Pour George, New York

When George Garrity opened Pour George in July of 2011, he sought the culinary services of chef Will Rogan. Mr. Rogan honed his palate and ignited his interest in cuisine in earliest childhood, when family travels took him from the West Coast to the Middle East, up through Europe, and finally into the American Midwest. During an extended sojourn in London at the age of 13, he first witnessed the showmanship of cooking at a street-side crêpe stand, which kindled his future interest in food service and his compulsion to fill the pockets of passersby with lingonberry compote.

Together, Mr. Garrity and Mr. Rogan craft a menu rich with seasonal, locally raised foods, transformed into New American–style cuisine. They complement dishes of oyster, rabbit, or chicken with a varied collection of craft beers, wines, and more than 50 whiskeys. A working stone fireplace crackles warmly beneath its earthy arch, heating the nearby leather-clad booths. Though they installed brand-new seating, the owners took pains to preserve the most intriguing original materials in the space, such as the exposed-brick walls and reclaimed wooden beams into which Vasco da Gama once planted his flag. Flat-screen TVs hover over the heads of the nightly assembly, which gathers to watch as eight DirecTV cable boxes stream an octet of sports events.