Curious to see how the old-school New York steakhouse holds up in the age of serious cocktails, Roger Kamholz finds plenty of charm at the bar on a boisterous weekday night. There’s friendly service (none of the bartenders “wince at orders for Cosmos and flavored vodka on the rocks”), a vast Scotch collection, and tasty bar snacks. While the drink list isn’t perfect, the bar does well sticking with what it knows, as in the Improved Highland Cocktail, “a delicious, complex, muscular drink, with distinct layers of malt, smoke, and anise” made from Dewar’s Scotch, absinthe, maraschino, simple syrup and bitters. [Serious Drinks]