Serenade Chef Named Among Best in America

James Laird, owner and head chef at Restaurant Serenade in Chatham, has been named by peers as being among the nation's most skilled in the kitchen, according to NJ Monthly Magazine.

New Jersey chefs made up 196 of the 4,650 total chefs across the country who made the peer-reviewed book Best Chefs America, which is organized state by state. The list puts Laird in the company of Craig Shelton, Nicholas Harary, Scott Anderson, David Felton, Zod Arifai, Ryan DePersio, Ariane Duarte, Marilyn Schlossbach and Anthony Bucco.

The book publishers explained the chef nomination process on its website, writing, "Our analysts speak to nominated chefs across the country by way of appointment and telephone interview. Chefs are asked a series of proprietary questions that score their peers on a numerical scale and identify veterans and up-and-coming talent. The process is calculated to accurately record the opinions of leading chefs about the talent of their colleagues both within the same geographical area and nationwide."