{"id":74954,"date":"2026-09-22T07:26:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=74954"},"modified":"2026-09-22T07:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:26:02","slug":"solomon-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/solomon-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"How Living in a Student Co-op Launched My Restaurant Career"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Being a kitchen steward at Watermargin taught me lessons about nourishing\u2014and nurturing\u2014people that have lasted a lifetime<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChime In\u201d comprises brief first-person essays by Cornellians. Do you have a topic in mind? Email us at cornellians@cornell.edu<\/a>! <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jay Solomon \u201983<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Entering my junior year at the Hotel School, I was adrift. My summer internship counting beans in the accounting department of a Boston hotel convinced me I wasn\u2019t cut out for office life. And my prior stint as a doughboy at a pizza joint wasn\u2019t going to open any doors after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make things worse, my three college housemates had just graduated. I needed a place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scanning the bulletin boards at Willard Straight, I found a room available at Watermargin<\/a>, Cornell\u2019s oldest co-op. Watermargin\u2019s motto was (and still is) \u201call people are family.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Jay<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we\u2019d call it diverse and inclusive; back then, my father called it the \u201cnuts-and-granola crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In true egalitarian style, Watermargin required residents to share in weekly chores; members did the cooking, with pairs taking turns preparing dinners for the entire house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within days of moving in\u2014once word got around that I was a Hotelie\u2014I was unanimously elected kitchen steward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Watermargin residents in the early \u201980s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every week, I collected menus from a rotating roster of cooks, scaled up the recipes, stocked the kitchen, and pre-ordered everything from Sysco, decades before Instacart existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For inspiration, there was an assortment of dog-eared cookbooks of the era: the Moosewood Cookbook<\/em> leaned against the Joy of Cooking<\/em>, with a stack of New York Times<\/em> recipes shoved into a beat-up manila folder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Every week, I collected menus from a rotating roster of cooks, scaled up the recipes, stocked the kitchen, and pre-ordered everything from Sysco, decades before Instacart existed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I dove into my new job with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. I worked side by side with each night\u2019s assigned cooks, many of whom had never cooked before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early on, every night was trial by fire: a pot of lasagna noodles turned to mush; ground beef burned to a crust; spaghetti and meatballs welded to the bottom of the saucepan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the semester continued, tiny victories emerged and ambitious new dishes appeared: Greek moussaka, eggplant ratatouille, and Chicken Marbella<\/a>, a trendy recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jay
Solomon today, with wife Emily Robin Solomon \u201992, BA \u201991, MS \u201997, and their children.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Panic was replaced with confidence. The dining room started to fill up early, and the dishwasher was often stacked with plates licked clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my previous kitchen stints, and in food production classes at Statler, there had always been a wall between cook and guest. Meals were prepared professionally but impersonally for often-anonymous diners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Early on, every night was trial by fire: a pot of lasagna noodles turned to mush; ground beef burned to a crust; spaghetti and meatballs welded to the bottom of the saucepan. As the semester continued, tiny victories emerged and ambitious new dishes appeared.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But by overseeing dinners for 22 housemates and sitting down to share meals and conversation, that wall disappeared. I began to understand that the chatter, laughter, caring, and earnest debates were all made possible through food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when I discovered that cooking was more than following a recipe or checking off a list of tasks. The role of a chef was an opportunity to nurture and nourish, to spread goodwill as well as good food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My real culinary skills\u2014learning to make a sauce that wows your palate, roasting a fish that tastes of the ocean, and harnessing flavor, fire, and texture in the frenetic cauldron of a professional kitchen\u2014would come later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jay
In the kitchen at his Downtown Ithaca eatery, Jay’s Clinton Hall Caf\u00e9, in the \u201980s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

But the sense of purpose that had been missing in my academic and work-study pursuits arrived in the bustling Watermargin dining room and kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, those two years were an unexpected apprenticeship in restaurant ownership. I developed menus, paid invoices, and trained cooks. And I realized what I wanted to do with my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Looking back, those two years were an unexpected apprenticeship in restaurant ownership. I developed menus, paid invoices, and trained cooks. And I realized what I wanted to do with my life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ignoring my father\u2019s advice to \u201clearn on someone else\u2019s dime,\u201d I rented space in a bagel shop and started JJ\u2019s Cookies, a wholesale bakery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within months, I was selling 100 dozen a day to caf\u00e9s at Cornell and Ithaca College. Students often mobbed me when I arrived carrying trays of chocolate chip-walnut, oatmeal raisin, and mocha chip cookies straight from the oven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JJ\u2019s Cookies evolved into JJ\u2019s Caf\u00e9, a cozy lunch spot in Cayuga Heights. A few years later, my restaurant dream came to fruition when Jay\u2019s Clinton Hall Caf\u00e9 opened in Downtown Ithaca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jay
Signing some of his cookbooks at a Borders store in the mid-\u201990s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inspired by my Watermargin days, the menu featured rotating themes, including Tortilla Tuesdays, Ragin\u2019 Cajun Wednesdays, and Caribbean Weekends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my mid-30s, my wife (Emily Robin Solomon \u201992, BA \u201991, MS \u201997) and I moved to Denver, where I operated a string of noontime caf\u00e9s and a pre-theater dining concept at the Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

JJ\u2019s Cookies evolved into JJ\u2019s Caf\u00e9, a cozy lunch spot in Cayuga Heights. A few years later, my restaurant dream came to fruition when Jay\u2019s Clinton Hall Caf\u00e9 opened in Downtown Ithaca.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For the next 20-plus years, I was Denver\u2019s gourmet soup-and-sandwich guy\u2014still cheffing it up, but with evenings free to coach our four kids in almost every sport involving a ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, I launched a dinner delivery business, Jays2Go<\/a>, out of a commissary kitchen. Our teenage son, Noah Solomon \u201924, BS \u201923, built the website; the initial 25 customers were my wife’s friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first few years felt more like Don Quixote\u2019s impossible dream than a viable business model. Then, when the pandemic shut down every restaurant in Denver, Jays2Go was one of the only dinner-delivery outfits already up and running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Jay<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Dozens<\/figure>\n
The chef-owner at his eponymous Ithaca caf\u00e9, and salads prepped for his current to-go business in Denver.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Business exploded. I delved into recipes from my Ithaca restaurants, pulled out decades\u2019 worth of cookbooks, and created a new dinner menu every week. Leaning on everything I\u2019d learned since my Watermargin kitchen steward days, I felt born for the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, 10 years after its modest beginning, Jays2Go continues to flourish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d arrived at Watermargin looking for a place to live. What I found was a sense of purpose that has guided me through my entire career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay Solomon \u201983<\/strong> is currently writing a memoir about his four decades in the restaurant business; his published cookbooks include <\/em>Lean Bean Cuisine, Global Grilling, and<\/em> A Taste of the Tropics. In addition to his wife and son, his Cornellian family includes daughter Bella Solomon \u201924 and brother Greg Solomon \u201979.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(All images provided.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published September 22, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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