MoMA PS1 Taps Chef DeVonn Francis for New Restaurant, Symone
MoMA PS1, the contemporary art institution in Long Island City, Queens, has named its newest in-house restaurant: Symone, helmed by chef DeVonn Francis.
The news, reported on 20 August 2026, confirms that Francis — a New York-based chef and founder of the culinary studio Yardy — will bring his kitchen to the museum's campus. Details on the restaurant's opening date, menu and operating hours have not yet been publicly released. ARTnews
Francis is no stranger to the PS1 orbit. In May 2026, he served as executive chef for the institution's 50th Anniversary Gala After Party, a two-night celebration held 12–13 May from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. That event paired Francis's cooking with a full open bar in collaboration with Bite, the catering and event design outfit. MoMA PS1
For a museum, a restaurant is more than a place to eat. It shapes how visitors move through a building, how long they stay and what they remember. PS1, founded in 1976 as an alternative art space in a former public school, has spent five decades blurring the line between institution and neighbourhood gathering point. Adding a chef-driven restaurant fits that pattern.
Francis's cooking draws on his Jamaican heritage and a sensibility he has described as rooted in family kitchens and diaspora foodways. Through Yardy, he has built a reputation for dinners that operate as both meal and conversation — curated evenings where the food carries a story as deliberately as any gallery label.
The announcement arrives in a year of milestones for PS1. The institution marked its half-century in 2026 with a slate of programming and celebrations, and Symone will join whatever comes next as a permanent fixture rather than a pop-up. An exact opening timeline has not been disclosed.
What is clear is the pairing: a museum built on championing living artists and emerging voices, and a chef whose work sits at the intersection of food, culture and community. Whether Symone becomes a destination in its own right — alongside the institution's exhibitions and courtyard performances — is a question the menu, and the diners, will answer.
