Essex

Chef Brandon Pettit and popular Orangette blogger Molly Wizenberg have opened Essex, a new cocktail bar adjacent to their busy Delancey pizzeria, where diners can lounge while waiting for a table. Jars of unusual housemade mixers (roasted radicchio liqueur?) line the shelves, ready to be used in drinks like the Red Medicine, made with rye, ginger beer, and fernet. The stellar small plates—smoked pork shoulder, beer-boiled soft pretzels, even vanilla malt ice cream—may convince you to skip the pie entirely.