The Hitmakers Behind Crown Shy Launch Sky-High Fine Dining Restaurant Saga in the Financial District | Eater NY

"Perched on the 63rd floor of 70 Pine Street, a 970-foot skyscraper in the Financial District, this long-awaited, sky-high tasting-menu restaurant from James Kent and Jeff Katz aims to redraw what fine dining with a capital F looks like in NYC. Stylized as SAGA (an acronym of Kent and Katz’s children’s names) and housed in a former private apartment built for oil titan Henry Latham Doherty, the preserved, apartment-like space seats 16 tables across multiple rooms with intimate outdoor terraces diners are encouraged to explore. The $245-per-person tasting menu (including a starting drink) runs seven to ten courses with only a few early choices—shellfish or fin fish and a preferred dessert—while much of the meal is decided by the kitchen; an early course of fluke served six ways nods to Kent’s childhood on a Long Island houseboat, and several Moroccan dishes, including a communal tagine poultry course and an elaborate mint-tea service based on the tea Kent’s father from Tangiers has made ‘‘my whole life,’’ mark the first time Kent is publicly embracing his North African background after previously using the name James Kent on résumés. Service and atmosphere skew relaxed—Chance the Rapper and Frank Ocean in the dining room, no strict dress code or white tablecloths, and staff encouraged to be natural and interactive—though some fine-dining tenets remain (servers carry only two dishes at a time; plates are served and cleared from the same side). Designed by NYC-based MN and opening August 25 (open Wednesday–Saturday, 5:30–9 p.m.; reservations limited to American Express cardholders until Sept. 15), I see Saga as a deeply personal, generation-forward take on formal dining." - Erika Adams