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Still Peachy on its Silver Jubilee

by = Stan=20 Parish
Posted July 9, 2008

The Frog and the Peach has been among the = state=E2=80=99s best=20 restaurants for 25 years. Meet the visionary couple behind this = long-running=20 hit.

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Photos: Christopher Villano

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Jumbo lump crab salad Napoleon with = five-spice wontons,=20 mango, and green curry dressing.

Photo by Christopher Villano

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The dramatic first-floor bar.

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Betsy Alger and Jim Black have run the Frog = and the=20 Peach from the start. Black gave the restaurant its look and feel; Alger = is=20 responsible for everything else.

Photo by Christopher = Villano

Betsy Alger is no screaming tyrant, but for 25 years she has run the = Frog and=20 the Peach with a firm hand. Her onetime executive chef David Drake still = remembers the day he arrived at the New Brunswick restaurant to discover = the=20 steel door to the walk-in refrigerator covered from top to bottom with a = scolding=E2=80=94penned by Alger=E2=80=94for a sous-chef who had = improperly replaced some stock.=20 It was the sous- chef=E2=80=99s second day at the restaurant, and Drake = had the=20 dishwashers scrub off the felt-tip writing=E2=80=94earning him a = reprimand from his=20 boss.

Alger and her husband, Jim Black, are celebrating the silver = anniversary of=20 the Frog and the Peach this summer. For a restaurant to come this far is = rare;=20 for it to remain among the best in the state after a quarter of a = century is=20 almost unheard of. Some simply do not want to believe it. = =E2=80=9CPeople are always=20 trying to discredit us,=E2=80=9D Alger says. =E2=80=9CThey say, = =E2=80=98It can=E2=80=99t possibly be any good,=20 it=E2=80=99s been around too long.=E2=80=99=E2=80=9D

The Frog and the Peach has survived civic battles, economic = downturns, and an=20 embezzling employee to serve an untold number of guests. It also has = served as=20 the spawning ground for many of the era=E2=80=99s most heralded chefs = and was central to=20 New Brunswick=E2=80=99s emergence as a dining haven.

The restaurant was Black=E2=80=99s idea, and he is the reason it is = still physically=20 standing. He is behind the look and feel of the Frog and the Peach, but = Alger is=20 responsible for everything else. She was the first executive chef, and = although=20 she stopped cooking in 1988, it would be difficult to overstate her = influence.=20 Her current titles=E2=80=94proprietor and director of = operations=E2=80=94reflect the philosophy=20 she has had from the start: It=E2=80=99s her restaurant, and she is in = charge.

Alger has eaten lunch at the restaurant almost every day for the past = 25=20 years and sits down for dinner in the dining room at least once a week, = keeping=20 a sharp eye on the food and the service. =E2=80=9CThe other day I had an = overcooked=20 frittata that I couldn=E2=80=99t believe came from our kitchen,=E2=80=9D = she says, noting that=20 she is not afraid to send back her own food.

Black has horticulture and environmental science degrees and Alger = has a=20 degree in plant science, but it was a restaurant that brought them = together. The=20 scene was a New Brunswick tavern called Doll=E2=80=99s Place, where = Alger was a server=20 and Black was a regular. He was 32 when they met in 1977, commuting from = New=20 Brunswick to Princeton, where he worked as a landscape architect. Alger = was six=20 years younger and working in a plant store when she was not waiting = tables or=20 studying at Rutgers for her horticulture teaching certificate. They = married in=20 1980. By then Black was tired of his job and talking about opening a=20 restaurant.

Soon after, Alger enrolled in the New York Restaurant School. The = program was=20 designed to teach entrepreneurial skills as well as roasting and = braising. The=20 chefs who taught her were acolytes of Alice Waters and the movement out = of=20 California that emphasized fresh, local ingredients and flavor = combinations that=20 allowed them to shine. The future chef of the Frog and the Peach knew = exactly=20 what she wanted: =E2=80=9CAmerican food. Not continental cuisine, not = French, not=20 Italian. Fresh, clean, and innovative.=E2=80=9D

Several years earlier, Black had been bought out of his first New = Brunswick=20 apartment building to make way for Johnson & Johnson=E2=80=99s = headquarters. With=20 the money from the sale, he purchased an old industrial complex facing = Route 18.=20 Black planned to open a restaurant there named for a Dudley Moore comedy = routine=20 about an eatery that served only peaches and frogs. This time New = Brunswick=20 bought him out, clearing the way for the Hyatt Hotel. Anxious to get = started on=20 a restaurant, Black sank the money from that sale into 29 Dennis Street, = a small=20 industrial building just a few blocks away in Hiram Square.

In the late 1970s, Johnson & Johnson was threatening to pack its = bags=20 unless New Brunswick cleaned up its act. Once again, New Brunswick = wanted Black=20 to move. What followed was an epic battle in which the city used every = tactic=20 imaginable, including having Hiram Square removed from the state = historical=20 register to clear the way for demolition. This time Black fought = eviction=E2=80=94and=20 prevailed. The rest of the neighborhood was eventually demolished; the = Frog and=20 the Peach stood with one other restaurant and a synagogue in a bulldozed = wasteland.

Today the restaurant looks very much a piece of = its=20 rejuvenated neighborhood, hemmed in by quaint brick townhouses, and just = one=20 block from the Highlands, a luxury condo complex where a one-bedroom = goes for=20 $1,650 a month. The building at 29 Dennis Street once housed the = printing=20 presses for New Brunswick=E2=80=99s local paper, the Home News, and = later became a=20 suitcase-handle factory. The space was key to Black. He began with a = blank=20 slate, gutting the interior and painting the exposed- brick walls a = stark,=20 marble white.
The interior has grown with its owners, from the = original=20 post-industrial chic to the lived-in, homey feel the restaurant has = today. The=20 walls=E2=80=94still the same exposed brick=E2=80=94are a muted beige. = The restaurant looks=20 meticulously cluttered, like a carefully curated collection of artifacts = accumulated over the last 25 years. Which is exactly what it = is.

The first thing you notice as you walk in the door is the trio of = light=20 fixtures suspended from the second-story ceiling that hang down over the = first-floor bar. Designed by one of the many architects that Black has = hired=20 over the years, they look like giant air ducts cast in translucent gold = that=20 simultaneously fill and magnify the open space above the bar. The = framework is=20 aluminum and the skin is made of spandex. Matching gold disks hang over = the=20 dining room behind the bar and the smaller wine room behind it, visual = echoes=20 that draw your eye back through the space.

There are 90 seats in the original building spread across five dining = spaces,=20 each with its own texture and feel. The most requested spot in the = restaurant is=20 table 51, perched at the top of the stairs on the lower balcony where = all the=20 tables have a bird=E2=80=99s- eye view of the bar. Behind the balcony is = an elevated=20 banquet room that sits over the cozy wine room and the kitchen. The = glassed-in=20 garden room attached to the building holds approximately 40 seats. It = was an=20 open patio before Black added a trellis, then walls, and finally a full=20 enclosure and a gleaming radiant-heated marble floor that allows it to = stay open=20 in all but the coldest months.

One architect came up with a scheme to =E2=80=9Ccasualize=E2=80=9D = the bar, which was often=20 empty in the restaurant=E2=80=99s early days thanks to a lack of music = and the proximity=20 to the hushed atmosphere of the dining rooms. The idea=E2=80=94proof = that you should be=20 wary of anyone who uses =E2=80=9Ccasual=E2=80=9D as a verb=E2=80=94was = to install a series of wooden=20 frogs, approximately 2-feet high, at intervals along the bar, and fake = reeds=20 with illuminated blown-glass tops to make the space look busy and = inviting. And=20 it would have worked=E2=80=94if people went to bars for the company of = giant wooden=20 frogs. The first customer balked at the display as he came through the = door.=20 =E2=80=9CWhat is this?=E2=80=9D he asked. =E2=80=9CVoodoo = night?=E2=80=9D The holes Black had drilled in his=20 treasured bar have been plugged; the frogs and reeds have been relegated = to his=20 attic.

The bar is somewhat noisier these days. Five years ago, the Frog and = the=20 Peach added a casual bistro menu that is served at the bar and = throughout the=20 restaurant during dinner. It includes pat=C3=A9, grilled venison = sausage, and an=20 excellent hanger steak with chimichurri sauce and a pile of bitter = greens=20 balanced by sweet red peppers. Bartender Christian Hanson, who draws a = crowd of=20 regulars, is another reason things are busy.

When the Frog = and the=20 Peach opened on June 7, 1983, the menu=E2=80=94composed in = Alger=E2=80=99s careful, even=20 hand=E2=80=94described the kind of simple, green market-driven cuisine = that was clearly=20 ahead of its time. That was an era when reviewers had to explain that = pancetta=20 was salt pork and chanterelles were mushrooms.

The original menu had a heavy emphasis on domestic = products=E2=80=94Hunterdon County=20 goat cheese on an arugula salad, New Hampshire cob smoked ham with = asparagus,=20 and a California zinfandel sauce on beef tenderloin instead of the = requisite=20 French wine sauce. David Drake, who as a 24-year-old =E2=80=9Cdinner = chef=E2=80=9D helped open=20 the restaurant, remembers the early preparations as simple to a fault. = The fish=20 on the opening menu was saut=C3=A9ed salmon with dill butter and a = parsley garnish.=20 The sides were the same on almost every dish: turned potatoes and a = medley of=20 seasonal vegetables, julienned and saut=C3=A9ed. Today there is rice = flake-crusted=20 arctic char with morels, corn, and squash blossoms in a pinot noir = sauce.

For reviewers of the period, the biggest qualm was the price point. = The Frog=20 and the Peach has always been an expensive restaurant. In 1983, $15 was = a hefty=20 price for that beef tenderloin. Still, by the time the New York Times = awarded=20 the Frog and the Peach two stars in October of its first year, the = restaurant=20 had become a dining destination, attracting an increasingly far-flung = crowd.=20 There was an element of adventure to a trip there, thanks to what the = Home News=20 generously described as the =E2=80=9Csociological contrast=E2=80=9D = between the restaurant and=20 its surroundings. =E2=80=9CI think it helped us,=E2=80=9D Black insists. = =E2=80=9CThere were people who=20 felt very brave for coming here.=E2=80=9D

In those pre-cell phone days, the pay phone in the = restaurant=E2=80=99s vestibule=20 served as the neighborhood phone line and the people living in the = tenement=20 across the street would prop open the outer door to hear = =E2=80=9Ctheir=E2=80=9D phone when it=20 rang. Mild-mannered, soft-spoken Jim Black, who still insists that he = misses the=20 old neighborhood, has a scar on his palm from the night he ripped the = handset=20 out of the wall, slicing his hand open in the process. =E2=80=9CRemember = those=20 vandal-proof metal cords?=E2=80=9D he laughs, showing me his hand.

On opening night, some neighbors across the street decided to = =E2=80=9Cmove=E2=80=9D and=20 began throwing their furniture from the top story window into the street = below.=20 Black was standing by the restaurant=E2=80=99s door as a party of what = he describes as=20 =E2=80=9Cpinhead Princeton people=E2=80=9D walked to their car. = =E2=80=9COh, look!=E2=80=9D one woman exclaimed.=20 =E2=80=9CStreet theater!=E2=80=9D Residents of Dennis Street were less = amused by the=20 restaurant=E2=80=99s customers. =E2=80=9CThere was a lot of resentment = from the people in the=20 neighborhood because the restaurant was this polished jewel in a = desolate area,=E2=80=9D=20 Drake recalls.

Prices being what they are, the Frog and the Peach has always = attracted an=20 affluent crowd. On any given night you might find Johnson & Johnson=20 executives entertaining clients, college professors congratulating a = colleague=20 on a published paper, a young couple celebrating an anniversary or a new = job.=20 Everyone is well dressed; most look over 50. Alger insists that they = feed=20 everyone from the drug reps to =E2=80=9Cthe tattoo crowd.=E2=80=9D There = is no jacket=20 requirement at the restaurant and no ban on denim. The official = dress code=20 reads: =E2=80=9CCome however you are most comfortable.=E2=80=9D =

In 1988 Drake=20 moved on, and Alger took the opportunity to step out of the kitchen. By = then,=20 she and Black had had a son, Dylan, born in 1985. (Two daughters, Hannah = and=20 Emily, would follow.) Alger promoted her sous chef, resulting in what = she admits=20 was a low point in the cuisine. Two years later Drake was hired back, = this time=20 as executive chef. =E2=80=9CThe food had lost its focus,=E2=80=9D Drake = says. He initiated a=20 back-to-basics movement in the kitchen, brought in cooks from New York, = and took=20 up the slack that his former sous chef had left behind. He also = persuaded Black=20 to build larger tabletops in order to accommodate larger plates (the = size the=20 restaurant uses today). That gave the kitchen a broader canvas for more=20 ambitious pairings and platings.

It paid off. In a rave New York Times review, which conferred an = =E2=80=9Cexcellent=E2=80=9D=20 on the restaurant (the equivalent of three stars), reviewer Valerie = Sinclair=20 described Drake as =E2=80=9Cone of the best chefs in New = Jersey.=E2=80=9D Today Drake=E2=80=99s=20 eponymous restaurant in Rahway is one of the finest in the state, and he = is=20 co-owner and executive chef at Daryl Wine Bar & Restaurant in New = Brunswick,=20 named best new restaurant in this issue=E2=80=99s = =E2=80=9CReaders=E2=80=99 Choice Restaurant Poll=E2=80=9D (see=20 page 55).

The Frog and the Peach has a reputation as New Jersey=E2=80=99s = version of the River=20 Caf=C3=A9, the restaurant under the Brooklyn Bridge that turned out = chefs like David=20 Burke, Charlie Palmer, and Larry Forgione. Alger=E2=80=99s former chefs = credit her with=20 teaching them how to run not just a kitchen but a restaurant, and it is = telling=20 how many of them have gone on to do exactly that. Stanley Novack, who = took over=20 when Drake left for good in 1992, is now the chef/owner of the Harvest = Moon Inn=20 in Ringoes. Eric Hambrecht, who followed a few years later, is now = executive=20 chef and partner at the Stage House in Scotch Plains. Earlier this year = Alger=20 was elected chairwoman of the New Jersey Restaurant Association, the = first time=20 in its history that a woman has held that position. Her appointment made = it=20 official: She=E2=80=99s the grande dame of New Jersey fine dining.

In person, Alger is polite and reserved, soft-spoken, slightly=20 self-conscious. But quote a bad review and there is a flash in her eyes = that=20 reminds you that this woman has kept a top-notch restaurant alive for a = quarter=20 of a century. At one point during our first conversation, her husband=20 interrupted a story she was telling with a tangentially related anecdote = about a=20 recent trip he had taken. Sensing his wife=E2=80=99s icy stare, he cut = himself short and=20 apologized. Alger cleared her throat and continued.

She is a perfectionist and a tireless worker, and she holds her staff = to high=20 standards. In the early days, she often addressed workers=E2=80=99 = mistakes by writing=20 notes for all to see on the kitchen wall. =E2=80=9CBetsy Alger,=E2=80=9D = says Hambrecht, =E2=80=9Cis not=20 the easiest person to work for.=E2=80=9D

Alger has overseen every menu the restaurant has ever offered, and = although=20 she religiously reads trade publications and dines out to stay on top of = trends,=20 the evolution of the food has had more to do with her tastes and = inclinations=20 than culinary fads.

Still, there have been certain concessions to an increasingly=20 health-conscious clientele. In 1996, a circle next to a menu listing of = steamed=20 salmon in a lemongrass, coriander, and ginger broth signified that the = dish was=20 made without butter or cream. There was another symbol for vegetarian = dishes,=20 and during the low-carb craze, yet another designation was added for=20 Atkins-friendly food. =E2=80=9CIt got to be overkill after a = while,=E2=80=9D Alger admits. The=20 menu annotations are no longer with us, but the kitchen can change = dishes on the=20 fly to accommodate everything from celiac disease to veganism.

=E2=80=9CI never would have imagined raw fish on our menu,=E2=80=9D = Alger says, which is=20 ironic because the tuna sashimi is the longest-running item, offered as = an=20 appetizer since 1992. The compact mound of creamy fish is topped with = crunchy,=20 salty tobiko and a sprig of fresh mint, and served in a lemongrass broth = with=20 thinly sliced cucumber and red onion laid out like the petals of a = flower. The=20 dish outlasted its creator, Vincent Barcelona, who was briefly the = executive=20 chef in the mid-1990s. =E2=80=9CHe had some great items in his menu = repertoire,=E2=80=9D Alger=20 says, =E2=80=9Cbut he didn=E2=80=99t have a lot beyond = that.=E2=80=9D

The executive chef today is Bruce Lefebvre, who started his career at = the=20 restaurant as a line cook fresh out of the Culinary Institute of = America. He is=20 mild mannered outside the kitchen, but when I mention that impression to = Alger,=20 she laughs. =E2=80=9CBruce has his moments,=E2=80=9D she says. Recently, = the chef petitioned her=20 to add to the menu an octopus salad with celery, radicchio di Treviso, = white=20 beans, spicy red wine vinaigrette, and pimientos de Padr=C3=B3n. Alger = was hesitant=20 but it went on the menu on a Friday and was the biggest-selling = appetizer over=20 the weekend.

Alger seems happy to report her chef=E2=80=99s occasional = willfulness, perhaps=20 because running the kitchen of an iconic 25-year-old restaurant is no = small task=20 (for a full review, see page 102). Lefebvre has to keep things = interesting=20 enough to draw new business without straying too far. It is a fine line = to walk.=20

Contemporary dining is moving inexorably toward small plates, = but=20 portions at the Frog and the Peach remain plus-sized to accommodate the=20 regulars, some of whom have been coming from the start, and who still = come in=20 for just one course. Alger still has a hand in the menu, but her = conversations=20 with her chef are largely conceptual. Most of what she does is=20 dovetailing=E2=80=94making sure that when duck breast with goat-cheese = polenta and=20 muscat grapes is on the dinner menu, a warm salad of duck confit is on = the=20 bistro menu to make use of the leg meat from the whole ducks they have = to buy.=20 Lefebvre=E2=80=99s personal influences can be seen in the way he updates = the simple,=20 classic dishes the restaurant has served from the start. His wife is = from Mexico=20 City, and there is cojita cheese sprinkled on a meltingly tender filet = of beef=20 instead of the de rigueur blue, and the sweet potato pur=C3=A9e it is = served with has=20 the subtle kick and smoke of chipotle.

The kitchen staff is made up entirely of recent culinary-school = grads, most=20 of whom have been there less than two years. Starting with her = connections at=20 the Art Institute of New York City, Alger has created a training ground = for=20 young talent coming out of area schools. =E2=80=9CThey show up at twelve = even though we=20 don=E2=80=99t start paying them until two,=E2=80=9D Lefebvre says of the = cooks working under him=20 today. =E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re hungry, and they have a passion for what = they=E2=80=99re doing that you=20 don=E2=80=99t see in people who just work the line.=E2=80=9D

A quarter of a century has brought plenty of hard times for the Frog = and the=20 Peach. The previous recession did not help, and an embezzling employee = nearly=20 put the restaurant out of business in the early 1990s. The last five = years have=20 been the hardest. Alger cites the saturation of the New Brunswick = fine-dining=20 scene and New Jersey=E2=80=99s abysmal financial state. =E2=80=9CEvery = time you turn around=20 there=E2=80=99s a new tax disguised as a fee of some sort,=E2=80=9D she = says. Rising energy=20 costs and the recent economic downturn have not helped. In the last six = months,=20 enough diners have opted for the bistro menu at dinner to lower the = average=20 check total.

In 2007 the owners installed solar panels, which produce 25% of the=20 restaurant=E2=80=99s energy needs. But installation was more expensive = than anticipated,=20 and by the time the system was in place, the state-sponsored incentive = had been=20 drastically reduced. Ultimately, the decrease in the energy bill was = negated by=20 the cost of the system. =E2=80=9CWe just spent the money differently to = show our=20 politics,=E2=80=9D Alger says.
Have they considered selling? = =E2=80=9CEvery single day,=E2=80=9D=20 Alger and Black respond, almost in unison. But they both possess that = strain of=20 masochism unique to people in the restaurant business that has them = thinking=20 about opening another place even as they ponder selling the successful = business=20 they have built. Still, the difference in their ages is starting to = show.

When I meet him for the first time, Black, now 60, has just returned = from=20 Mexico, where he was looking at homes in M=C3=A9rida. He continues to = meet with=20 architects about the Frog and the Peach and tinkers with the design, but = he is=20 clearly not as involved. Alger, 53, says she has a few more years of = work in=20 her=E2=80=94and plenty of messages on her machine from developers. The = right project has=20 not come along yet, but she will not rule out anything.

So how about putting frogs and peaches on the menu? =E2=80=9CWe have = put frog legs on=20 the menu before,=E2=80=9D says Alger, =E2=80=9Cbut they just = don=E2=80=99t taste that good. They need=20 lots of garlic and butter, and even then they=E2=80=99re not worth the = effort. And I=20 don=E2=80=99t think garlic and peaches would sell.=E2=80=9D

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