Jenny Olbrich lived many lives before setting up shop in her Greenpoint bar, the Esters. A former competitive rower and ultra-distance mountain biker, and later a personal chef for the rich and famous, this self-styled nomad lives by the motto “Don’t think, just do.”
Jenny Olbrich
“I’ve lived [in Greenpoint for] 20 years, and I wanted to do something for the neighborhood,” she says of the post-pandemic establishment she began with her business partner, Alicia Rebensdorf. “It’s a really special place, a very inclusive bar, without trying to be.”
Olbrich started making pizzas using the family recipe of her then-boyfriend for their shoreside shop in Rhode Island, and has since made it her own. Fascinated with the science of pizza dough—how elements like humidity or the salt content in the salty beach air could affect the batch—Olbrich carried this interest to the Esters, which Rebensdorf named for the chemical compound present in both wine and cheese.
The two had worked alongside each other at Rebensdorf’s bar Tuffet, with Olbrich riding her bike around the City to deliver pizzas during the pandemic. Partnering on the Esters was an easy choice.
Alicia Rebensdorf and Jenny Olbrich on opening day. Courtesy, The Esters
When we caught up with Olbrich, she was rolling out dough with her Dutch apprentice, who was on a monthlong knowledge-seeking trip to the US. She talked about her philosophy on trying new things, being a woman in the pizza community and what’s next for the Esters.
How did you start in the restaurant industry?
Jenny Olbrich: Well, hilariously, I didn’t really cook for a while because it just was never my thing. I didn’t come up in a food culture; I grew up in Olney, Philadelphia, which was a pretty poor neighborhood. Food was to live. It took me getting into the kitchen and looking at how fun and creative food can be; I just needed that little push.
People in this world are properly trained, and I’m not. I’m just kind of like, I really like this; let me see how this works! A friend of mine was helping me out in the kitchen a bit, and she’s this amazing bread maker and pastry maker. And she’s like, Oh, the French word for this is [mimics French]. I was just like, Yeah, I’ll never remember that!
I love your attitude. I think a lot of people are really intimidated to start something that they don’t feel like they’re an expert about. What advice would you give them?
JO: Don’t think, just do. Don’t get hung up on what’s proper. Don’t get hung up on social media, because I think that plays a huge role in people getting nervous. Just don’t worry about it; do what you love, figure it out. Things aren’t always going to work out. Like, I’ve had so many duds in my life, but I don’t care. Duds happen!
I hear that you enjoy the science behind pizza making, and it serves as inspiration at the Esters—even for the name. Can you talk to me about that?
JO: My business partner came up with the name the Esters, which are organic chemical compounds that you find in both wine and cheese and that give [pizza] those aromatics. Because we are a wine, charcuterie and pizza spot, the name was super fitting.
I just kind of glommed on to the science of it. Sometimes it’s crazy humid, and that’s going to affect the hydration in the dough. Everything affects the dough, including what you’re cooking with. I was doing wood fire, and I also had a gas oven. So I started making two totally different doughs to react in different ways in those ovens.
What’s the pizza community like for women in the industry?
JO: When I first started making pizza, there were just no women. And there are women who are trying to make a difference. There’s Stephanie Swane, who worked on Modernist Cuisine [a famously detailed cookbook that birthed a food lab and publishing house]; she’s a big voice in Women in Pizza. She does an Instagram Live thing every Wednesday where she interviews female pizza makers from all over the place. I think she’s making a huge difference.
Yam on it! signature pie
Actually, I have Jess here from the Netherlands. She wants to open a pizza shop, and there are no women there to learn from, to mentor her. And even when she was coming over here, she contacted—I mean, how many people did you contact? At least 10 people. And no one got back to her. And then me, I’m just like, Yeah, totally, do this.
Jess Oberlin during her apprenticeship
I love the fact that Jess was just like, Hey, I want to open a pizza place in the Netherlands. Clearly there’s something happening—the fact that she came over here from the other side of the pond, you know what I mean? So there is a community, but we’re just not there yet.
Give me an example that you’d be like, OK, we’re going in the right direction.
JO: Not getting a weird look. When people are like, Oh, look at you, you’re a woman making pizza. This happens an awful lot. It’s almost like people’s reaction is that I’m a novelty. So it would be nice if people just think, yeah, woman, female, pizza maker, awesome, cool, and not have a reaction. I think it’s slowly happening. Actually it’s happening faster than when I started, because back in 2009, people wouldn‘t even talk to me. They would talk to my male partner, and he would be like, Hey, she’s the one doing everything.
Neighbors say that the Esters feels like a safe space, specifically for women. You were saying that you didn’t intend for it to be this necessarily. How do you think it came about?
JO: I think we attracted the staff that we did organically because of the type of people that we are. Obviously there’s something inherent in the women-owned business and in the type of people that we are and the people that we hired. We didn’t set out to be that way; it’s just that’s who we attracted.
When we opened this place, we knew we wanted to be a neighborhood bar. We didn't want something unattainable or too cool for school. It just naturally became a super inclusive bar that people feel welcomed coming into not matter who they are or if they are with a group or alone. It makes me happy that people feel comfortable coming in by themselves to hang out no matter what time of day or night. That's what I love about this place!
What’s next?
JO: I want to do something fun, community based. I’m lucky because I’ve been in this neighborhood for so long, so I have a lot of support from the community. So I kind of want to go back to doing these weird pop-up dinners, just random dinners in strange places, because I had a wood-fired oven on wheels. I’ve been looking into closing down the block here. Maybe we can do a crawfish boil outside.