Mitchell Altholz, a very talented chef whose food we have always loved, has been the executive chef at Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange since 2005. He wrote the following on his Facebook page:
“It is with a great sense of comfort that today I say farewell to my home away from home for many years. Last night I donned the chef’s jacket for the last time in my role as executive chef of Highlawn Pavilion. It is a title that I’ve held proudly and a position that I’ve enjoyed greatly. But as my fellow chefs will tell you, it is a labor of love that demands a great deal of your time and attention. While my love for cooking and running a kitchen has not faded, and the passion for it is still in my bones, my love for my family and for my larger life is just as strong. What I’ve learned, especially recently with the loss of my beloved brother, is that life is precious and all too short. A life in the kitchen can be extremely consuming. And to do it right, requires an endless commitment of time and energy. I’d like to now give that same level of energy to life’s larger pursuits. To spend more time sharing the company of my dear Jocelyne, my father, and my extended family. To learn what it is to relax. To travel. To pick up that guitar a little more. Maybe pick up a paintbrush as well. I can’t promise I won’t get that itch to command a kitchen again, but for now, I at least want to try to explore all the opportunities of what has been waiting for me at home all along.”
While at Highlawn Pavilion, chef Altholz received an “Excellent” rating from The New York Times, four stars from The Star Ledger, a Top Restaurant award from New Jersey Monthly and was been chosen to lead a handful of dinners at The James Beard House. Previously, he and his wife Jocelyne owned Jocelyne’s, a romantic restaurant, in Maplewood which he opened in 1998 and was awarded three stars from New Jersey Monthly, an “Excellent” from The New York Times, four stars from The Star Ledger, a Zagat rating of 27 for food and a DiRoNA (Distinguished Restaurants of North America) Award. He sold that business in 2005. We first heard about him before he opened Jocelyne’s when the buzz around town was about a fabulous chef at Nadia’s in Maplewood.
Tristan Tevrow who was executive sous chef will be the chef de cuisine.
Here is a link to a video that he made.
Photo courtesy of Lowell Saferstein
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