Margaritaville: The garden at La Palapa.

For Margaritas
La Palapa
With seating for 15 at the sidewalk tables and a back garden with space for another 30, this East Village Mexican restaurant and watering hole serves some of the tastiest, most potent margaritas in town. The secret? “Fresh juices in everything,” says owner Margaritte Malfy.
77 St. Marks Place; 212-777-2537

For the Scene
Hudson Sky Terrace
You’ve seen Ian Schrager’s swank Hudson hotel mentioned in “Page Six” so often that even if you’ve never actually been there, you feel as though you had. The formerly private fifteenth-floor Sky Terrace (famous for its celebrity parties, sunbathing hotel guests, and frozen margaritas) has just opened to the public. The minimalist look (neutral tones, not much furniture) sets off the maximalist view (you’re right atop the center of midtown), and a “Page Six”–worthy sighting of your own is altogether possible.
356 West 58th Street; 212-554-6343

For Summer Camp Nostalgia
Pinetree Lodge
Even on ladies’ night, there are khaki-wearing guys sitting around the bar watching the game who look just like camp counselors. Or maybe it’s the life preservers, inner tubes, and butterfly nets that blast you back to the days of swim meets and bug repellent. The $5 well drinks facilitate your emotional journey back to simpler times.
326 East 35th Street; 212-481-5490

For 6 p.m.
Ulysses’
The financial district gets lonely when the sun goes down, but two New York entrepreneurs aim to change that. Danny McDonald (of Puck Fair) recently partnered with Peter Poulakakos (of Bayard’s) and renovated a vast space with 70 feet of frontage on Pearl Street and an outdoor area with enough biergarten tables to seat 150. There’s also smoked salmon, oysters, and rib eyes at I-got-laid-off-today prices.
95 Pearl Street; 212-482-0400

Beer blast: The Brooklyn Brewery on a Friday night.

For Beer Buffs
Brooklyn Brewery
On Friday nights, the 18,000-square-foot beer factory opens its 300-seat Tasting Room to the public. Though not technically outdoors, the room’s entrance onto 11th Street is large enough and the traffic steady enough that it might as well be. Draws include local D.J.’s, a casual crowd, and those huge $2.50 cups of cold, fresh-as-can-be beer.
79 North 11th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; 718-486-7422

Doing the Fifth Ave. Shopping Spree
Pen-Top Bar
The drinks here will set you back a brisk $15 a pop, but the God's-eye view of Manhattan will remind you why you're not on the ramshackle front porch of some Delaware beach house.
Peninsula Hotel, 700 Fifth Ave., at 55th St., 212-956-2888 .

Recovering from a softball game
79th Street Boat Basin
This is the Upper West Side's unofficial summer HQ—full of grill smoke and dogs on leashes and babies in carriages. But what makes it worth braving all of that and staying for a few rounds? It's that incomparable view of the sun sinking below the Palisades on a clear night.
79th Street at the Hudson River; 212-496-5542