Alexander Willis has never lived anywhere longer than five years.

“I was a military brat,” the thirty-five-year-old executive chef at Garde East in Vineyard Haven said one recent afternoon. “We bounced around a lot, from Michigan, to Alaska, to everywhere.”

Location never mattered much to Willis, because wherever his family was, there were always kitchens, whether it was the one his soldier-father ran at a mess hall, or the ones in which his Lebanese grandmother imparted the importance of eating together, no matter where they were or what was going on.

“Cooking is very much a part of me and my family,” said Willis. Being behind a cutting board and stove grounded him. It also inspired his overall culinary philosophy: “Food should make you happy.”

Willis’s earliest food memory does just that. “It’s my grandmother in her kitchen in Michigan mixing up herbs and lettuces and vegetables, and there’s a bottle of tarragon-infused red wine vinegar on the windowsill,” he explained.

This memory serves as the inspiration behind Willis’s most personal dish at Garde East, aptly called “Grandmother’s salad.” “I’ve eaten this salad more than any other dish in my entire life,” he said.

To create the salad, Willis mixes the ingredients in a bowl, starting with soft greens, usually a mixture of oak leaf, Lolla Rosa, and spring lettuces. He adds chopped chives, tarragon, and an abundance of fresh mint. Next come the sliced radishes, cucumbers, and tomatoes (fresh if they’re in season, preserved if they aren’t bright and flavorful). He boosts the flavor by adding olive oil, tarragon vinegar, salt, and freshly cracked pepper. Then he waits.

This is the important part, Willis explained. “You know, everyone always asks my grandmother for this recipe, and nobody can replicate it.” That might be because nobody can quite get the timing down. Nobody, that is, except for Willis. “When you salt vegetables you want to let them sit for a few minutes so the salt helps the liquid from the vegetables come out. That enhances the vinaigrette and makes the seasoning that much better.”

After a final toss, the salad is ready to be served.

“This is the first time this salad has been on a restaurant menu,” Willis said. “I just want to serve food that’s delicious, and food that makes you happy.”