Thursday, January 26, 7:00 pm
Members $90, guests $115

When Thomas Ciszak left his native Germany ten years ago, he intended to stay in the United States for just a year. Fortunately for the dining public of the metropolitan area, he has yet to return home.

Born in Waltrop, Germany, Ciszak began cooking when he was 14. He started his formal education two years later at the Culinary Institute of Reckinghausen, which he continued at Germany’s Technical College for Food Services. Before embarking on his fateful trans-Atlantic quest for American restaurant experience, Ciszak also cooked at Jammertal, the Residence, Benedikt, and the Michelin-starred Goldschmieding, all in Germany.

He arrived in the United States in 1995 and was soon named executive chef at the Manor in West Orange, New Jersey. After helping the restaurant earn both DiRoNA and AAA Four Diamond awards, as well as three Best of the Best honors from New Jersey Monthly, Ciszak set his sights on Manhattan. He lent his formidable skills to all manner of special events as banquet chef at Tavern on the Green, and won praise as executive chef at Shelly’s New York before returning to the Garden State to head up Copeland at the historic Westin Governor Morris.

In her three and one-half star review, the Star-Ledger’s Cody Kendall described Copeland as a “first-class restaurant that offers equal measure of comfort and excitement.” Pastry chef Michael Zebrowski is an important part of this all-star kitchen. To complement his pastry education at the French Culinary Institute, Zebrowski went on to stage at Le Jardin des Sens and Saveurs Sucrées in Montpellier, France. He returned to his native New Jersey to take a position at the Manor, where he first met Ciszak. Like Ciszak, Zebrowski soon found himself in Manhattan and the pastry kitchens of Bouley, Danube, and Café Boulud. He then parlayed his three- and four-star experience into head pastry chef positions at Montrachet, Della Femina, and the Pierre Hotel.

As David Corcoran of the New York Times wrote in his review of Copeland, “Food this good deserves impeccable service and an enveloping ambiance.” With a résumé that includes Chicago’s Tru, New Jersey’s Ryland Inn, and New York’s Gotham Bar and Grill, Yasir Chaudhry, who was brought on board in late 2005 as Copeland’s general manager and sommelier, is just the person to preside over the details of what Corcoran described as “a restaurant on its way up.”