JR & Son Lovingly Revives Brooklyn’s Red Sauce Traditions

1. They’ve kept the bones.

The remodeling process was as much an excavation as a renovation. “We’re keeping the integrity of the bar,” says head bartender Iseult James. In the process of fixing up the place, they found architectural elements from the building’s history. “We uncovered this beautiful molded ceiling. We’re like, why did anyone cover that up?”

If anything, the interior’s glow-up takes it further back in time. With its dark wood and handsome leather banquettes, it leans into the space’s supper club past. Another decorative element that hadn’t seen the light of day in years? All of the framed photographs now lining the walls, some of which bear signatures from the likes of Frank Sinatra and other celebrities who visited the old joint.

All of them are from the original JR & Son, although quite a few had been languishing in storage. “[JR] couldn’t believe that we actually wanted all of these photographs,” Vega says with a laugh. “Nico tried to keep that original feeling of the space with all of the memorabilia. It’s just a good feeling, like walking into your Italian uncle’s garage.”

2 Expect old-school Italian American classics with a kick.

At first glance, the menu reads like a textbook Italian American line-up: There’s shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad with charred romaine, and chicken parm breaded with toasty sesame seeds and smothered under a blanket of blistered mozzarella. But while Vega’s down to play the hits, she also wants to insert her own culinary sensibilities.

“There are some items in the menu that are very representative of where I’m coming from,” she says. “Not only in terms of my heritage, but also in terms of wanting to pay homage to the people who’ve been so influential to me.”

After working at Uncle Boon’s and Thai Diner for six years, she finds it difficult to resist some of her favorite tools in her arsenal: a few stealthy bird’s eye chiles and a splash of fish sauce with the long beans, the shower of crispy garlic on the clams stuffed with orzo risotto, or the fiery relish akin to nam prik, next to the branzino. “I don’t want to say I added a Thai twist, but I’ve got some spice in there,” she says. “I’m just having fun with it but still keeping it classic.”

When it comes to the pastas, she errs more on the side of classic with the requisite cacio e pepe — rendered here with nubby mezzi rigatoni and a pronounced peppery bite — and spaghetti and meatballs. The latter comes with modestly sized polpette — a nod to how this Pugliese staple looked before it crossed the Atlantic and climbed on top of spaghetti. It’s both Old World and New, served with a side of toast for slathering with garlic butter.

“One of the pastas I absolutely love is the lobster fra diavolo,” Vega says. While some versions drown the shellfish in a heavy marinara, her rendition is bright with lemon juice and zest, plus a healthy hit of chile heat, all nestled in housemade paccheri. “I also have a mint ricotta ravioli that’s spring on a plate. You have peas, favas, you have tons of mint. That one I’m very, very proud of.”

In keeping with the old-school chophouse ambiance, there are steaks of course: a bone-in ribeye with roasted garlic, and a skirt steak, sliced thin and wreathed in a puddle of brilliant green parsley butter. “The skirt steak — that one’s for the chefs,” she says. “If I see a skirt steak and I like the preparation, I’m ordering it.”

3. Breads everyone can get behind.

For Amanda Perdomo, a Wildair veteran who is also behind the desserts at Kellogg’s Diner, it was important to set the stage with the bread basket. “I’m in this era of considerate cooking, so the entire bread program is vegan,” Perdomo says. “Why not make it to where everyone can sit and have a meal here?”

Granted, no one is likely to notice that while ripping apart the pillowy, Castelvetrano-studded focaccia or warm rolls. “One of my favorite items is a Parker House roll that kind of looks like two little cheeks,” Perdomo says. In lieu of regular butter, she brushes them twice with a plant-based compound butter that “tastes just like garlic butter” before hitting them with her riff on an Italian seasoning blend with dried parsley, garlic powder, oregano, and toasted fennel. Guests who eat dairy can opt for a shower of parm, pizzeria style.

4. The desserts are a whole lot of fun.

As anyone who’s tried the transcendent pies and many-layered cakes in the display case at Kellogg’s Diner could guess, the desserts here are a blast. “Especially after doing Kellogg’s, I’m like, man, I really love making unpretentious food that is just really comforting,” Perdomo says. “Sometimes when you go to a fancy restaurant, you get this super intricately plated dessert and you look at it and you’re like, what is it? I want people to go, ‘Oh my God, it’s so cute — I have to eat it now.’”

There’s a pistachio, vanilla, and chocolate sundae with homemade ice cream, and a mammoth rainbow cookie log sliced into cake slabs. “Our take on a rainbow cookie is a little bit different because instead of being almond-flavored, it’s coconut and we make a raspberry jam in house that binds it all together,” Perdomo says. It’s also, once again, egg- and dairy-free. “I love giving people this cake, having them go, ‘Wow, this is so good,” and then telling them it’s vegan. It’s so lame at this point as a chef to be like, ‘I don’t do that.’ Yes, you can.”

Tiramisu felt essential, but Perdomo wanted to do it in her own way, too. “There’s tiramisu, but it has this orange creamsicle taste and instead of soaking it in espresso, I’m soaking it in amaro,” she says. “It’s kind of got this after-dinner vibe that’s really a little bit different and more modern.”

The most personal dessert here is Amanda’s Cookie Plate, a reference to Perdomo’s first job as a line cook at Del Posto more than a decade ago, in which she packed boxes of after-dinner cookies for guests to take home. “I’m trying to channel my younger self by making this insane cookie plate that will be ever-changing,” Perdomo says. “So, this month it might consist of pistachio amaretti. There’s a chocolate salami. There’s a fennel shortbread that’s in the shape of tiny little flowers. It’s stuff that plays on my memories.”

5. It aims to be an after-hours industry hang.

Above all, the new JR & Son is meant for locals — especially other restaurant and bar workers in the neighborhood looking to grab an after-work drink or bite before hopping on the L train. That means the bar program has two sides.

“Our beverage program during dinner service is definitely going to lean towards big, boozy Negronis, martinis, etc,” says head bartender James. Expect a vibe shift after other restaurant workers nearby get off the clock. “After hours, people want a Miller High Life. They want a shot of Fernet.”

While they can have both, there’s also an extensive selection of amaro for a night cap. “Our amaro program is going to provide for people who aren’t looking for a crazy cocktail after work,” Smith says. “They’re just trying to chill.”

Those amari show up across the drinks menu in various forms. There’s a strawberry amaro from Matchbox Distilling Co. in Long Island brightening up a seasonal Negroni, and the team has been tinkering with an affogato corretto, a scoop of ice cream doused in espresso with a shot of amaro.

“It feels very much in keeping with the Italian suppers this place once hosted,” says bar director Jordan Smith. “[Amaro] is such a broad category with so much distinction and there’s so much regional pride behind each of them. A Sicilian amaro is very, very different from an amaro that you’re going to be having in Piedmont.”

Part of the late-night allure here is that the kitchen will keep serving a leaner bar menu until 1 a.m., with drinks flowing until 2 a.m. The team all tried to make it the kind of menu and ambiance that they themselves would want. The old JR & Son was an institution for the community; the team hopes the new one will be too.

JR & Son is open Wednesday to Sunday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., with an abbreviated late-night menu that’s available until 1 a.m.

Diana Hubbell is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Atlas Obscura, VICE, Eater, Condé Nast Traveler, Esquire, WIRED, and Travel + Leisure, among other places. Previously based in Berlin and Bangkok, she currently lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.