New York - November 10, 2000

We Like Ike

Ike Restaurant

When you open a restaurant, you set your expectations high.

“We wanted to create a bar with great food where James Brown and Frank Sinatra might have come to relax after a performance,” says David Scott Copeland, who today, along with partner Morgan Humphries open Ike. The duo have managed places like Jim McMullen, Memphis and Penang, and today they fill the former Circa location with a loungey spot designed to please everyone.

The food is no afterthought either. Scott Gerow, former chef of Monzu and Matthew’s, is on board. Menu highlights texture with some suprising combinations-seared spicy tuna, corn fritters&Avocado dipping sauce or semolina crusted fried oysters and clams. And design? Fifties art modern with clean lines, mahogany shades, marshmallow-cushioned sofas and a 26-foot bar where old-school cocktails like Stingers, Sidecars, Gin Fizzes, and Whiskey Sours are served. The music is true to the era as well: Etta James, Johnny Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, and James Brown will be on the Sony 100 CD changer.

Poor Nina would really be singing the blues if she knew she’d been reduced to CD # 24 on the wheel.