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One of the Hudson Valley’s most celebrated chefs, Peter X. Kelly, has confirmed he is selling two of his four restaurants.
“I’m selling the building in Piermont that houses the two restaurants, but I haven’t cleared the sale yet,” said Kelly, speaking of Xavairs at Piermont and the Freelance Cafe & Wine Bar, both at 506 Piermont Avenue. But, he adds, “We will soon,” though he preferred not to reveal the buyer’s name until the deal was done.
“I will, in fact, stay on with the new owner in a consultancy role to assure a smooth transition,” he continues. “The new owner will inherit the long-term staff that has made these restaurants special over these many years.”
Kelly’s other two restaurants—X2O Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers and Restaurant X & Bully Boy Bar in Congers—are not for sale. “This is an opportunity for me to focus on my two other restaurants,” Kelly confirms. “We will continue to offer all that guests have come to expect at these two locations.”
Kelly also manages his off-site catering company, Events by Xaviar’s, and is a “goodwill ambassador” to Slovenia Vodka, which he created from a recipe using Slovenian buckwheat. Kelly collaborated with friends Bill Murray and Mikhail Baryshnikov on the vodka’s branding and marketing.
In a sense, the two closings are the end of an era. “It is never easy to say goodbye to restaurants that have meant so much to so many, and I am extraordinarily happy to have been a part of so many family celebrations,” Kelly says.
Opened in 1987, Xaviars at Piermont was recognized as the only restaurant north of Manhattan to have received a four star “extraordinary” rating from the New York Times. The 40-seat establishment is also the only restaurant in the tri-state area with a 29 food rating from the Zagat survey. “Thirty years is a very long time, and I am very fortunate to have built and maintained over all these years a reputation that I hope will last 30 more,” Kelly remarks.
The celebrity chef, who’s been featured in New York Magazine, Esquire Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, Wine Enthusiast, Food & Wine, and Bon Appetit, has also been a constant presence in the nonprofit world, donating his time and talent. One of the most recent groups to benefit was Chefs for Clearwater, which aims to intertwine the Hudson River’s vitality with the surrounding area’s food economy.
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