Thirteen years ago Stephen McIntyre opened the Iron Monkey, near Exchange Place in Jersey City, with a focus on food. After the original chef left, it became more of a bar than a restaurant. But with the addition of chef Ian Kapitan in March, McIntyre is returning the Iron Monkey to its food roots. It’s a fitting change considering the iron monkey sculpture at the corner of the four-story structure holds a fork, not a glass. 

Though McIntyre owned the Iron Monkey all along, he’d been more of a hands-off owner. Not until he had lunch there last year, and ended up sending the food back twice, did he realize how far the food quality had slipped. Soon he began to envision and execute changes.

McIntyre decided to return to a focus on food, and did away with bands on the weekends, hired chef Kapitan to create a new menu, and began plans for a complete renovation and addition to the building.  The renovation plan includes gutting the adjoining two buildings and changing around the current design of the building to create a whole new structure and atmosphere. Construction will begin in the fall.

Kapitan says the new construction will create a gastropub on the expanded first floor, with chefs creating the dishes right there. He references the Spotted Pig in the West Village as a prime example of a gastropub, or a pub with higher quality food. Each of the floors will have its own identity and look. They plan to remove the bar on the second floor and keep the area solely for dining, turn the third floor into another eating space, perhaps for private parties, and keep the bar on the roof for the space to remain for both drinking and dining. They hope to work out a plan to keep everything running during the renovations.

While Kapitan is new to the Iron Monkey, he’s not new to Jersey City. He started the restaurant Marco and Pepe on Grove Street and then worked as executive chef at the Lighthorse Tavern in Paulus Hook for three years. After working for a year as a private chef, McIntyre lured him to the Iron Monkey by offering him unlimited possibilities. Kapitan would have creative freedom and would not have to work within a parameter or box. Since signing on in mid March he has gradually added his selections to the menu, even creating a brunch menu in May. Brunch starts at 11:30 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday diners can enjoy the weekly Jazz brunch featuring George Coleman that goes from noon to 4 p.m.

While eating earlier at the Iron Monkey is new with the addition of brunch, customers will also be able to eat late. From Thursday through Saturday nights the kitchen will be open to 1 a.m., providing the full dinner menu. During the week it will stay open until midnight. Kapitan plans to continue updating the menu, keeping entrees $25 and under and adding a dessert menu. And for those who enjoy the drinks at the Iron Monkey, don’t worry. They plan to keep many of the current beers on tap and add more microbrews.

After talking with Kapitan, who had the night off, we perused the menu.  While it still listed a burger, a standby on the old menu, it also included many more choices. (Surprisingly, there wasn’t a main vegetable or pasta dish that didn’t include meat or fish though). But from the striped bass to the roasted chicken breast, overall the choices were much more varied, without the fried food focus it used to have. I found that the new menu varied some even from the one they currently have online, with the price of many of the new items bumped up to around $20.

We settled on the striped bass and the fish stew. The striped bass came in an herb butter sauce and was nestled on top of a base of fingerling potatoes and spinach. The mild bass was made even more succulent in the sauce and small pieces of chorizo, spicy bits of thicker bacon, added a kick. I enjoyed the mix of flavors, but found myself reaching for my Allagash beer with greater frequency. The seasoned potatoes and spinach along with the herb butter sauce together became a bit too salty for me.

The fish stew had a medley of shrimp, clams, and scallops in a light tomato broth. It was topped with thin slices of toasted white bread. While the toasted white bread soaked up the broth well, we longed for a heartier brown bread instead.  Overall, the two dishes were a definite improvement over previous meals from the old bar menu. As the evolution of the menu continues and the expansion begins this fall, surely more patrons at the Iron Monkey will join that fork holding monkey statue and hold their own as well.