The Tippler

This Meatpacking District cocktail joint isn’t always a great bar, but it is big and inclusive: Want a vodka drink without the judgmental sneer you’ll get at stuffier joints? There are four of them on the menu here. Prefer 1990s hip-hop to 1890s ragtime? At the Tippler, Digable Planets and A Tribe Called Quest bellow from the speakers. The long menu includes baffling experiments like Frozen Lushies, which drown quality spirits in a sea of slush. But for all the misses of this spasmodic mixology, there are eccentric hits like the Gin & Chronic—a cheeky gin-and-tonic variation fortified with lime, allspice liqueur and citrusy whole-dried hops. Think of the place as a large-scale recruitment booth for curious drinkers, and suddenly its flaws seem forgivable—even, in the right light, charming.