New York Magazine

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Best Speakeasy

  • B.East

    171 E. Broadway, nr. Rutgers St.; 212-228-3100

    Hidden staircases, secret buzzers, and unmarked addresses are standard fare these days, but Ron Castellano is undoubtedly the king of the faux speakeasies. Tucked under the restaurant Broadway East, his B.East bar has the pulse of a nightclub but the heart of a Prohibition-era pothouse. Pretty much anything goes: If you want to dance, you dance; if you want to stand around and look fashionable, you can do that too. When the place is in party mode, the restaurant upstairs doubles as a cocktail lounge. At other times, it more closely resembles a sexy discotheque, albeit one with a menu of flatbread pizzettes and grass-fed-beef burgers prepared by a former Mas (farmhouse) chef. Wednesday-night parties—D.J.-ed by artists and staffers from Modular Records—are the ones to check out first.

Next: Brunch With Music

Join the Discussion

Read All Comments | Add Yours

Recent Comments On This Article

See All | Add Yours

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine

Advertising
Order the Issue Today

Cover of New York Magazine's Best of New York issue

Order This Issue

Other Best Of Guides

Where can you find the city’s top dog groomer? Last-minute tailor? Beef tongue? We eat, drink, dance, shop, shvitz, and trampoline our way around the city, not to mention poll scores of in-the-know colleagues, hard-partying friends, opinionated family members, and, this year, a team of guest expert bloggers to bring you answers to all of the above questions, and hundreds more, in the form of our annual “Best of New York” issue.

Read More...