Saga Reopens in New York Metropolis, Chef Charlie Mitchell Is Writing the Subsequent Chapter

What is going to the brand new sound of Saga be with James Beard Award-winning chef Charlie Mitchell on the helm? Nostalgia, by means of ‘90s R&B and soul. “Cooking for individuals could be very romantic and intimate to me,” stated Mitchell throughout a cellphone interview this week. “Each time you may take heed to some feel-good love music, take pleasure in a glass of wine, cook dinner some meals — that’s the very best place you will be in.” 

Usher and Aaliyah additionally characteristic prominently on the playlist Mitchell helped curate himself for the September 1 reopening of the newly reworked two-Michelin-star restaurant on the 63rd flooring of a skyscraper at 70 Pine St. in Manhattan’s Monetary District.

Mitchell took over Saga in 2024 after the surprising dying of Jamal James Kent, the chef who opened the restaurant and whose loss on the age of 45 despatched shockwaves by the culinary neighborhood. Within the wake of Kent’s passing, Mitchell made solely small modifications, however the reopening of Saga will characteristic an area and menu that’s for the primary time completely Mitchell’s.

Just like the music, nostalgia is the throughline, with influences from the meals Mitchell loved as a child. There are flavors drawn from his grandmother’s Southern cooking, traditions from his Detroit upbringing, and meals he’s been impressed by throughout the course of his time in New York Metropolis. Seafood and seasonal greens are the star gamers. 

“We had loads of fish fries rising up, so I all the time attempt to do a rendition — that one is all the time particular to me,” stated Mitchell. The fish on his late-summer menu for Saga is battered and fried tempura-style. Additionally on the menu is cornbread topped with gold Osetra caviar, one other nostalgic chunk for Mitchell who stated, “I’ve eaten cornbread since I may chew.” Tsuyahime soiled rice is a nod to the rice Mitchell’s grandmother used to make. There is a heat potato salad and — in tribute to Kent’s previous menu — a Moroccan tea service to finish the meal. 

His new menu doesn’t characteristic the bigger, shareable, extra family-style service that Kent’s menu at Saga was identified for. Which means smaller platings, the place Mitchell can command the diner’s expertise of each chunk. “I need individuals to actually get the purpose, actually perceive the flavors that I’m attempting to get them to eat and expertise,” he stated, admitting, “It’s slightly bit control-freak.”  

Mitchell, 33, beforehand led the kitchen at Clover Hill, the 20-seat Brooklyn Heights restaurant the place in 2022 he grew to become the first Black chef in New York Metropolis to earn a Michelin star and the place two years later, he received a James Beard Award for Greatest Chef: New York State. He may see each single visitor from the open kitchen and ran a good ship with an eight-person workers. 

Saga is “a very totally different bag of chips,” stated Mitchell. There are 100 individuals on workers and the restaurant is open seven days every week. With this enlargement comes newer, totally different, larger expectations. A press launch says the transform of the house is, “a nod to the Monetary District of the 1990.” Which means black marble tabletops by structure agency Modellus Novus, and workers uniforms by designer Sergio Hudson, with “silhouettes of classical Wall Road.”.  

“I’ve been govt chef for 3 years, however it’s nearly like I’m beginning over,” Mitchell stated. “What retains me sane is being swish with myself and understanding that that is nonetheless just the start for me.” This echoes the recommendation he acquired from 2005 F&W Greatest New Chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park. Mitchell labored there as chef de partie simply 5 years in the past, and nonetheless displays on the phrases of his mentor. “I’m nonetheless determining my delicacies, my voice, what I’ve to say on a plate.” 

Ultimately for Mitchell, “It’s such an intimate transaction, cooking for individuals. That’s all the time the vibe I need.” Cue the Usher.