This project is the culmination of Gourdet’s deep cultural knowledge and years of industry experience, and each of the venues will be operated by Kent Hospitality Group, the same group behind Crown Shy, SAGA, Overstory, and Time and Tide. He’s returning to New York a well-versed, and critically acclaimed chef and restaurant owner. Having transformed his pandemic pop-up, Kann, into an award-winning restaurant that brings forth the foods of his Haitian heritage and local flavors from the Pacific Northwest. Soon after, he debuted Kann’s subterranean bar, Sousòl. Not to mention — Gourdet’s coming back with accolades, too. He’s one of the few to take home a James Beard Award in back-to-back-to-back years: In 2022 for his first cookbook, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health; in 2023 for Kann, which was named Best New Restaurant; and in 2024 for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific. Now as Printemps’ U.S. culinary director, Gourdet is blazing the trail of a new era of luxury retailer dining.
His multifaceted food program at Printemps is wide ranging. It includes the all-day neighborhood cafe, Café Jalu; a raw bar called Salon Vert, which accepts reservations; the Champagne Bar, which offers an oasis of non-alcoholic drinks, fresh-pressed juices, and traditional bubbles; and the Red Room Bar, a 25-seat cocktail bar, which also takes reservations. All of this is anchored by the 85-seat fine-dining restaurant, Maison Passerelle, which officially opens on April 17. The other concepts are set to open on Friday, March 21. Salon Vert, Red Room Bar, and Maison Passerelle are currently accepting reservations.
As is his totem, Gourdet’s food is refracted through his personal appreciation for world history. At Maison Passerelle, Gourdet offers his interpretation of French cuisine without excluding the culinary contributions of formerly French colonized lands — North and West Africa, Vietnam, the island countries in the West Indies (like Gourdet’s ancestral homeland of Haiti), and others. While it’d be much easier for some to shy away from such harrowing realities, Gourdet sees a chance to be vulnerable as he guides us in mindfully connecting the dots with flavors, ingredients, and techniques that have long been overlooked in fine dining. For him, that may show up in his version of efo riro, the luscious West African spinach stew, which Gourdet makes with cured duck confit; or hitting a smoked beet and frisee salad with a Vietnamese-inspired vinaigrette made of lemongrass, fish sauce, and bird chile.
I last spoke with Gourdet four years ago as he was running a successful pop-up iteration of Kann, while also building out the space that it now calls home. I caught up with him as he prepares to open all five of his dining concepts at Printemps.
Note: This interview has been edited for accuracy, clarity, and length.
Dining and Cooking