Kent’s favorite gastropub

By Charles Dubow
Photos by Lisa Nichols

When my daughter was a student at Kent School, we often went to Kingsley Tavern, where her favorite dish was the poutine. I hadn’t been back since she graduated four years ago, but when we returned the other night, its poutine—a glorious mélange of French fries, beef, and veal demi-glace, Ellsworth cheddar cheese curds, and white truffle oil—was the first thing she asked for.  It was as sinfully delicious as ever.

Of course, owner Anna Gowan knows just how to appeal to Kent students, being an alumna herself. Her father, the late Donald Kingsley Gowan II, was for many years Kent’s dean of students. “I remember when this building was where we used to rent videos,” says the vivacious Anna, who opened her gastropub in 2013 after many years of bopping around the restaurant business. “I found myself in Key West in my 20s with no job skills—but I was able to land a job at Blue Heaven, which was a pretty wild place.” She worked there for three years before her travels took her to Martha’s Vineyard, Stowe, and Portland, Maine, becoming a pretty darn good cook along the way. “The secret is learning from other chefs. It’s not stealing if you don’t do it in the same town,” she laughs.

Eventually she returned to college, graduated from Tufts, and then worked for an environmental lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. It was the untimely death of her brother that brought her home to be with her mother. Her brother had always wanted her to have her own restaurant, so when a building in the heart of Kent became available shortly after she returned, she went for it, naming her new place in honor of her brother, father, and grandfather.

Over the years her menu has evolved from above-average pub food, with a heavy emphasis on burgers, to more eclectic fare. “It was thanks in many ways to COVID,” she says. “We did a lot of take-out, and we were able to get more creative with a captive audience. It allowed us to get away with some cool things.” It also helps that she has Lance Feola, a veteran of Carol Peck’s Good News Café and John’s Café, cooking in the kitchen.

While old favorites such as the poutine, French dip, and hamburger (using beef raised by Anna’s husband, Billy McCann) are still prominently featured on the menu, there are now new favorites as well. Top among these are the Jamaican jerk chicken with a mildly spicy marinade, black beans, brown rice, plantains, and mango salsa; the miso-marinated salmon with kimchi butter, sticky rice balls, and smashed cucumber salad; and cornmeal-fried fish tacos with cabbage slaw and chipotle aioli.

When not working in the kitchen, Anna can be found working the room, greeting regular guests like old friends, which is what many of them are. “I never dreamed when I was younger that I would ever find myself living again in Kent but here I am.”

Kingsley Tavern, 141 North Main St., Kent

—kingsleytavern.com