At Time and Tide, Jamal James Kent’s Legacy Lives On
When diners walk into the new seafood restaurant Time and Tide near Madison Square Park later this month, they will be greeted by a photo of Biggie Smalls. Those who know chef Jamal James Kent’s work well might catch the nod. You’ll find images of the rapper at Kent’s celebrated Financial District spots Crown Shy and Saga, too.
There are countless other references to Kent in the space — terracotta floors inspired by his late grandmother Sue Mingus’ house in Sag Harbor, N.Y., a private dining room named after her street, and a striking light installation designed by David Weiner inspired by the sunsets their family enjoyed together. Kent was a self-professed sneakerhead, as is executive chef Danny Garcia, so New Balance sneakers will grace the feet of every server in the dining room.
While his presence and touches will be everywhere, Kent tragically will not be. He passed away from a heart attack on June 15 at the age of 45. The following day, the partners in Saga Hospitality Group, including his wife Kelly Kent, changed the group’s name to Kent Hospitality Group. And ever since, they and their team have continued to push forward with his vision and approach to leadership, expanding the group to provide growth opportunities for the staff.
Time and Tide, which is slated to open Oct. 23, will be captained by Garcia, a recent “Top Chef” winner who knew Kent from their days at The Nomad. Meanwhile, the group’s executive pastry chef Renata Ameni will open Birdee Bakery in Williamsburg next year and its outpost, Baby Birdee, in Time and Tide later this fall. There are also five other restaurants from the group slated to open in 2026 inside an upcoming outpost of the French department store Printemps in the Financial District.
We sat down with Garcia, Ameni, and Kelly Kent to learn more about the new restaurant, how they are carrying Kent’s vision forward, and the legacy of his grandmother.
This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
The Resy Rundown
Time and Tide
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Why We Like It:
Captained by “Top Chef” winner Danny Garcia, Time and Tide delivers on a restaurant vision Garcia built with his late mentor, chef Jamal James Kent, who was known for his two-Michelin starred Saga and critically acclaimed restaurant, Crown Shy. Expect a pitch-perfect steakhouse — but for seafood — servers donning sneakers, and a stunning large-scale light installation that mirrors the sunset. -
Essential Dishes:
Start with a giant goldfish snack or seaweed-dusted shoestring fries, grab a Cobb salad with sea lettuce powder, and then move on to dry-aged fish with a selection of sauces. -
Must-Order Drinks:
Cocktails lean into oceanic flavors like seaweed and kelp. Expect a significant non-alcoholic beverage program, too.
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Who and What It’s For:
Unlike the team’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant Saga, Time and Tide is meant to be a neighborhood restaurant — for the Madison Square and Gramercy Park set. -
How to Get In:
Reservations will be available 14 days out at 10 a.m. -
Pro Tip:
N.B.: If you want the onion rings, you must order the steak. Also, don’t skip dessert. Pastry chef Renata Ameni will pull double duty here, overseeing the pastries at Baby Birdee — an outpost of her upcoming project Birdee Bakery in Williamsburg — like a crab dip Danish and desserts in the evening including a banana split.
Resy: Where did the name Time and Tide come from?
Danny Garcia: Basically, this whole restaurant is like a love story to [Jamal’s grandparents]. A lot of the inspiration — even some of the dishes, like the oyster pan roast, comes from Grandma Sue and Charles’ first date at Grand Central Oyster Bar. So, we were looking at the names of Charles’ songs, and one of them is “Time and Tide.” We kept coming back to it, and tying it to the saying, “Time and tide waits for no man.” So, it’s named after a Charles Mingus song, and it has these ties to their home in Sag Harbor, Grand Central Oyster Bar — all of these things that just really felt connected.
Can you share a bit about Jamal’s relationship with his grandparents?
Kelly Kent: Sue was larger than life. She married Charles Mingus later on in life, and when he passed away, she really took [over] his whole music career — like, she took the band on tour. She had nothing to do with the music industry, and she just came in. It’s actually kind of like what I’m doing right now. And the more I thought about it, I was like, “Wow, Grandma Sue, this is the foreshadow.” It’s really crazy. But she kept his music alive. She kept the band going.
For Jamal, growing up, she took him to David Bouley’s restaurant when he was 14. She was exposing him to this whole world of food and class, but also, they had this scrappy little houseboat in Sag Harbor that everyone was staying in and sharing these beautiful family meals. That was really what he was trying to bring back — these amazing family meals we’d have all summer and this break from New York.
What are some of the nods to Jamal at Time and Tide that you hope diners will see?
Kent: It’s so bittersweet. The bakery and Time and Tide were the last things he was ready to tie the bow on. It has all his touches. The second you walk in, there’s going to be all these little hints. I don’t want to give too many things away, because I feel like you have to walk into the restaurant and experience it. But you’ll see pictures, you’ll hear music, you’ll smell scents — you’re gonna feel his energy and the vibe that he wanted to create.
Garcia: It’s literally, like sprinkles, they’re all over the place. It feels like you’re walking into this home, for sure.
Kent: And I think because of that, even though this is a hard time for all of us, there’s still this comfort in it because we still feel his presence and it’s really come to life. And I couldn’t be happier for Danny and for Renata to finally push and see it through, because that was his goal. He was going to be there, but Danny was really going to be taking charge and running that restaurant. And, he was helping Renata, but it’s her bakery. He always wanted her to have her shine. And it’s all happening. He left us with all these beautiful gifts. So, I mean, as long as we’re all together, New York will never not feel like he’s not here.
He left us with all these beautiful gifts. So, I mean, as long as we’re all together, New York will never not feel like he’s not here.— Kelly Kent
Jamal was a legendary leader in the industry known for supporting his team’s development. Danny and Renata, how will his leadership style influence your own at Time and Tide?
Renata Ameni: Before, yes, I really looked up to him, but it was more like “OK, chef.” We were constantly fighting. But now, I want to really make sure that I’m doing what he would do — what he would like me to do. It’s the honor of my life to keep helping carry his legacy. So, I just want to do it right.
Garcia: We would always say: “What would Jamal James Kent do?” Even when he was still alive. I think it’s really just about leading the team with the style of grace that he would. The guy was the busiest guy in the world, and he’d have 100 meetings back to back with five-minute breaks, but he still found time to walk through the kitchen and know everyone’s name and know what everyone did over the weekend, and made time for the one cook who was like, “Yo, I’m struggling on X, Y and Z, and I need to talk to you about this.”
So, yes, we’re running a restaurant and a business, and we’re creating delicious food, but at the end of the day, it’s a business that revolves around the people that work for us, and at the end of the day, they’re coming here to work for us because of the way we lead and the environments that we build. So, I’m making sure that that’s at the forefront of every day.
That’s beautiful. The Kent Hospitality Group is expanding quickly. How does Time and Tide fit into the group’s growing ecosystem?
Garcia: It’s almost like having your baseball team, right? And you have all these different players and all these different people in different places. You go to a lot of restaurants and everyone works there for two years and then they move on — that was never the goal here. The goal was always to keep people within the ecosystem — like you could come [work at] Saga and you can learn fine dining. Or you can go down to Crown Shy and see what that food looks like. Or, maybe you’ve mastered 70 Pine and you’re like, “What other opportunities are there?” Maybe there’s a management position for you at Time and Tide, or vice versa.
You’ve described Time and Tide as a steakhouse for seafood. What does that mean?
Garcia: When we first were coming up with the idea, it was like “OK, if we’re gonna strip back our food and pare it back — what are restaurants that do that? Steakhouses do that really well.”
We want this to be a space where the fish are cooked perfectly; they’re cut perfectly. And it’s this really beautifully presented fish on a plate and that’s it. And you have the opportunity to get a choice of sauces, or maybe it’s all the sauces and these sides that are vegetable and grain focused.
[At a steakhouse,] as the guest, you get to be the one that really steers the ship on how you want to eat. And that’s kind of the idea of what we want Time and Tide to be. Yes, we’re going to make delicious food, but at the end of the day, we want the guests to, kind of, navigate their experience, and so they can get whichever fish that they want, or multiple of them, and these fun, really delicious sides that pair well with everything, and these sauces that you could just eat with a spoon.
What are some of the composed dishes you’re excited about?
Garcia: Our version of our Cobb salad is going to be really delicious.
Kent: It’s very good. My favorite so far.
Garcia: It has a cucumber yogurt dressing with a sea lettuce powder and a little bit of bread crumbs. We’re also doing a squid cacio e pepe, grilled squid sliced really thinly — like a noodle, almost — and then a not so traditional taleggio cacio e pepe sauce.
We’re doing a halibut pithivier, a traditional French pastry, en croute if you will, but instead of the typical duck or any bird or game, we’re going to do it with fish. So it’s got a fish mousse, traditional duxelles of mushrooms, and spinach, and then in the center will be this really beautiful halibut and sea lettuce.
How will you approach the fish that you serve like steak?
Garcia: We’re gonna have a pretty extensive dry age program, which will be fun. In the same vein, if you go to a steakhouse and you get a porterhouse that’s dry aged for two weeks, we’re going to be aging several different cuts of fish. We’ll have a focus on some that’ll be featured on the raw bar — prepared really simply. And then we’ll have other cuts that are dry aged but also cooked.
Dry aging fish is fairly new to a lot of New York diners, but it’s gaining popularity among chefs. How does it impact the fish?
Garcia: 99.9% of the world is like “I want seafood, and I want it from the ocean or from the water, and I want it on my plate within hours.” It’s delicious, but it also doesn’t have time to develop the flavor. Just like a piece of meat, if you give it time to rest, the muscles to relax, the fat to recontract into the meat, you develop flavor. At the end of the day, it really is just building flavor.
Will you have any meat on the menu?
Garcia: There will be one steak on the menu — it’s kind of our answer to the meat and potatoes person who doesn’t want fish. It’s going to be a strip that’s pan seared with a soy glaze, and it’s going to come with these really delicious, battered onion rings that are in the vein of a bloomin’ onion, but not a bloomin’ onion.
Ameni: Oh, yeah, the onion rings are good.
Garcia: They’re good, they’re pretty good, they’re pretty good. Everyone’s been asking about the onion ring side. And I’m like, there’s no onion ring side! You want the side onion rings? Sure, but it’s going to come with a side of steak. Only Kelly Kent can get the onion rings as a side.
Noted! Renata, what will your desserts at Time and Tide look like?
Ameni: The desserts are pretty much going to follow Danny’s food. So, the desserts that I’m trying to do, are kind of like steakhouse desserts, but a little bit lighter and elevated. Like a simple chocolate mousse, a panna cotta, and I’m gonna have a banana split. I’m also going to have one communal dessert like we did with sticky toffee pudding. It’s either going to be an apple galette or an olive oil cake.
Wait — I need to know — what does your vision for a banana split look like?
Ameni: I’m doing three kinds of ice cream. It’s a vanilla ice cream, and instead of chocolate ice cream, it’s a stracciatella, and a strawberry. And then I’m gonna have some roasted strawberries, roasted peanuts, and candied pineapple. And a waffle cone, but it’s not gonna look like a cone, whipped cream, and Amarena cherry. It’s pretty classic — hopefully we’re gonna make it look not so messy, and oh, and a caramelized banana. So good. I forgot about the main component. I love banana splits.
Anything else you’re excited about?
Ameni: We’ll also have a gigantic goldfish. Like an eight-inch goldfish.
Garcia: Oh, it’s going to be so sick. It’s gonna be the Instagram thing. Renata’s gonna be all over the place because of the goldfish. It’s like our version of the Red Lobster cheddar biscuit — everybody wants it.
Time and Tide will also be home to Baby Birdee, an offshoot of your upcoming project Birdee Bakery in Williamsburg. What are you baking for it?
Ameni: I’m trying to make it connect to the restaurant. So I’m gonna do a lobster croissant — like a lobster roll — and a crab dip Danish. And I’m gonna have some cakes too, like layered cakes and a couple cookies, I’m making some alfajores. I’m from Brazil, so I think I’m gonna make some pao de queijo.
The team is also working on five other projects, right?
Kent: It’s a lot. He left us busy; that’s an understatement. There’s a lot more to come — it’s exciting.
Time and Tide will be open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Devra Ferst is a Brooklyn-based food and travel writer who has contributed to The New York Times, Bon Appétit, Eater, NPR, and numerous other publications. She is the co-author of “The Jewish Holiday Table: A World of Recipes, Traditions & Stories to Celebrate All Year Long.” Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.