The End of the Jams Session

Jonathan Waxman’s Jams, which introduced “California cuisine” to New York City, is no more. Waxman, former chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica, opened the place five years ago on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in partnership with wine importer Melvyn Master. (The name Jams is an abbreviation of Jonathan and Melvyn’s. ) The pair subsequently went on to launch Hulot’s, a neighborhood French bistro sort of a place, not far away; Bud’s, a casual restaurant with a tropical air, on the West Side; a Western-themed bar and restaurant called Sagebrush Canyon downtown; and a second Jams in London.

Last year their partnership came apart. Master retained Bud’s, which he has subsequently closed. An interest in Jams in London has been sold to local entrepreneurs, but Waxman remains chairman of the board of the corporation that owns it and makes frequent visits there in an advisory capacity. Hulot’s and Sagebrush Canyon, both run by former managers at the New York Jams, continue to go their own way with low-key Waxman participation, while Waxman has been devoting most of his own energies recently to the original Jams.

Now, though, he says, it’s time for a change. He’s tired of Jams as it stands and wants to open something “more in keeping with the times” in its place. Therefore, as you read this, an extensive (but brief) remodeling of the Jams site is under way; among other things, says Waxman, the bar will be moved to the back of the restaurant, seating capacity will increase and a new entryway will be built.

The new place, scheduled to open this week, will be called J.W.’s, and it will be, Waxman promises, a more casual venue “where people can eat on a regular basis.” He will keep some Jams standby dishes on the menu, he adds, including his wild mushroom salad, grilled chicken with French fries (widely considered to be the best in New York) and Heath Bar tart. Otherwise, the bill of fare will be shorter and will change more radically from day to day than the Jams menu, he says, and will range from oysters on the half shell to such dishes as tacos filled with roast leg of lamb meat and grilled shiitake mushrooms.

WEALTH INSPECTORS: Ever refuse to patronize a restaurant because you’ve read that it is guilty of health code violations? Ever dine in confidence because you know a place has passed inspection? If so, consider this: Twenty-eight current and former New York City Health Department inspectors and supervisors, all of them supposedly concerned with ensuring the health safety of restaurant dining rooms and kitchens, were recently charged with extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from local restaurants since the early 1980s. About 30 of the city’s restaurants, many of them on Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side, apparently paid regular bribes and offered free meals to inspectors in return for a, er, clean bill of health. Additionally, some restaurants that were not in violation of city health codes were apparently listed as offenders in order to give certain inspectors leverage against them.

THE GRILL OF SUMMER: Bob Spivak, Dick Shapiro and Mike Weinstock, owners of the Grill in Beverly Hills, have revealed plans to open a second restaurant, described as “a contemporized version of the classic American grills found in major urban centers during the 1930s and 1940s,” this time in the new Brentwood Gardens retail complex on San Vicente. The restaurant, as yet unnamed, will be less expensive and more casual than the Grill. The menu will include such fare as Cobb salad (a real one for a change, I hope, instead of more of the usual nonsense served around Los Angeles under that name), chicken pot pie, corned beef and cabbage, and braised short ribs. Opening date is projected for early summer.