Odessa grew up on the New England coast in a large family with many cooking and foraging traditions. Her education continued after high school as she farmed in Canaan, NH with a small group dedicated to sustainable agriculture.

In 1969 Odessa moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where she helped her mentor JoAnna Guthrie open a restaurant called the Ovens of Brittany. JoAnna also operated a farm that featured organic produce grown in Wisconsin's Kickapoo River valley.  In her travel between the farm and restaurant, Odessa discovered the area's native hickory nuts, morels and wild plums.  Her excitement with the exceptional quality and diversity of the region's foods inspired her to create menus ever more reliant on season and locality. This was the impetus to open her own restaurant in 1976 which she named L'Etoile, referring both to nature's edible stars and the French culinary  'mother tongue' of her Midwestern interpretations.

 The local Farmer's Market outside L'Etoile's front door continues to provide inspiration and raw material for Odessa and her staff. In that spirit every menu at L'Etoile opens with the dedication "Eating locally and seasonally nourishes both the land and our communities.  We thank you for supporting the artisans and farmers who supply L'Etoile, and for appreciating their commitment to these patient arts."   
 
Odessa's regionally reliant cuisine has advanced her menu ideas to a White House State dinner and exposure in a variety of media including Gourmet, Sierra Magazine, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Wine Spectator, NYT, WSJ, Wisconsin Public Radio and NPR. Odessa is a guest lecturer at UW-Madison, Chairs the scholarship committee of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs and belongs to Chefs Collaborative, International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Wisconsin Women's Forum. Odessa is the 2001 recipient of the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef-Midwest.

Odessa divides her time between cooking, writing, consulting and public speaking,
and frequently accompanies her husband, wine importer Terry Theise on his travels through France, Germany and Austria. Her projects include contributing to the creation of the Center for Organic Farming and Cooking proposed at Taliesin in Spring Green Wisconsin, developing curriculum for Through the Seasons Cooking School and a line of artisan breads for L'Etoile's Farmer's Market Café, and compiling a book of L'Etoile's' recipes with the philosophy that inspires them.

 L'Etoile continues to be a favorite destination within the local community, and is celebrating 26 years of continuous operation on Madison's Capitol Square.