Raines Law Room

• 2012 Winner

  Best Cocktails

New York is awash in charming, speakeasy-style underground lounges, and Raines Law Room is another beautiful, velvet-lined, fancy-wallpapered drop in the flood. It could be worse, though, couldn't it? Ring a doorbell to gain entry (it's small and they don't take reservations, so you may be told to wait elsewhere until a spot frees up), and then enjoy fancy cocktails mixed by a Milk & Honey alum in the ornate and tin-ceilinged subterranean haunt. Buzzers at each private booth bring bartenders to your table to take drink orders, and a fully stocked "bar kitchen" (rather than an actual bar) is where they'll make them. A backyard garden opens up in the spring, for more open-air enjoyment.

Also, for the history buffs out there: The Raines Law was originally intended to curb liquor consumption (by banning its sale on Sundays, for example). Heh. Kind of like the Jake Walk in its reappropriation of old-timey liquor-related terms. Keep on keepin' on, NYC.

See more: Chelsea bars, Flatiron bars, Lounge bars