Rising Sons
Deli in the Front, Dinner in the Back

Today, we’re going to do the unthinkable.

Tinker with the Lower East Side deli.

Relax, it’s not nearly as crazy as it sounds.

All we’re doing is adding a bar, some upscale comfort food and a couple of chandeliers.

Enter Sons of Essex, a forward-thinking establishment that’s deli in the front, dining room in the back and dressed to look like your grandpa’s study, in previews now.

Finally, someone’s found a way to incorporate your top three deserted-island essentials into one place: sandwiches. Scotch on the rocks. Broken-in leather easy chair.

As with any rustic restaurant (walls of old portraits, shelves of old books), there’s an inherent feeling of warmth every time you step inside. So with rain on the calendar from now till roughly spring 2013, you’d do well to keep this one on the shortlist.

Front and center: the reclaimed wood bar and deli counter, where you can naturally get a sandwich. But if you’re planning on staying for dinner, you’ll want to request a tufted banquette table inside the pit. Don’t worry, it’s not a real pit. Just a former mechanical bull ring.

Former.