Chris Cannon’s Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen brings a unique and upscale-casual concept to the Garden State

by Jessica Jones-Gorman • Photos By Amessé Photography

After working for more than three decades in the upper crust of the New York City restaurant industry, serving as principal at Marea, Palio, Remi, L’Impero, Convivio and several other fine dining Manhattan establishments—and alongside famed chef and Michelin star recipient Michael White—Chris Cannon wanted to make a change. But when the storied restaurateur made a very public split with his partners in 2010 before unveiling a cutting-edge gastronomic concept in Morristown in 2014, the broader culinary community seemingly whispered and wondered about his motives. But the reason for his crossover was as unabashedly sensible as Cannon himself.

“Basically I had been in the New York restaurant scene for 35 years and wasspending three hours traveling every day from my home in New Jersey, hardly spending any time with my kids,” Cannon said. “I decided at this point in my life this was a more rational lifestyle. Plus, when I came across this property, I knew we could do big things here.”

The property he spoke of is The Vail Mansion, built in 1917—the opulent former home of Theodore N. Vail (first president of AT&T) and a cherished Morristown landmark. Cannon viewed the property six years ago at the urging of a family friend and immediately saw possibilities.

“You don’t find something like this in your career very often,” he said. “I thought the rent was reasonable and loved the location. And I have always felt that the New Jersey market is underserved by high-end restaurants because of its proximity to New York. So for both business and personal reasons, this idea just made sense.”

Cannon hired Roseland, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mack-Cali Realty Corporation and Woodmont Properties, who acquired and faithfully restored the property to its original grandeur. The process took over three years and cost $5 million.

“The building needed a lot of work, it was essentially just a shell,” explained Cannon. “It never housed a restaurant, so we had to start from scratch, adding two kitchens and a brand new air conditioning and heating system. But it is a landmark, so there were a lot of guidelines for the renovation.”

Cannon’s concept for the expansive 15,000 square-foot space was predicated on the way the building was built.

“With its dividing central staircase and several separated rooms, it wasn’t built to be a restaurant,” he said. “But when we did the original walkthrough, I could picture how to use each space. I envisioned an oyster bar enclosed by those big columns and envisioned a beautiful cocktail bar in a back room that featured wood panels and a fireplace.”

Cannon also identified with the upscale casual dining trend that was starting to inspire the local market.

“I knew that having a space this big and trying to turn it into something too stuffy…we would be faced with failure, especially if we couldn’t fill it,” he said. “Of course we wanted a luxe component, but we played off the notion that people also love to go out and just have a plate of cheese and a glass of wine. We wanted to build an environment where you can have a full fine dining experience if you want, but can also just order a couple of oysters and a beer. There’s a lot of flexibility here, and people like that.”

The results are four distinct dining experiences in one historic mansion. In order to bridge the gap between each space, Cannon splashed the walls with a contemporary art collection—a mix of three-dimensional, two-dimensional, and video pieces commissioned from a variety of international artists. Chef Kevin Sippel, with whom Cannon has worked since 2002, designed the menu. The name Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen was picked to represent the business’s diversity.

Guests are greeted by a grand marble staircase which leads to a 75-seat formal dining room. There, regional, sustainable farm-to-table food is served in a fine-dining atmosphere.

“This is where you can have an intimate dinner, eat, and then linger for two to three hours before venturing downstairs for a cocktail,” the owner said.

Originally built to be the living quarters of Theodore Vail and his family, the three dining rooms overlook the mansion’s 150-foot-long reflecting pool, and it’s there that Chef Kevin Sippel offers a four-course, $81 prix fixe experience where guests select three savory dishes and finish with a dessert from pastry chef Erica Leahy.

The Vail Bar, a glam 1920s-style cocktail lounge, is located in the back of the first floor of the mansion, just behind its grand staircase. Originally constructed as the mansion’s library, the room now serves as the epicenter of Jockey Hollow’s cocktail culture. Here, the bartending team creates seasonally-inspired specialty cocktails as well as an extensive menu of classics, catalogued by kind of liquor. The back bar contains more than 200 spirits ranging from everyday favorites to rare bottles. The wine list features no fewer than 600 varieties, and there’s an extensive beer selection, to boot.

The Oyster and Wine Bar, a casual, contemporary space that Cannon refers to as the “core of the Jockey Hollow experience,” is boisterous and elegant at once. Originally intended to be the mansion’s art gallery, the room is now bisected by a zinc bar boasting two Enomatic wine machines offering rare varietals by the glass and half glass. The menu features a variety of raw bar items, housemade charcuterie, cheese and small plates, alongside traditional entrées. The bar offers first-come, first-serve seating, though tables are available for reservations up to one month in advance.

The mansion’s basement houses a beer hall and private event space called The Rathskellar. Named for a German term for “council’s cellar” (a room in the basement of a civil building), it was the former site of Morristown’s county jail cell. Now it serves as a space for weddings, corporate events and other celebrations. When the room isn’t hosting special occasions, a rotating calendar of live music, wine dinners, sports, and cooking and wine classes is on hand.

Cannon calls Jockey Hollow’s menu and concept simple– mostly the product of common sense. (Even though its

“I knew that having a space this big and trying to turn it into something stuffy…we would be faced with failure, especially if we couldn’t fill it. Of course we wanted a luxe component, but we played off the notion that people also love to go out and just have some cheese and a glass of wine.”

Tasmanian Black Truffles and Duck Egg Carbonara are anything but traditional.)

“In the beginning, when we first opened, there was some misunderstanding; people thought that because this was a big grand building, we naturally were going to be a traditional New Jersey-style luxe restaurant,” Cannon said. “And while we do have a fine dining element, this is not a ‘luxury’ experience. You can sit at our oyster bar and watch a football game or have a casual drink and a simple plate of cheese in our wine bar. Once customers began viewing the concept in that manner, they started to get it. Just because we are housed in this kind of building doesn’t mean that you have to have a formal dining experience.”

It’s that contrast that Cannon loves most about his new dining concept.

Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen
110 South Street, Morristown / 973.644.3180
jockeyhollowbarandkitchen.com