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This venue is closed.

If your grandparents were the types who met under the Biltmore clock, they may have wandered over to The Oak Room for a drink and a song. Originally a dining room of The Algonquin Hotel where literary wags Harold Ross, Dorothy Parker, and others lunched and lushed, the space was reborn as a cabaret way back in 1938. World War II put the entertainment on hold, but in 1981, Harry Connick Jr. and his ilk packed them in again. Today's permutation is just like the older folks remember it: A discreet doorway off the main dining room opens onto a narrow oak-paneled room, dominated by a piano and dotted by tiny table lamps that almost make the couples celebrating double-digit anniversaries look youthful. Tuxedoed, older waiters pad around and take hushed orders for the three-course prix fixe starting at 7pm, while younger pairs arrive for double martinis just before the beguine begins. — Aileen Gallagher