James Kent, Chef Who Was Building a Restaurant Empire, Dies at 45

James Kent, a distinguished chef and successful Manhattan restaurateur who seemed poised to become a food-industry tycoon, died on Saturday. He was 45.

His death was announced by Saga Hospitality Group, the holding company of his two restaurants, Crown Shy and Saga, and his cocktail bar, Overstory, which are all in the same building in the Financial District of Manhattan. The statement did not specify where he died or the cause.

In 1993, when he was a 14-year-old growing up in Greenwich Village and already working at a restaurant, Mr. Kent’s mother made him knock on the door of their building’s newest resident — the celebrity chef David Bouley. The young man asked if he could spend time in Mr. Bouley’s kitchen. Mr. Bouley said yes. He spent the summer working at Bouley, the chef’s TriBeCa mainstay.

Before long, Mr. Kent was also working at famed New York City restaurants like Babbo, Jean-Georges, Eleven Madison Park and NoMad, where he became the executive chef.

He opened his own restaurant, Crown Shy, in 2019 with a partner, Jeff Katz, the general manager of Del Posto, an Italian restaurant in Manhattan that closed in 2021. “At Crown Shy, the Only False Step Is the Name” read the headline of a “critic’s pick” review by Pete Wells, the restaurant critic of The New York Times. (The name refers to tall trees’ tendency not to allow their upper stories to grow entangled with the branches of their neighbors.)

Mr. Wells wrote that Mr. Kent’s dishes “regularly over-deliver.” He singled out for praise “an almost absurdly creamy purée of white bean hummus under a fiery red slick of melted ’nduja;” a beef tartare with toasted walnuts and rye croutons; and oysters served with “cucumber jelly, diced cucumbers, grains of jalapeño and microleaves of purple shiso.”

The Times restaurant columnist Florence Fabricant agreed, describing Crown Shy’s menu in a 2019 article as “eclectic and creative.”

Two years later, Mr. Kent gained four more stories in the same building, an Art Deco skyscraper at 70 Pine Street built in 1932.

Crown Shy occupies the ground floor; Floors 62, 63, 64 and 66 of the building were transformed from executive boardrooms for A.I.G., the insurance company, into Saga, Overstory and a private dining room. The space includes 12 terraces “with breathtaking views in every direction,” Ms. Fabricant reported in 2021. Saga’s “seasonal tasting menu” today costs $298 per person.

Crown Shy garnered one star from the Michelin restaurant guide. Saga earned two.

It was fine dining worthy of the European tradition, but with American casualness and the embrace of pop culture.

Mr. Kent played Wu-Tang Clan and the Notorious B.I.G. at Crown Shy. He eschewed a formal dress code. With his chef coat he could often be seen wearing expensive sneakers.

After years of doing graffiti while growing up, he became known as “a chef that’s also a wildly talented graffiti artist,” as Bloomberg reported in 2016. He was commissioned to do artwork at NoMad Hotel and the restaurant tech company Salido.

“I’ve walked into these fancy restaurants and I don’t feel welcomed,” Mr. Kent told Bandit, a running brand and…