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“I thought they were crazy at first,” he recalled. “I liked to cook, but doing it for a living? That sounded like a lot of work.”
[Go here for my full profile of Jayapal.]
But along the way,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Jayapal completely immersed himself in the modern culinary world. The Albany High School grad began winning medals in American Culinary Federation-sanctioned competitions early in his career. He then worked alongside some of the Capital Region’s best and best-known chefs: certified master chef Dale Miller, who now heads his eponymous place in Albany, then at Jack’s Oyster House in Albany; Yono Purnomo of Yono’s in downtown Albany, and Carmine Sprio of the former Carmine’s in Albany. Plus,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], serving as the founding chef at the Albany Pump Station gave Jayapal his baptism of fire in opening a restaurant.
• Cap Region partners opening 3rd restaurant
Chef A.J. Jayapal
Jayapal, who has been working at Panza's, will become chef/manager at Normanside. In addition to honing his skills at a variety of restaurants in the Capital Region, Jayapal has been executive chef at the Edison Club in Schenectady and the Albany Country Club.
Shannon concedes she doesn’t cook, and A.J. didn’t enroll in Schenectady County Community College’s well-regarded culinary program until he was laid off from his electrician job at Albany Medical Center and some friends suggested he give cooking a try.
• Popular Cap Region chef seeks bankruptcy
ELSMERE, NY -- Chef A.J. Jayapal is doing more club hopping.
As a chef with an ever-growing reputation, he prefers cooking by instinct and inspiration, seldom writing down or reading recipes.
In other recent Albany County restaurant news:
The switch from public to private dining services was something that allowed Jayapal to not only prepare menus in a different way, but to have more family time, something that is central to his life. In fact, when he and Shannon built their home on land that had been owned by her grandfather near Lawson Lake and the sprawling Alcove Reservoir several miles from the village of Feura Bush, they became neighbors of her parents, Bob and Linda Whipple.
The club's restaurant, which is open to the public, is being taken over by Panza's Restaurant, a longtime Saratoga County favorite which recently began managing the restaurant at Ballston Spa County Club.
“I was so fortunate to be able to learn from Dale and Yono in particular when I was starting out,” Jayapal said. “At that time there weren’t as many top-level chefs as there are now,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and they were wonderful in training me – how to be precise and imaginative at the same time, how to work with all kinds of ingredients and seasonings. And Carmine was just getting into his TV shows then and he showed me how to plate dishes beautifully … And Dale encouraged me when I had the chance to open the kitchen at the Albany Pump Station. That was a wild experience. We had all the big things but when the staff came to me on opening night and said ‘Chef, where is the ketchup and the salt?’ we had to run out to Price Chopper to get some.”
Not that he's a night owl. With a wife and daughter and blossoming business with a line of Miss Sydney's condiments and sauces plus his regular cooking job, he's got more than enough to fill his town.
As a licensed electrician, Anand “A.J.” Jayapal was scrupulously precise about his measurements and connections.
“When he gives someone a recipe verbally,' wife Shannon told me,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], “he’ll tell them the main ingredients. Then I have to say, ‘and salt and pepper.’ And, he’ll say,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], ‘Oh, yeah, salt and pepper.’ And, I’ll say, “and balsamic vinegar.’ And, he’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah, and balsamic vinegar.’ It keeps on going like that.”
The "club" reference marks Jayapal's third country club gig, this time at the Normanside CC in this Albany County suburb.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” Jayapal said, gesturing from the front porch of his contemporary home to the heavily wooded property surrounding it. “Driving home through the countryside gives you a chance to unwind after a hectic day at work. And then, when you get here it’s idyllic.”
Which shows the interesting partnership of these two people for whom food wasn’t such an overweening interest in the early days of their relationship, a relationship that led to marriage about 13 years ago and the birth of daughter Sydney, now 9.