You understand Freemans.

Drinking sidecars under the watchful gaze of stuffed buck heads and equally woolly art-world denizens. Emerging hours later, from an alley of graffiti and smoke, back into a world without stuffed buck heads.

And it’s been a long while since we’ve seen anything new from the well-dressed culinary barbers behind Freemans. Until this morning...

Introducing Peels, a brand-new country diner from Taavo Somer, Will Tigertt and the Freemans crew, open right at this very moment.

Instead of dark wood in a back alley, Peels is holding court front and center on Bowery, with big picture windows, bright white walls and a long country kitchen-style countertop running the length of the space.

There’s a mellow vibe to the whole operation: lazy hours will roll by as you marinate on a stool along the windows, at the counter or at the long communal table in the middle of the room.

For opening day today, they’re serving up scones, biscuits, Swiss/swine sandwiches and coffee. But at some point in the coming weeks, the staircase you see in the corner will lead you to a restaurant serving country-style dinners of cured meats, burgers and fried chicken until 2am—a bit more like the Freemans you know and love.

You can take the Freemans out of the alley...