THIS YEAR’S NYC JAMES BEARD WINNER IS TAPPED TO RUN MICHELIN-STARRED SAGA

Charlie Mitchell of Michelin-starred Clover Hill in Brooklyn Heights — who won this year’s James Beard Award for Best Chef: New York State — is headed to Manhattan. Mitchell will lead Fidi’s two-Michelin-star Saga on the 63rd floor of 70 Pine at Pearl Street, where he’ll become the executive chef following the death of founder James Kent last month, the New York Times reported.

Mitchell’s food as head chef of Clover Hill is described in this week’s New Yorker review as “wonderful” by critic Helen Rosner. “It’s the sort of place you want to tell your friends about, but only in person, and not everyone — just the folks who deserve nice things,” she writes. In his 100 Best Restaurants list, New York Times critic Pete Wells says of the 31-year-old chef, “He’s as fond of Japanese seafood as he is of local greenery, which is a bit puzzling. But his belief in what he’s doing is total, and it comes through on every plate.”

Mitchell’s previous experience includes stints at Benu in San Francisco, as well as Betony, Eleven Madison Park, Per Se, and Blue Hill in New York. A spokesperson confirms that Mitchell will start on August 1 to develop a fall menu at Saga.

After meeting in New York at a Michelin ceremony in 2022, Kent and Mitchell stayed in touch; Kent dined at Clover Hill with his wife, and they had regular coffee meetings since, Kent told Eater in June. So “When I saw that his name was in the mix for Saga, I reached out to him,” Kelly Kent, James Kent’s wife, told the New York Times.

Saga Hospitality — backed by SC Holdings and LeBron James’s and Maverick Carter’s company LRMR Ventures — was renamed Kent Hospitality Group as of June 16, led by multiple partners, the Times reports. Those partners include Kelly Kent, Mitchell, and Top Chef winner and head chef for the upcoming Time & Tide Danny Garcia.

Newly-minted executive chef of Fidi’s Crown Shy, Jassimran Singh — formerly culinary director for the group — will also be a partner. Robb Report reported back in April that the group has plans for Singh to lead “a high-profile, undisclosed Midtown project” that will be an ode to a classic Delhi restaurant. Justin Osario, who has moved up from R&D and special events, will take his place as culinary director of Kent Hospitality Group.

Bar director Harrison Ginsberg — often seen at Overstory — has also been brought on as a partner, who “will expand his footprint beyond 70 Pine,” Kent told Robb Report in April. “We have a deep bench that allows us to do authentic, interesting concepts. It’s not just me,” he said.

Another chef partner in the group is Renata Ameni, who will head the upcoming Birdee Bakery, part of the Domino sugar factory development, which is on track to open next year. She had been the executive pastry chef for the group; the new executive pastry chef at 70 Pine is Emily Hall, formerly at Musket Room and Gunter Seeger.

Kent Hospitality will also remain the operating partner for five restaurants in a new financial district store by the French department store, Printemps, to open in 2026. Gregory Gourdet will lead as culinary director in his first collaboration with the group. The alum of Jean-Georges restaurants, Gourdet moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2008, spending a decade cooking at the hotel restaurant Departure. He was a finalist on Top Chef season 12 and later a judge. In 2022, he opened his Portland-based wood-fired Haitian restaurant, Kann. In 2023, he took home the James Beard Award for “Best New Restaurant,” and won the Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific for 2024. He had previously won a James Beard Award for his cookbook, Everyone’s Table.

2024-07-25T15:42:40Z