In a nutshell, Jack Sprat serves honest food. We strive to find the best ingredients by learning where they come from and how they are grown. Then, we create each meal from scratch. We use your dollars to support local, organic, and sustainable products to promote a healthy planet. You will find humanely raised meats, wild caught seafood, and lots of fresh vegetables on every plate. We change our menu seasonally in order to serve the freshest food possible.
Newspaper Reviews
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(ANCHORAGE PRESS REVIEW 2009)
I've always been convinced that Girdwood has some of the best food in the Greater Anchorage area. Eight years ago, Jack Sprat, coined from the nursery rhyme, entered the Glacier City's cuisine scene, and today their operation is leagues above most Anchorage restaurants. Quite possibly, this is because Jen and Frans Weits, co-owners, operators, chefs, and a good part of the inspiration behind the menu, have put their blood, sweat, and earnest creativity into every pot, kettle, and corner of their restaurant. For example: the building itself. You may remember the chalet Jack Sprat inhabits, just below Chair 3 and the Sitzmark as a Yogoslavian restaurant, or Mezzaluna, or Edelweiss. Times have seriously changed. The once shabby, basic, and slightly austere building is now one of Girdwood's most charming. Inside, the Weits' strict attention to detail is cleverly implemented, from the rotating table adornments and quality salt in the shakers, to the clean food presentation, and tested, educated wait staff.
It's difficult to adequately describe Jack Sprat's atmosphere, one of the key elements, I believe, to its success. The swanky lighting, tasteful music selection, and golden wood paneling are just some elements that create a seductive air. Six spacious booths comprise the classy front dining room, separated by large stained glass pieces by a local artist, from the 8-table solarium. Above the solarium - a modified deck with large door/windows which are kept open (and include mosquito netting) most summer days - an abundance of plants spill down from a room above, creating a lush, fresh, and comfortable aura. For the scrutinizing or curious, there's just a set of beer taps that separate a five seat bar from the fish bowl of kitchen action.
Ambiance aside, the menu is outstanding. There's a clear intent to please the gluttonous to the finicky, and everyone in between. For example, the appetizers and sides. Two diurnal soup choices are offered- one vegetarian ($6). Recently I was pleasantly surprised with a golden beat puree, drizzled with spicy chili oil. A bruschetta option ($8) also changes daily, from choices like smoked salmon and brie cheese with a mild red onion salad, or roasted tomatoes with shrimp and avocado. Gorgonzola-stuffed dates, wrapped in bacon, are skewered, grilled, and served with a dew-like balsamic reduction ($8.50). One night's special appetizer was a spinach and cheese dip, characteristic of Jack Sprat's style, a classier version of a familiar dish. Below the crisp top was a runny, tangy but mellow stew of parmesan, cheddar, and cream cheeses, with spinach folded in. The spinach was fresh, it retained a good part of its body, this it what it's like to eat good, real food. The Bake Shop's sourdough bread was grilled and served as accompaniment. Thick cut and dredged in cornstarch, the ever popular yam fries ($6 small, $9 large) are served with a roasted jalapeno and arugula aioli (also a great condiment addition to the all-natural Black Angus Burger for $12). There's a Roasted and Raw Beet Salad, with variable sized chunks of roasted, cooled red beats, a thick fresh herb vinaigrette, and an elegant tangle of raw golden beat curls ($7). Other sassy salad choices like the Nutty Jack, with candied walnuts, red onion, feta cheese, Mandarin oranges and a house-made raspberry vinaigrette over mixed spring greens (7), and the Wisconsin Blue Cheese Caesar ($6), can be topped with pecan encrusted Alaskan halibut, or gilled and roasted free-range chicken. My favorite is the BLT salad: halved red grapes, chunks of gorgonzola and hickory smoked bacon and tomato ($9); with toasted pecans it can easily expand the repertoire of the strictest carnivore.Speaking of meats, the Weits serve only all natural beef, free range chicken, and local game. Their most popular entre, the Tenderloin Maison, is endearingly tender, and makes me quiver, two weeks later. It was out standing, matched our temperature request perfectly, and served over a blue cheese potato cake, with sautéed spinach, and a shitake mushroom Madeira cream sauce ($33). The large, 100% Black Angus ribeye steak ($31) has a mouth watering salt crust, and comes with a sophisticated roasted carrot, celery, onion, garlic, and potato hash, with a bacon mushroom demi-glace. A special one night was a seared rare duck breast, over a citrus orange risotto, tossed with lightly cooked julienned bell peppers. The Chinese Noodle Bowl, a big steaming dish or Udon noodles, with shitakes, edamame, bean sprouts and a Szechuan sauce was a clear winner for cold hungry skiers ($21). And not to be missed is the Smoked Salmon Pasta, with a luscious, creamy blue cheese sauce over fettuccine noodles ($25). Note, this is the restaurant that, when I first started frequenting it, made me like brussel sprouts. Spurned as children, some of us sadly never return, but they were gems, sliced in half, par boiled, and sautéed in butter until the outer leaves were crisp, served just with salt and pepper.
The meat sourcing is just one example of Jack Sprat's loyalty to providing diners with sustainable and community-conscious ingredients. Sourdough bread for croutons comes from Girdwood's Bake Shop, burger rolls and salted rosemary rolls are baked at Cafe Europa. Fish is Alaska-spawned. Most notably, are the raw options. The raw food movement, based on the idea that cooking food destroys many of a food's nutritional value, has been increasingly spreading its influence across America. It's tough, not to mention expensive and a socially challenging, to practice a raw food diet in Alaska, and nearly impossible to find options in restaurants beyond salads. However the Weits, whose at-home diet consists largely of raw foods, wanted to practice what they preach. On the menu is a Raw Thai Pasta. Ribbons of thinly sliced zucchini and yellow squash comprise the bulk of the dish, and are mixed with raw bell peppers, green onion, carrot and tomato. The dish is tossed with fresh herbs, Thai chilies, and a lime yellow curry, and served over a mixture of soaked then pureed almonds, cashews, and coconuts ($19). Another innovative health conscious item is the vegetarian Squash Cornucopia, which consists of a mixture of Israeli cous cous, celery root, bell pepper, red potato, carrot, cranberries and beet spirals, baked in an acorn squash ($25).
The dessert menu also hosts a raw option: apple pie, made with delicately thin slices of apples, layered with organic raisins and cinnamon, in a raw almond-date crust ($7). True to their motto, there's also the decadent Chocolate Cup of Heaven, aptly described on the menu as an "Ooey-Gooey chocolate baked with caramel, topped with vanilla ice cream and strawberry port sauce," ($7). I have made the trip from Anchorage just for this dessert.
With two children who regularly dine in the restaurant, the Weits' firmly believe in providing a children's menu that delivers the restaurant's triumphs: nutritious, innovative, and welcoming. "Hook the children, hook the parents," I've heard Frans say. Options include Rice n' Peas Please, Trees (broccoli) and Cheese, and an all natural burger.
From 9:00am-3:00pm on both Saturdays and Sundays, Jack Sprat is open for its very popular brunch. The menu boasts a wide spectrum of options, like eggs Benedict with home-made lemon-dill hollandaise, Canadian bacon, fresh tomato, and sautéed spinach ($12), or a fresh tofu stir-fry ($12). A brunch special on a recent visit was an eggs Benedict made with crab cakes. My favorite is the huevos rancheros: two crispy locally-made corn tortillas layered with a mixture of ground beef and black beans, and topped with two sunny-side up eggs, fresh cabbage, and house salsa ($12). You can substitute the meat and beans for a mixture of organic brown and wild rice, winter berries, and barley. Coffee and espresso drinks (like a Mayan Mocha) are made from beans roasted in Palmer. Other drinks include mimosas, pop-pagnes (champagne with pomegranate juice), and Raspberry Ginger Brew.
The restaurant is available for rent: either the solarium, or the whole place. Jack Sprat also hosts special multi-course wine dinners, and this Valentine's Day they're featuring a Sweetheart's menu, kick off the introduction of a new beer tasting menu, and like usual, the "20 for $20" Twenty different bottles of wine for $20 each is a continuing special.
Enclosed in the bill fold is a note "Please Help Small Businesses," which implores customers to use cash or checks to avoid the credit card fees that can take a hefty chunk out of smaller operations' profits. The incentive: a monthly drawing from those who used alternative forms of payment to credit cards, for a $25 gift certificate.With a recent change of head chefs, Jack Sprat's menu will soon under go an over haul. The emphasis will continue to be on fat and lean global cuisine, but rather than dishes being influenced by a whole country, they will be created based on a particular region in a country.
When she wants something exotic, and healthy, and he wants comfort food, when she's in fur, and he's in jeans, for a first date, or feeding the youngins, Jack Sprat most definitely makes the mark. -ANCHORAGE PRESS REVIEW 2009
JACK SPRAT - GIRDWOOD'S SECRET FEAST
(By Charlene Worthley 2008)
Jack Sprat is a find. It's a little restaurant in the quaint town of Girdwood, Alaska just a smidge south of Anchorage. It is well worth the drive.
We arrived just as the evening sky was beginning to darken, lured by the welcoming glow of the lights, and the promise of superb dining. The welcome was warm indeed, and the promise was kept.
The room is intimate - just 6 tables, with the solarium holding 8 more. An outdoor deck is the spot during nice weather. No sooner were we comfortably seated in our Bavarian style booth, when the Chef brought plates of Shrimp a la Diabla - a large prawn sautéed with red chilies and served over organic spring greens. This was paired with a delightfully fruity, apricot toned Quady Electra dessert wine - a surprising and very appropriate choice. Then, we were left to browse an extensive and varied menu.
Jack Sprat, Fat and Lean World Cuisine is just that - a mixture of the healthful and the decadent, with a wide range of ethnic roots. This is not the old sixties "continental" cuisine. The culinary traditions from which this menu draws are honored and amped up. After the aforementioned shrimp, we went on to sample the Nutty Jack, a crisp green salad with raspberry vinaigrette (one of many salad choices) and yam fries with jalapeno-arugula aioli on the side. A salted rosemary loaf was served with roasted garlic infused olive oil. Are you beginning to get the idea?
Our entrees that evening were, for the vegetarians in the group, Raw Thai Pasta - living food consisting of yellow and green squash "noodles," served with other raw veggies tossed in a lime yellow curry and served over a raw fresh coconut-cashew-almond sauce. Another dish, stuffed balsamic roasted portobello mushrooms, filled with tomato, sweet pepper and spinach, served over saffron rice, garlic and fresh herbs could make the most devoted carnivore go veggie.
Ribeye Montreal was another selection. The generous steak was a grilled, all natural Black Angus ribeye served with mashed potatoes, roasted carrot and onion, and a smoked bacon mushroom demi-glace.
For me, however, the Halibut was the star of the show: pecan encrusted baked Alaska halibut served with the house rice blend, steamed broccoli and a classic lemon beurre blanc. It was crunchy, moist and entirely delectable.
Jack Sprat has an extensive wine list, foreign and domestic, and a truly sinful dessert menu. The créme Brulée was one of the best I have tasted. The Chocolate Cup of Heaven I will leave to your imagination.
Frans and Jennifer Weits with friend, John Moehn, started Jack Sprat on March 4th, 2001. With an acquired lease on the building, a strong desire to open a restaurant, and a dream, they leaped. The goal? Create a unique culinary experience - fun, delicious and quite a bit healthier than most of the fare to be had. Says Frans, "We chose to go with a world theme so that, in a small town, we would not be subject to any one ethnic category. We were new at the game and wanted the freedom to test a lot of different recipes. The "fat and lean" part serves us well too... half the menu is decadent and half healthy, although we do try to sneak healthy ingredients into all of our dishes."
None of the partners had any formal culinary training. As Frans tells it, "Jen took it on. She jumped in, burned herself, learned skills under fire and turned out amazing food." Later, the demands of pregnancy and caring for a small child took Jen away from the kitchen. She tutored Frans, and he took over. The menu changes seasonally and the Chef du jour plays with wild game, fresh fish and sauces, while Jennifer and Frans focus on whole foods and vegetarian meals.
They are constantly refining their technique and upgrading the restaurant. The solarium is a recent addition covering the original deck and a new outdoor deck is now open. Jack Sprat is deservedly very popular with locals and travelers alike. When we arrived only a few tables were occupied. By the time we had dabbed the last chocolate crumb from our lips, vanloads of tourists were arriving from the Alyeska Hotel, just a scone's throw away.
Jack Sprat is at the base of the ski mountain in the little town of Girdwood, 40 miles south of Anchorage, and very well worth the drive. - by Charlene Worthley 2008