Sneak peek at Jansz.

At the soon-to-open Jansz. restaurant at the Pulitzer Amsterdam hotel in the Jordaan, American chef Cassidy Hallman, who has Japanese and European roots, cooks elevated comfort food rather than luxury hotel classics. For the hotel-chic crowd and local Jordaan residents alike. Food editor at large Marjan Ippel – also a Jordaan resident – got an exclusive sneak peek.

It was a warm October evening when I entered the candlelit building that was to become Jansz. with a small group of chosen guests. We entered through the old pharmacy into a nineteenth-century pop-up punch bar – the kind that existed back then. The dining room next door was still partly a construction site. Between the scaffolding stood the makeshift dining table, with large candelabras on the damask due to the lack of electricity.

As magical as that already was, the fairy tale only really began when the first dish appeared on the plate. In a luxury hotel like the Pulitzer, I expected complicated dishes executed in dots, lines, foams and powders. But – much to my delight – I was served meatballs and gnocchi.

In merchant style

Now, two months later, the restaurant is almost finished. The final electrical outlets are being installed before the doors on Reestraat officially open to the public at the beginning of February. They provide access to an interior dominated by atmospheric colors and wooden wall panels, in Amsterdam merchant style. Jacu Strauss, formerly a senior designer at Tom Dixon, had the original seventeenth-century resident in mind: the wealthy coppersmith Volkert Jansz..

While tile setters install the final tiles, I speak to Cassidy Hallman, who more or less lives at Jansz. to get his kitchen ready in time.

Our threshold is deliberately low. We want to satisfy both the chic hotel guest and the local Jordaan resident, at any time of day.

Momofuku Ko

The chef, born in San Diego, California, worked in New York for Bouley and Momofuku Ko, among others. He traveled all over the world before ending up in Amsterdam. A new city for him, giving him a fresh perspective on the gastronomic scene.

Hallman: “There are plenty of opportunities here. The Michelin-starred restaurants are genuinely good. But the middle section is a kind of roulette: either you get lucky, or you really don’t. Then the decor looks beautiful, but the flavors disappoint. And flavors should come first, after all. I notice that Dutch people want large portions for little money. So we need to get the quality and pricing right.”

Local Jordaan resident

“Our threshold is deliberately low. We want to satisfy both the chic hotel guest and the local Jordaan resident, at any time of day. Jansz. will therefore be a mix of luxury and low-end. We take quality ingredients and don’t do too much or make things too complicated with them. No fuss. Of course we use certain cooking techniques, but not every plate needs a foam or powder. Some of our best dishes – such as cauliflower with mushrooms – contain only three ingredients and are still amazing.”

Or short rib, by no means a luxurious cut of meat, but if you cook it sous-vide and then sear it, it takes on a luxurious feel. Just like chicken liver pâté on toast. Not every dish needs to be foie gras. If a little chicken dish rises above average, you’re doing well. After all, nobody wants fine dining every day anymore. When I go out to eat myself, I mainly want to feel comfortable, without any fuss.’

Hallman’s mentors range from Momofuku’s David Chang – ‘a good business mentor’ – to Corey Lee

Brown butter gnocchi

Important flavorings for Hallman are spices, which he incorporates into a mix of Californian, French, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Moroccan and Italian influences. “I don’t like restrictions; I hate being chained to one type of cuisine. I didn’t get a tattoo on my back for nothing, saying (in Japanese) My training never stops.”

And that training came from some of the best. Hallman’s mentors range from Momofuku’s David Chang – ‘a good business mentor’ – to Corey Lee (formerly of French Laundry and Per Se; now at Benu in San Francisco) – ‘a phenomenal chef’. “But my Japanese grandmother and my mother were equally great culinary influences. I also draw inspiration from old French cookbooks, for example. And music. Music can pull me out of a difficult dish. From jazz to hip-hop.”

In a luxury canal-belt hotel like the Pulitzer, serving elevated comfort food is at least as ambitious as pursuing haute cuisine.
So give this Jordaan resident the brown butter gnocchi with lamb and Tuscan spices (which unfortunately didn’t make the final menu), and the meatballs in tomato sauce I ate during the sneak dinner. Any day.

Restaurant Jansz. Reestraat 8 Amsterdam.

Text: Marjan Ippel
Image: Restaurant Jansz.