NEW BEDFORD %26#8212; Candleworks’ young and exuberant executive chef Jared Morgado just added a new prefix to his name: restaurant owner.At only 27, Mr. Morgado recently acquired the venerable downtown fine-dining institution, taking it over from George Bettencourt, who recently moved to Florida after owning the restaurant for about three years.
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Details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Mr. Morgado said it was a cash purchase without bank financing. The purchase is for the restaurant business only and not the historic Rodman Candleworks building where it is housed.The restaurant employs a staff of 30.The move from cooking to owning was brewing for some time, Mr. Morgado said.”I’ve always loved the business. It’s what I call the love and the life of a restaurant,” he said. “If you’re in it, people understand it.”Nestled at the mouth of North Water Street, the Candleworks restaurant has been a city institution for the past 30 years, serving fine northern Italian and American fare along with late-night jazz.Over the years, the restaurant has been featured in the movie “Passionada” and has served as the hangout for some of SouthCoast’s movers and shakers.It has also been able to survive the fickleness of the downtown dining scene, where newcomers are often short-lived and established eateries have been known to struggle.Mr. Morgado said “business is great” at the Candleworks.A Freetown native, Mr. Morgado became the Candleworks’ executive chef when he was just 22. He started cooking at Friendly’s when he was 15.As a teenager, he took cooking classes at Apponequet Regional High School. He later worked as a pastry chef at a North Carolina golf club, then as a sous chef at Waverly Oaks Golf Club in Plymouth. Then he took a job with Naked Fish, a six-restaurant chain in greater Boston.The Boston experience convinced Mr. Morgado to make culinary arts his career. He took a few college-level culinary classes and continued working, landing a job at the Candleworks.As the Candleworks’ executive chef, Mr. Morgado developed strong ties with the staff, allowing them to suggest dishes for specials and describing his sous chef Jason Gonsalves as his “right-hand man” and someone who can make a soup with anything you can imagine.”The tightness of the team convinced Mr. Morgado to stick around.”I wanted to be in New York and L.A. or a major city, but when you have what you have here, why not stick with that?” Mr. Morgado said. “I think downtown has a lot of a potential to be like a mini-Providence. I want to be part of it.”The new ownership will bring changes to the venerable institution known for its classic decor and sunlit, glass-covered dining room.Changes will start a with new menus this spring, including a prix fix menu. The 80-capacity restaurant has recently redone its wine list and launched an Internet page, candleworksrestaurant.com.Inside, the restaurant is also undergoing some changes, with renovations to the restrooms and new chairs in the dining room.The focus of the cuisine will remain Northern Italian and American.”We’re going to stick with the fine dining, but we want people to know it’s not going to be outrageously expensive to dine at the Candleworks,” Mr. Morgado said.He said the transition from the kitchen apron to the suit and tie has been seamless since taking over the restaurant in October, given that he had run the establishment for more than five years. He will continue as the executive chef and “working in the kitchen,” he said.Mr. Morgado said the restaurant’s excellent team, as well as Mr. Bettencourt’s encouragement ultimately led him to jump into the ownership side of things.”I’m young, I have great people here to help along the way,” he said. “They’re not necessarily working for me, they’re working with me.”Contact Joao Ferreiraat jferreira@s-t.com
Tags: dea, dishes, eateries, executive chef, menus, more than five years, pastry, sous chef, wine list