Saint Vitus

Once a mainstay of NYC’s downtown scene, true rock & roll clubs feel like a dying breed in the post-Giuliani era. But this Greenpoint drinkery—moodily decorated with all-black walls and dead roses hanging above the bar—reinvigorates the tradition with a New Brooklyn twist. Rock fiends make the pilgrimage to satisfy a yearning for Marshall amps and screaming guitar riffs; when there’s no show in the back room, the front bar serves as a sleek clubhouse for drinkers who prefer Black Sabbath to Lady Gaga as a boozing soundtrack. Nouveau headbangers don’t have to settle for the usual well shots and Buds: Taps dispense mostly craft beers from New York, like Captain Lawrence and Ommegang, and bartenders are competent enough at classic cocktails such as old-fashioneds and vespers.