New chef for South City

The South City Restaurant Group, has a new corporate executive chef.

Gregory Webb, who started last week, will oversee the kitchens of three South City Grills, as well as South City Prime, the steakhouse concept that started this year in Little Falls and will open its second restaurant around the end of summer.

Webb previously was executive chef at the Wyndham Hotel & Conference Center in Providence and has been at other hotels and restaurants since graduating from the "school of hard knocks," as he puts it. The self-taught chef trained under master chef George McNeill, executive chef for the Ritz Carlton Corp.

He has no immediate plans to change any menus. "My first job is to make the recipes and processes more consistent between all the restaurants," he said, ensuring that a fish entree at the original South City Grill in Rochelle Park is the same as the one served in Mountain Lakes or Jersey City. "I want to make sure everything's done perfectly," he added.

The second South City Prime, in Montvale, should open in mid- to late-September, co-owner Graeme Dorras said. A third, planned for the Westin in Jersey City, will open in January or February. The hotel's construction was held up by a fire in the hotel a few weeks ago.