Bars & Clubs >>

• Best Reason to Hold Your Breath by the Gowanus
  The Yard
  While the Gowanus Canal is still far from being a little Venice—and who knows when that Whole Foods will ever show up?—one bright spot on the fetid waterway has been the outdoor arts venue the Yard. Formerly the site of Issue Project Room, the Yard, which opened in 2007, is exactly what the name... More >>
• Best Dive for Holding a Conversation
  Sly Fox
  OK, at the risk of sounding really old by saying this: What’s with the noise level at New York dives? Sometimes the cheapest bars are just too damned loud. So when we tire of staring at our friends or our dates over a $2 beer and maybe attempting to communicate with our eyes,... More >>
• Best Reason Not to Wear Sneakers and Jeans to Work
  Mandarin Oriental Lobby Lounge
  The Campbell Apartment is where Serena and Nate first did it on Gossip Girl, and if you’re lucky enough to have the bar for a private session like they did, you can probably wear whatever you want—or nothing at all. For the rest of us trying to inject a little glamour into our daily grind,... More >>
• Most Reliable Gay Bar
  Barracuda
  Men can’t be counted on—the pigs—but the long-running hangout Barracuda can be: for cute bartenders, a spunky drag show, and some late-night company before heading home for Forensic Files. Prance in on virtually any night—after showing your valid ID to Joe the genial door guy—and... More >>
• Most Relaxing Hangout
  St. Dymphna's
  Welcome to St. Dymphna’s, a pressure-free pub aptly named after the saint of mental health. The people who run this place clearly have money in the bank and aren’t too worried about making any more of it: After getting your drinks, you’ll sometimes wait about an hour to even order food,... More >>
• Best New Dance Floor
  Santos’ Party House
  After three years in the making, Santos' Party House finally opened the doors to its 8,000-square-foot, multilevel space last June (or May, depending on whom you talk to and whether or not they got in)—and the party has rarely stopped since then. Legendary Studio 54 stalwart Nicky Siano spins on... More >>
• Best Addition to the Bowery
  Bowery Electric
  The Bowery, formerly a haven for the down-and-out and déclassé, saw a lot of squeaky-clean new faces in 2008: bad press magnet Bowery Wine Co.; Antik, the bar notable for not having a visible bar; and upscale pub King’s Cross for starters. But the street’s former rock-’n’-roll vibe... More >>
• Best Party Revival
  Le Royale
  Toward the end of its life, gritty dance club Luke and Leroy had no trouble packing ’em in—the venue begat the Misshapes, after all—but we preferred its sophisticated makeover into Le Royale. The stage upstairs looks out onto a dance floor, where disco balls twinkle overhead and a sleek,... More >>
• Best Place to Grope a Bear
  The Eagle
  On the second floor of the longtime leather hangout the Eagle, look around like a hawk for the area by the pool table where it’s darkish and a few hairy body parts seem to be carefully entwined. This is the place where manly loving sometimes erupts, though it’s generally in the form of just,... More >>
• Most Wildly Successful Gay Promoter
  Erich Conrad
  Erich Conrad is the man behind the city’s two longest-running and most popular gay parties, Beige and the Cuckoo Club. Both well-oiled bashes seem trend-proof and impervious to the competition. They’re invariably packed and humming, Beige with 29-ish retail twinks with angular hair and endless... More >>
• Best Nightlife Blog
  goodnightmrlewis.com
  Steve Lewis knows everyone. For more than 20 years, the nightlife giant has brought his after-hours expertise to promoting, designing, and running clubs, and in February, he expanded his kingdom to include a blogging partnership with JoonBug. The results at Good Night, Mr. Lewis are kind of... More >>
• Best Drag-Queen Makeover
  The Victoria Party
  Taking its name from the Julie Andrews gender-bender Victor Victoria, the Victoria party is where a girl can forget she’s a girl—and become a glamorous drag queen instead. Nothing to wear? No problem: Partygoers first stop at the Victoria style station, where Lady Coco Lareau and her team of... More >>
• Best Spot for Un-Snobby Beer Snobs
  Bar Great Harry
  Mike and Ben Wiley are as laid-back as the pet policy at Bar Great Harry, the cozy Carroll Gardens tavern they opened in 2007. Unfinished wood floors, a sidewalk-facing wall of French doors open to the street, and comfy bar stools draw patrons into the low-key beer bar, but the 12 specialty... More >>
• Best Party Posing as an Internet Radio Show (2 Comments)
  D List Radio
  The “Willie Wonka of gay New York,” Daniel Nardicio has an affable yet sly demeanor in his self-appointed role as the ringmaster of this circus of freaky talent, TV Land–style drop-ins, and outlandish advice-givers (like saucy helper-to-the-lovelorn Robbyne Kaamil). Pumped out live from a tiny... More >>
• Best New Wine Bar That Lives Up to the Hype
  Terroir
  The rash of wine bars that opened in the last year felt like it should’ve happened a decade ago, but there’s one new place we count as our favorite addition to the vino scene: Terroir, a 24-seater that’s small on space but big on style. Helmed by the proprietors of Hearth down the block,... More >>
• Best Display of Marketing Genius
  Matt Levine for the Eldridge
  When Steelo Clothing designer Matt Levine enthusiastically shared with Guest of a Guest the exclusive philosophy behind his then-not-yet-opened Lower East Side bar, the Eldridge, he revealed plans for a hand-stamped golden floor with customized golden flakes, laser-engraved cards for entrance,... More >>
• Most Fabulous Place to Be Unfabulous
  Pieces
  A West Village staple on Christopher Street, Pieces is so aggressively unpretentious that it still has a pay phone on the premises! A comfortably ramshackle neighborhood hangout with homemade décor and admittedly not-ready-for-prime-time drag queens, the place teems with possibilities, even... More >>
• Best Bait-and-Switch
  Rusty Knot
  Everyone loves to mention that charming detail about the recently opened Rusty Knot serving 99-cent beer and $3 cans. Owners Taavo Somer (Freemans) and Ken Friedman (Spotted Pig) like to think of their nautically themed bar as a beer place, and we actually showed up the first time with the... More >>
• Best of the Hot Crop of Cocktail Lounges
  Hotel Delmano
  We’re thrilled that bottle service is finally headed for the recycling bins, and we have few complaints regarding the new cocktail-lounge trend, in which originals like Milk and Honey, Death & Co., and PDT are now sharing mutual fans of mixology with Brooklyn’s Clover Club, the Hideout,... More >>
• Best Midtown After-Theater Bar
  Jimmy's Corner
  It drifts over the streets of midtown, glowing a bit orange and faintly emitting an old Rangers broadcast—the ghost of McHale’s. Times Square has been a sorrier spot since the development-driven demise of that agreeable watering hole, with its mediocre food but downmarket Deco charms.... More >>
• Best Bar If You're Stuck on the Upper East Side
  Auction House
  Going above 14th Street is an unpopular nightlife move in New York—worse, hanging out on the Upper East Side is essentially social suicide. That said, there's a great bar on East 89th Street that houses nearly none of the frat boys that are drawn to places like Brother Jimmy's, Tin Lizzie, and... More >>