profile
in Brooklyn, where a then-young
David Burke manned the award-
winning kitchen. The celebrity chef
today resides in Fort Lee and owns or
consults for a slew of restaurants in
N.J., including the Drifthouse in Sea
Bright and Ventanas in Fort Lee.
“David taught me not only how
to make good food, but how to make
money,” Laird says. “He taught me
not to waste any food,” because food
is money. He also taught him how to
make pastries. As a result, Laird says,
“I truly believe I could be a pastry
chef at any restaurant.”
When Laird had to work a double
shift, he says, “I’d bring a blanket
and an alarm clock and sleep in my
car. All this stuff makes you stron-
ger.” Burke, too, has fond memories
of Laird. “He was like a sponge.
He would learn quickly. And he
was respectful. And a talented guy.”
Laird went on to work at other
highly acclaimed New York City
restaurants, including Lespinasse
and Aureole.
In 1993, at age 24, he thought it
best to go back and work in New
Jersey, where he hoped to eventually
open a restaurant. “I’m a country
boy, not a city guy,” he says. He
landed in the kitchen of the legendary
Ryland Inn.
But the country lad knew he had
to make a sojourn to France before
opening up a place of his own. “All
these chefs I knew spent time in
France,” he explains. With $5,000 he
managed to save, he went to France
and worked — free of charge — at
three Michelin-starred restaurants.
“It was amazing,” he says. “The trip
gave me confidence. I realized I had
more skills than I had thought.”
In 1994, he returned to the Ryland
Inn (this time as its sous chef), and
he met his wife. She left a high-
paying job on Wall Street to go to
culinary school, and was then intern-
ing at the Inn. “She has everything I
don’t have,” Laird says. “The educa-
tion, the culture.” They married in
1997 and one year later bought a
modest shingled house on Roosevelt
Street that had once housed the
32
MAY 2019 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
SEAFOOD STAR Lobster, served with lobster consume, Aleppo pepper and savoy cabbage.
Townsquare Inn.
Over two-plus decades, he has
changed the decor at Serenade at
least four times, the menu countless
times. “The older I get, the simpler
my food gets,” Laird says.
He barely uses fats in his cooking
anymore. “I can make food without
fat,” he says. “Fat is cheating.” His
organic salmon is served with red
quinoa cooked in a vegetable stock.
His roasted lobster entrée is accom-
panied by diced carrots and grilled
ramps. His creamless soups, such as
the lobster chowder that uses coco-
nut milk and lime juice instead of
cream and butter, are big sellers.
He readily admits that his des-
serts, however, are far from fat-free.
People want their desserts to be rich,
he says.
“I love Serenade,” says Allison
Van Rappaport of Chatham, who
dines at the restaurant every other
week. “We’ve had our kids’ Holy
Communion, their birthday parties,
Christmas Eve’s there. It’s always
top-notch.”
Bernadette Mitchell of Chatham
agrees. “Serenade is just so good,”
says Mitchell, who has eaten all over
the world traveling for her job for an
international finance company. “I tell
friends, ‘It’s world-class dining right
in our backyard.’”
What does Laird plan to do
next? “Enjoy my life, my family, my
friends.” He loves to fly fish, play golf
(he’s a 10 handicap) and exercise
three or four days a week, and he
wants to cook and run his restaurant
for as long as he can and feel proud.
“I’m definitely a success story,”
Laird says. “If not to others, then to
myself. It’s how you see yourself that
most matters.” ■