Cafe Charmant NYC
There’s a new reason to head to
Bleecker Street. Cafe Charmant NYC opened in the West Village last
month, bringing a sun-soaked take on the classic French brasserie
to a particularly good corner of downtown Manhattan.
Brodsky, an Eleven Madison Park alum
who spent seven years cooking in the Cayman Islands, has taken the
bones of a French brasserie and loosened them up considerably. The
result is the sort of menu where Steak Frites and Spicy Moules
Gratin sit alongside Wild Shrimp Carpaccio, Tuna “Charmant,” King
Crab Croque and dishes that pull directly from the chef’s years in
the Caribbean.
And if you spent any time at Palm
Heights in Grand Cayman, you probably already know Brodsky’s
food. During his time there, the hotel evolved into something of a
cool-kid Caribbean clubhouse, drawing a fashion, music and creative
crowd while quietly serving some of the best food on the island.
Brodsky was behind much of it, including the burger at Tillies that
developed its own devoted following. IYKYK.
Cafe Charmant NYC: Chef Jake Tylker Brodsky
But Cayman gave Brodsky more than a few
cult dishes. The island’s mix of Caymanian, Jamaican, Filipino,
British and other international influences broadened the way he
cooks, something that now turns up in unexpected places at
Charmant.
“My time in the Cayman Islands shifted
my perspective on food and taught me to look at ingredients and
different culinary cultures in new ways,” says Brodsky.
That makes dishes like Crispy Shrimp
Polynesian, Curry Duck Pastel and Razor Clam pasta feel less like
twists thrown onto a French menu for effect and more like the
natural next chapter for a chef who spent years cooking in one of
the Caribbean’s most culturally diverse food destinations.
Cafe Charmant NYC: King Crab Croque
Cafe Charmant is also the latest
chapter in a busy stretch for Eugene
Remm and his team. Remm, whose New York hospitality career
stretches from the city’s 2000s nightlife scene through the launch
of Catch and its subsequent expansion, has spent the past couple of
years building a new collection of distinctly New York restaurants.
The Corner Store arrived in SoHo in 2024, followed by The Eighty
Six in the former historic Chumley’s space and the live-fire
Mediterranean restaurant Or’esh. Cafe Charmant is the fourth — and
this time, Remm deliberately put Brodsky front and center.
“We wanted to give Chef Jake the
opportunity to create something with his own point of view,” Remm
says, describing Charmant as “a modern take on a simple, elegant
European feel that is familiar yet unexpected.”
That point of view extends beyond the
kitchen. Rockwell Group designed the restaurant with the French
Riviera in mind, using navy and ochre, dark wood, leather
upholstery and warm limewashed walls. It nods to the Côte d’Azur
without making Bleecker Street feel like it has suddenly acquired a
Saint-Tropez theme.
Cafe Charmant NYC
At the bar, Lucas Robinson — also
behind the drinks at The Corner Store, The Eighty Six and Or’esh —
worked directly with Brodsky and the kitchen to create the cocktail
program. The Provençal Dirty Martini, Vanilla Garibaldi and
Cucumber Sour sit alongside a wine list from Wine Director Emily
Buse.
But the reason to come to Cafe Charmant
is ultimately Brodsky’s food. After seven years in Cayman, he’s
back in New York with a much bigger culinary vocabulary — and
anyone still thinking about that burger now has a new place to find
him.
Dining and Cooking