JD Smith grew up in Verona, New York and attended Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central School. He graduated from Mohawk Valley Community College in 2006 with an associate’s degree in Culinary Arts Management. JD worked in local establishments full time while he obtained his degree; working every position in a restaurant provided abundant experience in the intricacies of an operation. Upon graduation, he traveled to Paris, London, and Amsterdam, sampling new, old, and obscure cuisine. His experience made him realize that food was his calling. JD went on to work at the Savoy Restaurant of Rome, working his way from line cook to Executive Chef. There, he met the love of his life, Alisha. JD soon found a passion in primitive camping and foraging, honing his skills in an outdoor tradition he can pass down to his children, Evan and Brody. He went on to work at Turning Stone Resort and Casino as a Sous Chef in the Event Center and Showroom, cooking for green room functions, upscale weddings, and feature menu tastings for many culinary-based receptions. Later he realized that his passion resides in more intimate, family-owned restaurant operations, and he developed an affection for a more sustainable, responsible, and local approach to cooking. He continued to develop his skills at Utica’s premier farm-to-table restaurant, The Tailor and The Cook, as a Sous Chef. It was there that he met Chef Vincent Petronio, who quickly became a close friend. The two collaborated on style of cuisine and principles to create a concept they call mōtus. To Chef JD, mōtus is a movement of change, a revolution in cuisine through which a guest can contribute to the development and celebration of Upstate New York’s progress in agriculture and small business.

Vincent Petronio grew up in Floyd, New York, and attended Holland Patent High School. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts management with a focus in beverage management. While in school, Vincent worked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns under Chef Dan Barber, where he developed and refined his passion for local, sustainable, and handcrafted food and beverage. After graduation he moved back to the Mohawk Valley with the goal of bringing his newfound love of local cuisine to the place where he first experienced locally grown produce and which today has some of the most celebrated small farms in New York State. He honed his craft while working at The Tailor and The Cook as a Garde manger Chef, Sous Chef, and Chef de Cuisine. Vincent’s goal is to help expand the Greater Utica area’s access to farm-friendly cuisine and create new and intricate dishes using the highest quality ingredients from the best local farms, creating a dining experience unlike any other in Utica. To Chef Vince, mōtus means the movement of time and the seasons and the ways in which cuisine can move people and invoke memories and sensations of food and beverage that have affected their lives. In mōtus, he wants to bring together an approachable atmosphere with a quality of cuisine and service found at the most celebrated establishments in the country. Vincent’s dream is to create an experience in which one guest can have a burger and beer at the bar, while another is enjoying a tasting menu with wine pairing, all under the same roof. mōtus is a place where the food, service, and atmosphere are conducive to whatever dining experience the individual guest is searching for.