JR & Son (575 Lorimer St.), a Williamsburg institution that previously served as an Italian social club and then a dive bar, shuttered during the pandemic. Now, it has completely reinvented itself as a self-proclaimed supper club from the team behind Nura, Pan Pan Vino Vino and Kellogg’s Diner.
JR & Son’s food program is led by Executive Chef Patricia Vega and Pastry Chef Amanda Perdomo, previously of Kellogg’s Diner. Chef Vega created a menu of Italian-leaning dishes and tavern classics inspired from other spots in the city.
A meal at JR & Son starts with Chef Perdomo’s bread service which comes with green olive focaccia and garlic and herb Parker House rolls.
Next up are Chef Vega’s appetizers. There’s an arancini salad with smoked mozzarella and radicchio, stuffed clams alle vongole, and stracciatella with black olive caramel and bottarga. The menu also offers raw bar classics like shrimp cocktail, oysters, and clams.
JR & Son’s menu continues with a selection of pastas like paccheri with a lobster fra diavolo sauce, ravioli with mint ricotta and English peas, risotto with sundried tomatoes and artichokes, and spaghetti and meatballs.
There are also a variety of meat and fish dishes such as a ribeye served with roasted garlic, chicken parm, a burger, and steamed mussels with Calabrian chilli butter, chickpeas, and cherry tomatoes.
To end the meal, Chef Perdomo has put together a menu of popular Italian desserts with modern twists. Two examples are the orange amaro tiramisu with mascarpone, espresso, Cynar, and cocoa, and the vegan rainbow cookie layer cake made with coconut milk, coconut oil, and toasted coconut.
Amari is featured heavily on JR & Son’s cocktail menu. There’s a cocktail called Love Theme from Spartacus with sparkling wine, Cocchi Americano, Pasubio, and rosemary, while the Godfather Part IV comes with blended scotch, bourbon, amaretto, and a bitters blend.
The Strawberry Letter 23 is a spirit forward cocktail with gin, strawberry amaro, Campari, and lemon; and the Johnny Dangerously comes with amaro, lime, and cane sugar. There’s also the House Dirty Martini with gin, olive, and manzanilla.
The restaurant’s interiors were designed by Nico Arze and Matthew Maddy of Walk and Talk Consulting, whose previous projects include Nura, Lilia, Oxomoco, and most recently, Kellogg’s Diner. But this space looks nothing like those restaurants.
At JR & Son, the booths are red, the tiles checkered, and on the walls are years of memorabilia including photos of previous patrons. Arze and Maddy wanted to honor the history of the space, so while the pair refurbished the 50-seat bar, they kept many of the space’s original elements like the floors, ceilings, and photos on the walls. The feel is dark and moody with a casual, relaxed atmosphere.
JR & Son is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 6 p.m. – 2 a.m. An abbreviated late night menu is available until 1 a.m. While primarily geared towards walk-ins, select reservations can be made on Resy.