Employees Only

Four bartenders who'd met working under Dale DeGroff opened Employees Only in the West Village in 2004, hidden behind a storefront lit by a neon psychic sign. The idea was to fold everything a night out used to require, strong drinks, good food, a late hour, into one room, with cocktails free-poured and doled out fast rather than fussed over. The drinks still hold up decades later, though the kitchen is best used for the bacon-wrapped lamb chops and steak tartare rather than a full dinner. Dinner reservations run two weeks out; the bar itself is walk-in only.