Nationally Acclaimed Providence Restaurants North and Big King to Close

Nationally Acclaimed Providence Restaurants North and Big King to Close

Providence restaurants North and Big King are going to be closing. 

Owner James Mark announced over this weekend his decision that after ten years, he is moving on. 

North is currently located downtown on Fountain Street; Big King is on the West End in Luongo Square. 

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His restaurants garnered a strong local following — and national reputation.

In 2019, GQ named Big King one of the best new restaurants in America.  

Mark was a finalist for the "Best Chef: Northeast"James Beard Award, and Bon Appetit magazine selected Big King as a Top 50 Nominee for its 2019 America’s Best New Restaurants list. 

 

“We opened a restaurant with $35K. Spent damn near all of it on key money, bought some lobsters, shucked some oysters, sold the leftover beer and wine. We hustled, and we care, we were crafty, we made our own luck, and we make it,” said Mark, of starting with North, then Big King. 

In his lengthy goodbye, Mark said it was missing his daughter’s birthday party for work that gave him pause.

“I missed my daughter’s fifth birthday two weeks ago,” he wrote. “It’s just another day, but one I’ll never get back.”

Mark said that he’ll be closing both the restaurants by summer, and that he “won’t be cooking anywhere else or a bit.”