As a downtown-cool-kid hangout, this dim drinkery couldn’t have been better designed. What is somewhat wasted in the original’s out-of-the-way Prospect Heights location slides into place in Tribeca: gleaming subway tiles, a long bar with built-in stools, dim lighting, and a waitstaff so attractive you at least look twice. It’s a blessing, since the neighborhood needed a good, classy cocktail bar. The drink list is brief but boozy, with pungent options like the bright, Scotch-based, ginger- and orange-infused White Horse, or the smoother, darker cognac-amaretto combo that is the Weather Up Jr. Food is a strange and sometimes brilliant bar-bites lineup from chef Tyler Kord of oddball eatery No. 7. Good luck cobbling together a meal from the offerings — but it works if it’s just a snack you need. Oysters on the half shell benefit so much from a hit of green chile that you’ll wonder why you’ve never had the pairing before. Broccoli rilletes are served traditional-style, in a ramekin with toasts, crème fraiche, radishes and, strangely but deliciously, another ramekin of crab meat. And a fried-clam sandwich on Pullman bread and slick with mayo is practically a sponge for tomorrow’s hangovers. You could while away the whole evening here — until you get the bill — which, if it’s even calculated properly (hand writing things on a calling card is cute but not practical) might induce sticker shock. Just take a cue from the lissome young things around you and act like it doesn’t matter. NY Mag Jenny Miller
159 Duane St., New York, NY 10013
nr. West Broadway