Try The Manhattan In A Flask & The Duck Confit Pot Pie At Irvington

Your eyes may roll a little upon spotting the $30 Manhattan in a Flask on the menu at the amiable new restaurant Irvington, located just north of Union Square on Park Avenue. At first glance the drink seems like the sort of precious gimmick that drives you to drink alone, at home, in the dark, straight from a quart of Ballantine, but this one makes good on the execution. It's built for two to share, and comes with a couple of rocks glasses filled with ice, plus the aforementioned flask, which arrives ice cold and labeled "GG Manhattan" with a magic marker and piece of masking tape.

(Gothamist)

The concept's clever but the drink is simple: Woodford Reserve, Carpano Antica, and Angostura Bitters. It's a classic cocktail that's served well by the presentation; the flask keeps the cocktail cold and undiluted while you and your drinking buddy slowly parse it out, and though $30 certainly ain't cheap, the flask yields four legit pours. By the time it's gone it starts to seem like a pretty good deal.

The playful Manhattan seems emblematic of Irvington, which opened last week in the ground floor of the W Hotel on Park and 17th Street, in the space formerly occupied by Todd English's Olives. As you may recall, English was ousted from his now-defunct NYC restaurant over reports of "erratic behavior" and "literally having a threesome in front of everyone" in a Meatpacking District nightclub. Now it's Irvington, named after local luminary Washington Irving, whose famous story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is referenced in a cheeky pop-art mural hanging above the open kitchen.

(Courtesy Irvington)

The new look is bright and airy with an urban-rustic accent, balanced by a comfy lounge at the entrance and a beautiful bar in the middle—one of those theatrical bars-in-the-round with seating on all four sides. It appears to be very well stocked, at least judging by the presence of Wisconsin's excellent Death's Door gin, which should be a lot easier to find in New York City than it is.

Beyond the bar is the dining room and the open kitchen, which is kicking out a basic but tasty menu of "New American [cuisine] with Mediterranean influences," as chief executive Scott Gerber explained to the Wall Street Journal. And it goes without saying that Chef David Nichols is devoted to "ingredients from local farmers and purveyors for a complete Greenmarket-to-table dining experience.”

You'll recognize plenty of familiar faces on the dinner menu, like the selection of flatbreads, the free-range rotisserie chicken, and the kale caesar. But everything dished out at last week's press preview was elevated above the normcore by chef David Nichols, who works well within his parameters. I won't eat octopus after reading this haunting essay, but one of my hard-to-please dining companions deemed the charred octopus appetizer "off the chaaaaaain." The wild mushroom flatbread with roasted garlic and parmesan was perfectly crispy and quickly devoured with gusto; and the grilled wild Coho salmon was very tasty, with that crispy skin I secretly long for, plus a winning combo of asparagus and horseradish. A generously portioned bucatini pasta was declared "fresh" and "definitely worth $18" by one of the most frugal men I know.

The colorful roasted cauliflower and kale flatbread (Courtesy Irvington)

Irvington's a convivial place and I'd recommend it, though its location on the fratastic end of Park Avenue may portend a crushing after-work bro takeover. That said, the dining room is upbeat and cheery, and at the very least the restaurant merits a spot on your list of Places To Take Your Parents When They're Buying. The duck confit potpie with wild mushrooms and black kale is tempting, but it's also $30.

Irvington is located at 201 Park Avenue South at 17th Street // (212) 677-0425