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A hand holds up a martini glass against the Manhattan skyline.
The tomato martini at elNico.
elNico

The Hottest New Bars in New York City, September 2023

A Mexican cocktail bar with sweeping views joins the list this month

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The tomato martini at elNico.
| elNico

Welcome to the Cocktail Heatmap, a guide to the hottest places to grab a dirty martini in New York City right now. After subsisting on takeout drinks served from plastic cups for the first year of the pandemic, the city’s cocktail bars are back in full swing, reinventing classics and cashing in on nostalgia.

New to the list in September: elNico, a Mexican cocktail bar on top of a Williamsburg hotel.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

Angel’s Share

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Angel’s Share, an influential cocktail bar that was open in the East Village for more than 30 years, made headlines when it closed during the pandemic over a dispute with its landlord. The legendary bar returned at this new address this summer, where Erina Yoshida, the daughter of the original owner, is now running the show. It has new food and drink menus, with seating for 60 people.

A huge, celestial painting with winged cherubs hangs above the bar at Angel’s Share.
The bar’s famous mural lives on at the new location.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Williamsburg cocktail bar Donna closed in 2020 after almost a decade in business. Now, the bar is back in Manhattan and it’s owned by its employees. On the menu: a mushroom Old Fashioned and the Brancolada, a creamy, slushy drink the original bar was known for.

Inside of the light-wood bar at Donna.
Donna has returned in Manhattan.
Nicholas Ruiz/Donna

Jac's on Bond

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The team behind the Manhattan bars Ray’s and Pebble Bar opened Jac’s on Bond this year. The Noho bar operates out of a restored townhouse built in the 1830s: Well-dressed customers and the occasional celebrity sip on drinks made with dill, cold brew, apricot, and lime. In an interview with Vogue, a partner at the bar described it this way: “We wanted it to be a watering hole — a place where you can go get a drink that’s not too fancy, but you know, fancy enough.”

A cocktail at Jac’s on Bond.
A cocktail at Jac’s on Bond.
Max Flatow/Authentic Hospitality

Madeline's Martini

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There’s no better example of the ways the martini is changing to meet the moment than this East Village bar. As the name suggests, martinis come in a handful of varieties: A “breakfast” version is made with apricot marmalade, while others contain sea lettuce brine and blackberry liqueur. The darkly lit bar comes from the team behind the Wayland and Goodnight Sonny, nearby.

A mural with peacocks sits above round marble tables with candles.
A mural at Madeline’s Martini.
Madeline’s Martini

Lise & Vito

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Lise & Vito is a new natural wine bar in Greenpoint. Wines are divided into categories — sparking, white, orange, pink, and red — with roughly a dozen available by the glass (around $15 each) and a larger list of bottles. There are a handful of cocktails, too, including a Cosmopolitan and a mezcal margarita. The bar is owned by Brittany Myrick, a former sommelier at the Michelin-starred restaurant Estela whose career in wine started at Roberta’s pizza in Bushwick.

A hand holds a plate of yellow Jell-O shots at Lise & Vito, a natural wine bar in Greenpoint.
A plate of Jell-O shots at Lise & Vito.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Superbueno

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This Mexican American cocktail bar comes from a former employee of Ghost Donkey, a popular bar in the East Village that closed during the pandemic: It was a hangout for restaurant industry workers who lined its counter after other bars closed. Superbueno is going for a similar vibe. It serves drinks until 2 a.m. each night, and customers chase mezcal shots with beef consomé. Cocktails like a green mango martini and salted tamarind milk punch start at around $20.

The pink-lit bar at Superbueno.
The bar at Superbueno.
Superbueno

Mary’s Bar

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The Irish pub gets a “queer makeover” at Mary’s Bar on the border of Greenpoint and East Williamsburg. Much like at Ginger’s in Park Slope, its sister bar, the space is meant to be fun and casual. At Mary’s, that means a long list of beers on draft, including Guinness, available for under $10, alongside standard well drinks.

Jaffa Cocktail and Raw Bar

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Michael Solomonov, a famed Philadelphia restaurateur, is on an opening spree in New York City: He’s behind Laser Wolf, which opened here last year, and K’Far, located in the same building. Jaffa is the latest and probably last to open in the foreseeable future: The cocktail bar is located on an outdoor terrace at the Hoxton Hotel in Williamsburg. There’s a short food menu with oysters and shrimp cocktails, but the signature order is a frozen cocktail that tastes like a creamsicle.

People crowd around an outdoor table with plates of seafood and cocktails.
Jaffa is located on a terrace at the Hoxton hotel.
Jaffa

ElNico is a new cocktail bar on the rooftop of the Penny hotel in Williamsburg. The drinks and food are expensive for the area, and part of what you’re paying for is the view. Cocktails, like a tomato martini and an Old Fashioned made with black sesame, cost between $18 to $20 each. The bar serves a full food menu of fancy Mexican dishes, like a sope with caviar and carne asada with bone marrow.

A cocktail with a view of a garden in the background.
ElNico is located on top of the Penny hotel in Williamsburg.
elNico

320 Club

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320 Club feels like a grown-up dive bar: an intentionally retro place where it’s possible to order a beer and shot combo for $6, during happy hour, and also a well-made Negroni. The bar is located in the back of Super Burrito, a burrito shop with two locations in the city. It serves a separate late-night food menu with burgers and nachos.

The back room of 320 Club, a bar in Williamsburg, is outfitted with red string lights.
320 Club is located in the back of a Williamsburg burrito shop.
320 Club

LilliStar

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Mesiba, an Israeli restaurant, opened on the ground floor of the Moxy Williamsburg this year. It now has a sibling upstairs. The menu at LilliStar is a collaboration between Bar Lab Hospitality, which started the Broken Shaker cocktail bar chain, and Channin Centeno, the bartender behind the famed MSG martini at Bonnie’s in Williamsburg. On the menu: tropical drinks mixed with calamansi, condensed milk, bird’s eye chile, and dragonfruit.

A orange cocktail with a black dust rim and cucumber garnish sits atop a wooden table with an abstract backdrop and plant that hangs in the lefthand corner.
Broken Shaker brings its expertise to the bar menu at LilliStar.
Liz Clayman/LilliStar

The Red Pavilion

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A chef trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine teamed up with a nightlife producer to open this new venue in Bushwick: It operates as a teahouse and dim sum spot during the day and a club with cabaret at night. Look out for a menu of congee made with purple rice and Chinese millet and drinks like herbal shots with vodka, baijiu, and blends of herbs.

The inside of a dramatic dining room and performance space.
The Red Pavilion in Bushwick.
Cassie Zhang/Red Pavilion

The Bush

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Queer bars are on a hot streak: Oddly Enough, a lesbian-owned cocktail bar, opened last year in Bed-Stuy, and Mary’s Bar, a queer pub that’s also on this list, is newly arrived in Greenpoint. The latest to open is the Bush, a high-ceilinged “dyke bar” with disco balls and neon lights. In addition to cocktails, there are beef patties supplied by Tower Isles Cafe in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn.

Anaïs is the latest wine bar project from the team behind Brooklyn bars June, Rucola, and Rhodora. The bar — which serves wines, and cocktails, as well as nibbles — doubles as a bookstore and library, selling a selection of titles the team imagined the author Anaïs Nin would own. Though it’s billed as a home for erotica, the website Hell Gate argues that the smut could be dialed up a few notches.

Winner on Franklin

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Winner, a Park Slope bakery known for its sold-out pastries and takeout rotisserie chickens, is on an expansion tear. In addition to opening a restaurant and butcher shop, the team now has a wine bar in Crown Heights. Frozen margaritas and painkillers start at $12, while drinks mixed with amari and blueberry-orange syrups range cost a few more dollars. For food, there’s cheeseburgers, rotisserie chicken, and beef patties.

Angel’s Share

Angel’s Share, an influential cocktail bar that was open in the East Village for more than 30 years, made headlines when it closed during the pandemic over a dispute with its landlord. The legendary bar returned at this new address this summer, where Erina Yoshida, the daughter of the original owner, is now running the show. It has new food and drink menus, with seating for 60 people.

A huge, celestial painting with winged cherubs hangs above the bar at Angel’s Share.
The bar’s famous mural lives on at the new location.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Donna

Williamsburg cocktail bar Donna closed in 2020 after almost a decade in business. Now, the bar is back in Manhattan and it’s owned by its employees. On the menu: a mushroom Old Fashioned and the Brancolada, a creamy, slushy drink the original bar was known for.

Inside of the light-wood bar at Donna.
Donna has returned in Manhattan.
Nicholas Ruiz/Donna

Jac's on Bond

The team behind the Manhattan bars Ray’s and Pebble Bar opened Jac’s on Bond this year. The Noho bar operates out of a restored townhouse built in the 1830s: Well-dressed customers and the occasional celebrity sip on drinks made with dill, cold brew, apricot, and lime. In an interview with Vogue, a partner at the bar described it this way: “We wanted it to be a watering hole — a place where you can go get a drink that’s not too fancy, but you know, fancy enough.”

A cocktail at Jac’s on Bond.
A cocktail at Jac’s on Bond.
Max Flatow/Authentic Hospitality

Madeline's Martini

There’s no better example of the ways the martini is changing to meet the moment than this East Village bar. As the name suggests, martinis come in a handful of varieties: A “breakfast” version is made with apricot marmalade, while others contain sea lettuce brine and blackberry liqueur. The darkly lit bar comes from the team behind the Wayland and Goodnight Sonny, nearby.

A mural with peacocks sits above round marble tables with candles.
A mural at Madeline’s Martini.
Madeline’s Martini

Lise & Vito

Lise & Vito is a new natural wine bar in Greenpoint. Wines are divided into categories — sparking, white, orange, pink, and red — with roughly a dozen available by the glass (around $15 each) and a larger list of bottles. There are a handful of cocktails, too, including a Cosmopolitan and a mezcal margarita. The bar is owned by Brittany Myrick, a former sommelier at the Michelin-starred restaurant Estela whose career in wine started at Roberta’s pizza in Bushwick.

A hand holds a plate of yellow Jell-O shots at Lise & Vito, a natural wine bar in Greenpoint.
A plate of Jell-O shots at Lise & Vito.
Luke Fortney/Eater NY

Superbueno

This Mexican American cocktail bar comes from a former employee of Ghost Donkey, a popular bar in the East Village that closed during the pandemic: It was a hangout for restaurant industry workers who lined its counter after other bars closed. Superbueno is going for a similar vibe. It serves drinks until 2 a.m. each night, and customers chase mezcal shots with beef consomé. Cocktails like a green mango martini and salted tamarind milk punch start at around $20.

The pink-lit bar at Superbueno.
The bar at Superbueno.
Superbueno

Mary’s Bar

The Irish pub gets a “queer makeover” at Mary’s Bar on the border of Greenpoint and East Williamsburg. Much like at Ginger’s in Park Slope, its sister bar, the space is meant to be fun and casual. At Mary’s, that means a long list of beers on draft, including Guinness, available for under $10, alongside standard well drinks.

Jaffa Cocktail and Raw Bar

Michael Solomonov, a famed Philadelphia restaurateur, is on an opening spree in New York City: He’s behind Laser Wolf, which opened here last year, and K’Far, located in the same building. Jaffa is the latest and probably last to open in the foreseeable future: The cocktail bar is located on an outdoor terrace at the Hoxton Hotel in Williamsburg. There’s a short food menu with oysters and shrimp cocktails, but the signature order is a frozen cocktail that tastes like a creamsicle.

People crowd around an outdoor table with plates of seafood and cocktails.
Jaffa is located on a terrace at the Hoxton hotel.
Jaffa

elNico

ElNico is a new cocktail bar on the rooftop of the Penny hotel in Williamsburg. The drinks and food are expensive for the area, and part of what you’re paying for is the view. Cocktails, like a tomato martini and an Old Fashioned made with black sesame, cost between $18 to $20 each. The bar serves a full food menu of fancy Mexican dishes, like a sope with caviar and carne asada with bone marrow.

A cocktail with a view of a garden in the background.
ElNico is located on top of the Penny hotel in Williamsburg.
elNico

320 Club

320 Club feels like a grown-up dive bar: an intentionally retro place where it’s possible to order a beer and shot combo for $6, during happy hour, and also a well-made Negroni. The bar is located in the back of Super Burrito, a burrito shop with two locations in the city. It serves a separate late-night food menu with burgers and nachos.

The back room of 320 Club, a bar in Williamsburg, is outfitted with red string lights.
320 Club is located in the back of a Williamsburg burrito shop.
320 Club

LilliStar

Mesiba, an Israeli restaurant, opened on the ground floor of the Moxy Williamsburg this year. It now has a sibling upstairs. The menu at LilliStar is a collaboration between Bar Lab Hospitality, which started the Broken Shaker cocktail bar chain, and Channin Centeno, the bartender behind the famed MSG martini at Bonnie’s in Williamsburg. On the menu: tropical drinks mixed with calamansi, condensed milk, bird’s eye chile, and dragonfruit.

A orange cocktail with a black dust rim and cucumber garnish sits atop a wooden table with an abstract backdrop and plant that hangs in the lefthand corner.
Broken Shaker brings its expertise to the bar menu at LilliStar.
Liz Clayman/LilliStar

The Red Pavilion

A chef trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine teamed up with a nightlife producer to open this new venue in Bushwick: It operates as a teahouse and dim sum spot during the day and a club with cabaret at night. Look out for a menu of congee made with purple rice and Chinese millet and drinks like herbal shots with vodka, baijiu, and blends of herbs.

The inside of a dramatic dining room and performance space.
The Red Pavilion in Bushwick.
Cassie Zhang/Red Pavilion

The Bush

Queer bars are on a hot streak: Oddly Enough, a lesbian-owned cocktail bar, opened last year in Bed-Stuy, and Mary’s Bar, a queer pub that’s also on this list, is newly arrived in Greenpoint. The latest to open is the Bush, a high-ceilinged “dyke bar” with disco balls and neon lights. In addition to cocktails, there are beef patties supplied by Tower Isles Cafe in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn.

Anaïs

Anaïs is the latest wine bar project from the team behind Brooklyn bars June, Rucola, and Rhodora. The bar — which serves wines, and cocktails, as well as nibbles — doubles as a bookstore and library, selling a selection of titles the team imagined the author Anaïs Nin would own. Though it’s billed as a home for erotica, the website Hell Gate argues that the smut could be dialed up a few notches.

Winner on Franklin

Winner, a Park Slope bakery known for its sold-out pastries and takeout rotisserie chickens, is on an expansion tear. In addition to opening a restaurant and butcher shop, the team now has a wine bar in Crown Heights. Frozen margaritas and painkillers start at $12, while drinks mixed with amari and blueberry-orange syrups range cost a few more dollars. For food, there’s cheeseburgers, rotisserie chicken, and beef patties.

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