James Restaurant in Prospect Heights — Popular Dinner, Brunch Spot
About.com Rating
James — Fine Dining in Prospect Heights
James
James is a popular, upscale neighborhood restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. James caters to the well-heeled professionals who live within a half mile or so radius.
It’s located on a residential street across Flatbush Avenue from Park Slope.
Menu at James Restaurant
Many offerings include fresh and locally-grown foods, though co-owners Bryan Calvert and Deborah Williamson are pragmatic rather than orthodox on this point, using what is available locally that also works well in the kitchen.
And what a kitchen! James specializes in complex tastes garnered from carefully conceived preparations, enhanced by a deft if mostly undetectable use of tried-and-true ingredients such as butter.
Appetizers might include squash soup and, say, Belgian endive salad. But Plain Jane these are not. The salad is ratcheted up several notches with marinated shallots and a rich sprinkling of Gorgonzola; the squash soup is a medley of flavors.
Entrees include meats, pastas, and chicken and fish dishes. If you’re looking for simplicity, go for the grilled or baked fish. James’ pressed chicken (an inch and a half of pure chicken, prepared by boning, pressing and then marinating the white and dark meat) is excellent.
Flavors are enhanced by sauces and reductions. Portions are substantial. The wait staff is attentive; the food presentation, artful.
Save room for dessert, a chocolate bombe cake or lavender crème Brule.
James' bar, located in the middle of the small, 40-seater restaurant, is lively, in part because patrons are not seated until everyone in the party has arrived. James’ specialty drinks are ample and well mixed.
That many customers are regulars is certainly a testimony to the excellent cuisine at James; it also reflects a relative lack of local competition for this level of sophisticated cuisine.
Decor, Price
James' decor is vaguely reminiscent of a small Parisian restaurant. It features brown leather banquettes, high ceilings, a central chandelier, a few large displays of flowers, and white brick walls. Even the bathroom, with black and white tiles and an antiquey brass doorknob plate, feels French.
Entrées run about $22; appetizers $12. A three-course meal for two people, with one cocktail and no wine, will cost about $100. Check James' website for specials, for instance Sunday night dinners and “burger nights’ on Mondays.
James offers the experience of self-aware fine dining, with a 21st-century Paris-in-Brooklyn twist.
James — Fine Dining in Prospect Heights
James
- 605 Carlton Avenue
- Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
- (718) 942 — 4255
- Official website: http://www.jamesrestaurantny.com/contact
- Reservations for parties of 6 or more only
- Subway: ?B/Q to Seventh Avenue or ??2/3 to Bergen Street ?Exit.
James is a popular, upscale neighborhood restaurant in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. James caters to the well-heeled professionals who live within a half mile or so radius.
It’s located on a residential street across Flatbush Avenue from Park Slope.
Menu at James Restaurant
Many offerings include fresh and locally-grown foods, though co-owners Bryan Calvert and Deborah Williamson are pragmatic rather than orthodox on this point, using what is available locally that also works well in the kitchen.
And what a kitchen! James specializes in complex tastes garnered from carefully conceived preparations, enhanced by a deft if mostly undetectable use of tried-and-true ingredients such as butter.
Appetizers might include squash soup and, say, Belgian endive salad. But Plain Jane these are not. The salad is ratcheted up several notches with marinated shallots and a rich sprinkling of Gorgonzola; the squash soup is a medley of flavors.
Entrees include meats, pastas, and chicken and fish dishes. If you’re looking for simplicity, go for the grilled or baked fish. James’ pressed chicken (an inch and a half of pure chicken, prepared by boning, pressing and then marinating the white and dark meat) is excellent.
Flavors are enhanced by sauces and reductions. Portions are substantial. The wait staff is attentive; the food presentation, artful.
Save room for dessert, a chocolate bombe cake or lavender crème Brule.
James' bar, located in the middle of the small, 40-seater restaurant, is lively, in part because patrons are not seated until everyone in the party has arrived. James’ specialty drinks are ample and well mixed.
That many customers are regulars is certainly a testimony to the excellent cuisine at James; it also reflects a relative lack of local competition for this level of sophisticated cuisine.
Decor, Price
James' decor is vaguely reminiscent of a small Parisian restaurant. It features brown leather banquettes, high ceilings, a central chandelier, a few large displays of flowers, and white brick walls. Even the bathroom, with black and white tiles and an antiquey brass doorknob plate, feels French.
Entrées run about $22; appetizers $12. A three-course meal for two people, with one cocktail and no wine, will cost about $100. Check James' website for specials, for instance Sunday night dinners and “burger nights’ on Mondays.
James offers the experience of self-aware fine dining, with a 21st-century Paris-in-Brooklyn twist.
