Lydia Shire, Locke Ober Restaurant
Locke Ober Restaurant
Lydia Shire, Chef and Owner of Locke Ober in Boston, has been inducted as a charter member into the Food Industry Hall of Fame. Ms. Shire is renowned in the Boston restaurant industry for her culinary knowledge and restaurant management expertise.
Since the passing of the late Julia Child, Lydia has helped to lead the way for other women to follow in culinary direction and restaurant management. Ms. Shire has a unique flair and love for cooking professionally, while also raising a family.
In April 2006, Lydia was one of Yankee Food Service’s Women of Influence selections and described her job as the following: “I do now what I have done for the last 34 years. Study, read, write menus, cook each new dish, teach the cooks how to cook a dish, watch them execute the dish, critique, help, watch the entire kitchen operation alongside my incredible chef de cuisine, Mario Capone. I speak with guests in the dining room and various other public relations opportunities and do a lot of charity work. Then I do it all over again. I love it all!”
A graduate of the Cordon Bleu in London, Lydia’s first mentor was Julia Child. Her proudest accomplishments are her four children and “being respected as a good cook and being known as a generous cook, who wants the best for the customer. No, I will never have the best food cost in the city, I will leave that for others.”
