Clinton Township Newsletter

1 0 d e c e m b e r 2 0 2 2 W W W . C L I N T O N T W P N E W S L E T T E R . C O M This month, Clinton Three Q chatted with Chef Josh DeChellis, owner (along with his wife, Jennifer DeChellis), of local restaurant Juniper Hill in Annandale. C3Q: Your restaurant is beautiful, and so cozy for the holidays! How long have you been in Clinton Township? Chef Josh: Both my wife and I went to North Hunterdon High School, and we moved back twelve years ago to be closer to family. We grew up in Clinton, and are raising our own kids here. Getting a liquor license and finding the perfect space took us two to three years; I had never worked in New Jersey previously, my experience was i n N e w Y o r k City and Paris and Tokyo. My w i f e J e n n i f e r h a n d l e s t h e marketing and r u n n i n g t h e o p e r a t i o n s o f the restaurant. As for becoming a chef, it wasn't o r i g i n a l l y a c a l c u l a t e d decision; I was a m i s g u i d e d y o u t h w h o didn't want to wear a suit, who went to culinary school, and then fell in love with food. I tasted a French olive oil and everything clicked, and I was like, "I need more of this." Being able to have this restaurant in the community that Jenn and I live in, it's hard to imagine caring about a restaurant more. We know the people who come in, our kids go to school with them, they're on the same sports teams, it's our community. And it really inspires us to do a solid job for the people in our community, it just means a little bit more to cook for them. C3Q: Juniper Hill really stands out for its use of fresh farmed ingredients. Posted right next to your host stand, I've seen the chalkboard list of farms that you source ingredients from, and have been to your Farmer's Market. Can you talk about your focus on fresh local ingredients? Chef Josh: Juniper Hill is American cuisine, w i t h a f o c u s o n a u t h e n t i c a n d s i m p l e preparations of great ingredients. It's really about the ingredients for us; meaning ingredients that are farmed organically, raised sustainably, and very fresh. There are a lot of local farms that we don't deal with, because their farming practices aren't what we believe in, with things like spraying and use of pesticides. The farmers who we deal with are firm with their growing practices and like-minded about their products; farms like Two Barn Farm in Pittstown, and Cabbage Throw Farm in Asbury. We're happy to grab stuff from them whenever we can. Our Farmer's Market runs every Thursday from June through Labor Day. We get organic mushrooms, other cultivators, and fantastic naturally risen sourdough bread from Apple Ridge. C3Q: Your restaurant isn't only full of holiday cheer, there is a genuinely good vibe here. Who else is on your staff, and what sort of dishes can you tell us about? Chef Josh: We have a super-duper-amazing chef right now named Craig Polignano; he's got incredible pedigrees, and worked previously at Ryland Inn, Jockey Hollow, etc. I haven't enjoyed cooking with someone in a long time as much as I enjoy cooking with Craig, it's an amazing partnership. He's a super well-trained guy with a special gift with food. We use what's available and what's in-season. There's never a big overhaul on the menu, but things are always changing and fresh. C o l e T h o m p s o n i s the head mixologist at Juniper Hill, and he is making absolutely drop dead delicious cocktails. My favorite one is the lightest, most insane bourbon cocktail that I ' v e e v e r h a d , c a l l e d Always on Thyme. He's making it with iced green tea, bourbon, fresh thyme, honey and lemon, and finished with absinthe, and it's absolutely brilliant. He's hit his stride and he's making great cocktails and always changing it up; he's great at what he does. As for dishes, I love the pork cheek dish at Juniper Hill; I'll never take it off the menu. Having grown up here, it makes me happy to have a restaurant where you can get these kind of flavors and this style of dish; the Japanese call it donburi, and we use koshi style of rice, and we take Berkshire pork cheek and cook it for a long time in duck fat and sear it and glaze it with a gluten free whole grain mustard and soy sauce, with a bunch of scallions and quinoa; it's my favorite. The Banh Mi burger is also fantastic; it's like a Vietnamese sandwich with a burger. The beef comes from Happy Valley, which is a coop of three farms that all raise cows in the most humane way possible. A happy cow is going to have great meat! We hit that up with Vietnamese style marinade, and bunch of fresh mango, cucumber, picked lime onions, thai basil, and it comes out crunchy and fresh and sweet and salty. Another very exciting thing at our restaurant is that we have shifted to natural, minimal- intervention wines. It's been very exciting to learn about, and fun to share. At Juniper Hill, every night of the week can be a tasting event; just come in and order a reasonably-priced bottle of wine, and someone can tell you what's in it and, more importantly, w h a t ' s * n o t * i n i t . . . w h a t c a n g o i n t o t h e production of some wines is unbelievable, with colorings or animal products or chemicals. Minimal intervention wines let the wine speak its truest self, with no filtering, no commercial yeast, all spontaneous fermentation, minimal use of oak, with amphora or cement-aging instead; so there is more of a true expression of the wine and you can taste the grape and the terroir. C3Q: A lot of restaurants have been shutting down recently, or struggling through these past few years. Can you speak about what that's been like? Chef Josh: I would say that it's been a struggle the past few years; actually, it's been the most difficult time of my life, with a lot of sacrifice. As hard as everything was, it took everything I had to get us through 2020 and 2021, with some amazing people helping. But you know, once we've gotten through all that, it's inspiring to make it worth something. I think that's what Craig and I and the rest of the team have been working on; to shake the hard times off, and to emerge from the coals in the most healthy way possible. Working in a restaurant isn't just about the food and dreaming up a menu, it's about creating a culture inside the restaurant that is healthy and sustainable and where we can do things the best that we can. We created Juniper Hill with a focus on simplicity, and it's great to revisit that and remind ourselves of what this restaurant is supposed to be: simple and authentic food that is approachable to eat, as well as fun to prepare and not have it be an arduous task. I'm going to be fifty years old in June, and this is what I've learned; that you can crash and burn, or you can figure out a way to run a restaurant sustainably. Thank you so much Chef Josh, and we look forward to dining at Juniper Hill soon and raising a glass! Rachel Sprague, a resident of Clinton Township, has a degree in journalism from Rutgers. With her husband Russell, Rachel is raising two young children in the Clinton Township School District. She thinks that Clinton Township is a delightful place to live. One of Juniper Hill's drop-dead delicious cocktails Juniper Hill is serving up holiday spirit, good food, good wine and good times Welcome to with Rachel Sprague * C linton ree Questions *

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