Irving Place Restaurant Ichabod's Meets Demand For Bacon Cocktails

The owners of The Headless Horseman on Irving Place have expanded their Washington Irving empire with another hat tip to the author who inspired this website's name. Ichabod's, a rustic corner restaurant with the requisite percentage of reclaimed wood and exposed brick required by the NYC Dining Design Act of 2010, opened a couple months ago in the Irving Place space formerly occupied by the hemp restaurant Galaxy Global Eatery. You can't get hempnut crusted catfish before a show at Irving Plaza anymore, but you can get a bowl of delicious Squash Dumplings with chestnuts, sage, and sherry butter ($15).

The menu from Chef Matthew Etchemendy (formerly of Koi) is better than the restaurant's de rigueur aesthetic look might lead you to believe. During a small press preview a couple of weeks ago, the standouts were the aforementioned dumplings, which melt in your mouth with a mellow sweetness that isn't too sweet. Etchemendy's fresh Tuna Tartare ($18) comes piled high with crispy potato chips, and is punctuated with dueling bursts of apple and chili. And the broiled oysters ($14), succulently flavored with Pernod, garlic, and Parmesan, get inhaled quickly.

Jeremy Strawn of the Mulberry Project created the fancy cocktail menu, all $13. With spring in the air, The Bramble sounds appealing: Gin, Berry Juice, and House Made Berry Jam. But since everything goes better with bacon, you'll probably want to try the Bacon Sazerac. It's a simple concoction that lets the swine speak for itself; just bacon-washed Rye, maple syrup, and bitters. Remember to splash a little Bacōn cologne on your wrists before you before you leave the apartment to make the night complete!

15 Irving Place (between 15th and 16th Street) // 212) 777-5102