Brooklyn’s Tørst and Luksus Pop-Up With A Modern Tablescape
The chef and master brewer behind the Michelin-starred hotspots apply their Scandinavian spin to both their new book, Food & Beer, and their table setting at Barneys' Madison Avenue flagship for the store's ongoing Chef’s Table series.
With any great collaboration, the result can be better than the sum of its parts. That was certainly the case when Daniel Burns—a chef who grew up in Nova Scotia and cut his teeth in the UK before running the test kitchen at Momofuku—paired up Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, an itinerant Danish brewer who founded Evil Twin Brewing and has served as beer adviser to restaurants like Noma, the two-Michelin starred restaurant in Copenhagen where Burns and Jarnit-Bjergsø met. We recently tapped this culinary dream team for the latest installment of our Chef’s Tableseries, asking the chef/brewer twosome to set a table in our Madison Avenue flagship encapsulating the feeling of their partnership.
When this duo teamed up, the resulting two-fold venture in Brooklyn drew the best from both, allowing each to shine: Tørst, a rustic neighborhood bar where serious beer-drinkers come to sample Jarnit-Bjergsø’s wares, and Luksus, a 16-seat tasting restaurant accessible via a hidden door at the back of Tørst and pairs the signature beers with a Nordic-inspired menu in a refined and polished setting. What truly sets Tørst and Luksus apart is not only the fact that no wine or cocktails are served—the drinks list is a beer-only affair—but also the fact that they’re innovating the culinary world by being the only Michelin-starred restaurant to embrace this trend of pairing food with beer.
Daniel Burns and Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø
And the collaboration between Burns and Jarnit-Bjergsø’s doesn’t stop there. To further their mission of spreading the word about the magic result of their gastronomic combination, the duo has just released Food & Beer, an in-depth exploration of their vision and philosophy. The book offers flavor profile of various beers—not only “bitter” and “sour,” but a host of other flavor aspects like “funky” and “smoky”—as well as an extensive selection of recipes that Burns and his team have developed for Luksus, perfect for pairing.
The duality of mindset that the two display in their joint venture also took shape in both the layout of the book, with its two sections, and in the tablescape they created at our uptown flagship. The table offers two place settings set in opposition to each other: one embracing the relaxed rusticity of Tørst and the other offering a glimpse of Luksus’s sleek and modern feel.
Scroll on for a closer look at the table, and if you’re in New York, stop by Barneys Madison Avenue, where it will be on display now through the first week of June. Not in New York? You can still pick up Food & Beer to bring a bit of this Nordic flair home into your own kitchen.
For the side of table echoing polished Nordic-inspired Luksus, the pair selected Hermes dinnerware, natural linens, and accents of real marble.
The contrast between wood and stone can be seen not only in the bar/restaurant, but also on the cover of the duo’s book, Food & Beer, so it was a natural fit to explore this juxtaposition in the tablescape.
For the place setting reminiscent of Tørst, raw wood and minimalist dinnerware evoke the sense of relaxed rusticity.
Photographed by Gabriele Stabile
Tørst’s casual food options include Arlene’s Meat Pie with Cranberry Sauce and Rhubarb Crisp, which is perfectly accompanied by a Belgian Dubbel.
“We love you with our beer”
Burns and Jarnit-Bjergsø personally inscribed and signed each copy Food & Beer being sold at Barneys' Madison Avenue flagship.