Pilar Guzmán, Editor-in-Chief, Condé Nast Traveler
"The bar in the back of the Smyth hotel is a perfect place for both work and fun drinks. The two couches in front of the fire are the best seats in the winter."
Adam Rapoport, Editor-in-Chief, Bon Appétit
"Raccoon Lodge—where to go when you want your beer cheap and cold and your jukebox loud. Which is pretty much always, right?"
Linda Wells, Editor-in-Chief, Allure
"I love Locanda Verde—especially if you can get into the inner sanctum garden, which is restricted to Greenwich Hotel guests. It’s a secret haven. Even if you can’t, the restaurant feels like soulful Tribeca, not new gleaming steel Tribeca. They have the best frittata with goat cheese, roasted tomatoes, and zucchini blossoms—it’s fragrant and satisfying, but it’s usually just on the weekend brunch menu. I order it at business lunches, and they usually comply. Dinner at the bar is cozy—you have to lean in to hear your dinner companion, and there’s nothing wrong with that."
David Tamarkin, Editor, Epicurious.com
"I like Terroir because if I drink a lot of hard alcohol I fall asleep, and Terroir is a wine bar, so that works. Also, they have an insane olive oil cake. I don’t know what they do to it—probably just pour a gallon of olive oil into the batter—but it is impossibly rich and yet has a lightness at the same time. It’s crazy, delicious (and crazy delicious) stuff. I also like to have a drink at Baked, which is a bakery with beer and not anything like a bar at all. It’s a weird place to drink, but if you are like me—that is, you prefer a cake vice to a drinking vice 10 to 1—it’s perfect, because their chocolate bundt cake is to die."
"For lunch, I love Arcade Bakery. The pizza is crazy good. The sandwiches are also excellent—I like the eggplant number. Though both of these options leave me hungry two hours later. I also like Kitchenette, which is a kitschy spot that’s been around forever. It’s pretty basic, but it’s sunny (in front), you can get a big salad, and they have layer cakes. (Are you picking up on the theme of my life here?)"
Eric Gillin, Executive Director, Epicurious.com
"I'm totally in the tank for The Odeon restaurant. Maybe it's the Bright Lights, Big City connection or the fact it was in Saturday Night Live opening montages, but I always feel like I'm having a power lunch when I'm there, even though it's a total locals place now. Also, I love the fact it's virtually unchanged since the 1980s when Warhol used to eat there, right down to the neon clock on the wall. And the cheeseburger is fantastic."
Chloe Malle, Social Editor, Vogue
"I love Racines for a drink or dinner after work; the whole menu is amazing, but I love ordering the bar food with one of their amazing wines by the glass. I am the opposite of an oenophile, so I always let the waiter decide for me! For lunch, now that the weather is better, nothing beats eating at Shake Shack on the river!"
Shauna Lyon, Goings On About Town Editor, The New Yorker
"I love to grab lunch at Takahachi Bakery—besides croissants, tarts, cakes, cream-filled coronets, and macarons, they have a wonderful array of lunch items both familiar and curious, including lovely seared-salmon and tuna salads, mini fried-oyster sandwiches, perfectly soft rolls with a surprise of sriracha-tuna hidden inside, and the occasional ramen burger."
"For an after-work drink, you can have a glass of wine from an astute selection and a gorgeous appetizer, like whipped chicken-liver paté, at Racines; or get a Scotch on the rocks (from a list of 150 Scotches) and perfect charcuterie and eggs mayonnaise at North End Grill. Or head way downtown to The Dead Rabbit, one of the best bars in the city, inspired by the 19th-century Irish-immigrant gangs of New York. Head to the parlor floor, and have a cup of punch, choose a cocktail from the extensive, thoughtfully researched menu, or ask the highly skilled bartender to fix you whatever he fancies."
Matt Duckor, Senior Editor, Epicurious.com
"Listen, I’m not a sports bar guy. But Warren 77 isn’t your average sports bar. I can watch the Knicks lose in a place that doesn't smell like a dive, makes a proper cocktail, and serves up one of the best plates of nachos in town. Do not expect to get any work done post-lunch if you opt for those nachos."
Mark Byrne, Associate Editor, GQ
"Ward III was one of the first cocktails bars in New York to do fancy, bespoke cocktails without clubby pretension or fake prohibition-era vibes, and six years later it still doesn’t have much competition. Order one of their concoctions off the menu (none of them are simple enough to ever make at home) or let a bartender design for you a personalized mix of spirits. Or just get beer; these are the kinds of taps with which you can’t go wrong. Bonus: It’s a big enough place that even when the bar is crowded you’ve still got room to breathe."
