John
Malcolm’s extensive background and training as chef at top quality restaurants
in California and New Jersey prepared him for his new role as owner and
executive chef at RIVER MARKET.
His
experience includes running fine dining restaurants in San Diego and San
Francisco for 10 years prior to 2004 when he returned to his native New Jersey
to serve as executive chef of the “new” Martell’s Waters Edge in Bayville, a
position he left this year to open his new venture in Toms River.
Chef
Malcolm, who served as executive chef of the award winning Azul La Jolla on San
Diego’s scenic coastline from 1999-2004, received much regional acclaim for his
California coastal cuisine. He was nominated for Chef of the Year by the
Southern California Food Writers Association and received excellent reviews
from national and California media. His current menus reflect not only his
experience at Azul but also his earlier training with the nationally celebrated
chef Bradley Ogden at the Lark Creek Inn, Larkspur, Ca., whom he credits with
introducing him to California seasonal markets and the creative use of fresh,
locally-produced fruits and vegetables.
Chef Malcolm honed his culinary skills and
techniques in San Francisco at popular dining attractions like Betelnut and The
Fairmont Hotel where he developed exciting new dishes and cooking styles, as
well as gaining significant management and banquet experience running large
kitchen staffs.
He
is a graduate of Rider University in Trenton, N. J. and the Culinary Institute
of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. He and his
wife, Lee, are the parents of two daughters and live in Island Heights.
Lee
Malcolm is also a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America as well as
American University, Washington, D. C., where she received a BA in 1988. She is the former sous chef of the Marin
Country Club just north of San Francisco and also worked many years in the
banquet kitchens of the world-famous Fairmont Hotel on San Francisco’s Nob
Hill.
Before
her formal training as a chef, Lee was the public relations representative of
The Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York and Micato Safaris based in Kenya. She was a top marketing and public relations
executive for Lou Hammond & Associates in New York where she specialized in
handling accounts for luxury travel, hotel and restaurant clients. For the past
eight years she has been busy raising the couple’s two daughters.
