Bar Centrale
324 W. 46th St., nr. Eighth Ave.; 212-581-3130
Ducking into the anonymous brownstone that houses Bar Centrale is like stepping into a noir film—or, at the least, into the sanest, most adult watering hole in the theater district. The staff, and particularly the swift, just-friendly-enough bartenders, looks straight out of a forties gangster caper (for the real thing, there’s usually an old black-and-white B-flick playing silently over the bar). The perfectly modulated soundtrack of jazz and old standards, and the pricey but generously poured drinks, complete the mood.