Joshua Pinsky is the chef and co-owner of Claud and Penny in New York City, known for his intentional approach to cooking and his decade of formative work at Momofuku Ko. Born in Palm Springs and raised partly in South Korea, he grew up around kitchens through his father, who worked as a chef and later ran hospitality operations on a U.S. military base. By high school, Pinsky was already drawn to restaurant work, holding jobs at a pizza place and Subway before enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America.
After graduating in 2007, he cooked in San Francisco before a trip to Los Angeles—where a dinner at Mozza convinced him to pursue training in serious restaurants. In 2012, he moved to New York and joined Momofuku Ko, where he rose to sous chef and spent ten years working across the company’s expanding global projects. There, he met future business partner Chase Sinzer, forming the foundation of a collaboration built on curiosity, design, and technical precision.
Pinsky left Momofuku in early 2020 to pursue his own restaurant, and in 2022 he and Sinzer opened Claud, a downtown bistro shaped by their “peas and carrots” ethos and a deep commitment to intent-driven sourcing. In 2024 they followed with Penny, a seafood and raw bar upstairs from Claud, built around a modern ice-box platter and a tightly focused menu of raw and cooked fish.
Across both restaurants, Pinsky’s philosophy remains “simple and intentional,” rooted in the belief that every element should matter: “You wouldn’t know it was there, but you’d miss it if it was gone.” His goals as a chef center on retention, better practices, and continual growth. As he recalls a mentor telling him, “If you think you’re going to be here for 10 years, and if every year you do one thing better sustainably speaking, then you're on your way to doing 10 times better than anybody else.”
He and Sinzer are currently developing a third project, a dedicated wine bar located around the corner from Claud and Penny.
