In the Kitchen: Gerardo Viejo, Executive Chef, Weekapaug Inn, Westerly

Like so many chefs and cooks who end up working in the restaurant industry, Weekapaug Inn Executive Chef Gerardo Viejo learned the art of cooking as a child in his grandmother’s kitchen. Viejo grew up in Panama, the son of Spanish immigrants who came to the country to work on the construction of the Panama Canal in the very early 1900s. “Sometimes my grandmother would be lonely, and I would visit her and stay overnight. In the morning, we’d make these wonderful breakfasts together.” They lived in a community ripe with restaurants of all kinds – Spanish, South American, even Italian. “To this day, Italian cuisine is comfort food to me,” he says. (As Rhode Islanders, we relate!)

Fast forward a dozen years, and Viejo is a culinary student at Johnson & Wales University in Providence. He reveled in studying ingredients and techniques from all corners of the earth, in “playing around” with flavors and textures. After graduation he found a home with the iconic Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts company and worked for 12 years at their properties in Vail, CO, Boston, Oahu, and Athens, exploring hyper-local ingredients and working them into his culinary repertoire. In early 2025, he was plucked from a stint as the executive sous chef at the prestigious resort Shore Lodge in McCall, Idaho, to return to Rhode Island and take the helm at the restaurant at the Weekapaug Inn, an award-winning Relais & Châteaux property, and sister-resort to the nearby Ocean House.

In the dining room at the Weekapaug, which sits about 80, Viejo caters to regulars and world travellers alike, familiarizing them to New England flavor profiles via the harvests of local farmers and fishermen. The inn has gardens where Viejo daily picks fresh, seasonal herbs, as well as veggies such as tomatoes and eggplant. Generally, he changes up the menu every two months or so, tweaking it all through the process depending on what’s available to him, but always considering his audience. “We have some very discerning guests here,” he explains. “Some want their food the way they want it. Others let us take them along on a little culinary journey.” Viejo sees his role to some extent as a teacher, educating his young staff, as well as willing guests, to ingredients, flavors, techniques, and concepts such as sustainability, from all over the world. The kitchen produces very little food waste, as food scraps are re-purposed into everything from sauces to stocks to compost. “It’s impossible to get bored in this kitchen,” he says. “We’re always thinking.”

Viejo, 37, met his wife, Angela, also a hospitality professional, while working at the Four Seasons in Vail. The couple lives nearby and loves to cook at home for each other, their two very young children, or for family visiting from abroad. “Sometimes we’ll brainstorm before falling asleep. ‘What should we cook this week?’” Bucatini puttanesca and lasagna are on constant rotation, but the Viejos aren’t always snobby about what they cook. “Sure, we’ll often break out a Julia Child cookbook,” Viejo explains, “but sometimes we’ll try a TikTok recipe, or in a pinch, do drive-thru.”

Viejo hasn’t had much time in his recent role to explore the regional food terrain, but looks forward to doing so before the restaurant pace picks up in the spring. “Rhode Island offers so many extraordinary options when it comes to every type of food,” he says. “It’s exhilarating!” 25 Spray Rock Road, Westerly, WeekapaugInn.com.