X20 Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers has closed; founder Peter Kelly comments

The restaurant that had been touted as a prime waterfront attraction at the Yonkers City Pier and was a New York Metro area culinary destination has closed. X20 Xaviars on the Hudson, launched by famed chef Peter Kelly in 2007, closed as of Sept. 29.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said the city expects to announce its agreement with the property’s new licensee in the coming weeks. Spano said that Xaviars ended its 20-year license with Yonkers and closed its doors.

“X20, owned and operated by Yonkers-own Peter Kelly, has been a mainstay along the Yonkers waterfront and has played a significant role in the area’s revitalization,” Spano said. “We thank Peter for his commitment and investment to his hometown and wish him well in the next chapter of his professional career. Looking ahead, we are eager to announce an agreement with a premier 5-star seafood restaurant that will take over the City Pier property and open in summer 2025.”

Kelly said, “It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that we announce the closure of X2O Xaviar’s on the Hudson. Since opening this venue in 2007 after six years of construction and design, I had the distinct honor of welcoming and cooking for our many loyal guests. I would like to think that we made a significant impact on the revitalization of The City of Yonkers, my birthplace! We were proud to support our city’s schools, hospitals, children, arts, education initiatives, police, fire departments and the many non-profit organizations that make such a difference in the lives of the residents of Yonkers.”

Kelly said that there’s a time when reality overtakes what he described as the “hopes and aspirations” of a business, presumably a reference to financial realities. Kelly thanked his staff for their support over the years and wished everyone a “Bon Appetit.”

In 2021, Business Journal restaurant reviewer Jeremy Wayne wrote about a visit to the restaurant and described Kelly as “a stickler for the art of gracious living and doing things the right way.”

Wayne wrote that Kelly was inspired by “French cuisine and France, and more broadly Europe, where he journeyed in his early 20s to educate his palate, dining at 3-Michelin star temples of gastronomy and observing great chefs, who were pretty much household names in France, at work. But though he has long championed classic French cookery, he has never been shy about embracing new techniques and influences. Those techniques are not only alive and well, they are very much in evidence at X20 Xaviars on the Hudson.”