James to Begin Serving Lunch

Beginning next week, will be serving lunch in addition to dinner.

 The 45-seat upscale restaurant on the corner of Carlton Avenue and St. Marks Avenue opened in 2008, serving a seasonal, local cuisine. 

“We’ve been open for four years and we tend to kind of take our time as we expand the restaurant,” said Deborah Williamson, who owns the corner spot with husband Bryan Calvert.

“We’ve had a lot of people ask us about lunch. We feel like there’s a need for it in the neighborhood,” she added. “So we just decided to go for it and give it a whirl.”

Williamson said not only will the lunch offerings serve neighborhood residents, but also future patrons and workers at the Barclays Center, which is .

“I’m sure there are a lot of fast casual options. But there aren’t a lot of full-service restaurant options in the immediate area around Barclays,” she said.

The lunch menu will be heavily vegetarian: Six of the 11 offerings are meatless, seven if the soup of the day ends up being vegetarian.

Williamson said she and Calvert designed the menu that way because of their own shift toward vegetarianism.

“We’ve been leaning in that direction. And it just feels appropriate for lunch—it’s what we crave when we go out for lunch,” she said.

However, along with such options as Black Kale Salad with Red Quinoa, Smoked Almonds, Ricotta Salata; Roasted Eggplant, Red Pepper and Leek-Confit Panini and Baked Herbed Polenta with Cheddar, Two Duck Eggs and Melted Cherry Tomato; there are also such options as Parmacotto Ham and Manchego Cheese French Toast and their famous Black Angus Burger. (See full menu here.)

The restaurant will be open for lunch beginning Tuesday, April 3. Hours will be Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 to 3 for lunch, 5:30 to 11 p.m. for dinner. Saturday and Sunday will continue with 11 to 3:30 for brunch and dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 11 on Saturday and 10 on Friday.