The Beagle

162 Avenue A, East Village, NY

6.1

map & more

Neighborhood
East Village

Cuisine
American

212-228-6900

Official Website

By Chris Stang
July 6, 2011

Portland people, take note. The Beagle is a new restaurant from a handful of players in the Stumptown restaurant world – a fact which we imagine will at least get some Ace Hotel regulars excited, if not the few hundred natives that are bound to be living here.

We don’t know a whole lot about Portland other than what we’ve learned from Portlandia, but we were definitely looking forward to a trying out a new restaurant that comes with a fresh set of credentials. Finally, an opening in NYC that doesn’t somehow relate back to Momofuku, Top Chef, or some dude that owns 1/15th of The Waverly Inn. But even with the northwestern resumes, The Beagle feels awfully familiar. This is equal parts restaurant and high level mixology bar, with a vintage aesthetic and pricey prohibition era cocktails. And while we love ourselves a good drink full of things we’ve never heard of, we weren’t all that impressed with the eating to be had here. The menu is hit or miss, and the trademark “pairing boards” (a small plate matched with a spirit) added little appeal. Then again, we’re not exactly the type to go crazy over a small batch gin or rare French aperitif. If you know what Pineau des Charentes is, and are dying to sip on some with your foie gras, welcome to your dream restaurant. Our hunch is that probably also means you’re the chef.

Food Rundown:

Burrata and Gin
One of The Beagle’s signature pairing boards, which we found to be a bit confusing. We like the burrata fine, but the braised celery was unappealing, and sipping the little cup of gin didn’t make either more delicious.

Dates with Paprika Honey & Prosciutto
Tasty dates that we would happily order next time we come in for a cocktail.

Fresh Baby Corn
Like baby corn meets Mexican corn from Cafe Habana. We really liked them…but that also might only be because we love the movie Big.

Squid
The best part of this guy was the crispy prosciutto on top. Otherwise we didn’t find it all that memorable.

Corned Beef Tongue
To the waitress’ credit, she did warn us that this was very “tonguey”. It was indeed, and that doesn’t really bother me…but it didn’t have the corned beef thing going on that I hoped it would. Instead it sat in a relatively tasteless broth next to a huge clam that I first thought was some other part of the tongue. No thanks.

Golden Beet Salad
A very nice beet salad with Greek yogurt and marcona almonds. No complaints other than that it was a bit small. Still, we’d get it again.

Braised Pork Shoulder
Our favorite thing on the menu, but we also say that about the pork at pretty much every restaurant we go to, including Chipotle. Nonetheless, this is a solid entree. Order it.

Half Chicken
The mushrooms and foie gras bits make this entree, which is a pretty solid plate of chicken.

Chocolate Custard with Grapefruit & Cornflakes
This was fine, though the presentation was a bit strange, especially considering we also got the Cranachan, which is also a pile of stuff on a plate.