Even though I grew up in Seattle and live in Manhattan, there’s something about stately Brooklyn Heights that reminds me of home. Maybe it’s the neighborhood’s permanence, the fact that, unlike so many other parts of NYC, people actually move there to stay. Or perhaps it’s because Brooklyn Heights matches my image of what an ideal neighborhood should be: tree-lined streets and elegant brownstones, historic churches and grand hotels, all perched serenely on a bluff overlooking the harbor. It’s both stunning and charming—a Jane Jacobs fantasy realized.
It’s a shame, then, that such a homey place has so few homey places in which to dine. The area’s main drag, Montague Street, is a culinary wasteland—all take-out joints and national chains. And the rest of the neighborhood, with the notable exception of Henry Street’s Noodle Pudding, has even less to offer. For a good meal, most residents of the Heights head to Cobble Hill or hop the train to Manhattan.
The arrival of Jack the Horse Tavern, however, may finally signal a change. The restaurant opened last summer on one of the Heights’ most picturesque corners, and the chef, Tim Oltmans, an alumnus of Gramercy Tavern and Tabla, and his partner, Micki Schubert, have created a menu of high end comfort food that perfectly complements the neighborhood setting.
When I first stumbled across Jack the Horse back in September, it was virtually empty. I paused at the window to take a look at the menu, and the maitre d’ gave me a pleading look that suggested desperation. The place looked cute and inviting, but I wondered whether, absent the PR blitz that accompanies similar restaurant openings in Manhattan, an establishment of its ilk in such a quiet pocket of Brooklyn could ever survive.
Six months later, the answer appears to be a resounding yes. On a recent Friday evening, Jack the Horse was bustling with a suitably diverse Brooklyn Heights crowd: twentysomethings, retired couples and everything in between.
An attractive antique bar—neither empty, nor packed—greets you when you arrive, an ideal place for inconspicuously grabbing a drink while waiting for friends. And the rest of the space is equally inviting. A combination of white plaster, exposed brick and polished wood lend it a bistro-y feel, and the high ceilings and huge windows help draw the neighborhood’s historic charms inside.
Jack the Horse’s website describes it as a restaurant for fine meals “without meaningless flourish.” And indeed, the dishes that succeed are the ones that hew most closely to this mantra. A mixed green salad with manchego cheese and poached pears ($7) was simultaneously crisp and luscious. The seaweed salad and lemon confit that accompanied an appetizer of fried oysters ($9) neutralized the batter’s saltiness for a satisfying finish. As for main courses, the herbed free-range chicken breast ($16) was juicy and tender (though the side of baby leeks could have been a bit less “baby”) and a perfectly roasted pork chop with coarse ground mustard sauce ($18) came with grilled apples and a celery root puree so light and airy that it reminded me of whipped cream.
Less successful were some of the more adventurous dishes. One of the specials, a crab and bacon ravioli, rested on an uninspired bed of greens and tasted more like an overcooked wonton than the subtle pasta dish I’d hoped for. And I would have preferred a basic hamburger to the cryptically named “Sokota” burger, which came on ciabatta bread with asiago, pickled onions and fries.
Dessert was a similar story. I had high hopes for the waiter’s recommendation, a peanut butter torte with chocolate ganache and candied peanuts ($8), and it looked delicious when it arrived. But the torte itself was surprisingly bland, and the entire concoction was smothered in a wrenching glob of yogurt that overwhelmed whatever richness was there. A far better choice was the gelato ($8), one scoop each of black fig, pistachio and dark chocolate. Simple and divine.
After dinner, my friends and I headed over to the promenade for a nighttime view of downtown Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge and Midtown beyond. It got me thinking, the entire experience at Jack the Horse is what you always hope to find at one of those quaint West Village restaurants, but which is inevitably ruined by the long wait, overpriced food and hipper-than-thou crowds. Maybe Jack the Horse will remain a local place, serving simple, inspired food to a grateful neighborhood clientele. But I could also see it becoming something more: a destination for weary New Yorkers from more frenetic parts of the city seeking sustenance—culinary and otherwise—in Brooklyn Heights’ peaceful historic core.
Jack the Horse Tavern
66 Hicks St. (corner of Hicks & Cranberry), B’klyn
718-852-5084
