What Happened to the Bar Tab?
Why “Put it on my tab,” once a bond between bar and loyal customer, has gone extinct.
- story: Robert Simonson
- illustration: Nick Hensley Wagner
Paddy Ford Wants to Get to Know You
If Smith & Wollensky’s longtime barman doesn’t know your name, “you came from someplace else.”
- story: Robert Simonson
- photos: Eric Medsker
Find Your Paradise in Midtown
In “Dive” Leslie Pariseau explores the bars at the far edges of popular nightlife. Here: Tommy Bahama bar, an under-the-radar, beach-themed attraction in gilded Midtown Manhattan.
- story: Leslie Pariseau
- photos: Michelle Heimerman
Bar Review: The Trouble With the “Hyper-Local” Cocktail
A Rake’s Bar dedicates itself wholly to regional ingredients, forgoing the likes of simple syrup and citrus. But are the drinks any good?
- story: Robert Simonson
- photos: Reema Desai
Pete Napolitano’s Got a Theory
The iconic Melody Lanes bartender on bartending’s “mathematical signature” and what he’s learned from 30 years behind the bar.
- story: Robert Simonson
- photos: Eric Medsker
The Last Speakeasy on Swing Street
In "Dive" Leslie Pariseau explores the bars at far edge of popular nightlife. Up first: The under-the-radar Harlem jazz joint, Bill’s Place.
- story: Leslie Pariseau
- photos: Michelle Heimerman
Getting Lost in Minas; Or, How to Love Mezcal
Thad Vogler learns that to truly understand mezcal, you have to surrender to it.
- story: Thad Vogler
- illustration: Nick Hensley Wagner
Bar Review: The New Face of the Hotel Bar
Downtown LA’s booming scene insists that the new hotel bar is really five bars in one.
- story: Robert Simonson
- photos: Dylan + Jeni
The Legend of the Taos Tree Martini
The ski world’s most famous cocktail is a Martini-filled porron buried in the snow.
- story: Aaron Goldfarb
- photo: Lizzie Munro
Bar Review: Jim Meehan’s Ambitious Act Two
Just over ten years since opening the pioneering PDT, Jim Meehan returns with Prairie School, a high-concept bar inspired by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
- story: Robert Simonson
- photos: Hilary Higgins
Behind the Backbar at Washington, D.C.’s A Rake’s Bar
Corey Polyoka explains his approach to building a bar program focused exclusively on regional spirits and ingredients.
- story: Kara Newman
- photo: Daniel Krieger
Bar Review: Is the New EMP Actually an Improvement?
Robert Simonson on the revamp of Eleven Madison Park’s trailblazing bar.
- story: Robert Simonson
- photos: Eric Medsker