Outdoor bars in NYC

Backyard bars

New backyard bars: Red Hook has a cozy new backyard booze garden and restaurant in Home/Made, the homegoods store that absorbed Tini Wine Bar this spring. Although there's only room for 15 or so, it's rarely crowded and they serve deliciously local comfort food on wooden planks. Beer mecca Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg just opened up its massive back garden (pictured), which is twice as big as the interior and filled with lovely trees and plants. Prospect Heights also has a new outdoor bar in Washington Commons, a divey sort of spot for comfortable summertime drinking.

Old backyard favorites: OK, so technically they're more restaurants than bars, but the backyard gardens at Robin des Bois and Frankies 457 are hard to beat when it comes to lazy evenings in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens. For an under-the-radar spot with a delightfully high number of open spaces, try d.b.a. in Williamsburg (the East Village branch is great, too, but good luck getting a seat after 7 p.m.). And Iona, also in Williamsburg, has an awesome multi-level backyard playground with a ping pong table and various clusters of cozy benches and tables. We're getting Brooklyn-heavy, but BK's got more space, so it makes sense that it's got the bulk of the awesome backyard bars. Thus, obligatory shoutouts to Soda Bar's chilled-out Prospect Heights oasis and Flatbush Farm's amazing Park Slope summertime garden.

Photo by Sam Horine