Step Inside Black Rabbit: The Making of New York’s Hottest Fictional Restaurant
Created by Zach Baylin and Kate Susman, the series follows Jake and Vince, played by Jude Law and Jason Bateman, two former musicians who trade guitars for a kitchen. Their restaurant, Black Rabbit, becomes a downtown hotspot that blends high-end cooking with rock’n’roll grit. Of course, their personal chaos threatens to bring the whole thing down.
To make Black Rabbit believable, the production team scouted locations across New York. They eventually landed on 279 Water Street, a historic building once home to a rowdy 19th-century saloon. While interiors were built on a soundstage, production designer Alex DiGerlando pulled details straight from the old structure—peeling wallpaper, worn wood, and chipped brickwork all helped create a lived-in vibe.
The restaurant’s menu also tells a story. Culinary consultant Tamara Reynolds built dishes inspired by the show’s fictional chef Roxie (Amaka Okafor), blending Maryland seafood, Nigerian flavors, and Punjabi spices. One standout? A towering burger skewered with a marrow bone, a nod to Jake and Vince’s bold personalities.
Music, fittingly, ties it all together. Before it was a restaurant, Jake and Vince’s band was called the Black Rabbits, and the series tapped The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr. to write original songs. He even makes a cameo appearance behind the bar.
As Bateman puts it, the show is really about “two brothers who love each other but don’t match.” But thanks to its meticulous design, Black Rabbit also gives viewers a taste of New York nightlife at its most authentic—where the food, the music, and the mess all collide.
