Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar

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Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar

Photo: Cititour.com

Contact Info:

Address: 101 2nd Ave (6th St)
City: New York, NY
Zip: 10003
map: View the Map
Phone: (212) 979-1012
Website: http://maps.yahoo.com/maps_result?addr=101+2nd+Ave&csz=New+York%2C+New+York&country=us&new=1&name=&qty=

Food Info:

Menu: View the Menu
Cuisine: Seafood
2nd Cuisine: Southern

Cititour Review:

Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar is the sort of place that makes you feel like a million bucks, even if you are worth significantly less. This stunning little townhouse in the East Village - owned by Jack and Grace Lamb, the picture perfect couple behind the sushi temple known as Jewel Bako - is a dollhouse-sized gem wrapped up in cherry-red gingham wallpaper, where chef Allison Vines - Rushing has created a magical wonderland for discerning gastronomes - what she describes as "a New York kind of place, with a little Southern heart a inspiration."

Dinner at Jack's can take one of two paths. Your first option is down in the more casual, but no less stunning, Oyster Bar, where you'll find tall cherry-red leather banquettes and a magnificent marble oyster bar for sipping glasses of 1990 Dom Perignon ($250 a bottle), slurping back oysters six ways (with a variety of perky mignonettes, $14), or making your way through the assortment of fruit de mer like littlenecks ($2), taylor bay scallops (in season), Maine lobster (out of the shell $24/$14) and west and east coast oysters ($2).

If you chose to dine upstairs, you will pass through a precious little kitchen where Vines-Rushing and her husband Slade Rushing (her co-chef) cook, side by side, in peaceful harmony. (So far, no fights have erupted.) The small dining room is like a fairy tale - a handful of tiny tables, elegantly appointed with fine linens, and vintage china and flatware. The food is similarly magical. Oysters Rockefeller "Deconstructed" ($16)- oysters poached in beurre fondue, topped with spinach and watercress cooked in brown butter, garnished with a bacon chip and grated licorice root—is a delicious dish that hits all the flavor zones and reminds you what good cooking is all about. A salad composed of shaved vegetables dressed in a racy pickled peach vinaigrette ($9) is a perfect example of how to fire up simple ingredients with some Southern love. Tender braised pig cheeks are perfectly cooked and served with collards finished with a lip-licking housemade pepper vinegar. A pink peppercorn crusted halibut is similarly flawless—meaty and moist and doused in a fierce morel bourbon sauce.

Desserts are worth the extra weight, especially the delicate Bananas Foster ($9), served with fresh whipped cream, spooned, tableside, over a delicate rum-soaked baba. This is luxury.

 

Review By: Andrea Strong

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