City Guide: New York

diana pittet bitesee writer
By Diana Pittet

The Dead Rabbit

A unique bar, The Dead Rabbit won the title of World's Best Bar two years in a row for its extensive and inventive menu of tasty cocktails.

A visit to this multi-storied bar, located in a modest brownstone near Wall Street, is a trip back in time to 19th-century New York and its rough and tumble immigrant taverns and elegant bars of Lower Broadway. Two bars in one, the Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog (it’s official name) is no mere kitschy gimmick; it won the owners Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry, formerly of the Merchant Hotel in Belfast, the title of World’s Best Bar in 2015 at Tales of the Cocktail.

Downstairs sawdust covers the floor of the traditional Irish saloon, where you’ll stand in close and convivial company with Wall Streeters drinking pints and drams of whiskey from an Irish-heavy selection. Upstairs, the parlor, where you’re seated by a host, is decidedly more refined, quiet and limited to expertly tweaked vintage cocktails, like the Wildcat with two types of Irish whiskey and tropical fruits, that stun with layers of flavor. An order of a few small plates of food, such as deviled eggs with salmon or mini peekytoe crab cakes, or something as substantial and traditional as fish and chips or lamb shepherd’s pie, will enable you to order another round of cocktails.

It’s a pleasure to flip through the extensive, seasonally changing menu that currently resembles a graphic novel depicting the life of John Morrissey, an Irish immigrant who founded the Dead Rabbits street gang in New York City, for which the bar is named.

Must try:
The Wildcat and anything with Irish Whiskey
Cocktail Virtuoso / World's Best Bar
$$$
Reservations: no
Hours: Taproom hours: 11 a.m. – 4 a.m. daily; Parlor evening hours: Mon-Sat 5 p.m. – 2 a.m.; Sunday 5 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Location: Financial District
Address: 30 Water St (at Broad St.)
Phone: (646) 422-7906
  • Subway / N, R to Whitehall St
 
Ideal for:

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