Joshua Pinsky. Credit: Karissa Ong

Joshua Pinsky and the Quiet Art of Making Things Matter

8 Minute read

08 Dec 2025

Devorah Lev-Tov

Journalist

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At Claud and Penny in New York, chef Joshua Pinsky builds comfort through intention, technique, and a philosophy that treats simplicity as a discipline rather than a shortcut.

A Quiet Kind of Precision

At Claud and Penny in the East Village, chef Joshua Pinsky cooks food that looks simple until you taste it and realize how little of it is accidental. He describes his approach as “simple and intentional,” a phrase that understates the discipline beneath it. “Every piece of thing that’s on a plate that was executed or manipulated or cooked is intentional,” he says. And then he offers the line that reveals everything: “You wouldn’t know it was there, but you’d miss it if it was gone.”

His restaurants echo that philosophy. The rooms are casual but thoughtful, the flavors familiar but exacting, the hospitality warm without affectation. Pinsky builds comfort through technique, not ornament.

Roots, Restlessness, and the Making of a Cook

Pinsky grew up with hospitality in the background. Born in Palm Springs, he spent part of his childhood in South Korea, where his father worked as a chef and later ran food operations on a U.S. military base. Food was steady and grounding. “Dad worked a lot and traveled a bunch, but when he was home, he made dinner, and that was always nice,” he says.

By high school, he was already in restaurants: a pizza place, then Subway, then whatever kitchen would take him. After culinary school, he headed west, cooking in San Francisco and realizing during a trip to Los Angeles, and a dinner at Mozza, that he needed to be in serious kitchens. New York answered that pull. At Momofuku Ko he found the structure, rigor, and speed that shaped him, as well as a long-running creative dialogue with future business partner and wine director Chase Sinzer. They spent years trading ideas about restaurants: Pinsky thinking about flavor and technique, Sinzer thinking about design, lighting, and the feel of a room.

In early 2020, Pinsky left Ko with a lease nearly signed. The pandemic halted everything. He and Sinzer started again, rethinking their concept through pop-ups and long conversations, eventually landing in a tight basement space in the East Village. Claud opened in 2022 and immediately resisted categorization. Some tried to label it a wine bar. Others called it French. Pinsky called it none of those things. For him it was simply a place built on intention, good ingredients, and food that made sense together.

Claud, Penny, and a Philosophy Shaped by Restraint

Claud’s dishes read straightforward, such as sizzling red shrimp with garlic and olive oil, pork chop with smoked onion jus, and roasted chicken with chanterelles, but each contains the kind of hidden effort Pinsky prefers guests not think about. The sourcing is obsessive. The technique is tight. The results feel comforting rather than clever, which is precisely the point.

When the former salt cave above Claud became available, Sinzer pushed to take the space. The two sat on the floor for days charting possibilities. The raw bar idea, once too ambitious for the basement kitchen, finally had room to breathe. Penny opened in 2024, named after Pinsky’s grandfather, and immediately distinguished itself with its signature seafood ice box and a menu that balances raw delicacy with focused, restrained cooking. The lobster program, limited in quantity and rooted in freshness, embodies Pinsky’s approach. “I thought we would sell five lobsters a day, so we started with five whole lobsters, and we sold out in the first five minutes,” he says.

Fine dining, for him, is not about luxury items. “Feeling like you're being taken care of, some level of luxury, whatever that is to an individual. For me it’s feeling like I’m getting what I paid for,” he says. Temperature, lighting, tone, and the way a dining room hums without effort matter most. Food matters too, but not in the way people assume. “Food isn’t what specifically designates fine dining by any means. I think it’s all the other things.”

Looking Forward

Pinsky talks about goals the way he talks about cooking: plainly, honestly, without drama. “Retention, employee retention and guest retention,” he says. “I love everybody who works here and I will always do whatever I can to keep people as long as possible.” Sustainability matters too, but in a measured way. A mentor once told him not to chase perfection but progress. “If you think you’re going to be here for ten years, and if every year you do one thing better sustainably speaking, then you're on your way to doing ten times better than anybody else.”

A third space is underway with Sinzer, a dedicated wine bar around the corner. Pinsky also keeps a personal restaurant list, from Le Doyenne to Somni, The Sportsman, Addison, Disfrutar, and Elkano. Each one reflects something he values: clarity, craft, ease, confidence.

The through-line in all his work is intention, not as a slogan but as a way of moving. His food is precise but never showy. His spaces are warm but never sentimental. His cooking invites you in, lets you relax, and then rewards you with technique you barely notice. You may not see everything he puts into a dish. But you would miss it if it were gone.

The Chef

Chef Joshua Pinsky brings an intentional, technique-driven approach to Claud and Penny, drawing on a decade at Momofuku Ko and a lifelong grounding in hospitality.

08 Dec 2025