Gerry Hayden Is James Beard Finalist for Best Northeast Chef
North Fork Table & Inn’s Gerry Hayden has been named among six chefs as a finalist for Best Northeast Chef by the James Beard Foundation.
Hayden is the only Long Island chef to reach the final group after judges narrowed down a much longer list of nominees. The Northeast division includes Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and the state of New York excluding the five boroughs of New York City.
Best Chef Northeast: @Jamiebisse, @jbchang, @ghayden64, @matthewjennings, Michael Leviton, @barry_maiden #jbfa
— Beard Foundation (@beardfoundation) March 18, 2014
Hayden is a Setauket native who studied at Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park and had an externship at The River Cafe. He was mentored by Charlie Palmer and served under him as the founding sous chef of Palmer’s Aureole. He later worked in San Francisco before returning to the East Coast to oversee the kitchen at the then new East Hampton Point. His resume also includes Marguery Grill, which won the Best New Restaurant award from Esquire magazine, and he returned to Aureole as its executive chef in 1999. Hayden set out on his own in 2002 and opened Amuse in New York City. His wife, co-owner and pastry chef Claudia Fleming urged him to move to the East End, where they opened North Fork Table & Inn. North Fork Table & Inn is the number one Zagat-rated restaurant on Long Island. Hayden received the inaugural Two Forks Outstanding Achievement Award in 2012 at Dan’s Taste of Two Forks. The 2014 James Beard Awards will be held in New York City on May 2 and May 5.