Michael DelaPaz

A burning love for the culinary industry has inspired new teacher, Chef Michael DelaPaz, ever since he was a kid. The path hasn’t always been clear for him as he chose between his two passions of culinary and music, but he made the decision upon entering college and never looked back. With years of culinary experience under his belt, DelaPaz is ready to take on his newest challenge at West Essex.

 “It’s been everything to me, not only career wise, but even as a hobby and growing ever since culinary school and all the way through my career,” Chef Michael DelaPaz said.

In high school, DelaPaz was passionate about both music and cooking which caused him to struggle when trying to choose his career path. Visiting a friend at his family restaurant drove DelaPaz to fall in love with the kitchen atmosphere. This experience in the restaurant helped him finalize his decision and ultimately led him to major in culinary arts at Johnson and Wales. 

After graduating college in 2004, DelaPaz landed his first job as a pantry chef at Mccormick and Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant. As an oyster chef, he was working with cold food and salads, mastering the basics. After four years at the bottom, he worked his way up to becoming a sous chef. 

“It was like a real ground up kind of deal,” DelaPaz said. “And it was a lot of seven day weeks and 16 hour days, every single holiday. But that’s where I learned everything.” 

Along his journey, he spent time at other jobs until he landed a role at Pomptonian as a food service director in a high school which he held for seven years. Learning how to interact day to day with students, he fell in love with this job until Covid hit and he was unable to work for a year and a half. Searching for a new job, his wife, who has been in the education field for 20 years working as an administrator, urged him to come to the industry. 

“I couldn’t wait for Pomptonian anymore to call me back,” DelaPaz said. “My wife’s been pushing me for at least six years into education. I finally was like, alright, now I need to do it.” 

He landed his first teaching job at Newark Vocational High School in 2021, educating students who are interested in a career in the culinary field.  He enjoyed this job and the advanced appliances that came along with it, but when he saw a job opening for the culinary teacher position here at West Essex, he came to interview. He was blown away by the environment he had stepped into and how the students and administration had helped him out.

“This is the kind of culture I want to be in,” DelaPaz said. “And it’s not about money, it’s just about being happy somewhere, and I can see myself being happy here. It’s been a great, great month already.”