2007 R&I Ivy Awards: Jack’s Oyster House, Albany, N.Y.
Perhaps the greatest irony behind the near century-long success of Jack’s Oyster House is that founder Jack Rosenstein never cared to eat the briny bivalves.
By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 5/1/2007
 Opened: 1913 Seats: 125 dining room; 30 lounge; 150 banquet Dinner covers: 200 weeknights; 300 to 350 Saturdays Average checks: $15 lunch; $35 dinner Annual revenue: $3.5 million  Third-generation operator Brad Rosenstein welcomes guests to Jack’s Oyster House...  ...where specialties include smoked-chicken tart with Cheddar cheese and leeks.  In Jack’s cocktail lounge, space leased from the building next door, customers can nibble appetizers or order meals from the full menu. |
Perhaps the greatest irony behind the near century-long success of Jack’s Oyster House is that founder Jack Rosenstein never cared to eat the briny bivalves.
In the early 1900s, the young Rosenstein was selling newspapers to help support his family. A customer—owner of (the now-defunct) Keeler’s restaurant—offered him more money to shuck oysters. In them, he discovered his own pearl and the rest, as they say, is history.
The entrepreneurial Rosenstein absorbed everything he could about running a fine-dining steak-and-seafood restaurant and by 1913, moved on to open his own place. Ninety-four years later, his grandson Brad stands at the helm, making Jack’s Oyster House one of the oldest family-run fine-dining restaurants in the United States.
"I was fortunate that my grandfather lived to be 92, so I got to work in the kitchen with him for a little while," says Brad Rosenstein, who came on board as president and CEO in 1984 after his father and uncle retired. "He would come to work every single day, and that dedication and work ethic was really an example that stayed with me."
Over the past 23 years, the third-generation Rosenstein has added his own colorful chapters to Jack’s storied reputation for fine food and stellar service. While the restaurant’s Old World heritage is no small part of its charm, Rosenstein is first to admit that longevity often requires evolving with the times. The most pivotal change, he says, came a decade ago when Dale Miller joined the team as executive chef and vice president.
A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and one of just 61 certified master chefs in the country, Miller brings the cachet of a chef-driven restaurant to what Rosenstein says will always be a hospitality-driven operation.
"We always had excellent chefs over the years, but we never had anyone on a really high level who could really take us national, and that was my focus," he says. "Anyone who knows what a certified master chef is knows that we’ve made a commitment to having the finest food program we can."
Faced with the challenge of building on a landmark restaurant’s thriving business without alienating its customer base, Miller eased in diners with a dual menu. One side touted "Jack’s 1913"; the other, "Jack’s 2000." Two years later, he merged the two, balancing classic steak-and-seafood fare such as Steak Diane and Clams Casino with his own brand of globally influenced, progressive American cuisine.
Oysters are perennial best-sellers, of course, with five to six varieties menued daily at the raw bar. Miller’s oven-roasted sea bass with melted leek-and-shiitake compote and Port-wine sauce has become a guest favorite, while a longtime signature dish of calves’ liver with caramelized onions and crisp bacon also is a popular choice.
Service With a Smile
Rosenstein’s commitment to a customer-first service style also deserves a share of the credit for raising the restaurant’s profile. Every staff member, from managers and servers to cooks and dishwashers, understands that making guests feel important is the ultimate goal.
When customers enter the restaurant, they don’t find a hostess behind a podium. Instead, a manager or owner immediately steps forward with a greeting and welcoming smile, taking coats and even shaking hands if the visitors are regular guests. Once diners are seated, servers’ interactions with guests are guided by what Rosenstein calls "hospitality vocabulary": responding to thanks with "My pleasure" instead of "You’re welcome," saying "Please come back soon" rather than "Goodbye" and above all, never saying "No" to a request.
"If someone wants chocolate-chip ice cream and we don’t carry it, we send our people out to buy it," Rosenstein says. "Someone asked if I could recharge their cellphone; another asked if there was a shoeshine place nearby. I carry a shoeshine kit so we can do those little things."
Rosenstein’s hiring philosophy is to recruit team members who can adeptly execute such nuanced service. He targets hospitality-minded applicants who genuinely enjoy pleasing others and, ideally, plan to stay on staff at least five years. For interviews and orientations, he sits down one-on-one with recruits—an advantage he says few multi-unit operations have.
Rosenstein looks for candidates who have researched Jack’s and respect its history, who understand and share his dedication to making guests feel appreciated and, most importantly, who evoke warm feelings in others with their smile and manner.
What’s Old is New
Whether staff or guests, the people who bring Jack’s to life every day go a long way in shaping its classy, yet high-energy, ambience. The restaurant is located just two blocks from the state Capitol, so politicians and lobbyists long have patronized the dining room for lunch, breeding a clubby, see-and-be-seen atmosphere. At dinner, the diverse crowd ranges from older, elegantly attired regulars to a younger clientele clad in jeans.
Perched on black-leather banquettes or old-fashioned bentwood chairs, guests dine at elegantly set tables draped in floor-length black underliners and starched, white tablecloths. Dark cherry paneling, black-and-white Italian tile floors and black chandeliers complete the refined, Old World feel in the large, high-ceiling dining room.
As in his grandfather’s day, Jack’s is open every single day of the year, a guest-centered policy Rosenstein views as a given. Most nights, he personally oversees the brisk, efficient operations; other days, his father (who spends several days a week at the restaurant despite his retirement) serves as the family representative.
"There’s no one with a more vested interest in an operation than the owner, and the restaurant business is a way of life for us," Rosenstein says. "When I come to work, it doesn’t feel like work. I’m looking forward to who is going to be coming in and who I can make feel good that day."
View All Blogs
