Framed black and white portraits of dead writers watch over diners at candle-lit, wooden tables. Book shelves line the exposed brick walls while olden day lamps hang dimly below them. A rugby ball lies on one of these shelves like a makeshift book end and high chairs sit at a bar under a banner of mini world flags a few feet away. The Dorian Gray Tap and Grill on 205 E. 4th St. reflects the many facets of its owner, Renaissance man Peter Cavanagh.
Irish bred, New York City native Cavanagh, 46, has a plethora of lifetime achievements. Turning a year old in January, the Dorian Gray is just one of them. But the bar he calls his “home base” is more than his latest project. It’s an homage to his roots in the arts as a musician, actor and author, but most of all, to his distant relation, Irish writer Oscar Wilde. It also resembles Cavanagh’s own candid nature, classic and rugged all at once.