Our Story
About Pickle Jar
A visit to Pickle Jar is more than just a meal — it’s a feeling. It’s comfort food that’s been thoughtfully refined, served by people who enjoy what they do and want you to enjoy it too. Our menus are grounded in tradition but never stuck there, blending familiar flavours with confident twists and a healthy respect for technique.
Pickling and preservation are at the heart of our kitchen, guiding how we think about flavour, sustainability, and creativity. From what’s on your plate to what’s lining our pantry shelves, everything we do is intentional. We believe in transparency with our ingredients, consistency in every bite, and innovation that honours where it all began.
This is a place to gather, linger, laugh, and leave satisfied — whether you came in for brunch, dinner, or just one more bite you swore you didn’t need.
Kitchen Creators
Get to Know Our
Sarah McCarthy
Executive Chef
Chef Sarah McCarthy’s love of food was inherited—passed down through family, flavour, and time spent in kitchens long before it became a career. A Nova Scotia native, Sarah began working in restaurants at just 16, following in her grandfather’s footsteps and discovering early on that the kitchen was where she belonged.
She sharpened her skills in a beloved local Greek restaurant (an influence still woven into her cooking today), then went on to hone her craft under respected Canadian chefs, including Chef Chris Thompson, CCC, while working in top kitchens from coast to coast. No matter where her career took her, the East Coast always felt like home—and eventually, it called her back.
After establishing herself in New Brunswick with a commitment to scratch cooking and fresh, honest ingredients, Sarah served as Executive Sous Chef at the historic Lord Beaverbrook Hotel before leading the kitchen at King Street Alehouse as Executive Chef. That journey led to an opportunity she couldn’t pass up: creating something truly special with the flagship dining rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn Fredericton—Pickle Jar and Southside Shake.
Chef Sarah is passionate about building what she calls culinary families—tight-knit teams dedicated to showcasing the very best of the Maritimes. From working closely with local farmers and purveyors to making everything possible from scratch, her approach is rooted in care, creativity, and a willingness to try something new.
Her hope is simple: that her food brings people together, sparks conversation, and reminds guests why sharing a meal with family and friends matters—just as it did around her grandfather’s table all those years ago.
Jessica McCafferty
Originally from Fredericton, Sous Chef Jessica McCafferty followed her culinary curiosity to St. Andrews, where she attended culinary school before cutting her teeth at the iconic Algonquin Resort. There, she spent several years working under a variety of chefs, each shaping her style and deepening her appreciation for different approaches to cooking.
In 2018, Jessica returned home to Fredericton to work at the Delta before joining the Pickle Jar kitchen in 2021—where her creativity and love for flavour truly found their stride.
An avid collector of antiques and vintage treasures, Jessica draws inspiration from the past as much as the present. Her extensive collection of cookbooks—spanning from the late 1800s to the 1990s—fuels her favourite kind of cooking: taking nostalgic, grandmother-style recipes and elevating them into thoughtful, restaurant-quality dishes.
She’s also a firm believer in embracing the creative side of cooking. Whether it’s using old-world techniques like carrot marmalade on deep-fried carrot cake or developing something unexpected like dill pickle ice cream, Jessica thrives on pushing flavour boundaries in playful, surprising ways.
For her, cooking is equal parts respect for tradition and fearless experimentation—and the results are anything but ordinary.
Sous Chef
A Marmalade With a Past
(Our Marmalade Story)
During the First World War and the Great Depression, citrus was hard to come by, so clever cooks got creative. Carrot marmalade emerged as a bright, resourceful alternative, using humble vegetables and a bit of lemon juice to mimic traditional preserves.
Our marmalade is inspired by that ingenuity. It’s a quiet nod to thoughtful cooking and making something special from what you have. You’ll find it topping our deep-fried carrot cake, spooned onto home-made biscuits, or lending its charm to our Breakfast Martini — a little reminder that the unexpected is often the most delightful.
The Pickle Fountain
(The Pickle Fountain Experience)
Unexpected, playful, and unmistakably Pickle Jar — the pickle fountain is our signature flourish. Every Friday and Saturday, our pickle buffet invites guests to sample a rotating selection of house-made pickles served in a delightfully cheeky way.
It’s interactive, it’s surprising, and it’s meant to spark conversation. The pickle fountain is proof that food doesn’t always have to be serious to be memorable — sometimes it just needs a little fun and a whole lot of flavour.
Let’s Dine
Pull up a chair and stay awhile—there’s always room at our table. Whether you’re popping in for a comforting meal or settling in with good company, we’ll take care of the cooking (and yes, we expect you to clean your plate).