Madison Restaurant Recieves Golden Plate Award

By ryan

An esteemed panel of six former award winners belabored over dozens of nominations from around the state to recently select the 2015 New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association (NJRHA) award recipients.

According to NJRHA, winners were chosen based on each individual award’s criteria and will be honored by their family, friends, business associates and peers at the NJRHA 31st Annual Awards Gala 30th at the Stone House in Sterling Ridge.

Steve ”Biddy” Bidgood, co-owner of Salt Creek Grille Restaurants, has been involved in the food industry for more than 40 years.

Through his leadership the Salt Creek Grille Restaurants has two locations in New Jersey, Rumson and Princeton. The Salt Creek Grille, Rumson, is an award winning concept with impressive ratings, glowing food reviews and recognition including New Jersey Governor’s Award of Excellence in Tourism 2007, American Red Cross Humanitarian 2013 for being an excellent representative of the food industry in New Jersey and philanthropist.

This year Bidgood was named a finalist for NJ Monthly’s ”Great Oak Awards”, recognizing philanthropic business owners. Bidgood resides in Eatontown NJ, with his wife Lynn. they have two daughters who attended college and now live in Maryland.

This year’s winners are:

Restaurateur of the Year:

• Steve Bidgood of Salt Creek Grille, Rumson & Princeton

Deborah Roy Dowdell Lifetime Achievement Award:

• Donald Horn, Mayfair Farms, West Orange

Gold Plate Awards:

• Michael Cetrulo, owner of Scalini Fedeli, Chatham
• II Mondo Vecchio, Madison
• Sirena Restaurant, Long Branch
• Joanne Szibat of Mayfair Farms, West Orange
  

Hospitality Award

• Chef/owner George Krytatas of SweetWater Bar & Grill, Cinnaminson NJ

“There were more nominations in each category then ever before, which is testament to how many supurb restaurant and hospitality leaders there are in New Jersey,” said Marilou Halvorsen, president of the NJRHA, “It was difficult to narrow it to just a few and ultimately select winners. There was a lengthy debate over the nominees, but eventually the group came to a mutual decision,” she smiled and added.

This year, the NJRHA added the “hospitality” name and category to their association membership. Given this paradigm shift, the association decided to create a new award titled, Hospitality Award. The winner needed to embody a high standard of hospitality in his/her career.

The annual awards gala, a black tie event created to honor the winners and celebrate the restaurant and hospitality industry, is traditionally held the Monday evening after Thanksgiving and hosts approximately 350 people. This year’s celebration will be held at the beautiful Stone House in Sterling Ridge, NJ.

For more information on awards, recipients or how to attend or sponsor the Gala, please contact Zoey Kramer at 609-599-3316 or zkramer@njra.org.