The chef Jamal “James” Kent, a Fidi resident who opened Crown Shy at 70 Pine in 2019 and who began his profession three many years in the past as a 15-year-old apprentice to David Bouley, died yesterday morning. The restaurant introduced the information on Instagram. He was 45. This can be a big loss for Downtown as properly the New York Metropolis meals scene and business. His star had clearly risen, but it surely had lots farther to go. He was additionally a beautiful, heat and gracious man, the married father of two youngsters. He will likely be so missed.
“We’re heartbroken to share that James Kent handed away unexpectedly earlier right now,” the restaurant wrote on its Instagram. “The Saga Hospitality Group household is targeted on supporting one another and most significantly [his wife] Kelly, Gavin and Avery as we grieve James’ loss. Crown Shy, Saga and Overstory will likely be closed tomorrow: Sunday, June sixteenth. Rejoice Father’s Day along with your family members.”
Beginning in March 2019, issues moved in a short time ahead — and actually upward — for his firm, SAGA Hospitality Group. By November of that 12 months, he and his then-partner, Jeff Katz, had a Michelin star and plans for the highest 4 flooring of 70 Pine, the previous non-public house for the founding father of Citgo. SAGA — an acronym of the enterprise companions’ kids’s names: Seylah, Ayla, Gavin and Avery — and Overstory, a riff on the Crown Shy idea, opened in late summer time 2021. SAGA had two stars by the next 12 months.
SAGA Hospitality Group additionally has three eating places within the works, for Midtown, Park Avenue and Williamsburg.
Kent’s roots are right here, downtown. As a child within the mid-90s, he was tagging subway vehicles for enjoyable when his mom satisfied him to ask David Bouley for a summer time apprenticeship. He was 15. In between these early beginnings and the opening of Crown Shy 25 years later is an extended listing of notable successes and awards at among the finest eating places on the planet and right here (Le Cordon Bleu in London and Paris, the kitchens of Babbo, Jean-Georges and Gordon Ramsay, Eleven Madison Park underneath Daniel Humm, NoMad).
Kent was additionally an achieved graffiti artist who continued to hone his expertise on the streets and at LaGuardia Excessive Faculty until he was arrested in his teenagers. He confirmed me some fast tags he did in SAGA whereas the house was nonetheless uncooked; fortunately somebody grabbed an image and the tags have been going to be framed for the finished restaurant.
He was additionally delicate to the work/life steadiness, very progressive for anybody in what’s a brutally demanding business. As a method to relieve the stress of the kitchen, Kent informed Eater that he started working — together with his spouse, Kelly, and together with his employees — finally forming the Crown Shy Operating Membership. “He had change into an outspoken advocate for prioritizing psychological well being within the hospitality business,” Eater reported. Early within the pandemic, he and his companion assembled a marketing campaign — Aid Alternatives for All Eating places, or ROAR — to assist restaurant employees.
I at all times discovered the employees at his eating places to be heat and convivial — and to me that angle begins on the high. You possibly can see that mirrored in the best way Chef Kent reacted once I confirmed up on the fringe of the open kitchen with my telephone to get the image above — he grabbed two cooks and leaned in the direction of me. After I requested a waitress one time in the event that they did quite a lot of yelling within the open kitchen, she stated the one factor she ever heard yelled throughout the room was “oui.”