Week of Feb. 12–18, 2009

Cocktails at the Raines Law Room

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

The Raines Law Room This addition to the city’s swelling catalog of throwback speakeasies requires a ring of the doorbell to enter—there’s no phone number and no reservations. Once admitted, patrons descend into the dim, romantic lounge, where plush armchairs, couches and curtained-off booths comfortably reinforce the no-standing policy. Raines’s stoolless nucleus—a gilded bar—offers cocktails like the Champs Elysees (cognac, green chartreuse, lemon, sugar and bitters), cut with citrus squeezed to order. 48 W 17th St between Fifth and Sixth Aves (no phone)

Bar 108 New York’s sipping set may be currently captivated by old-school gin joints, but some spots are still keeping it simple. Bar 108’s spartan name echoes its straightforward concept: comfy leather banquettes, eight TVs showing anything from ESPN to CNN and more than 30 international beers. Until the kitchen opens in March, the grub is equally everyman: panini, wings and salads. The one courtly concession: specialty cocktails like the brow-raising 4 Godfathers (Jack Daniel’s, Johnnie Walker Black, Jim Beam and Jose Cuervo). 108 W Houston St at Thompson St (212-505-2015)

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