The Handy Liquor Bar (CLOSED)

Nightlife operator Matt Levine (Sons of Essex, Cocktail Bodega) highlights Sazeracs at this piano-bar throwback, rigged with a 1950s Wurlitzer baby grand, a Motown-filled juke and punk portraits of CBGB-era Blondie and the New York Dolls. Named after famed 19th-century New Orleans bartender Thomas Handy—who created the modern-day rye Sazerac—the 150-seat lounge offers classic cocktails like dry martinis, mint juleps and the starring Saz. Small plates come courtesy of Chalk Point Kitchen, such as oysters rockerfeller with madras-curry sauce and black-truffle-and-gruyere tea sandwiches.