When Café Chameleon in Bloomingdale opened in 2019, it ran through two head chefs in five months before it found chef Bryan Gregg, who soon landed it on New Jersey Monthly‘s Top 30 list. Last spring, when Gregg decided to move on, co-owner Trey Civitano conducted a search, with candidates preparing tasting menus for him, and soon hired chef Alfredo Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who did not attend culinary school, learned on the job, and evidently learned well. He stepped into his new role at Café Chameleon in early summer, adding new dishes, as well as a first-time small-plates menu for the bar.
Moving through the dining room, says Civitano, “I’ll go to a table and ask how everything is, and they absolutely love chef Alfredo’s food. It’s just a very well-balanced menu. There’s a little bit of something for everyone.”
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Table Hopping: What is your experience in food?
Alfredo Gonzalez: I’m 29 years old, and I’ve been in the kitchen since I was 17. I worked at a lot of French restaurants; I was the sous-chef at Lorena’s [in Maplewood] for a while. I’ve been at Café Chameleon for two months now.
Trey Civitano: My father and I would do some building growing up, and we renovated the space—we were always the biggest foodies. We put our heads together and tried to create something special with a changing menu.
TH: How did your love of cooking begin?
AG: I was always cooking as a kid and making a mess in my mom’s kitchen cooking Spanish food. When I was 17, my first job was at Bobby’s Burger Palace. I liked the fast pace and high volume. I [then] worked at a lot of Italian restaurants, and the passion grew from there.
Working with other chefs, watching Food Network—all those things encouraged me to find my way to finer cooking. My first professional job was at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. I worked [with chef Todd Allen] there and never went to culinary school; so he was the one that gave me my mentorship. From there, I spread out and ended up working in a lot of French restaurants.
Jersey corn bisque
TH: Trey, what drew you to Chef Alfredo?
TC: I did a little tasting with chef Alfredo and fell in love with his food. Then he took on a task I didn’t think he could take on—a 20-person tasting. I invited frequent customers, and they fell in love with him. From that point I knew it had to happen.
I wanted to be able to work with somebody for a change and get to see the other side of the restaurant. I always kind of felt like an outsider in the kitchen side. The second I met chef Alfredo, he brought me in and showed me the ropes.
TH: Chef, what made you want to join Café Chameleon?
AG: I like the menu changes, the different ingredients. It’s a nice space and ambiance, and Trey and his family are good people. He gave me the opportunity I’ve been looking for. This is my first upscale position, and when I did the tasting and met a bunch of people, it was the perfect opportunity.
TH: Trey, what are you looking to change at Café Chameleon?
TC: I’ve always been the owner, but now I’m taking on more of a leadership role. Now that I’m working with the front and the back [of the house] I can get a better sense for things like inventory. Even when it comes to food, chef Alfredo is constantly explaining to me why he’s putting something together. For me, that was really all I needed. He kind of changed me as a person here, and I feel like it’s my time to shine.
TH: Chef, any changes you’re contemplating?
AG: I’ll be adding more Italian things, like fresh pasta; but when I got here two months ago we really switched the whole menu. We try to use local ingredients as much as possible. We added a Jersey corn bisque, Asian-style tuna with coconut sticky rice. I’m big on chips and salsas, and we tried to add a little bit of everything to fit the demographic of the area.
Cherry cola wings
TH: What local suppliers have you been working with?
AG: We use Goffle Road Farms [in Wyckoff] for our chicken. We’ll be working with Dairyland and a couple of local farmers as well. We’re always looking for a connection. This is new to me and Trey, so we’re just trying to build relationships with local vendors so when it comes time to change the menu, we’ll have what we need.
TH: Why did you add a bar menu with smaller plates?
AG: We did that to separate the ambiance from the dining room. There are a lot of things people eat at the bar that wouldn’t work in our dining area. We have fennel-dusted calamari, cherry cola barbecue wings, a Café Chameleon burger, truffle fries. All the fun food everyone likes to have while they drink.
TH: How have people reacted to the changes?
AG: So far it’s been great. I got to meet a lot of good people, and they’re loving the changes. We’ve gotten a lot of compliments. The short rib tortellini is a big seller, lobster mac and cheese, swordfish with risotto. We have those very popular items, but from what I see of the tickets coming in the kitchen, everything sells pretty evenly.
We’ll be changing the menu every four months or so. There are a lot of ingredients that are available locally year round, which is good. A lot of the clients here express themselves and let me know what they’d like to see on the menu. I always make sure I take that into consideration. We want to make sure we have it all, whether people in the area are coming for upscale dining or just to sit at the bar.
Short rib tortellini
TH: In regards to Covid, have you seen a change in the dining atmosphere?
TC: People are just excited to get out again. You see a lot of smiles on everybody’s face every single time. Right now, we’re just chugging along. If anyone is ever uncomfortable with coming and dining in, we’ll make accommodations.
TH: What are your hopes for the restaurant?
TC: Really just to grow the business and keep clientele in town. Before, we never really had specials and would just change the menu seasonally. Now we’re going to throw in some specials and create things like vegetarian and vegan options. We just want to keep the local community engaged with us.
Café Chameleon is located at 60 Main St. in Bloomingdale. Check out the new menu and follow their Instagram page for updates.