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The design of this delightfully un-sceney restaurant on the edge of Alphabet City is as clean, simple and sophisticated as its produce-driven American menu and classic cocktails. The space is divided into two rooms, with a navy, cream, and wood motif running throughout—the blue-and-white wallpaper is a William Morris design that dates back to the 1880s, there’s white tile behind the bar (the bar itself is a remake from a French chateau) and the dark wood chairs and tables reference a turn-of-the-century Viennese café. But somehow, in the soft glow of milky lights, the mishmash all works. The chef, Garrett Eagleton, an alum of some of Portland, Oregon’s best kitchens, serves up rustic versions of classic dishes like a colorful and incredibly fresh golden beet salad and a recent Arctic char expertly paired with a root vegetable puree and pickled cipollini onions. As befits a restaurant opened by Matthew Piacentini, a former bar manager of ‘Inoteca and co-owner of Portland’s cocktail incubator Clyde Common, the bar’s menu is as extensive (and enticing) as the food’s. There’s even a selection of barrel-aged cocktails, which are blended to the point of perfection in barrels from Tuthilltown distillery for up to six weeks. And for a real treat, order one with a metal straw, which stays as frosty as the hand-cut ice as you drink. — Molly Langmuir

Pork rillettes, $8; golden beets

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Recipes at The Beagle

• Radicchio Salad (2012)