"International Cuisine" by Leroy Neiman.

By Peter A. Sutters Jr.
Independent Writer

     When Chef Gerald Davis came to work at Cioppino’s restaurant on Tuesday morning, he noticed something strange about the back entrance into the kitchen.
Shards of wood chiseled away from the back door lay strewn about on the ground and right away he knew someone had broken in.
     With the restaurant’s owner, Tracy Root, away in Boston, Davis did a quick walk through of the Broad Street eatery and couldn’t find anything missing.
    “He went to the safe in the office, the bar, the wine cellar and couldn’t find anything missing,” said Root on Wednesday. “I came back from Boston and he showed me the back door and I knew something had to be missing.”
    Root was correct, it was just the missing item was in such plain sight, it was not noticed by Davis.
    It was the restaurants signature piece of artwork- a signed limited edition print of Leroy Neiman’s “International Cuisine” which has hung in the dining room for the past 12 years. Root purchased the print 12 years ago while at a gallery in San Francisco with his late wife.
    “The person who took it knew what they were doing. They came right in and just took the print and nothing else,” said Root. “Nothing else in the restaurant was even slightly disturbed.”
    Root called the Nantucket Police Department and they came over and took a report and said detectives would be following up with an investigation.
    Neiman is a widely know American artist famous for his sports paintings seen around the world during coverage of the Olympics and other events. The signed print taken from Cioppinos, Root said, could be worth as much as $15,000.
    Root has been in contact with his insurance company and once the details are worked out, is planning on offering a cash reward.
    Anyone with information is asked to call 239-370-7581 or the Nantucket Police Department at 508-228-1212.