Rising star Capella is new top chef of Summit House
Since cutting his chops at A Toute Heure in Cranford, Chef AJ Capella has manned the kitchen at restaurants including Jockey Hollow, a Morristown historic mansion converted into four distinct dining experiences, and Liberty House, an American restaurant and event space located on the Hudson River with Manhattan views.
But now, he’s back in Union County. “The kitchen is kind of like Disneyland,” said Capella, who was named the executive chef of Summit House in March after replacing executive chef Justin Antiorio. “When I came for dinner, I fell in love.”
It was a match made in heaven. Capella is known for his modern American cooking that fuses global culinary influences with local, seasonal ingredients to create fresh, elegant renditions of classic dishes. It’s a style he shares with Summit House, which has been doing just that since it opened in 2017.
In mid-July, a new Summit House dinner menu will be released that will include a new pasta section, steakhouse section and raw bar section. New lunch and brunch menus will follow, as well as paired wine, whiskey and beer dinners, and collaboration dinners with Capella’s vast network of chefs.
Capella will also lead the kitchen and calendar at BarBacoa, the Mexican smokehouse, taqueria, tequila and mezcal bar next to Summit House. Both restaurants are owned by All My Friends LLC. Capella plans to “tweak” BarBacoa’s recipes, develop specials and host more events there.
“The chefs that have been here in the past had good reputations, but they don’t have the network of people that I have. I know a lot of people,” said Capella. “I also have my list of purveyors who have become my friends over the years, so I am going to start bringing in the freshest, most local products that I can from them.”
What will result are menu items that seem traditional but are elevated with Capella’s myriad techniques that he has garnered over the past decade in the tristate area food scene.
Those dishes include an heirloom tomato salad dressed with a vinaigrette made from tomato water; chicken breast rolled in its own crispy skin accompanied by housemade bacon made in BarBacoa’s smoker and polenta aerated in a food whipper; and housemade baguette with a butter flight that includes a caramelized onion butter topped with crispy chicken skin and a salted butter made with a salt from a private Hawaiian beach owned by Capella’s friend.
“I learned a lot working in the city with Chef Grant Achatz at The Aviary about how to use molecular gastronomy in a classy way,” said Capella. “You’ll never see me put a random chemical in something just to say that I do it.”
Summit House was already sourcing from local farms and creating seasonal menus, Capella said, so his philosophy is the restaurant’s status quo. Now he’s just in bringing in new techniques — in a space that couldn’t be better equipped for evolution.
There’s a separate prep kitchen in the basement; combination ovens that can convection, steam, and a combination of steam and convection; and a custom open kitchen built into the foundation of the building that visitors can see from the dining room.
“The owners spared no expense when they built this place and they did an excellent job maintaining it,” said Capella. “They have equipment that I was used to in the city that isn’t really seen in New Jersey. Now I have the resources to do whatever I want because they have anything you can think of.”
Go: 395 Springfield Ave., Summit; 908-273-6000, summithousenj.com.