Photo: South China Morning Post/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
The legendary chef Gray Kunz, whose restaurant Lespinasse was one of the New York’s most influential fine-dining destinations, has died. He was 65. The cause of death is not yet known, but the news, which started circulating on social media, was confirmed by Swire Hotels, a company with which Kunz ran restaurants abroad.
Kunz became famous as the exacting, creative culinary mind behind Lespinasse in the ’90s, a restaurant that was a farm system for top New York chefs. Andrew Carmellini, Floyd Cardoz, Rocco DiSpirito, Corey Lee, and others worked under him there, and the restaurant is still talked about 17 years after it closed.
Kunz would go on to open Café Gray in Manhattan before closing it in 2008, as well as restaurants in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He returned to New York State in 2016 when he opened Salt & Char, a steakhouse in Saratoga, telling Grub then, “If Americans don’t go back to the steakhouse sooner or later, then we’re not doing a good job.” The chef also contributed to the broader culinary world with his Gray Kunz spoon, which we called “perhaps one of the most underrated and universally used pieces of cooking equipment deployed by professionals.”
Remembrances have been flooding social media:
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. . Our culinary and hospitality family lost another legend last night. An elaborately complex chef and man, Gray Kunz was one of the first true masters of Global Cuisine- pushing the limits of flavor, shaped by a perspective rooted in his upbringing in both Singapore and Switzerland. A perfectionist, Gray was a master not only of cuisine but self-inflicted pressure. He had a beautiful ebb and flow within his career- a brilliant, early launch as a young cook overseas and then a smashing success with L’Espinasse in NYC. However, he left the lauded restaurant after seven years and everyone wondered if he was a shooting star, as his mastery quieted- stumbling to find himself and the proper opportunity and venue for his craft. He grew most comfortable in his later career and although none of his personal projects in the US were longstanding, his influence was. His dedication to ingredients, technique, service and hospitality were unparalleled. . . “I probably will go the extra mile, even if I didn’t need to do that. That’s who I am. That’s what I do. I cannot have anything done halfway. I just can’t. This is burdensome on me, because it does not always result in a sustainable outcome”. . . Perhaps most importantly, Chef Kunz believed in the power food had to create community and to bring people together, with an emphasis on the significant role chefs can play advancing human health and preserving the planet. . . Thank you chef. Raising a spoon to you, today. 🥄 🇨🇭 . . #chefgraykunz #friendsinhospitality #hospitalityfamily #rip #masterofhiscraft #influencer #thankyouchef #lostbutnotforgotten #learnfromeachother #pursuegreatness
A post shared by MATT JENNINGS (@matthewjennings) on Mar 6, 2020 at 5:44am PST
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It’s THE spoon. The one that any chef, any cook worth their salt has on or near them. It was designed by the remarkable, Chef Gray Kunz, who shockingly just passed away. I was lucky enough to have first tasted his food more than a few times at Lespinasse, his temple of French cuisine that closed in 2003, and where the spoon was born. It has a large bowl, a tapered edge, a shorter handle. It’s perfectly weighted. It’s a sauce spoon that can flip, stir, drizzle, baste, drain fat, measure (it holds 2.5 tbs) & shape a quenelle. It plates. It’s a “koons”. Plus now u can also get a smaller version, an extra large, a perforated, or the limited edition in copper or gold. U can have one urself from JB Prince or even Amazon. He was a chef’s chef. He shaped careers, inspired with passion, creativity, and a superb sense of balance, texture, and flavor. And was known to never compromise. So many chefs carry that spoon, depend on it, and the rest of us were privileged to eat from it. 🥂 #rip #legend #graykunz #graykunzspoon #jamesbeardwinner #nycfood #globalfood #cafegray #lespinasse #ifyouknowyouknow
A post shared by debra (@eatquestnyc) on Mar 6, 2020 at 12:06am PST
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We lost a legend today with the sudden passing of Gray Kunz. I am so lucky to have worked with him and called him friend. Well, actually we only called him “Chef”. Even years after we worked together he would call me “Hey, Maureen…it’s Chef”. As if he was the ONLY chef. To many in the know, he was. He was in his own league. A perfectionist, a culinary genius, a dreamer. A little crazy, but in the most endearing way. Old School, but with a child-like wonder. He pushed us to be our best. His legacy is spread across the best kitchens in America and the people he brought together were not only the most talented, but some of the best people I have ever known. Thank you giving me that family, Chef. Until we meet again xo
A post shared by Maureen Farley (@marnfarl) on Mar 5, 2020 at 9:22pm PST
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Source: Thanks https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/03/gray-kunz-rip.html