Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen, the highly acclaimed fine dining restaurant located in the Vail Mansion in the center of Morristown, announced Thursday that it has closed after ten years of service.
Acclaimed executive chef Chris Cannon, in an announcement made on the restaurant’s Instagram page on Thursday, said a deal to sell the restaurant had fallen through in December.
New Year’s Eve marked the last day the restaurant was open.
“It is with great sadness today that I am forced to announce the closing of Jockey Hollow Bar and Kitchen after ten amazing years,” executive chef Chris Cannon wrote.
“We had sought to find a buyer for the restaurant this past year and a deal was in place to take effect in December. The purchaser backed out at the eleventh hour, and we find ourselves with no choice but to say goodbye.”
Cannon said the restaurant, which routinely was rated among the best in New Jersey, was hurt by the pandemic, too.
“Since the Covid pandemic, significant changes in consumer behavior, labor and cost increases across the board have made operating and producing the high-quality product we have been known for, increasingly difficult,” he said.
Cannon said having a restaurant in the Vail Mansion was a huge thrill.
“It has been an honor to call the Vail Mansion my home these past years,” he wrote. “I will forever be entranced by its beauty and am happy that we were able to give it purpose as one of the central lynchpins of Morristown’s impressive revival after it had experienced twenty plus years of neglect.”
