Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar

On our list of the best live music venues in New York.

Nickolas Ashford, half of the R&B songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, opened this Upper West Side brownstone as a supper club in 1996 with his wife and singing partner Valerie Simpson. A night starts at the bar with specialty cocktails and appetizers before moving to the dining room, where every table faces the stage for R&B, jazz, Caribbean, and African sets. Dinner also comes as a three-course prix fixe: catfish meuniere or pan-seared chicken, a choice of sides, and bread pudding. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Saturday afternoons at the bar.