When chef Jess Shadbolt and beverage director Annie Shi opened King in 2016, they set a new standard for upscale dining downtown. Its fleeting, hyper-seasonal menu, paired with a surprisingly strong wine list featuring hard-to-find bottles from coveted estates, consistently drew crowds to the sunlit dining room at the corner of King Street and 6th Avenue.
Nearly a decade later, Shadbolt and Shi’s knack for making a multi-course dinner feel like a relaxed, effortless experience continues to attract New Yorkers to that same cobblestoned corner. And with Dean’s, their cozy new pub next door to King in SoHo, that tradition carries on.
On one of the city’s last bitterly cold nights, every one of Dean’s 38 seats was taken. Guests gathered around candlelit tables and filled the limited standing room at the mahogany and pine bar. It was only their eighth night open to the public. Photos of the Stargazy Pie—a savory Cornish seafood pastry filled with potatoes, butter, and a baked mackerel head—had already popped up on Instagram from early visitors. Yet that evening, most diners were too absorbed in conversation and old-fashioned flirting to pay much attention to their phones.
Creating a menu and wine list that encourages just one more bite or sip is something Shadbolt and Shi excel at. Why not try a glass of Artelium Curator’s Cuvée from Sussex? This sparkling blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier drinks like Champagne and pairs beautifully with both the bacon and malt vinegar scallops and the lemon and elderflower posset. But crafting an atmosphere where a couple loses track of four hours? For that, they turned to one of the art and fashion world’s favorite interior designers: Billy Cotton.
Cotton’s studio was behind one of last year’s most sought-after downtown reservations: chef Sam Lawrence’s stylish hit, Bridges. Cotton, in turn, introduced them to 26-year-old Jason Chen, who led the initial concept design for Bridges and has since launched his own studio.
“These restaurants still have a stripped-back clarity to them, and that was a big reference point, especially given what I saw from their cooking style,” Chen says of the coastal pubs in Shadbolt’s hometown of Suffolk, England, which inspired Dean’s feel and flavors. “There’s a clarity and simplicity to it, but also an elegance.”
Chen brought that elegance to life through mahogany butcher-block counters, wainscoting, Douglas fir and pine-paneled walls, and candlelit stainless steel accents. A few vintage finds, however, give the space its transporting charm, where hours seem to disappear. Behind the bar, a curved glass curio cabinet—once a china hutch—catches the eye and displays pewter mugs, aperitivos, and American and Scotch whiskies. Nearby, an oversized coal scuttle Chen found on a sourcing trip to Washington, D.C., might hold bottles of wine on ice or a vibrant arrangement of orange ranunculus and green hydrangeas, depending on the day. And the dining room service station? It’s an Edwardian washing basin and stand, its legs raised by Chen to better suit the nightly flow of service.
“These references struck a balance, where they didn’t feel foreign to the food that’s being made with beauty and great clarity,” says Chen.
For Shadbolt and Shi, that beauty and clarity reflect the evolving rhythm of their daily lives as friends, restaurateurs, and mothers. Following the runway success of King, the duo—along with co-owner Clare de Boer—brought their vision of a seasonal Italian restaurant, Jupiter, to Rockefeller Center in 2022. In recent months, Shi’s solo venture,The Chinatown wine bar Lei, which has earned Michelin Guide recognition and is a finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s 2026 Best New Restaurant award, was buzzing on a chilly spring night during its first week of service. “We have babies of all kinds to celebrate,” exclaimed co-owner Annie Shi.
Much like Shi welcomed her first child while designing and opening Lei, her business partner Clare Shadbolt also became a mother as the pair worked together to launch Dean’s. “Things are different,” says Shadbolt. “When we opened King a decade ago as a full-concept dining experience, we could be in the kitchen all day and all night. It’s a very difficult duality to be a woman in a kitchen or running a restaurant, where a child’s bedtime falls right as the evening service begins.”
“The idea of Dean’s,” Shi continues, “is that you can pop in, put your name down, go grab a drink somewhere else, and come back. That kind of spontaneity is really attractive to us in this stage of life.”
Whether from the dining room or the kitchen, those drawn to the new pub seem to agree. “As a chef, you want to create a world you want to exist in, and that’s very true of our other restaurants,” says Shadbolt. “Dean’s is another extension of that.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the challenges of bringing an authentic classic English pub vibe to New York City
General Beginner Questions
1 What makes an English pub authentic in the first place
An authentic pub is about atmosphere not just decor Key elements include a cozy livedin feel a central bar for conversation a focus on cask ales and proper pints traditional pub food and a sense of being a community hub rather than just a bar
2 Why would it be hard to recreate that in New York Its just a bar right
Its much more than decor The biggest challenge is replicating the centuriesold social culture and relaxed unpretentious atmosphere in a fastpaced highrent city where most venues need to maximize turnover and profits
3 What are the most obvious things a pub gets wrong when trying to be authentic
Common mistakes are overdoing the clichés serving warm beer having a TVdominated sports bar feel or creating a themepark version that feels staged rather than organic
Challenges Logistics
4 Isnt the biggest problem just getting the right beer
Its a major hurdle Truly authentic cask ales are living unfiltered beers that expire quickly and require careful cellaring Importing them is expensive and complex and training staff to maintain and serve them properly in a market dominated by keg beer is difficult
5 What about the food Cant you just serve fish and chips
You can but sourcing is key Authentic items like bangers black pudding or certain cheeses can be hard to find locally at scale Many NYC health codes also differ making things like traditional handpulled pies or certain preparation methods more challenging
6 How does New Yorks real estate affect an authentic pub vibe
Massively Classic English pubs are often in old lowceilinged buildings with nooks and fireplaces NYC spaces are often narrow highceilinged or modern High rents also pressure owners to pack in tables play loud music or raise pricesall working against a cozy conversational atmosphere