Chef James Avery on the Hell’s Kitchen set. Photo: Courtesy of James Avery
Chef James Avery, who owns the Black Swan restaurant in Asbury Park, is returning to the popular reality competition cooking show Hell’s Kitchen, where he’ll appear alongside chef Gordon Ramsay. The show, in its 23rd season, premieres tonight—Thursday, September 26—at 8 pm on Fox.
“The day has finally come,” Avery posted on Instagram on Thursday. “After 10 years, I’ve returned to serve again as sous chef and oversee the blue team for the one and only @gordongram.”
He added that there will be a viewing party at the Black Swan at 8 pm on Thursday night, featuring food and drink specials.
Avery opened the Black Swan in 2021. The following year, it was chosen as one of New Jersey Monthly’s Best New Restaurants. He says he will continue to run the restaurant while appearing on the show.
“Originally, I left the show because I really wanted to focus on opening up restaurants and starting a family,” Avery told New Jersey Monthly in an interview today. “It was a very bittersweet goodbye, but I always stayed in touch with chef Ramsay. A decade later, I was able to make my life and schedule accommodate going back to filming. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.”
On Hell’s Kitchen, 18 contestants set out to impress chef Ramsay with a signature dish before embarking on their first dinner service.
As sous chef for the blue team, Avery will be monitoring one of the kitchens and its contestants. “I’m mainly chef Ramsay’s eyes and ears when he is not in the kitchen,” he explains. “I’m also there to mentor and be somewhat of a big brother to the contestants as well. The competition is as much psychological as it is talent-based. We’re there to push them and help them at the same time.”
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Avery says he chose to close his restaurant the Bonney Read in Asbury Park last year because of the personal time commitment it required of him every summer, and because he wanted to be able to pursue other ventures—including Hell’s Kitchen. He says he also decided to dissolve his partnership in the Local Mainstay Bar and Lounge in Asbury Park, which closed on September 8. “It was time for me to move on and explore other opportunities in life,” he says. “I had a great decade there, and that’s an amazing accomplishment for an independent restaurant.”
When Avery opened the Black Swan, an English-inspired pub, he said he wanted to transport people to the London financial district through its design and food. The restaurant has four different sections: a floral tea room, an old study, a dining room and a classic pub area. It’s on NJM‘s roundup of the best restaurants in Asbury Park.
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