Mighty Ducks

Gin. Donuts. A silly amount of Peking duck. Oh, and some live jazz. Now that we have your attention… Behold The General, an immense abode of Asian goodness and pastry-slinging barmen in Nolita. It’s from the fellas who brought you Catch—EMM Group’s Mark Birnbaum and Eugene Remm—and they’re taking reservations now for tomorrow’s opening. Occasionally, you find yourself in league with rabble-rousers, general merrymakers and/or enthusiastic dancers. On those occasions, you’ll want to bring the entire horde here to eat four-person Peking duck before… whatever comes next. When you enter, breeze through that charming little tiled café space and the bar area (for now) to the dining room. Dim lighting, gold-and-red-brocaded wallpaper, candlelit lamps—all in all, a pretty Asian-y scene. Try the grilled lobster. Have some bone-in short rib over udon. Actually, everyone have some of that last one. It’s huge. Oh, and there are donuts… Back at that bar you passed, they’re doing pastries, like a green-tea donut with mascarpone. Also, a gin-bitters-Cointreau drink called The Other Woman. But regarding the pastries: they’ll be available late-night soon. Which is great, because FINALE is next door (for the enthusiastic dancers). And somewhere below all this revelry is BOW, where—on some nights—they’ll have after-midnight jazz performances. We don’t need to tell you how well a donut goes with those.