The Collective

The Collective is a whimsical flight of fancy where license plates become birds taking off over one of the bars; old LPs are transformed into butterflies; scales, stoplights and dodgeballs morph into occasional chairs and stools; coat hangers act as light fixtures and every other piece of furniture is peculiarly reworked courtesy of ICRAVE design.

Indeed, the sense of reinvention extends to the food from Executive Chef Todd Mark Miller and Chef de Cuisine Sean Fetters as well. Sprawling across a Taste of Hoods are such delights as Chinatown ($19), Hong Kong ribs with scallions; Little Italy ($20) with veal & ricotta meatballs; Upper East Side ($32), hauling in a Maine lobster salad and Meatpacking ($29), serving up steak and fries, naturally. Otherwise, the staff is filled with sweet, scruffy little East Village gay boys-though one does hold the fervent hope that they've scrubbed up after visiting The Cock the night before.

Specialty Cocktails ($14) are varied and many but all you really need to know about is the Walk of Shame ($80), a wild party of fresh blackberries, lime juice, honey syrup, and Bacardi Select topped with prosecco, served in a punch bowl tableside for 4-5 people. Uh-huh.

For lunch, Chicken-n-Waffles ($15) was a great appetizer, a succulent breast of tastily breaded chicken served on half of a righteous waffle with maple syrup and sweet gravy that had a hint of sage. The Black-n-Blue Caesar Salad ($12) was fantastic, with lilting blue cheese, pale romaine, frilly fris�e, fried garlic and crunchy pumpernickel croutons saut�ed in brown butter. We really loved the juicy, grilled Burger Royale ($16) dripping with cheese and truffle sauce. Surprisingly, the accompanying homemade fries lacked oomph. The Chicken Club ($15) with tomato, bacon and creamy avocado was an absolute treasure, served on grainy, grilled whole wheat bread, with wafers of crinkled potato chips.

Given all the crap impacted in the Meatpacking District these days those of us who still care about really good food can finally breathe a collective sigh of relief with this new entrant.