Francis Derby found his way home — all the way to the The Halyard in Greenport.
Derby, born and raised in Bellport, is now heading up food operations for the popular seaside restaurant. In this new role, which he’s held since May, Derby is heading up the Halyard’s menu and on-site catering; plus the piano bar and mobile food unit serving the Sound View’s beach and pool.
It’s a culinary calling that started for him at Varney’s Restaurant in Brookhaven when he was just a young teen.
“I went to work and started washing dishes when I was 14 and fell right in love with that whole world and culture,” says Derby. “It was a different environment than I’d ever seen; I was pretty hooked from the beginning.”
From there, he started cutting vegetables, helping chefs and finding himself on the cooking side of things more often. At 18 years old, he was working at three different restaurants in Bellport.
The next two decades of his life were spent in Manhattan, where he helped to open a few highly acclaimed restaurants. He then spent some time in Europe learning more of the craft and then joined the Cannibal team as executive chef, overseeing New York City and Los Angeles restaurants.
“I was out there for about a year and a half, kind of bicoastal flying back and forth,” says Derby. “I think that was the onset of wanting to settle down, settle back home.”
In 2018, Derby became executive chef at Prime in Huntington. “If I’m not learning something I feel like I’ve wasted a day,” he says. “To me, Huntington was a big learning curve. It was about learning volume and learning how to manage this big machine.”
“For me, being a part of a hotel group is not, ‘this is Fran Derby’s food.'” It’s a bigger machine. This isn’t so much about me as it is about completing the greater, bigger picture of what this hotel is.”
chef Francis Derby
He spent the next three years there and then started his own catering business post-Covid. A mutual connection informed Derby of the opening for a culinary director at The Halyard, and he set his sights on Greenport.
“I’ve always had a love for the North Fork,” says Derby. “I think it’s a very cool, almost untouched part of the island and it’s a very cool place to work.”
He is certainly playing into the local scene, serving skate sandwiches, tomato-peach salads and apple desserts while the products are in season, sourced from local waters and farms.
With his work here beginning in spring, there was no time to ease in. “We rolled right into busy season,” he says. “I was meeting the crew and learning the implementing systems right into the heart of the busy season. It was a fun ride. Now I feel like we’re just kind of coming up for air.”
“For me, being a part of a hotel group is not, ‘this is Fran Derby’s food;’ it’s a bigger machine,” he says. “This isn’t so much about me as it is about completing the greater, bigger picture of what this hotel is.”
Derby’s prior catering experience came into play here in terms of enhancing wedding and event experiences on hotel property.
“You don’t just cater events because people have nothing to do and went out that night,” says Derby. “You cater events because they’re huge moments in their lives. When you go to a catered event it’s someone’s wedding or someone’s birthday or someone’s anniversary, and these are really special occasions.”
He’s looking to build his team and continue making connections with local producers as the seasonal traffic slows down.
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