Award-winning chef Camille Cogswell is let go from Zahav and K’Far

Chef Camille Cogswell was let go from her dual post as executive chef at K’Far and executive pastry chef at Zahav, both owned by Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook.

Cogswell won the James Beard Award for rising-star chef two years ago and recently was named one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs.

Neither Cogswell nor a CookNSolo rep would explain the reason for the parting of ways.

The CookNSolo rep said Cogswell, 29, who started at Zahav five years ago, had an “incredible run, and we’re proud of her and the work we did together at Zahav and at K’Far. We’re rooting for her and know that she will continue to have much success.”

Sous chefs Tim Mavour, Solomon Lamb, and Katreena Kanney now run K’Far’s kitchen.

In a statement, Cogswell said: “I’m saddened to have been let go from my position in the CookNSolo company. I believe that it will take me awhile to process having to leave my incredible team of people that are so dear to me and the programs that I developed and dedicated myself to for the past four and a half years at both Zahav and K’Far. I still cherish the invaluable time that I spent working for Mike and Steve and this does not change the incredible relationships that I built, the countless things that I learned, and the immense hard work that I put in during that time. I’m grateful for the mentorship that I received and the opportunities that I was fortunate enough to have. I don’t know what CookNSolo’s plan is for the future of K’Far but I hope that it will be positive and serve the community with as much warmth and love as I tried to during my time as executive chef there. I wish them the best.“

”But it’s not my intention to have this news detract from the more important focus that everyone should have right now: fighting the injustice and oppression that Black Americans have faced in this country for centuries and continue to endure today. That needs to continue to be the biggest focus until we have significant and monumental progress in overturning the racist structures of our society and putting in place systems that support the BIPOC in every community.”