The Dead Poet

A former English teacher named Drew Dvorkin opened this Amsterdam Avenue pub in 2000, paneling the walls in mahogany and hanging black-and-white portraits of Poe, Kerouac and other writers he admired. Every cocktail on the list is named for one of them, down to the house Dead Poet, a seven-liquor blend that comes on tap in a glass you keep. The kitchen doesn't extend past popcorn and hot dogs, so this is a drinking room first, not a dinner stop. It fills up fast most weekends.