If Italian-American comfort food sounds like just the thing after a long day at the office, SOMA's brand-new Jersey, which opened yesterday at 145 Second Street, has you covered. The fourth restaurant from brothers/downtown power team Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal (Town Hall, Salt House, Anchor & Hope), it's a celebration of the red-sauce deliciousness they grew up with back in the Garden State, updated for California seasonality.
Town Hall alum Ramona Rillo has been brought over to run the kitchen, which is offering both 14-inch Jersey-style red pies (in combos like mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni, and salami or soppressata, mozzarella, and provolone) and 12-inch California seasonal pies (like asparagus, prosciutto, ricotta, green garlic, and arugula). We're also told a foie gras and truffle pizza is in the works. The dinner menu features pastas like ricotta gnocchi with rabbit sugo and lollipop kale, and entrees like roasted pork with root vegetables and quince mostarda. There are also some small plates perfect for enjoying with an after-work drink, including charcuterie, meatballs, eggplant rollatini, and beef carpaccio.
For lunch, the menu keeps the pizzas but shifts to more of a salad and sandwich focus, with meatball and chicken parm sandwiches, a king trumpet mushroom calzone, and a "Jersey burger" topped with provolone and pancetta. In a few weeks, Jersey will also add a few breakfast options, including an egg sandwich, a breakfast pizza, pastries, and the Rosenthals' own La Capra coffee. And there's plenty of beer and wine, with a dozen drafts from the likes of Almanac, Drake's, and Fort Point, another dozen bottled brews, and 16 wines by the glass, mostly from California and Italy.
The 54-seat space is intended to be mega-casual, with lots of counter seating and exposed brick. While they've decided to call off their initial plans to offer to-go slices, the Rosenthals hope to have an online ordering system for takeout up by the end of the month, with an abbreviated version of the menu and a special 16" takeout-only pie. (Happy hour drinkers will be able to get slices, however.) Lunch hours are Monday-Friday, 11 am-2 pm; a limited menu will be served weekdays from 2-5:30, with dinner running 5:30-10 pm Monday-Thursday, and 5:30-11 pm Friday-Saturday. We'll keep you posted when breakfast and happy hour launch.
