Jack's Wife Freda
Mediterranean restaurant · SoHo ·
Lively bistro with American-Mediterranean cooking & classic cocktails
Lively bistro with American-Mediterranean cooking & classic cocktails
"Ladies who brunch, pay close attention. We are about to present to you a brand new spot for your [perfect_for slug="chronic-brunch"]Chronic Brunch[/perfect_for] rotation, and one that's gonna make you look like the coolest person in your group, or pack, or whatever it's called when more than three of you gather. Jack's Wife Freda is a simple, cute little café in Soho, opened by a couple that met while working at Balthazar. That's really probably all we need to tell you. If "cute," "Soho," and "Balthazar," aren't the three most important Chronic Brunch keywords, we don't know what are. The food here is an interesting collection of culturally specific dishes from different parts of the world, many of which will be familiar to those who know Middle Eastern or Israeli cooking. What that means is that the menu is very unique, but it's somehow not at all intimidating. Things like green shakshuka (baked eggs in a spiced sauce) might sound adventurous and strange to many, but when presented at Jack's Wife Freda, it's very appealing. Maybe that's because the menu is hand drawn, with little doodles all over it. The doodles are meant to soothe you. Add all of those things up and throw in a few of their mimosas with fresh cantaloupe juice, and you've got a pretty great spot for your next girls' day out. Unfortunately, that's about as far as our recommendation will go. When it comes to dinner, Jack's Wife Freda is a bit less appealing. The room loses some of it's charm when the sun goes down, and much of the dinner menu is a snooze. We'd be a bit more enthusiastic if things were a little cheaper, but there too many options for a better dinner for the same price nearby. Stick to the daylight hours, and you and your girlfriends should walk away happy. Food Rundown Freshly Baked Assorted Pastries I fcking love pastries. I want a t-shirt that says that, and then I'm gonna buy a motorcycle and learn karate. Nobody would mess with me, ever. Get the corn muffin and the apple turnover. Rosewater Waffle Unless you've got some family roots in a country near the Mediterranean, you probably aren't too familiar with rose water in your food. The Lebanese use it a lot, which is probably why this waffle is also topped with some Lebanese yogurt. My grandma would love this. Green Shakshuka Shakshuka is apparently what the green, pungently spiced sauce is called that these eggs are baked in. It's also apparently a popular dish in Israel and North Africa. We liked it, but it's probably not for everyone. At least you just learned something. Poached Eggs with Grilled Tomato and Haloumi More learning - haloumi is a salty, slightly rubbery cheese found in lots of Middle Eastern cuisine. It's often grilled because it holds up to the heat and won't melt, and would also probably taste awful if it wasn't. Here it adds a nice saltiness and a different texture to the poached eggs. It's really good, but this is probably best left for those who already know what the stuff is. Freda's Matzo Ball Soup It's green, flavorful, very dill-heavy, and the soup is a little thin, but the big fluffy matzo ball is spot on. Definitely worth ordering. Prego Roll And out of left field comes some Portuguese cuisine, in the form of a small skirt steak sandwich with garlic butter on it. Bang up job, Portugal. This one can be skipped. Freda's Fried Fish Balls People seem to talk about these fried fish balls a lot, but we honestly don't get it. Maybe there's a nostalgia thing that we're missing here, but to us these just taste like fishy hush puppies. Greek Salad A Greek salad that's made with kale and has pickled red onion, salted olives, and a huge block of feta cheese in the middle. This wins for our favorite dish on the menu. Do not pass this by. Bloody Mary Moules Frites If the Greek salad wins favorite dish, then these bloody mary mussels are the runner up. I don't know what we need to say other than that they are as good as you would hope them to be after reading the description. The fries ain't bad neither. Vegetable Curry Bowl This should also be high on your list of eligible dinner things to eat. There's some nice curry flavor in what appear to be stewed vegetables over cous cous, and we enjoyed eating this on a cold night recently. The only downside is that it becomes a little monotonous after a while. Order it and share. Whole Fish Can't go wrong if you're the kind of person who goes right for the whole fish on a menu. We aren't, but we ordered this anyway and were pleasantly satisfied although I can't for the life of me remember what kind of fish it was. I can usually tell by looking it directly in the eye, but it was probably too dark in there." - Chris Stang
"Another controversial item: shakshuka. It’s just baked eggs in tomato sauce, which can’t be that bad for you. Right? That all depends on whether you also eat the challah bread that comes with it. The good news is that at Jack’s Wife Freda, you have plenty of other options that fall on the even-healthier side (big grain bowls, mustard-seed-encrusted tofu), or...the other side (waffles, duck prosciutto panini). Go to the West Village location or sign yourself away to a soul-crushing wait at the original Soho spot." - katherine lewin
"Jack’s Wife Freda serves an important purpose in Soho, and that purpose is an easy lunch or very casual dinner. There aren’t a ton of restaurants suitable for that as you go westward." - team infatuation
"Suitable For: A Meeting With Your Friend's Sister Who Wants "Career Advice" Your friend's 23-year-old sister Jessica graduated from Emory last year, and is already looking to change careers. Consulting just isn't that fulfilling, you know? As resident person-with-a-job-that-sounds-interesting, you've been called upon to offer up some direction. You feel a little flattered that people look up to you, but you also don't want to make this last too long. You want to keep this meal short and sweet and fairly affordable, and you can do that at Jack's Wife Freda. Plus, Jessica's probably been really wanting to come here anyway." - hillary reinsberg
"If you've been to the original Jack's Wife Freda in Nolita, you know the formula: simple, almost healthy Mediterranean food, served to and by attractive people who are all crammed into a very, very small space. At the new location, everything is much the same. The menu, in fact, is exactly the same. The food, though not revolutionary, is solid. So many brunch spots are either overly ambitious (don't really need pork belly on that Eggs Benedict, thanks) or characterized by watery eggs and hungover waiters, so credit to Jack's Wife Freda for offering pleasant things - a very good Greek salad, some moderately interesting egg dishes - for lunch, every day of the week. Dinner works too, for something uncomplicated like a plain grilled fish or a bowl of mussels, though the environment dies down a little at night. Again, it's same deal as the original, down to the communal table running through the middle of the space. If they wanted to start franchising the concept around the country, it'd probably work. The one major difference, and this is important, is the size of the place. The new West Village location is about three times the size of the original, which means the tables are much more spread out. In Nolita, you're basically sitting on top of the people next to you. Whether or not you'll enjoy that depends on how much you enjoy hearing the people next to you talk about how a girl they went to high school with now has 500,000 followers on Instagram. We personally say +1 to having enough room for everyone to actually place down their Alexander Wang backpcks. It means you only have to hear the people at your own table talk about people with outsized Instagram accounts. Better, for sure. The bigger space also means the service is a little less hectic, the seats are more comfortable, and the waits are shorter. In other words: just like the original, but slightly upgraded. Food Rundown Green Shakshuka One of the most popular brunch dishes here, two eggs are baked in a tangy green sauce. The restaurant's Jewish/Israeli influence comes through with some toasted challah on the side. Orange Blossom Pancakes You can easily keep it simple with pancakes too. No one's gonna be mad. Greek Salad A simple Greek salad with shredded kale and a big slice of feta on top, this actually might be the best thing here. And you can get it at lunch or dinner. Grain Bowl A more recent addition to the menu, Jack's Wife Freda knows its audience, and its audience likes a goddamn grain bowl. It comes with quinoa, vegetables, and an egg. Salt And Pepper Eggplant Little fried pieces of eggplant, with a yogurt-y dipping sauce. Always on our table here. Get an order to share. Whole Fish This may seem like an ambitious move, but this dish always delivers. A simple piece of plain fish, with a nice couscous salad and green pesto-like sauce. They'll filet it for you, so you don't have to deal with the head. That's the move. Fish A La Plancha Another solid dinner move. A piece of fish, usually salmon, over some marinated kale. Kind of like a more refined teriyaki salmon." - Hillary Reinsberg
