Chef de cuisine Jeff Kellish of Park Steakhouse on the best way to determine the quality of a restaurant
Jeff Kellish
Park Steakhouse, Park Ridge
When chef Jeff Kellish was a child, working in the kitchen at Sid Allen's — the Englewood Cliffs restaurant his mother kept the books for — was used as a punishment when he or his siblings misbehaved. Decades later, the 59-year-old chef de cuisine of the Park Steakhouse in Park Ridge has made the kitchen his second home.
Kellish, who graduated from Teaneck High School and today lives in Park Ridge, has no formal education in cooking, instead electing to learn on the job; he spent three-and-a-half years at Sid Allen's and 17 as executive chef at Valentino's (also in Park Ridge) before coming to the Park Steakhouse 10 years ago.
Here, he talks about changing menus, fly fishing, and his secret love for cider doughnuts.
The best place to grocery shop in North Jersey: DePiero's Country Farm in Montvale. It's kind of a one-stop place — they've got a bakery, a fish market and a butcher.
What diners don't know about professional kitchens: The amount of prep work that goes on all day. If you're doing 80 dinners, you have to be prepped for 100 just in case.
The worst thing a waiter can do: You can't refuse a customer or any request, as long as it's within reason. And you can't argue with the customer. They can get anything they want, as long as we have it and can do it in a reasonable amount of time.
The best way to determine the quality of a restaurant: When my wife and I go out, the first thing she does is look at the doors, the windows, the mirrors, the menus; anything that can get dirty. It's about the cleanliness of the place when you walk in.
Home cooks should: Make their own stock — it's the reason sauces at most restaurants are so good. Home cooks don't often have the time, but it is 100 times better.
I am really good at cooking: Any kind of seafood dish. I'm the one who does all the seafood here. I've been an avid fisherman for a long time, and my father and grandfather ran charter boats out of Miami for a long time.
The most underrated dish: The accompaniments. It's almost an after-thought most of the time, but if you do it right, it can make the difference between a good meal and a mediocre one. A side of broccoli rabe or string beans might be easy, but they do take a little doing to make them right.
What type of dish restaurants make money on: Pastas are big moneymakers; you make the meat sauce from the scraps of meat you clean from the bone, and the pasta is relatively inexpensive to begin with.
My favorite dish to cook: A Chilean sea bass $29 to $32 (price depends on market value) that we've had on the menu ever since I've been here; every time we try to change it, the customers get mad. It's pan-seared, and we spread white miso done with an Asian flair. We serve it over spinach with rice, with caramelized grapefruit segments.
My guilty pleasure: I'm a sucker for cider doughnuts. I can't wait to go to those apple-picking places and get them.
My favorite local restaurant: St. Eve's in Ho-Ho-Kus. The barbecue-braised pork belly and scallop dishes are excellent.
What I'd never pay for at a restaurant: There's such a markup on wines; I'd never pay for a high-end vintage at $700 or $800.
The toughest dish to cook at my restaurant: A suckling pig ($32) that takes two or three days. We take a 30- to 40-pound pig, and braise it for six to eight hours before pulling the skin off. We shred the meat off the bone, and take a square pan and lay the skin on the bottom and pack the meat on top. It compacts into these beautiful squares, and we roast it and serve it with root vegetables, Brussels sprouts, cranberries and a beautiful braising juice. It's pretty labor intensive, but worth it.
More info: Park Steakhouse, 151 Kinderkamack Road, Park Ridge; 201-930-1300; theparksteakhouse.com. Appetizers: $12 to $15; entrées: $29 to $41. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Friday, 5 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
— Steve Janoski
