ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—Aaron Morrisey, an Englewood resident and counselor at the Teen Center, is a prominent chef and tenure track adjunct professor at Bergen Community College’s Hospitality and Restaurant Management department. He was also a featured contestant on the Food Network show “Chopped.”
He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School the Academies@Englewood class of 2009, specializing in information systems.
In his senior year of high school, Morrisey obtained a year-long internship at the Clinton Inn Palmer’s Crossing Restaurant in Tenafly.
He attended Johnson and Wales University, where he graduated with honors (magna cum laude) and a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and hotel management in 2013.
After graduating JWU, he pursued his craft at multiple establishments, including Marriot, Starwood Capital hospitality group, and Gillette Stadium, where he cooked for the New England Patriots.
Morrisey is also a member of the BCA—Black Culinary Alliance—and served as president of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity from 2011 to 2013.
Morrisey currently does private catering and is involved in many community outreach programs. He has won an award for teaching teens cooking skills at the Bergen Family Center.
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Hillary Viders: When did you realize that you wanted to be a professional chef?
Aaron Morrisey: Culinary arts has been a focal point in my life, ever since a young age. Family gatherings, holidays, celebrations, and all-around positive memories had one thing in common: great food. Cooking with my mother for her nonprofit Yada Cafe helped me see a future and develop skills for this field.
HV: When you were only 17 years old, interning at a major restaurant like Palmer’s Crossing must have been very intimidating.
AM: It was challenging, but I loved it! I helped me gain a real passion for cooking. From not knowing what blanching meant to filleting steaks and gutting fish, I elevated my skill set and found a career that would challenge me.
HV: What are some of your favorite dishes that you cook?
AM: I love soul food from the south because it is a tradition in my family. My grandmother grew up in Charlotte, N.C., and when I went to visit, she taught me how to fry fish and make biscuits and pies. We had a lot of barbecues with marinades, and it was delicious.
HV: How were you chosen to be a contestant on “Chopped?”
AM: In 2018, I was working at Pier 115 Bar and Grill in Edgewater when a recruiter for the show called and said that they had heard about the good food that I was making. They asked who the chef was that day, but he was not in and I was the sous chef, so the restaurant gave them gave my name and I was chosen to be on the show.
HV: What is the format of “Chopped?”
AM: There are four contestants and each one is given a “mystery basket” with ingredients from which you have to create an appetizer, an entree and a dessert for the judges, all of whom were famous chefs. I made sliders made from Wagyu beef, and cheese corn dogs with sauce.
HV: How competitive was it on the show?
AM: It’s competitive because every course you make has a time limit and you see it being counted down on a screen. We had 10 minutes in the appetizer round, 20 minutes in the entree round and 30 minutes for the dessert round.
HV: What are some of the things that you teach teens at the Bergen Family Centery after school ZONE program under the direction of Liz Corsini?
AM: The after school ZONE program is 3 to 8 p.m., five days a week. It’s not just cooking. I think of this as a safe haven for the kids, and I and the other staff members teach many different things. We assist with homework, work with skills building, teach hygiene, have creative arts projects, etc. We have a teacher who comes in from the middle school to teach math. Many of our instructors are bi-lingual work with the non-English speaking kids and I speak “kitchen Spanish.”
The ZONE also has a Summer Teen Drop-in Program where I also teach from each afternoon. We have outdoor activities including swimming and physical fitness, but we really focus on creativity and social aspects of kids’ lives. We do summer cooking, coding, painting and artistry and we try to work on mental health issues.
HV: How many children are in the ZONE after school and summer drop-in programs?
HV: This year we had 55 in each program.
HV: Why is this BFC program important for the community?
AM: Because the hours between 3 and 8 p.m. are a dark period for many kids. It’s a time when they don’t have a lot of supervision and they can get into bad habits.
This is a safe haven where you can grow and develop good habits, as well as do meal prep for the week.
HV: How rewarding is it to teach these youngsters as well as the students at Bergen Community College?
AM: It is extremely rewarding! As a professor and an instructor, I am the future of these youngsters and it is exciting to see how I can be a positive influence in years to come.
HV: What plans do you have for the future?
AM: At some point, I may open a business, like a restaurant franchise, and I will use some of the profits to support a nonprofit organization like the ZONE.
But, right now, I want to keep working with kids. Nowadays, everyone wants to work to make money, and they invest in buildings, stocks and bonds, etc. I invest in our children—so 20 and 30 years from now, I want to be able to walk into a school, a church or a restaurant and see the fruits of my labor: a successful professional. It will be wonderful to think that I had a hand in making that person grow.