From Inside Business: The lawyer dons an apron

BY LAKESHIA ARTIS

Henry Bouffard doesn’t consider himself in the same league as chefs. He says he’s simply handy in a kitchen. “I’m not a chef, only a cook,” Bouffard said.

By day, he is a partner at the law firm of Vandeventer Black LLP, where he practices maritime, international business, construction and litigation law. At night he can be found whipping up Italian and Mediterranean-style dishes.

He grew up in a Sicilian/French family in Marlborough, Mass., and most of the dishes he prepares are recipes passed down through the generations.

Bouffard recently was a guest chef at Norfolk’s Town Point Club where he helped cook for a charity event benefiting the Lynnwood B. Craig Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and Vandeventer Black Foundation Inc.

Among the dishes in the four-course menu were prosciutto and melon, liguine marinara with oil-cured olives and grilled swordfish. Most of the recipes came from Bouffard’s kitchen.  

Preparing the dishes, he said, was a lot of work and he couldn’t have done it without the help of the kitchen staff.

He first partnered with Town Point Club eight years ago as a guest chef to raise funds for the family of Timothy K. O’Shaughnesy, a stockbroker who was murdered.

Peek inside the kitchen of Bouffard as he shares his passion for cooking with Inside Business.