Wake up, young whippersnapper! There’s a new restaurant coming to town that’s going to have you staying up all night with Grandpa!
Jackie is a bold new concept from visionary restaurateurs Nathan Adler and Rachel Jackson. A New York City native, Nathan had always been enamored by the city’s vibrant hospitality scene and had always dreamed of starting a restaurant of his own. After graduating from the prestigious Wharton School of Business, he began working his way up in hospitality before finally opening up his first restaurant, Huerta’s, with partner and chef Jonah Miller, earning an impressive two star review from the New York Times. Adler’s success at Huerta’s enabled him to open his second restaurant in 2019, Gertie, which quickly earned mass critical acclaim after launching. Envisioned as a “Jew-ish” restaurant, Gertie was named one of Thrillist’s best new restaurants in 2019 and earned Eater NY’s award for Best Restaurant Design. Even after the difficulties of the pandemic, Gertie is still operating strongly today, having served as a pillar for the local community by running a food pantry and soup kitchen during the darkest months of the epidemic.
Nathan’s wife, Rachel Jackson, is one of the city’s foremost beverage experts and began her career as a cheese monger before acquiring her Advanced Certification in Wine and Spirits. As the Wine and Beverage Director at Marlow & Sons, Jackson pursued her dreams of bringing people together with food and drinks before the restaurant was shut down in its prime during the pandemic. Eventually, she joined the team at Gertie as General Manager and Partner, continuing her philanthropic endeavors by co-founding the voter mobilization organization Restaurants Advocation for Democracy.
Now, Rachel and Nathan are preparing to launch a brand new restaurant called Jackie, named after Rachel’s late grandfather, Paul Jackson (while Gertie was named after Nathan’s late grandmother Gertrude Aronow). They plan on opening Jackie at the corner building on 42 Market Street, which previously housed a clothing store and is expected to seat about 55 guests at one time.
Jackie is envisioned as a nighttime-focused sister restaurant to Gertie, operating under the tagline “Stay up late with Grandpa Jackie and wake up early with Grandma Gertie.” Jackie’s menu is described by Nathan as a “hip, modern play on the classic ‘red sauce’ restaurant.” As a New York native, Adler often found himself on family trips to Carmines for big family dinners, and that experience is providing much of Adler’s underlying motivation for Jackie.
Jackie is expected to serve abundant Italian-American dishes that are meant to be shared, like penne a la vodka, meatballs, baked ziti, and chicken marsala. Resident cocktail expert Rachel Jackson will of course be curating the beverage menu and will feature an exciting new “spritz bar” to highlight the culture of Italian Amari. Additionally, Jackson and Adler intend to bring on their old friend and Huerta’s partner Jonah Miller to create the menu and run the kitchen.
Before the team can share further details about their new concept though, they must first acquire the necessary liquor license to bring their vision to life. Rachel and Nathan are currently getting ready to bring their proposal to the community board, where they are proposing operating hours of 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM on Sunday through Thursday, and 8:00 AM – 1:00 AM on Friday and Saturday. Many of the details are still subject to change pending the board’s response, but once the license has been acquired the team will be able to share more information.
