Dean’s Is an Ode to the British Pub

1. Meet your new favorite summertime people-watching spot.

More than anything, a pub is the sort of space where you might run into friends by chance, then find yourself staying for several rounds. In that spirit, Dean’s appears destined to become an impromptu meeting point at the intersection of King Street and Sixth Avenue. Come summer, expect to see a cadre of regulars, sunnies on, clustered around the barrels on Sixth Avenue outside the restaurant.

“We’re hoping people will stand around the barrels with a pint of Guinness and some oysters,” Shi says. “The idea is you order your oysters, and then whoever’s our oyster shucker will ring a bell and you’ll go pick up your order at the Dutch door at the kitchen.”

While there’ll be reserved seating indoors, the freeform nature of the outdoor space is geared toward spontaneity and ease. “Particularly with our neighbors that we’ve talked with, I think there’s going to be a lot of popping in for a pint after work or on the way to dinner,” Shadbolt says. “We’re trying to encourage that kind of drop-in culture.”

2. The menu is all about British classics executed with flair.

Just how British is the food at Dean’s? The most succinct answer is that there’s a Cornish pasty with a bubble and squeak filling. For the uninitiated, it’s peak comfort food born of thrift: a fry-up traditionally made up of mashed potatoes, cabbage, and whatever leftover meat might be on hand. There’s even stargazy pie, the rather gothic-looking Cornish dish with whole mackerel heads poking through the crust, too.

“We’ve really thought about how the food can echo the sensibility of this pub. It should feel very relaxed and not particularly demanding,” Shadbolt says. “We’ve got some British classics on there, like pork scratchings — delicious twirls of pork skin.” Here, they’re paired with an orchard sauce, a sweet-tart jelly made with quince and apple.

There’s also cold roast beef, so thin and rare it feels like the British answer to carpaccio, accompanied by aged cheddar and pickled walnuts. There’s calves liver, seared to mahogany and served with bone marrow. There’s boiled ham with hot buttered mashed potatoes and a vivid green parsley sauce with fava beans. And even the house-baked bread is suffused with Guinness and accompanied with butter and Marmite for slathering. In a few months, Shadbolt is excited to unveil their Sunday roast, with larger cuts for sharing.

And of course, there’s fish and chips, made here with the fresh catch of the day. “We’re obviously doing a beer batter, which is still light, but has got a really great texture,” Shadbolt says. It’s served alongside lovingly rendered mushy peas and triple-fried potatoes. “They have substance and crunch, which is what I think is what you want in a good chip. And it’ll be washed down with a good, cold pint. You can’t ask for anything more than that.”

In the kitchen, Shadbolt is accompanied by head chef Angeles Chavarria, who has been with King since 2018, and pastry chef Fiona Thomas.

3. English producers are front-and-center on a list that prioritizes affordable, food-friendly wines.

The phrase “English sparkling wine” may not have much marketing cachet stateside, but that is poised to change. As a result of climate change, southern England’s terroir — and the wines coming out of it — increasingly resembles that of Champagne, France. “We’re excited to showcase what I think might be the biggest list of English sparkling wines in New York City — not that there was a ton of competition,” Shi says.

It’s all part of what she calls a “small but mighty” list of roughly 100 bottles that showcases English producers. “We’re going to have a really nice selection from the old guard, like Hattingley Valley, as well as places like Gusbourne and more niche producers like Domaine Hugo. There’s also a really great husband-and-wife duo making more low-intervention, more experimental lines called Offbeat Wines.”

While curating the wine list, Shi was determined to make sure there were plenty of bottles under $80 on the list. “The idea is we want a pub to be an easy place,” she says. “We just want people to drink a nice bottle of wine. In the U.K., wine is very much always on the table. Sometimes they get nerdy, but sometimes it’s just about enjoying really delicious, crisp white wine, and that’s the same ethos that we want to bring to Dean’s.”

4. … But you can also grab a pint or a G&T.

As with any self-respecting pub, Dean’s will have expertly poured Guinness on tap — in full 20-ounce Imperial pints, no less. The other draft line will rotate between lagers and pale ales such as Old Speckled Hen. Aspall Cider, a personal favorite of Shadbolt’s, will be available by the bottle.

There’s also a full cocktail program, which leans heavily into British tipples, such as a Black Velvet made with Guinness and sparkling wine, and spirits, such as Fishers Gin, from a family-run distillery in Shadbolt’s hometown of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. “They distill the gin on the beach,” Shadbolt says. “They take all the natural botanicals from the grasslands and the shoreline, and they use that to infuse the gin. It’s really amazing. It’s got a very particular flavor.”

If you drive down the coast from the distillery, you’ll eventually come to the Blackwater Estuary, where Maldon sea salt has been harvested for generations. “Unsurprisingly, the gin has this really salty, almost minerally, briny texture and flavor to it,” Shi says. “We’re going to be making a dirty G&T and leaning into that with a little bit of sherry.”

Leading the seasonal cocktail program alongside Shi is head bartender Laurel Delany.

5. The interior is an understated homage to old-school pubs.

Outside of their native habitat, many pubs veer into kitsch territory, in part because they tend to draw on the same overused design vernacular. New York-based designer Jason Chen wanted to ensure that Dean’s stayed true to its source material without becoming camp.

“The starting point was English Shaker, but rooted in what a gut renovation in SoHo could look like,” Shi says. “It’s very simple in the same way that King is simple. It doesn’t scream French or Italian at you. Similarly, I don’t think Dean’s will scream English. But if you know what to look for, you’ll see whispers of it echoed in the space.”

Those whispers show up in the Douglas fir pine paneling, which Shadbolt picked out personally. The British enamel stove and brown terracotta tiles are reminiscent of the ones in her childhood kitchen. And of course, they’re in the bar at the core of the space. “We have a gorgeous bar,” Shi says. “We’re using pewter and stainless as the accents, as a nod to pewter being this very unprecious, utilitarian metal that you would find in pubs back in the day.”

6. Save room for something sweet.

Desserts aren’t really the point of a pub, per se, but it feels right to end a meal at Dean’s with something indulgent. “Every British restaurant should have a steamed pudding on it, and so we have a very sticky syrup and ginger pudding with cold custard, which is really traditional and comforting,” Shadbolt says. “We have a really beautiful light lemon and elderflower posset, which is almost like a very delicate set cream.”

The posset, an ethereal dessert dating back to Shakespearean times, makes for the perfect foil for yet another whimsically named treat: petticoat tails. “I just love the name,” Shadbolt says. These buttery Scottish shortbreads are sliced into wedges and pricked with the tines of a fork. Here, they’re optimal for dunking.

Pub menus are meant to accommodate the liminal spaces between meals, the pre- and post-dinner chips and bites. To that end, there are desserts that lend themselves well to snacking, like the plate of brandy snaps, rolled, wafer-thin cookies with the faint caramel tinge of golden syrup. “They’re going to be piped with some softly whipped cream and a chocolate crémeux,” Shadbolt says. “Sometimes you don’t want a full-blown dessert, but just a little offering of something sweet at the end.”

Dean’s is open for dinner from 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday to Saturdays, with service on Sundays and Mondays to follow. 

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.