In 2024, chef Jackie Carnesi, with the help of owner Louis Skibar, rejuvenated the then-96-year-old Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg into an exciting Brooklyn dining destination, applying her fun and creative cooking sensibilities through Tex-Mex touches. But then, this past March, she announced that she was leaving the restaurant for a new project.
Her new gig as co-partner and executive chef is at Bar Susanne, a cocktail and raw bar opening in Williamsburg at 6 River Street, between South Fourth and Fifth streets, on Friday, May 15.
Co-owner Matthew Maddy is a well-known restaurant designer; in fact, he and his business partner, Nico Arze, worked with two of Carnesi’s previous employers, Nura and Kellogg’s, under their company Walk and Talk Consulting. That’s why Maddy tapped her to run the kitchen at 75-seat, 2,500 square-foot Bar Susanne, after he and co-owner Marisa Maddy Ripo opened Cafe Susanne next door last fall. Both are in a prime location: directly north of the Williamsburg Bridge on the Brooklyn side, part of Domino Park.
Jackie Carnesi in front of Bar Susanne’s raw bar. Lorenzo Bongiovani
At Bar Susanne, Carnesi gets to focus on seafood sourced from New York waterways, taking her cues from the coasts of Italy, France, and Spain. “It’s not pushing the envelope too much with the type of seafood we’re using,” she says, “but more so trying to introduce New York to what’s around here and what people are pulling in from close by, whether that’s razor clams, scallops, mussels, or fluke.” Also look out for steamed periwinkles — a rarity on local menus.
Other seafood dishes include shrimp cocktail served with an aioli made with roasted shrimp shells; scallop crudo with turmeric, tangerine, and hibiscus-pickled onions; grilled squid with butter beans, mustard greens, preserved lemon, and chimichurri; and fluke Milanese with sauce gribiche, hakurei turnips, and wilted radicchios.
The grilled squid at Bar Susanne. Lorenzo Bongiovani
The fluke Milanesa at Bar Susanne. Lorenzo Bongiovani
Caviar at Bar Susanne. Lorenzo Bongiovani
The strawberry fish galette at Bar Susanne. Lorenzo Bongiovani
Beyond the raw bar, Carnesi will serve a Caesar salad with celery, hearts of palm, mint, and Parmesan; crudites with a spicy cilantro dip; a dry-aged cheeseburger; and a roasted Sasso chicken with fries and a rich chicken jus.
Carnesi gets whimsical when it comes to desserts. There’s a fish-shaped galette with “scales” made out of strawberries and a play on oyster shooters with fruit sorbet topped with coconut creme anglaise and basil oil served on oyster shells.
Bar director and co-partner Milos Zica (a partner of Brooklyn bar Fandi Mata and formerly of Employees Only) is focusing on martinis, agave cocktails, low ABV options, as well as New York wines.
Maddy and Carnesi describe Bar Susanne as “feminine.” One of Maddy’s mentors, artist Susanne Greene, is the cafe and bar’s namesake; she was his mother’s best friend. In honor of her, both spaces have “a very strong, female artistic personality, and Jackie fits perfectly into that,” he says. On the walls, they hung artwork by Maddy’s mother, Barbara Chapman.
The Domino Effect cocktail at Bar Susanne. Lorenzo Bongiovani
Bar Susanne faces the Williamsburg Bridge. Lorenzo Bongiovani
The hardwood oak floors are sourced from Architectural Salvage on Long Island; the bar top is made of teakwood stone; and there’s plenty of red Spanish marble. Because the building itself is concrete, “it’s nice to have some elements that are more warm, old, and homey,” Maddy says. There’s a photobooth, too.
James Freeman, who formerly worked at Brooklyn restaurants Sweet Science and Sally’s, rounds out Bar Susanne’s partner team.
Both Cafe and Bar Susanne are meant to work together. Cafe Susanne is for all-day dining and drinking, from coffee and pastries in the daytime to wines, beers, and low-ABV cocktails in the evenings. Bar Susanne is a fuller option for food, drinks, and more.
“You don’t need to be on your best behavior,” Maddy says. “It’s a place to really feel like you’re celebrating, and I think raw bars are great for that. It’s a New Yorker: it can get dressed up, but it can get dressed down.”
Bar Susanne’s hours are from 5 to 11 p.m. nightly.
Matthew Maddy, Marisa Maddy Ripo, James Freeman, and Milos Zica. Bar Susanne