Peter X. Kelly (born June 3, 1959) is a restaurateur and chef. He runs the Xaviars Restaurant Group, which owns and manages Xaviars and Freelance Cafe in

Piermont, New York Piermont is a village incorporated in 1847 in Rockland County, New York, United States. Piermont is in the town of Orangetown, located north of the hamlet of Palisades, east of Sparkill, and south of Grand View-on-Hudson, on the west bank of t ...

, Restaurant X and Bully Boy Bar in Congers and Xaviars X2O on the Hudson in

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

. The name of the group is based on Peter Kelly's middle name, Xavier. He is a self-taught chef,Liquida
and , has spent about 30 years cooking professionally in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

Early life and family

He was born and grew up in

and

Croton-on-Hudson Croton-on-Hudson is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the ...

, New York, in an Irish Catholic family where he was the tenth of twelve children. He had worked nearly full-time since he was twelve, working to deliver newspapers, shovel snow, stock shelves, or mow lawns. He studied business at

Marist College Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

, and started out in the food industry by washing dishes at a small German restaurant where everything was made in-house. He worked in numerous restaurants in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

including top restaurants such as Laurent in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and Plumbush in Cold Spring before going to France to pursue his interest in cuisine. He ate at Michelin three-star restaurants for inspiration.

Career

In 1983, when he was 23 years old, he opened his first restaurant, Xaviars at

Garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

, where he served as the head chef; he had no kitchen training or culinary school education. He closed that location in 2002. He has opened other restaurants as his business has grown, including Xaviars in Piermont in 1987 and Freelance Cafe in 1989. His restaurants have received high praise; Xaviars has received a 29 out of 30 by

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering ...

. Other ratings and awards include ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

's'' highest rating (Extraordinary), ''The

Mobil Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide (formerly known as Mobil Guide or Mobil Travel Guide) is a star rating service and online travel guide for hotels, restaurants and spas. In 2011, Forbes Travel Guide published its last set of guidebooks and on November 15, 201 ...

'' Four Star Award, The Dirona Award, Restaurant News Dining Hall of Fame, the ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...

'' "Best of Award of Excellence", and New York State Restaurateur of The Year 1998. In 2003 ''

Westchester Magazine ''Westchester Magazine'' is a magazine and website that covers news, culture, lifestyle, nightlife, shopping, and other local information within Westchester County, New York. It is published monthly by Today Media, LLC, a company located in Rye, ...

'' awarded him the Best Chef award. In 2010 he won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast for his Xaviars at Piermont. Kelly is in Nation's Restaurant News Fine dining Hall of Fame. He has given a commencement address at

the Culinary Institute of America The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is a private culinary school with its primary campus in Hyde Park, New York, and branch campuses in St. Helena and Napa, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Singapore. The college, which was the first t ...

. Kelly has appeared on television, radio and print media, including an appearance on ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, whi ...

'' (Season 4: (2007) episode 10) where he beat

Bobby Flay Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964), is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality. Flay is the owner and executive chef of several restaurants and franchises, including Bobby's Burger Palace, Bobby's ...

. He was also a host in

Anthony Bourdain Anthony Michael Bourdain (; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdai ...

's "No Reservations" program's profile of the Hudson Valley with

Bill Murray William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan delivery. He rose to fame on ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' (1973–1974) before becoming a national presence on ''Saturday Nigh ...

. In the 1990s he became a

vintner A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to deter ...

, his wine is known as "

Silenus In Greek mythology, Silenus (; grc, Σειληνός, Seilēnós, ) was a companion and tutor to the wine Greek god, god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue (''thiasos''), and sometimes considerably older, ...

" (after the tutor of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

). In 1999, became the founding chef and culinary director for Impromptu Gourmet. He is one of few to receive a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' four-star "review outside of Manhattan over the last 40 years. Kelly plans to sell Xaviars and Freelance Cafe, effective late 2016.

References

External links

The Xaviars Restaurant Group website