COOKING FROM THE JACK’S WIFE FREDA MENU AT HOME

Chef Julia Jaksic

When most of us think back to the nourishing food we were fed in our grandmas’ kitchen, there is a sense of curative simplicity. The menu at Jack’s Wife Freda was created to evoke that same ubiquitous comfort, while being versatile enough to order from multiple times a week—or even more than once in a day!

My desire to become a chef stems from my own grandmother, who immigrated from Croatia. She was, for all intents and purposes, a professional cook—feeding a family of five three times a day. Nana’s recipes were usually complex in technique, yet they always tasted straightforward and delicious. One of her specialties was apple strudel. I have memories of her stretching the dough paper-thin over a tablecloth, without tearing even the tiniest of holes. At that point I was given free rein to run around the sides of the table with scissors, trimming the edges. Then Nana would roll up the filling of apples, sugar, and bread crumbs between what seemed like hundreds of layers of the delicate dough.

Over the years I’ve tried to reproduce her strudel but inevitably fall short. Though the recipe and ingredients are basic, they require a well-trained hand and the intangible qualities of grandmotherly love. I may never be able to perfect her pastries, but I continue to be inspired by her use of ingredients, technique, and her passion for good food prepared with fresh, nourishing ingredients. At Jack’s Wife Freda, we have married classic bistro and café fare from around the world with the secrets we’ve borrowed from our grandmothers’ recipe boxes.

As you turn these pages, you’ll discover what a day at Jack’s Wife Freda looks like for us—from the front of the house to the kitchens, with glimpses through the eyes of our guests and local regulars—and if you haven’t paid a visit to the restaurants yet, please do stop by the next time you’re in the neighborhood. But I also hope, as you bring these recipes into your own kitchen, that these dishes inspire the same spirit of community, conviviality, and love, and bring back one or two memories of the first foods that defined home and family for you. It’s how Grandma Freda would have wanted it!