Nightlife

Gimme Shelter

Dinner to Drinks Without Going Outside

You’re torn. On one hand, being outside in this weather: still a high-risk proposition. On the other hand, you’re not exactly suited for recluse living. Thus, we offer a compromise: a blueprint for what we call “Exclusively Enclosed Interior Revelry.” Or the most inventive/unmarked routes for gaining full passage to nightspots through restaurants. A short-term fix till our citywide dome is ready.

ENTER, STAGE RIGHT

Casa Mezcal → The Basement

The Combination: Grasshoppers with cheese. A new basement with live Cuban music. And whatever might result from combining the two with distilled mezcal.
The Route: Back past the bar and bathrooms to an unmarked door. As they so often do, this one will deposit you backstage in a boozy basement concert hall with velvet couches and a skinned crocodile. The stage dive always makes a nice entrance.

THE SERVICE ENTRANCE

The Hurricane Club → Riff Raff’s

The Combination: A Polynesian luau gone off the rails. Beginning with an authentic Imperial Pupu Platter. And concluding with a rum-punch-filled sparkling flamingo.
The Route: Through the double steel kitchen doors of the Hurricane Club. Hang a hard left and you’ll find yourself behind the Malaysian-looking bar at Riff Raff’s. If you end up at the pastry station: you’ve gone too far.

THE CABIN RETREAT

Black Market → The Cabin Down Below

The Combination: An East Village nightcap. Which basically means a LaFrieda cheeseburger in an old pizza shop and a shot of Jack in an underground speakeasy.
The Route: Through an unmarked brown wooden door opposite the bar and into CDB’s den. Suddenly, the fireplace isn’t as... necessary.

THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Travertine → XIX

The Combination: A figurative (or literal) Roman orgy that starts with gnocchi, pork belly and endlessly flowing wine. And ends with you going full emperor in a private chamber of lipstick-red couches.
The Route: A little-used staircase between the restaurant’s two levels. High-step a velvet rope barricade, descend and turn around. You’ll be staring at the inside of XIX. And the back of a perpetually angry bouncer named Disco.