Jamie’s Italian

Bar Food Dessert Eat & Drink Italian Wine

Jackie McMillan
January 26, 2012

Image: The first rule of Jamie’s Kitchen is: you do not talk about Jamie’s Kitchen as if it were a fine diner, no matter how distressed or funky it looks inside. This particular boy’s club is about making girls horny.

The first rule of Jamie’s Kitchen is: you do not talk about Jamie’s Kitchen as if it were a fine diner, no matter how distressed or funky it looks inside. This particular boy’s club is about making girls horny. We’re talking girls you’d like to marry (or already have), arriving from suburbia in their civvies, snaffling Tea Towels ($19.50/4) with babes – welcomed as you’d hope – in hand. The floor team lives the brand; and absorbs any loose admiration flying ’round. It works because of their commitment and near-military precision from the kitchen (and beyond). Foodies might cry disappointment, but it’s the height of a produce-driven ‘soup kitchen’; serving Italianate nosh with Posh Chips ($6) that chop Charlie & Co’s back down to fries. Antipasti Meat ($13/head) thrives from great producers; while Smoky Scamorza Arancini ($9.50) help Pieropan Soave ($13.50/glass) sing. A luxuriant Buffalo Ricotta Ravioli ($14) had me cooing before tender Veal Saltimbocca ($27) became my friend. Flimsy slices of Pineapple Carpaccio ($7.50) are set simply against blood orange sorbet, inspiring me to remember Executive Chef Dave Clarke’s Chophouse days. Over an Affogato ($6) I muse: it might not be perfect, but it’s a restaurant del popolo. Roll ‘em out lads.