New York is reborn every fall, and what would a new season be without new places to usher in the cocktail hour? This season will bring fresh options for ordering the perfect margarita, an eye-opening Irish coffee and rarefied tableside martini service. You may find yourself down a dark alley across from City Hall, behind a pizzeria in Brooklyn or even at the reinvigorated Pennsylvania Station. For the happy-hour hunter, here are some of the more intriguing openings on the horizon.
Sip & Guzzle
Shingo Gokan, who worked at the Manhattan speakeasy Angel’s Share for many years before moving to Asia to open several bars in Shanghai and Japan, is returning to New York with this bar. His partner is the Employees Only veteran Steve Schneider, with whom he opened the Odd Couple in Shanghai. The bi-level, twin-concept bar will include the high-energy Guzzle on the main floor, serving classics and “comfort drinks,” and the speakeasy Sip below. Izakaya bar fare and Japanese street food comes from the chef Mike Bagale.
29 Cornelia Street (Bleecker Street). September.
Hellbender Nightime Café
The popular Ridgewood restaurant Rolo’s joins forces with the chef Yara Herrera for this laid-back margaritas-and-more bar a couple of blocks away. Bites will include a classic guacamole and Oaxacan cheese sticks. Drinks include the Cocorac, a rum-and-rye Sazerac washed with coconut oil.
68-22 Forest Avenue (68th Road), Ridgewood, Queens. October.
Irish Exit
The team behind the Dead Rabbit, one of the most influential cocktail bars of the last decade, is taking over what was the Bar in the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station. Passengers can expect cocktails, Irish whiskey, expertly poured Guinness and, of course, Irish coffee.
421 Eighth Avenue. September.
The Portrait Bar
A new cocktail bar inside the Fifth Avenue Hotel is inspired by London landmarks and decorated with an array of portraits, hence the name. The drinks program is by Darryl Chan, who for many years worked at Bar Pleiades on the Upper East Side. The chef Andrew Carmellini is overseeing the food. Cocktails include the Grapefruit Crusta, inspired by the classic Brandy Crusta.
250 Fifth Avenue (28th Street). October.
Paradise Lost
This long-anticipated destination for rum and tropical cocktails has an occult vibe, from the partners Kavé Pourzanjani (formerly of Nitecap), Ray Sakover (Slowly Shirley) and Josh Vera. The décor includes an eight-foot-tall altar and a giant taxidermied bat head. Sample cocktail name: Seventh Circle Swizzle.
100 Second Avenue (Sixth Street). October.
Ask For Janice
With a name that references the Beastie Boys album “Paul’s Boutique,” this new cocktail and food project from the Eavesdrop and Upside Pizza team is appropriately located behind the pizzeria’s Greenpoint location. Expect a soppressata-washed gin martini.
640 Manhattan Avenue (Nassau Avenue), Greenpoint, Brooklyn. October.
Debbie’s
The owners of Dutch Kills, a cocktail bar in Long Island City, will open its second floor as Debbie’s, a music venue with a full cocktail menu. Natural light will come from skylights, and a window in the upstairs wall behind the stage will allow live music to be seen and heard throughout both levels.
27-24 Jackson Avenue (Dutch Kills Street), Long Island City, Queens. November.
Laissez Faire
Beneath the Beekman hotel and entered via an alley, this financial district club comes from the team behind Freemans. Cocktails will focus on the classics, with martinis taking center stage, and the food will come from Tom Colicchio’s Crafted Hospitality. The space includes a club-within-the-club, a converted boiler room called the Oval.
10 Theatre Alley (Beekman Street). September.
Smith & Mills Rockefeller Center
The longstanding TriBeCa cocktail bar extends its brand to Midtown. Classic cocktails will be served from a circular bar. The raw bar and shared plates will be overseen by the chef Daniel Burns, formerly of Luksus and Noma.
30 Rockefeller Plaza. September.
All Hands
Amor y Amargo, the trailblazing East Village bar that focuses on bitters and amari, will take a victory lap this fall before closing its original location on Dec. 31. (The second, larger Amor y Amargo, on Avenue A, will remain open.) When the tiny space reopens in 2024, it will be All Hands, an immersive, tropically-oriented bar that will serve only 14 guests at a time.
443 East Sixth Street (Avenue A). 2024.
The Wooly
A reimagining and relocation of the sleek cocktail bar from David Tobias and Eric Adolfsen that was tucked inside the Woolworth Building, whence it got its name. The cocktail menu is the work of the head bartender Iain Griffiths (previously of White Lyan and Dandelyan in London). Food comes from the consulting chef Ken Addington.
390 Broome Street (Mulberry Street). September.
Talea Taprooms
Talea, the women-owned New York brewery that already has two taprooms in Brooklyn, will open two more, one in Greenwich Village and one on Bryant Park. Both will be open all day, serving coffee, tea and pastries in the morning.
102 Christopher Street (Bleecker Street); 22 West 40th Street (Fifth Avenue). December.
Tigre
A new cocktail lounge from the owners of Maison Premiere in Williamsburg, this Lower East Side bar will offer both classic and contemporary cocktails, and promises an atmosphere that straddles the fence between the neighborhood’s past and future selves.
105 Rivington Street (Ludlow Street). September.
Lolita
The crew behind Valerie and Madame George continue to expand along West 45th Street. Their next property, right next door, will be focused on agave and sugar distillates (read: tequila, mezcal and rum). The margarita will use a housemade Curaçao and the Michelada a housemade chamoy.
45 West 45th Street (Avenue of the Americas). October.
Bitter Monk
Ektoras Binikos and Simon Jutras, who founded Sugar Monk, the Harlem cocktail bar, will open their second bar in Brooklyn’s Industry City. The 18-seat space will specialize in spirit-forward cocktails using brands made in New York State, in addition to Mr. Binikos’s housemade amari, liqueurs and bitters.
68 34th Street, Building 6, Sunset Park, Brooklyn, 2nd floor. October.
Finback Brewery
The Queens brewery will open its third taproom in Long Island City. In addition to beer, the space will offer coffee, cocktails, wine and a light menu of Asian-influenced snacks.
29-37 41st Street (Queens Plaza North). Long Island City, Queens. October.
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