Jess Shadbolt, who grew up in Suffolk near the southeastern coast of England, thinks British food’s reputation for blandness and austerity is unfair. She’s looking to upend Americans’ misconception with her lively menu at Dean’s, the pub she’s opening this week with Annie Shi, one of her partners at the restaurants Jupiter and King, which also happens to be next door to Dean’s. Shadbolt wants the food to be “nibbly and not too robust” and absolutely British. “I’ve cooked French and Italian regional food for so long,” she says. “Nostalgia kicked in.” It may also be why, with its Douglas fir wood paneling, large terra-cotta-tiled floors, and open kitchen, Dean’s feels a bit like Shadbolt and Shi are welcoming guests into their home.
“Even the smell of the kitchen is different,” Shi adds. “King is olive oil and lemon — Dean’s is butter pastry wafting out. Guinness bread is made from freshly milled upstate grains from Brooklyn Granary in Gowanus. Shadbolt serves it with a swirl of Marmite butter: savory, salty Anglo-umami. “The bread’s got a real depth of flavor with earthiness from Guinness that can stand up to the Marmite,” the chef says.
Snacks include parsnip-and-beet chips, pork scratchings perfumed with five-spice and cumin, and Scotch quail eggs that are diminutive on purpose: “It’s not meant to be a baseball,” says Shi. More substantial menu items will include calf’s liver with zebra-striped char marks that’s brightened up with braised peas and grilled lettuces and gilded with an accompanying piece of bone marrow. Sets of cold roast beef, scallops with salsify, dressed crab atop a hot buttered crumpet, and — a concession — fish and chips. “It’s a peace offering,” says Shadbolt, “like steak-frites — something everyone will love.”
One menu item that will likely not be familiar to most New Yorkers is stargazy pie, a savory seafood pastry that hails from the small coastal town of Mousehole, Cornwall. The dish was first created to honor a legendary 16th-century catch that lifted the town out of famine right before Christmastime. Today, it’s served on Tom Bawcock’s Eve, a.k.a. December 23, and usually assembled with seven types of fish peering out of a suet crust, or at least septet of pilchards — sardines — that look like they’re leaping out of the water. Dean’s Stargazy will be filled with local seafood like Boston mackerel, cod, and hake, with boiled potatoes, cider, and a tiny bit of saffron. Shadbolt points out, “It’s not a carbon copy, it’s not a religious ode, it’s an inspiration, and a challenge to think about how to make it feel visually appealing.” Dean’s can make only ten per day, but wary diners won’t have to worry about too many fish eyes gazing up at the ceiling: Shadbolt’s recipe allows for only one fish head to poke out the top.
Being a pub and all, drinks are crucial. Shi is Dean’s beverage director and has assembled a collection of options — proper British-size pints of Guinness, Old Speckled Hen ale, a dirty G&T with gin distilled in Shadbolt’s hometown — that matches the mood. A cocktail list from bartender Laurel Delany, who moved over from King, highlights gin drinks, like a Sloe Gin Fizz and a martini made with Plymouth Navy Strength and garnished with a Stilton-stuffed olive. “You can’t have an English meal that doesn’t end in something sweet,” says Shi, promising classic British digestifs, like Port, Madeira, and a five-year Somerset apple brandy she brought back from England in her suitcase.
Finally, pastry chef Fiona Thomas puts forth dried fruit-filled sticky, steamed puddings with dollops of cold custard. Tangy lemon and elderflower posset with shortbread dippers and Brandy Snaps cookies — piped with boozy cream and a chocolate cremeux — follow the theme of thoughtful bar food that isn’t too precious. “People want casual places to meet friends that’s low-stakes, not a place to schedule a reservation three weeks out for a tasting menu,” says Shi. Dean’s, after all, is just a pub.
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