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Vlada proudly displays its well-won Best Gay Bar awards from years past, but the lounge takes all types: Businessmen sip on whiskey at the bar, pretty young things shimmy in smart dresses and screened tees, and a distinguished older crowd reclines in the curved booths by the door exploring the small-plates menu (fruit and cheese plates, calamari, salads). There are twenty infused vodkas, all made in-house, that run the gamut from the typical sweet (raspberry, cranberry, orange) to the unusual savory (pepper, horseradish, ginger). That lovely lady performing on the small stage upstairs next to the piano is drag queen Bianca del Rio, and four nights a week D.J.'s spin a crowd-friendly house, hip-hop, and pop mix. The lounge also claims one of the city’s only ice tracks, a bar-length ice strip that keeps your drinks extra-chilled. — Ben Lebeaux