DRINKS AT JACK’S WIFE FREDA

For the longest time, the sleepy stretch of Lafayette Street between Spring and Broome in SoHo bordered a charming, small park planted in the middle of the busy intersection, but offered no real reprieve from how polarizing and lonely the city can feel. Sure, if you were hungry you’d grab a sandwich or a really solid plate of pasta, and in that way, you were satisfied. But there you were standing on a busy block of downtown New York and not an ally in sight.

Where was the community? The friendship! So much of what defines a good meal is who you get to share it with and where you eat it. At Jack’s Wife Freda, you’ve got the best friendship baked into the managers and waiters, and Dean and Maya have an almost parent-like affection for their customers.

I know this to be true because when Jack’s Wife opened in 2012, it almost immediately became my extended living room. The food was great—that’s a given—but it had nothing to do with why I spent so much time there. I’d arrive at 6 P.M. to meet my girlfriends. 6 P.M. would become 9 P.M. would become closing at 11, and they’d never ask us to leave. On the contrary—just whether we needed more wine. Sometimes a manager or owner would sit down and join us and with the liquid confidence and stimulus imparted by a few glasses of wine, we’d talk about life and how to believe in ourselves, what dream-chasing means—perfect at-home dinner-party chatter, re-created in someone else’s kitchen.

On some nights, I didn’t even make plans. I’d just show up, ask for a cappuccino or a glass of the house chenin blanc and watch people come in, walk by, step out. Or so I thought. The thing about Jack’s Wife is that almost immediately it became a new community. Lafayette Street strangers became friends, siblings, partners, and mentors. The restaurant experience, especially in New York, can often feel transactional—there is always someone waiting outside for your table—yet somehow Jack’s Wife, even with its infamous long wait lines, has retained the spirit of not just a neighborhood joint that welcomes with a smile anyone who’s willing to stop in, but has gone so far as to make you feel like family.

—Leandra Medine