James Kent, a distinguished chef and successful Manhattan restaurateur who seemed poised to become a food industry mogul, died Saturday. He was 45 years old.
His death was announced by Saga Hospitality Group, the holding company for his two restaurants, Crown Shy and Saga, and his cocktail bar, Overstory, all of which were in the same building in Manhattan’s financial district. The statement did not specify where he died or the cause.
In 1993, when he was 14, growing up in Greenwich Village and already working in a restaurant, Mr. Kent’s mother had him knock on the door of their building’s new resident, the celebrity chef David Bouley. The young man asked if he could spend some time in Mr. Bouley’s kitchen. Mr. Bouley said yes. He spent the summer working at Chef TriBeCa mainstay Bouley.
Soon after, Mr. Kent also worked at famous New York restaurants like Babbo, Jean-Georges, Eleven Madison Park and NoMad, where he became the executive chef.
He opened his own restaurant, Crown Shy, in 2019 with a partner, Jeff Katz, general manager of Del Posto, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan that closed in 2021. “At Crown Shy, the only wrong step is the name “, we read in the press release. title of a review by New York Times food critic Pete Wells. (The name refers to the tendency of tall trees not to let their upper stories get tangled with their neighbors’ branches.)
Mr. Wells wrote that Mr. Kent’s dishes “are regularly over-delivered.” He praised “an almost absurdly creamy mash of white bean hummus under a bright red blanket of melted ‘nduja; » beef tartare with toasted walnuts and rye croutons; and oysters served with “cucumber jelly, diced cucumber, jalapeño seeds and purple shiso microleaves.”
Times restaurant columnist Florence Fabricant agreed, describing Crown Shy’s menu in a 2019 article as “eclectic and creative.”
Two years later, Mr. Kent gained four more floors in the same building, an Art Deco skyscraper at 70 Pine Street built in 1932.
Crown Shy occupies the ground floor; Floors 62, 63, 64 and 66 of the building were transformed from executive meeting rooms for AIG, the insurance company, to Saga, Overstory and a private dining room. The space includes 12 terraces “with stunning views in every direction,” Ms. Fabricant reported in 2021. Saga’s “seasonal tasting menu” today costs $298 per person.
Crown Shy has been awarded one star in the Michelin restaurant guide. Saga won two.
It was fine dining worthy of European tradition, but with American casualness and embrace of pop culture.
Mr. Kent played for Wu-Tang Clan and Notorious B.I.G. at Crown Shy. He eschewed a formal dress code. Along with his chef’s coat, he was often seen wearing expensive sneakers.
After years of doing graffiti growing up, he became known as “a chef who is also an extremely talented graffiti artist,” as Bloomberg reported in 2016. He was commissioned to create artwork at NoMad Hotel and restaurant technology company Salido.
“I’ve walked into these fancy restaurants and I don’t feel welcome,” Mr. Kent told Bandit, a running brand and blog. He wanted Crown Shy, he said, to be “the restaurant of our generation.”
It all seemed like a winning business formula.
In April, the Times reported that Mr. Kent and Saga Hospitality Group had leased 3,000 square feet on the ground floor of the former Domino Sugar refinery in Brooklyn for a bakery and “casual all-day restaurant.”
The same month, The Robb Report described even more ambitious plans. Mr. Kent was opening a new 140-seat restaurant on Park Avenue, modeled after the Grand Central Oyster Bar, where his grandmother, Sue Mingus, first had a date with the jazz musician Charles Mingus, who became her husband and whose inheritance she inherited. responsible for securing until his own death in 2022.
At the same time, Mr. Kent also planned a fast-casual fried chicken sandwich restaurant on the Shake Shack level, The Robb Report said. LRMR Ventures, a private investment firm of LeBron James and his friend and business partner Maverick Carter, was backing the expansion of Saga Hospitality Group.
Investors “believe Kent is a rare, multidimensional talent who is poised to become America’s next great restaurateur,” writes The Robb Report.
“When I walked into 70 Pine seven years ago, I was just one person,” Mr. Kent said. “It’s not like I’m Daniel Boulud with a massive team and I’ve built every system – everything – that we need to operate at this level.”
Jamal James Kent was born in 1979. His mother was born in Rome and his father was born in Tangier. He grew up in Greenwich Village.
In an interview with tea brand Kettl, he described his upbringing as poor and said he had to work “when he was young” in a restaurant owned by his uncle and his uncle’s best friend to earn income. money. Then his mother encouraged him to introduce himself to Mr. Bouley.
He studied restaurant and culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, and participated in a study abroad program at Le Cordon Bleu in London and Paris.
He grew up in an Islamic household and when he applied for jobs as a young man, he used his middle name, worried about Islamophobia, he told Eater in 2022.
As Mr. Kent became more successful, he was particularly associated with his tenure at Eleven Madison Park, “the equivalent of Harvard for ambitious young cooks,” Pete Wells wrote in 2023.
Saga Hospitality’s announcement of Mr. Kent’s death listed his wife, Kelly Kent, and his children, Gavin and Avery, as survivors.
Mr. Kent spoke at length about his hard work. He said he noticed he looked tired in photographs. He once described having a panic attack while showing up for work. He said running helped him feel more grounded.
“Before running, I only had professional goals,” he told Bandit. “I was like, ‘I want to be the best, learn from the best and run these amazing restaurants.’ And then I got to the point where, without personal goals, I was on the floor thinking I was going to die.