X20 Xaviars on the Hudson

Project Type: Cultural

Location: Yonkers, NY

Services: Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design

Size: 14,000 SF

X2O Xaviars on the Hudson in Yonkers is the culmination of a six-year effort to restore Yonkers Pier to its original turn-of-the-century prominence. Not only is the pier unique to the Hudson Valley, but the restaurant’s culinary sensibility creates a wholly original cuisine that is also unique to the Hudson Valley.

The Pier is a steadfast steel and concrete structure with open trusses and decorative ironwork which has been literally suspended over a stunning natural landscape. Creating a restaurant within this structure represents progress for the City and the building, both rich with history. It is a rare space where nature is so exalted within an urban context and where heritage is a catalyst for progress. Thus the interior design is a study of contrasts.

Chef and owner, Peter Kelly, defines the cuisine as a blend of classic French technique with Italian and Spanish influences and Asian embellishments. Highland Associates intended the interiors to reflect this contemporary fusion, where rustic meets refined and selected materials that specifically showcase the menus influences. Artwork commissioned by local artists shares space with custom designed European chairs; dark walnut woods contrast with warm, amber bamboo; honed and cultivated limestone contrasts with hand-picked Hudson River stones, all accentuated by delicate pendant lighting suspended above, amid exposed steel trusses.