Located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, The Four Horsemen is a New American restaurant and wine bar boasting a Michelin star, a long list of positive reviews, and a tangible air of cool that has endured ever since it opened in 2015.

The heart of The Four Horsemen

Part of that air of cool is down to co-owner James Murphy, frontman of the Brooklyn band LCD Soundsystem, whose personal record collection forms the restaurant’s soundtrack. The other three founding partners were his wife Christina Topsøe, Randy Moon, and Justin Chearno, a leading figure in the natural wine movement who tragically passed away in 2024.

The Four Horsemen is known both for its vast and varied list of natural wines from around the world and for the sharply focused menu of curated small plates that accompany them.

The design of The Four Horsemen is homey in a quite literal sense, in that the interior is decorated in the same style as the home of founding partners Murphy and Topsøe. That means blond woods, burlap-coated walls, and cedar-slatted ceilings in a Scandinavia-meets-Japan style that oozes both urban cool and cozy warmth. The burlap and cedar are not only there for their aesthetic value: they are also a crucial factor in creating the restaurant’s excellent acoustics. Even when the small space is buzzing, diners can still hear both themselves and Murphy’s choice of music, which is played through a vintage McIntosh preamplifier he found on eBay.

Curtola was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. His culinary approach and penchant for wood-fired cooking was undoubtedly shaped by his first job at Oakland’s Camino restaurant, where he worked under former Chez Panisse chef Russel Moore. That experience was followed by a year learning rustic cooking techniques in Italy’s Piedmont region. Curtola then returned to the US, where he settled in Brooklyn, working at Italian restaurants Franny’s and later Roman’s, with a stint at the Caribbean jerk joint Glady’s sandwiched in between. Next, Curtola took off for London, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. In the later he worked at three-Michelin-starred Noma, winner of multiple Best Restaurant in the World titles. 2015 saw Curtola return to Brooklyn to take on the role of Executive Chef at The Four Horsemen.

The restaurant earned its first Michelin star in 2019 and received a glowing two-star review from The New York Times the same year. It has also won a James Beard Foundation Award for its wine list. In 2024, The Four Horsemen featured not only in Eater’s list of 38 Essential Restaurants in NYC, but also in the publication’s lists of 20 Great Places to Drink Wine and Most Romantic Restaurants in the city.

Shortly before the pandemic, the horsemen expanded their operation by opening another wine bar next door, Nightmoves, which boasts a light-up dance floor and a rotating roster of DJs. They also plan to open another restaurant on the same block in Williamsburg. The new venture, in which Curtola is reported to be a partner, will be around twice the size of The Four Horsemen and its menu will have a more Italian focus.

The Chef

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Curtola began his career at Oakland’s Camino restaurant under chef Russell Moore, cooking seasonal cuisine in a wood fire, an experience that would profoundly influence his trajectory as a chef. Next, he spent a year in Italy’s Piedmont region, learning the secrets of local culinary tradition. On his return to the US, Curtola took advantage of his newly acquired know-how with a two-year stint at the now defunct Franny’s in Brooklyn. Then in 2012, he changed direction somewhat with a move to colorful Carribean eatery Glady’s, another Brooklyn restaurant that has also sadly closed its doors. His next job saw him return to Italian cuisine, at a third Brooklyn restaurant, Roman’s. After that, Curtola set off overseas again, this time finding work in London, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, where he worked at the legendary Noma.

In 2015, Curtola got the job of Executive Chef at the soon-to-open Williamsburg wine bar and restaurant The Four Horsemen. The vegetable-forward menu he developed over the following year focused on carefully crafted dishes to accompany the venue’s diverse and extensive cellar of natural wines.

Curtola was a James Beard Foundation semifinalist in the Outstanding Chef category in 2020, and a Best Chefs semifinalist in 2022.

Restaurant

The Four Horsemen was founded by James Murphy, frontman of the revered Brooklyn dance-punk band LCD Soundsystem, along with partners Christina Topsøe (Murphy’s wife), Randy Moon, and natural wine pioneer Justin Chearno, who sadly passed away in 2024. They chose Curtola as their Executive Chef for the restaurant’s opening in 2015, and he has been there ever since.

The restaurant’s short, seasonally changing menu is in the New American tradition, vegetable-forward, stiving for simplicity, and influenced by the rustic regional cooking styles of Italy and France. Its small plates are perfect for pairing with the eclectic selection of natural wines from Europe and around the world.

The Four Horsemen rapidly became a popular destination for locals and visitors alike, arousing interest initially for its celebrity owner, for the chance to listen to his favorite records while dining, and for its impressive wine list, before earning increasing praise for Curtola’s cooking. In 2019, it picked up a Michelin star as well as an enthusiastic two-star review from Pete Wells in The New York Times. In 2022, it won the James Beard Foundation Outstanding Wine Program award, and in 2024 it featured in Eater’s lists of 38 Essential Restaurants in NYC.

Recipes and dishes

Curtola’s culinary philosophy is about simplicity, seasonality, and sourcing the finest ingredients as locally as possible. He has a penchant for wood-fired cuisine but is also a champion of induction cooking for its benefits of control, consistency, and keeping the temperature down in the kitchen!

A typical menu at The Four Horsemen might include dishes such as veal sweetbread skewers with soy-cured egg yolk; marinated Maine mussels with onion vinaigrette and opal basil; chickpea crepe with squash blossoms; and spicy Spanish mackerel with Maine uni, koshihikari rice, and toasted nori. Desserts include crème caramel topped with toasted soba.

Curtola’s first cookbook, published in October 2024, is entitled The Four Horsemen: Food and Wine for Good Times from the Brooklyn Restaurant. In it, Curtola shares over 100 recipes and articulately describes his approach to simplicity in the kitchen. The book also features tales from the restaurant’s founding partners about how they came to open it, the (many) mistakes they made along the way, and the passion for having fun around a table that brought them together in the first place.

View profile