In Our Backyard - October 2007
Anyone appreciative of delicious food and elegant surroundings probably knows of Peter Kelly; creator of three of New York State’s finest restaurants: Piermont’s Xaviar’s, and Freelance Café and Wine Bar, as well as restaurant X and Bully Boy Bar in Congers, where brother James Kelly is executive chef. (A fourth restaurant, X2O, opened across the river in Yonkers this July, and promises to be as successful as its predecessors.) Patrons of Freelance will know another Kelly brother, master host Ned, and have perhaps browsed the beautiful wares in his Piermont shop Ned Kelly and Co. One could wax rhapsodic on the taste, attention to detail, and sheer chutzpah it takes to make these ventures succeed, but what’s truly extraordinary is how much the Kellys give back to their small community—not just in the charitable sense, but also in the welcoming ease with which they run their restaurants. The service is friendly, the ambience relaxed, and the food—well, the food is consistently fantastic.
It may be that the desire to provide comfort through good food translates easily into charitable giving, but the Xaviar’s Restaurant Group website cites no less than twenty organizations the Kellys have been involved with. (The list grew on September 29th with the Harvest Moon Happening, a fundraiser catered by Peter Kelly for Nyack Hospital.) “We try to make sure we’re involved in community events,” says Ned, “and we don’t like to say no.” Peter adds, “We like to make an impact on things that are close to our hearts, and giving back is something we were brought up with.”
Nonetheless, there are only so many hours in a day, and what with beating out celebrity chef Bobby Flay on cable TV’s popular Iron Chef series, founding the Events by Xaviar’s catering service, developing the “Silenus” line of wines at Xaviar’s Cellars in Napa Valley, and a six-year effort planning and opening X2O, it’s hard to imagine much time remaining for the Kelly brothers to shoot the breeze with locals.
Coming from a family of 12 children, however, may have taught these brothers early on how to manage chaos. Ned admits that he and Peter survived babysitting their two younger brothers by playing restaurant. Peter would write out the menu (usually PB&J with a special of cinnamon toast), and Ned would serve. Such humble beginnings developed into a serious interest in food, and twenty years later, Peter and James opened the first Xaviar’s in Garrison with Ned at the front of the house. Self-taught, Peter’s been wowing critics ever since with his ingenious takes on Contemporary American Cuisine.
No doubt there’s pressure to capitalize on the restaurants’ successes, but so far, the Xaviar’s Restaurant Group is holding tight to its roots in the Hudson Valley. Although the stunning location of X2O may be drawing the Group’s attention to the other side of the Hudson for now, their three exceptional restaurants on this shore are buoyed by a generous spirit of giving that’s left its mark on Rockland. “We like to spoil people,” says Ned, “and the bar keeps getting higher.”