A Boozy Welcome at FiDi’s Charming Dead Rabbit

One of the best things about The Dead Rabbit, a delightful little pub and cocktail bar tucked away in the Financial District, is that a swallow of punch arrives a few moments after you’re seated in the parlor upstairs.

It’s like the liquor world’s version of an amuse bouche–a few sips from the evening’s punch bowl, served in a little porcelain teacup. Much like an amuse sent from the kitchen, the “welcome punch” is the bar’s greeting and a taste of what’s to come.

From there, you can explore Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry’s vast and delicious menu of punches, flips, cobblers, and slings. Though I won’t recommend any of the hot food I tasted, if you visit between 5 and 7 p.m. on weekdays, there are $1 oysters from Fisher’s Island, and you can’t go wrong with a dozen of those.

The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog, 30 Water Street; 646-422-7906