Theresa Manning has always been drawn to nurturing people through food – a quality she learned from her mother. As the owner of Quitsa Cuisine, a wedding and events catering business, she has brought joy to many on days that hold great significance. That’s thanks to her delicious recipes, a handful of which reflect her mother’s cooking. Her approach to the job is simple: “We like people to feel satisfied and fed,” she said.
Manning’s career didn’t start out in the food industry. She went to college and earned a degree in psychology and then in public administration in graduate school. Needing to make ends meet, she worked at restaurants. In 1993, after landing on the Island to work at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, she continued to earn extra money by hosting themed dinner parties with her friend Kendra Buresch. “We’d make way too much food and cook all day. Little by little, people started asking us if we would do it for them,” she said.
In 2005, Manning and Buresch decided to take the leap and become business owners when they started Quitsa Cuisine. The name refers to Nashaquitsa Pond, which separates where Buresch lived in Chilmark and where Manning lived in Aquinnah. The two, who kept their full-time jobs, continued to get clients through word of mouth, doing just a handful of events each year that focused on delicious, abundant, and artistically presented fare.
Eventually, Buresch decided to focus on her career as a biologist at the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole, but Manning wasn’t quite ready to call it quits. She continued on with the business, curating intimate dinner parties, creating personalized menus, and, most importantly, bringing people together around a beautiful meal.
Menu options from Quitsa Cuisine can include tofu bánh mì sandwiches. Photograph: Scott Mullin
Manning’s approach to food has always been thoughtful. “I still spend a lot of time creating a menu that people feel excited about,” she explained. “I don’t give out printed [menus] where you choose from a list of options. I prefer to have an initial conversation and discover the sorts of food people like and the kind of vibe they want at a party.”
Although Manning will cater weddings, she said she is drawn to the ancillary events. “I’ve learned that I love the side parts of a wedding – rehearsal dinner, the bridal party, the showers, and the brunch the day after,” she said. She takes on two to three dozen of those a year. “I would say seventy-five guests and under is my sweet spot. I prefer where we can pay a lot of attention to detail.”
For any event, she often recommends her Mediterranean grazing board, which easily accommodates dietary restrictions and presents beautifully. It comes with chicken souvlaki, orzo salad, various dips with pita and vegetables, fruits, and cheeses. Her spicy tomato-fennel poached halibut, grilled chicken with slow-roasted ribs, and mac and cheese are also client favorites. Because most of Manning’s menus are customized, prices are based on various factors, such as individual needs, portion size, and presentation.
In 2016, Manning’s love of food led her to open a family business: Cliffhangers – a wood-shingled “fry shack” with a take-out window – on the Aquinnah Cliffs. “We built a strong local following in a predominantly tourist spot,” she said. “The restaurant became more blended when we started staying open late and getting local folks who would come up for dinner.”
A Mediterranean-inspired grazing board. Photograph: Scott Mullin
That experience over the past few years reinforced Manning’s focus on building community around food. It also gave her the confidence to leave her day job at the Martha’s Vineyard Youth Task Force to pursue her passion with a vengeance: operating Quitsa Cuisine full-time and opening another restaurant, Quitsa Kitchen in Vineyard Haven.
“It’s a cozy little café,” she said of the spot that she opened earlier this year in Woodland Center. “I feel like the mayor when I’m walking around.”
Patrons of the café – both returning clients who have enjoyed her food before and those looking to try it for the first time – are drawn to her intriguing, made-from-scratch comfort foods, which feature local ingredients. Favorites include the breakfast burrito, morning stack on a house-made biscuit, and shakshuka. For lunch, people love the fire-and-honey chicken, the falafel, and the fried burrata with tomato jam.
There is also a long case stocked with baked goods, such as cookies, scones, and popovers. You’ll find fresh salads and sandwiches from the grab-and-go fridge, along with her pre-made dinners, such as baked ziti, Bolognese, house-roasted pulled pork with mac and cheese, beef stroganoff, and chili. The best part? All of the delicious choices are available for catered occasions.
Either through catering or at the café, Manning emphasized, “What’s really important, from start to finish, is to create great food and an entire positive experience for people to feel cared for, nurtured, and well fed.”
For more information or to hire Quitsa Cuisine, call 508-338-7787 or visit quitsacuisine.com.
