Lobster comes butter-poached, set on top of a coral butter risotto. There’s a rich shellfish sauce poured over, not too much, just enough to shine. Despite being completely shelled, the meat is pieced together to mimic a whole lobster, a playful nod to its original shape. On the other side of the table, Beausoleil oysters are playfully dressed with caviar and mignonette spheres—impersonating sparkling pearls in the shell.
It feels like theater at first, but there’s more going on. For Chef Brian Walter, these playful plates are a way of tracing back through decades of fine dining. At 87 Sussex in Paulus Hook, Jersey City, Walter puts forth a menu rife with both original dishes and ones that pay homage to some of the greatest chefs of the last Century. It’s a restaurant that offers a look into the evolution of dining throughout the years.
“Each dish tells a story about me and my culinary journey,” Walter tells me. “And we’re having a blast.”
I ate here earlier this year, and couldn’t shake it. So I came back, curious to see what Walter would do next. You can read that here.
This time, I wanted to dive deeper into Walter’s concept—how his menu reads like a storybook about the restaurants and chefs who have inspired him. It includes plenty of inspiration from his time spent in legendary restaurants like Le Cirque. This deep respect for chefs like Paul Bocuse and Thomas Keller is palpable in his food. Crucially, Walter doesn’t look to “one-up” anyone. He doesn’t try to hide the inspiration, either. Instead, he aims to open the diner’s eyes to some of the most famous bites of food ever put on menus—ones that, often, were only enjoyed by the most experienced of diners.
In today’s digital age, the masses deserve to enjoy the classics too, and 87 Sussex is delivering one dish at a time.
A Trip Through the Dining Decades
You might be inclined to start with some dishes from 87 Sussex’s truffle or caviar menu. You’d be smart to do so.
First up, the Thousand Layer Potato, sometimes called Potato Pavé. The dish requires an intensive, two-day process before it ever hits the table. Potatoes are sliced paper-thin on a mandolin. Crucially, the starch is left on the potato to act as a natural glue between each slice. These slices are brushed with fat and layered in a dish, seasoned lightly with salt, pepper and thyme.
The next step is the first cook. This dish of layered potatoes is gently cooked in an oven. Walter tells me that you can’t touch it until the next day—it has to cool, the layers need time to marry one another. So, it goes into the walk-in fridge to chill overnight.
The next day, the brick is portioned into perfectly symmetrical rectangles, fried to order, and plated atop a bed of shallot creme fraiche with a swirl of vibrant herb oil around the perimeter. To finish, a glistening dollop of Amber Kaluga caviar.
It’s briny and rich, with a subtle—but apparent—hit of allium flavor from the creme fraiche. Think a sophisticated take on sour cream and onion potato chips. It’s playful, technique-driven and downright delicious. A version of this dish has been prevalent on numerous famous menus over the years, including a one done by Chef Thomas Keller.
Chef Keller is a common source of inspiration you’ll see on the 87 Sussex menu. Also on the caviar menu is the Oyster and Pearls, inspired directly by The French Laundry chef. “Thomas Keller did it a million years ago, but I did it my way,” says Walter, who professes his admiration for the influential chef.
Walter’s version of the dish is starkly different from the original. Where Thomas Keller served poached oysters atop a savory tapioca pearl pudding, Chef Walter goes a different route: a raw preparation.
Le Maison Beausoleil oysters from Prince Edward Island—briny and creamy—are shucked and arranged atop a bed of salt and seaweed. Each oyster is adorned with a healthy dose of jet-black Royal Osetra caviar. The kicker is the pearls. Chef Walter turns your typical mignonette into a visual treat by converting the liquid into pearls using tapioca starch. It also adds meaningful texture to the plate—each one bursts with that vinegar-forward, black pepper-laced mignonette. It is both outside of the box and simple. He reinvents the wheel with the method, but keeps the flavor profile classic and calculated. A real treat for true oyster lovers like myself.
Off the truffle menu comes one of Walter’s original dishes—and a favorite amongst 87 Sussex regulars. The Ox and Egg, a straightforward dish with a convoluted composition.
Fresh raviolo is filled with herbed ricotta and an intact egg yolk. The stuffed pasta is cooked in salted boiling water and sauced in beurre monté—a simple emulsion of butter and pasta water. In another pan is a rich, slow-cooked oxtail ragu, flavored with plenty of black truffle. This unctuous ragu is served underneath the raviolo.
Walter’s artistic eye takes over for the plate up. He carefully arranges a circle of crispy fried leeks around the plate to resemble a bird’s nest. To finish, a load of black truffle, shaved tableside. He calls it “the truffle tornado.”
The dish evolves as you eat it. The first cut reveals that runny egg yolk center, which changes the dish entirely. The truffle perfumes not just the plate, but the dining room around it. It’s a head turner in that way. Finally, the leeks serve a purpose beyond aesthetics. Instead, they add a much-needed crunch and a delicate flavor that ties the whole thing together. It’s visually alluring with the flavors and textures to back up the grandeur.
Then, the headliner: the lobster. Chef Walter takes a page out of Paul Bocuse’s book here. The late Lyonese chef was known for his classic French cooking, which often portrayed unabashed luxury in the form of playful whimsy. “Paul Bocuse always arranged his lobsters on the plate so that they looked like, you know, a lobster,” he said. So, how does Chef Walter do it?
First, you need good lobsters. Cold water lobsters from Maine—the best, if you ask me. The lobster is cooked and the meat carefully removed from the shell so that everything remains intact. The claws remain looking like claws, the tails like tails and so on. The coral—or roe—left behind in the shell is mixed into a compound butter, which is then used to finish a flavorful lobster risotto. The coral is green, but, just like lobster, it immediately turns red when cooked. You can literally see the transformation in the pan.
For the lobster meat, Walter poaches it in butter and arranges it on the plate to resemble the full crustacean. It changes seasonally, but right now, he uses blanched spears of white and green asparagus to mimic the legs.
The final component is a velvety sauce crustacés, which is made from aromatics and crustacean shells. The key element of this sauce is a method that involves blending the shells into the liquid for body and flavor—this not only amps up the bouquet of crustacean flavor, but it also helps to thicken the sauce. It’s vibrantly orange, silky smooth and utterly delicious. Chef Walter pours it on the lobster tableside for a final touch of panache.
The Classics Live on at 87 Sussex
Dining at 87 Sussex feels less like a typical night out and more like a guided tour through a career in culinary arts.
Walter’s menu bridges eras, techniques, and influences, but never loses its sense of play or familiarity. What could easily slip into nostalgia instead becomes a living, breathing homage to the chefs who shaped him—and a showcase of his own creativity along with it. At its best, the food at 87 Sussex is both reverent and refreshing, proof that the classics don’t need to only live in memory.
In Walter’s hands, they’re alive, evolving, and ready to be enjoyed by a new generation of diners.
Peter Candia is the Food + Drink Editor at New Jersey Digest. A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America, Peter found a passion for writing midway through school and never looked back. He is a former line cook, server and bartender at top-rated restaurants in the tri-state area. In addition to food, Peter enjoys politics, music, sports and anything New Jersey.
