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Rich in Talent
Serenade chef/owner James Laird created his own recipe for success
WRITTEN BY ESTHER DAVIDOWITZ PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNE-MARIE CARUSO
A
glimpse of fancy cars
parked in front of
a restaurant drove
James Laird to
become a chef. And
not just any chef, but
an award-winning four-star chef and
owner of Serenade, a posh French-
American restaurant in Chatham
considered one of New Jersey’s very
best. It is the kind of restaurant that
the soft-spoken, lanky chef once upon
a time could never afford to eat in,
let alone own.
“I came from nothing,” says Laird,
a young-looking 49, “to owning my
own restaurant at age 27.”
The buttery tender rack of lamb he
roasts, the lemongrass-infused lobster
chowder he simmers, the fork-tender
sea bass he sears and the strawberry
and rhubarb berry tart he bakes are
foods that are a world away from the
fried chicken and meatloaf he grew
up eating as the son of a single mom.
His dad walked out on the family
when Laird was 3, his sister 6.
“We were always poor,” says
Laird, sitting in the elegant 80-seat
dining room of Serenade wearing a
crisp white chef’s coat and a winning
smile.
The coat, the gorgeous dining
room, the many loyal patrons that
come day in and day out to savor
his seasonal cuisine are a testa-
ment to how far Laird has come
from his hardscrabble beginnings in
Middlesex, the borough he still lives
in with his wife and business partner,
Nancy.
As a youngster, Laird wore hand-
me-downs. He was bullied by his
more affluent school mates. He was
30
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fennel cauliflower soup
beaten up, too. None of that hurt
him, he says. “It made me stronger.”
It also made him determined to
climb out of poverty and become a
top-notch chef.
“He is probably the best cook
I’ve ever known,” says chef Michael
Citarella, chef at the Chesapeake
Tavern in Long Valley, who worked
with Laird at the storied Ryland
Inn. “He’s a natural in the kitchen.
There’s nothing he can’t do well in
the kitchen.”
Mentor Bistichi, chef at upscale
Fiorino restaurant in Summit and a
good friend, concurs. “He is talented
and passionate about what he does.
And he cares about everything — the
napkins, the tablecloths, the flowers.
It’s not difficult to figure out why
Serenade is still going strong after 22
years.”
Laird began working when he was
in elementary school. “At age 8, I had
a lemonade stand. I then had a paper
route. I raked leaves. I always wanted
to make money.”
One day, he happened upon a
fleet of shiny cars parked outside a
fancy restaurant in town. Then 15,
he walked in and asked for a job.
“I wanted to be in a place with rich
people,” he says. He figured he’d
make more money at an expensive
restaurant than working at the local
pizza shop.
He loved it. “I knew I wanted to
own a restaurant.”
And he wanted to cook, too. “I
saw the cooks in the kitchen taste the
food, and I wanted to learn how they
made it,” he says. He volunteered to
work extra hours in the kitchen. “I
loved the challenge,” he says. “Every
day it was something different.”
His boss noticed how hard he
worked, and took a shine to him.
“Every Monday, he’d take me to the
best Italian restaurants in New York
City. I was this Irish kid who never
had pasta before,” he says. “I never
had veal or bean soup or clams casi-
no.” The food captivated him.
As soon as he graduated high
school, he went to the prestigious
Culinary Institute of America, pay-
ing for it with student loans. “It was
great,” he says. “I learned cooking
skills, restaurant management, wines,
restaurant design, menus.”
During a two-month externship
that stretched into nine months, he
worked at the legendary River Café