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The Clerkenwell has a more authentic English background than other gastropubs that have followed the Spotted Pig. Chef Shay Kelly spent nine years cooking in London and two more in Australia before coming Stateside to open this spot in spring 2009. A pleasing hodgepodge of antique furnishings makes for a comfortable ambiance that verges on upscale: black leather banquettes, a stamped-tin ceiling, and a bird motif painted on one wall. It’s a mix that works, and, when the lights are dimmed at certain hour, there’s something spot-on about the ambiance that makes up for the not-quite-as-reliable menu. Kelly sometimes struggles with lighter foods. While lackluster dressing doomed a Caesar salad and prawns came out overcooked, the breaded goat cheese salad with pickled baby beets and hazelnuts had the right interplay of sour, sweet, crunchy, and creamy. A pea-and-leek tart topped with poached egg bears an ideally flaky crust and slightly gelled yolk. For dessert, a stellar sticky toffee pudding is sweet and salty, with a texture somewhere between cake and custard. — Jenny Miller