seared protein or very heavy seafood dinner. But I feel like my influence really just came from not knowing much else and being kind of led into this world- a super professional creative gastronomic universe.” She laughed.

All this talk of food made me hungry, and I started to look forward to going to lunch there the following afternoon. I tried to curb my appetite and continued by asking how her time at Saddleback had been thus far.

“So far, excellent. I can’t wait to develop my next five years in our community and really take care of the people around me as well as the people who are blessed to enter our town.”

Recalling that she has already survived the colder months, she has still not been here a full year. “No, I just experienced the winter. Sylvia (Brooks) and my dog Kanc and I are experiencing our first summer here in Rangeley.”

When questioned, she is also really loving being a member of the Saddleback family.

“Saddleback family is worth more to me than any corporation out there. It’s the reason that I’ll stay here. It’s the reason why I chose here.”

She responded so quickly and with such earnest that I had to press on for more details.

“No, absolutely sitting down with Jim Quimby in my interview I knew it was a no bulls**t type of deal.” Comparing it to places she has worked in the past, she could tell it would be a great environment for her to work in. “The amount of private and independent management and leadership that this corporation allows us to operate in makes me very thankful.”

Things are going very well for Coco. She’s getting positive reviews from diners, and she recently got engaged in New Orleans to Sylvia Brooks whom she is lucky enough to work with. Sylvia works as front of the house manager, echoing the relationship of her mom and dad. She is loving life. And what about living in Rangeley?

“It’s a privilege. It’s a gift. Waking up every day and going down the street and looking at one of the most beautiful lakes in Maine. I don’t know how anyone could start their day upset. I look forward to seeing what Rangeley has to offer as well as learning about its past.”

Okay, now for the more important questions.

What did she suggest I have for lunch the following day?

“Highly recommend our street corn. Let’s see, our tacos are awesome. My pork chop is probably one of my favorites on the entree list right now and we have the largest lobster roll in Rangeley coming in at over a pound with half a pound of lobster meat, a boat of fries. It’s beautiful.”

Recalling her experience behind the bar I asked for a recommendation for a cocktail as well. “I would go for the strawberry basil mojito that’s on special and that we’ll push seasonally until July as well as the new margarita on the list. There are about 8 to 9 new cocktails from whiskey to gin, that really everyone should check out.”

The mountain is pretty busy this season with about 20 plus private events coming up, thirteen of which are weddings. In addition, they are working on the much-anticipated opening of their mid-mountain lodge. For right now, she is focused on the pub, and she recommends making reservations for there this summer.

When asked if she has faced any challenges, she at once mentioned how grateful she is of the encouragement she has received but admits that the pub faces the same problems other restaurants do in the area.

“I feel like challenges are, as most businesses face collecting culinary talent is always difficult as well as maintaining a year-round or even seasonal staff, but we just gave our staff the best season possible, and I feel confidently that we’ll see a lot of them return and to treat this winter as we did last year. So, I feel like challenge-wise it’s day-to-day, but we’ve tackled everything that’s come at us.”

A self-proclaimed foodie, she has made the time to visit other establishments in the area and she had good things to say about pretty much all the ones that came to mind: Furbish and Parkside among others.

“I’ve been able to go to the Corner Bar, I’m Sarge’s biggest supporter. Late night my crew gets to go in there and have a beer after work, Portage- all my friends are at, Bald Mountain Camps- I got to go to last night for the first time for Taco Tuesday. All I can say is that everybody keep pushing and we’re going to have a hell of a summer!”

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