Jersey City: Thirty Acres (September 2014)

My spouse and I dined at Thirty Acres for dinner on a Saturday evening in late September 2014. We made our reservation on-line using the Open Table reservation system. Thirty Acres recently started to participate in that booking program. We made our reservation 30 days prior to dining, which is as far in advance as possible. The restaurant closes on-line reservations at 5:00 pm each night. After that time, the policy is walk-in only. No one called to reconfirm our reservation. Thirty Acres is open for weekend brunch and dinner daily.

Thirty Acres is located in Jersey City, a short trip across the Hudson River from Manhattan. If you arrive on the PATH train from the city, stop at Grove Street. You can also access Thirty Acres using Light Rail or the water taxi / ferry. If you need a taxi when you leave the restaurant, walk two blocks to the Grove Street PATH station, where taxis queue. We stayed in Jersey City at the Doubletree, so we walked from our hotel.

The restaurant enjoys a corner location (in a residential building), so the dining room has a long wall of windows, and another short wall of windows. The doors and trim are painted dusty blue on the street side. One of the (non-working) doors contained scuffed / peeling paint, which added an air of rustic authenticity to the establishment.

The restaurant name comes from an 80,000-seat arena built for the 1921 Jack Dempsey / Georges Carpentier fight because city planners would not allow the fight to occur in Manhattan. The story resonated with the owners, who previously lived and worked in New York City but then moved to Jersey City to establish their own restaurant.

The restaurant tables are spaced well throughout the dining room, which was once two storefronts that are now one large space. The bar, positioned near the kitchen door, seats 10+ people. The bar is set with plates, glasses, napkins, and silverware, so the restaurant intends diners (rather than drinkers) to use it. Most tables are small and rectangular and seat two people, but they can be pushed together to accommodate larger groups. The restaurant also offers an oval table for six diners. One wall in the main dining room contains a wooden banquette bench shared by several of the small tables. The window bays contain two tables for two, where diners enjoy a great view of the street. Decor is minimalist, with white walls and wood floors, tables, and chairs. The restaurant has two unisex bathrooms, one of which is large enough to accommodate a wheelchair. (However, the restaurant itself requires patrons to take one step up from the sidewalk to enter.)

Husband-and-wife team Kevin and Alex Pemoulie own Thirty Acres. He is an alumni of Momofuku Ssam Bar (and therefore, a student of David Chang). We enjoyed dining at several Chang restaurants (Momofuku Ko, Ssam Bar, Ma Peche, and Seiobo), so we anticipated interesting items on the menu at Thirty Acres.

Service was casual, but excellent. Staff worked well together, and exhibited the right mix of availability without being intrusive. Staff members were knowledgeable about the menu selections, ingredients, and preparations.

Food was terrific, except for the Persian cucumbers, which were just simple sour pickle slices. (In an old restaurant review, we read about a cucumber dish that the chef presented with three different preparations, which was what we thought we ordered. So it may just be a case of unrealistic expectations.) We enjoyed the steak tartare, which was different from the normal preparation because the chef used a yuzu kosho vinaigrette, topped with crispy onions and served with house-made crackers. Our other appetizer was the absolute star of the evening: fried beef tendon served with a sweet and sour sauce, sliced chili peppers, cilantro, and cucumber. It was awesome and memorable! We shared a pasta for our mid-course: house-made rigatoni with sausage and butternut squash. Fantastic! We shared the pork neck for our entree, which was delicious! The chef plated it as a thick slice atop kale, and its appearance masked the moist texture hidden within. For dessert, my spouse chose lemon cake served with homemade whipped cream. I ordered the butternut squash cinnamon ice cream, which was another memorable take-away from this meal. It tasted just like the butternut pie filling that my grandmother used to make, and somehow, served in an ice-cold bowl, it managed not to melt a bit during our prolonged dessert course. (In keeping with the Momofuku tradition, the dessert menu is purposefully small and contains only two items: the lemon cake and ice cream.)

We had been trying to dine at Thirty Acres for many months, and we are glad that it finally worked into our schedule. It was worth the time and effort that it took to get there!