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In an age when people lose their minds over speakeasies hidden in hot-dog shops and ice cream parlors, Atomix tops them all with the most New York way of hiding a fine-dining Korean restaurant: It’s tucked inside the foyer of a walk-up apartment building on the border of Nomad and Murray Hill. After walking past the entrance twice, I rang the doorbell, signaling a large black door to open and reveal the sleek, wood-heavy bar. My dining companion and I were ushered down a flight of stairs into the almost-futuristic dining room: Geometric couches are scattered around the stone-floor lounge, where you can enjoy snacks before heading to one of the 14 gray-suede chairs at the U-shaped, black-granite counter that overlooks the immaculate kitchen. It’s as if the average upscale restaurant in NYC got a dash of Tron. Atomix has no menus; instead, you collect a series of cards throughout the 10-course, $175-per-person tasting menu, served at 6pm and 9pm seatings. The meal began with a letter from chef JungHyun Park, who introduced his mission to embrace traditional Korean cooking while putting his modern spin on every dish. With each course, another card arrived at the table as if turning the page to the next chapter of the gastronomic story, meticulously describing the components of each dish alongside a little Snapple-cap–like nugget of history or culinary knowledge, like a profile on ganjang (Korean soy sauce) or how the spot’s chefs process their rice in-house to fall somewhere...

With a combined resume that includes Angel's Share, Employees Only and Alinea, Shingo Gokan's and Steve Schneider's bi-level bar was bound to be a hit. At the subterranean bar, Sip, Gokan provides a sleek, Japanese cocktail bar. Schneider's Guzzle is a saloon-style bar where classics are familiar with a little oomph (looking at your Sherry Colada Highball). Former executive chef of Chicago's Alinea, chef Mike Bagale balances both bars with high to low offerings, including "electric" chicken next to a $150 sandwich made with A5 wagyu. 

This Madison Avenue institution began as the private library of financier J. Pierpont Morgan and is his artistic gift to the city. Building on the collection Morgan amassed in his lifetime, the museum houses first-rate works on paper, including drawings by Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Picasso; three Gutenberg Bibles; a copy of Frankenstein annotated by Mary Shelley; manuscripts by Dickens, Poe, Twain, Steinbeck and Wilde; sheet music handwritten by Beethoven and Mozart; and an original edition of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol that’s displayed every yuletide. Also keep an eye out for rotating special exhibitions.  In 2006, a massive renovation and expansion orchestrated by Renzo Piano brought more natural light into the building and doubled the available exhibition space. A theater, Gilder Lehrman Hall, regularly hosts recitals and concerts.

If you follow bar culture, you may be familiar with Juliette Larrouy and Moe Aljaff. The two self-proclaimed schmucks were known for their work at Two Schmucks, the award-winning, five-starred dive bar in Barcelona. However, after citing professional differences, the team disbanded. But as a turn of fate, these two schmucks decided to come stateside, with keys to a space in East Village. Even after a year and some change of teaser pop-ups and construction delays, Schmuck. remained our most highly anticipated opening. Its clear the rest of New York felt the same, as lines continue to stretch down 1st Ave months after its January opening. Inspired by a mix of Mid-Century Modern, the Space Age and Brutalist design movements, Schmuck. houses two experiences inside its 1,600-square-foot bar. The all-seated experience functions as your artistic's friend living room with handsome leather seating, a sleek steel bar and a heavy-black-tiled lounge in the back that looks straight out of a spa. You can find 12 original cocktails here, like the cinnamon bun and coffee FIKA drink and the fennel-forward, salad-inspired BLANKA. If you can't get a spot here, you can always go to its side bar next door, and gather around the massive wooden table in its center with a drink in hand.

Still a tough table approaching a decade on the block, Via Carota’s buzz never seems to quiet. Its pretty space populates night after night with dinner hopefuls eager to order its pasta, pork belly and improbably famous salad in stylish, sometimes celebrity-adjacent environs. 

The oyster bar inside iconic Grand Central Terminal has been serving commuters, tourists and diners since 1913. After going bankrupt and falling into disuse in the 1970s, it reopened with a renewed focus on seafood and a newly renovated interior. It took another little hiatus over the last few months thanks to you-know-what but it’s back with a bang on September 7. It’s certainly welcome. This place has a very solid reputation, with around 12 to 15 varieties of oysters and fresh seafood sourced from local purveyors across the Northeast. There’s the raw bar, of course, and plenty of other appetizers like oysters rockefeller, grilled Spanish cuttlefish, and broiled Peconic Bay sea scallops with casino butter. Move on to the specials of the day, which might include options such as tempura-fried catfish with spicy teriyaki sauce, and grilled jumbo shrimp over penne with puttanesca sauce. Thirsty? Pair your meal with something from the extensive wine list or one of their legendary martinis. The vibe: It’s not swanky, no. Plenty of people here in t-shirts and with families–most are on their way to or from. But it’s hard not to get that feeling that you’re a character in an auteur film when, as befitting your iconic surroundings, you’re draining oyster shells between sips of a perfect gin martini up with a twist. The food: Seafood, namely oysters. Raw bar, fried, in pastas, etc. The drink: There’s a big draught list as well as plenty of bottles/cans for whoever’s into beer....

Stand above world-class art with a summer sipper in hand at the Met's seasonal rooftop bar, open from May to November. As the sun sets over an enviable view of Central Park, enjoy the art installation—it changes every year—while drinking cocktails like a house-made lemonade with limoncello and mint or a classic Cosmopolitan.

Just up the stairs from sister restaurant Claud, Penny celebrates the pristine seafood of the season. Showy seafood towers are traded with custom ice boxes, plopped with clams, shrimp and live scallops. And while they do the simple well, they still know how to dress a fish, especially the lobster in brown butter vinegar, made to order. 

Every city park offers its own brand of verdant escapism, but this lush expanse in the Bronx goes beyond landscaped flora. In addition to housing swaths of vegetation—including the 50-acre forest, featuring some of the oldest trees in the city—the garden cultivates a rotating roster of shows. Don't miss the annual orchid show every spring. Among its many amenities is a gallery devoted to mounting art exhibits, usually of work related to flora and the natural world.

There’s been much written about how Billy Durney’s Red Hook Tavern draws inspiration from New York institutions. The font used for the restaurant’s name could be mistaken for Minetta Tavern’s from afar, and there are two ales dedicated to McSorley’s. But once we secured a seat (if you manage to score a prime-time reservation, play the lottery), we quickly realized the experience here is its very own thing.After an affable employee leads you down the narrow dining room or to one of the 18 bar seats, your first priority is to order the Dry Aged Red Hook Tavern Burger ($24). This pub-style burger is hefty but manageable. The simple dish—a dry-aged patty cloaked in American cheese and topped with raw white onions, then sandwiched between sesame rolls—is cooked to a perfect temperature. This juicy burger is one of the best we’ve tasted in the city.It’s no surprise that the burger and the menu’s other meat options are also expertly executed. Durney showed off his expertise with proteins at Hometown Bar-B-Que, a popular destination despite its location in difficult-to-get-to Red Hook, that’s known for its ribs, brisket, sausages, pastrami and other barbecue dishes with global touches.Executive chef Allison Plumer interprets the nostalgia that Red Hook Tavern strives for with an unfussy approach that results in plates you’ll want to devour on a cold winter day. The country-ham croquettes ($10), which are filled with white cheddar and sit atop a swath of dijonnaise, can be popped...