The Wren

Wilfie & Nell owner Mark Gibson channels Dublin's stylish boites with his latest gastropub, this one in the East Village. To eat, find gussied up Irish classics, like cockles and mussels in a bacon-leek-beer broth, a pint of Old Bay-dusted prawns served with citrus mustard, and fish and chips made with deep-fried skate and hand-cut potatoes. With Krissy Harris (former head bartender at Gramercy Tavern) overseeing the bar program, drinkers may be tempted to set Guinness aside for cocktails like the Gamble (gin, tangerine-cranberry marmalade, lime juice, soda) and Old Tom's Cure-all (Ransom gin, mead, honey, lemon). Of course, Vitamin G loyalists can still find the stuff on tap, along with craft brews, like Captain Lawrence Smoked Porter and Smuttynose Brown Ale. Although the decor is urban chic—cream-painted brick walls, glass sconces and green patterned wallpaper—the tavern takes its name from an Irish countryside tradition, Wren Day, when costumed boys visit houses and bars, playing music and collecting money for local charities, on the day after Christmas.