Award-winning chef Adam Weiss to open BYOB in Hawthorne

Adam Weiss, a two-time winner of Ultimate Chef Bergen County and former executive chef at gastropub Stone & Rail in Glen Rock and fine-dine restaurant Esty Street in Park Ridge, is set to open First, an eclectic American restaurant in Hawthorne. He hopes to open the 80-seat BYOB by Mother's Day weekend.

"It's been a while," said Weiss, 46, a Ringwood resident, who for the past three years has been "doing some private catering" since leaving Stone & Rail.

Who is chef Adam Weiss?

Weiss made his mark at New American restaurant Esty Street, where he wowed critics and diners alike. He helmed the kitchen for 14 years, until 2013, earning it a three-and-a-half star review in The Record and a three-star review in New Jersey Monthly.

He went on to dazzle again at now-shuttered Due, a small (40-seat) modern American restaurant in Ridgewood. When its owner/chef Chris Tarta (who also owned Bella Campania in Hillsdale; also closed) ran the kitchen, it received two out of four stars in The Record. After Weiss joined, it received three and a half stars.

Weiss left after he and Tarta could not agree on the direction the restaurant, which moved into larger quarters a few doors down, should take.

He then headed the kitchen at Stone & Rail for two years, leaving in June 2020.

What will First have on its menu?

First (which uses the No. 1 in place of the "i" in its logo) will be the first restaurant Weiss owns.

"I'm feeling both excited and anxious," he said. "People have been asking me for years to open a place of my own and I have been itching to get back into a restaurant kitchen."

What does he plan to serve at First? An array of New American dishes, some with Asian and European influences, Weiss said. And of course some of his greatest hits, including his classic cream of mushroom soup, his lobster Ceasar and his guaranteed-to-make-you-swoon brulee Montrachet cheesecake. "I think I'm best known for that cheesecake," he said.

But don't expect the dishes to be exactly the same as before.

"I don't want to repeat just what I've done before," he said. "I want to update everything."

First will be located at 112 Lincoln Avenue in Hawthorne. It replaces Italian restaurant Bella Fig.

More:Adam Weiss departs as executive chef of Due in Ridgewood

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