Neighborhood: West VillageManhattan
You can: Aperitivos are accompanied by a few aperitivos and a variety of aperitivo snacks
The third child’s fate is often a questionable one. After the heir and the spare comes… what? Dante Aperitivo is the junior brother of Dante, who was famously “est. Dante West Village, (the pandemic baby born in June 2020) and Dante 1915 were both born in 2025. It’s technically the fourth, as Dante Beverly Hills opened its doors in 2023. The Maybourne Los Angeles is not a hotel in my book. Where its seniors put a spotlight on the drinking experience (the eldest and middle children are known for their negroni and martini menus, respectively), baby Aperitivo does what it says on the tin—and does it very well. Negronis, being an aperitif, are also heavily present here—I drink their negroni bianco 2.0, made special by a healthy dose of savoia orancio, and then the pear negroni which really reinvents the wheel by mixing reposado with Grey Goose. The seafood is the focus of aperitivi here: shrimp with a perfectly tangy Horseradish Cocktail Sauce; caviar with Champagne pearls on top; and bucatini from Maine with lobster. Vegetarians need not fret—the salads and the agnolotti with fall squash and brown butter are decadent. The steak tartare and bolognese are great for meat lovers. Also, try the fried hen. The space is much slimmer than its forebears, but there’s a lovely comfort to a dining room in New York that you can see all at once—like looking at a three-dimensional painting. —Matt Ortile
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill in Brooklyn
You can: There is an NA equivalent to every cocktail
The team behind Brooklyn’s favorite wine bar Places des Fêtes All-day Café Mado It’s not your typical bar. The minimalist space known as Golden Ratio sits on a residential corner in the center of Clinton Hill, just a few doors away from PDF (hello, drinks-then-dinner plan), and its concept is very 2026 in the right way: Every single cocktail, all of which are named after the natural ingredients they draw on—Nasturtium, Pine, Mandarin—can be made boozy or alcohol-free. But the NA versions do not simply delete the spirits; they are completely new cocktails. For example, one version of Purple Shiso has a Sweet Annie Distillate with citrus notes and comes in coupe form. The other version is bubbly with lemon verbena and bread hints in a short, rocks glass. There’s no need to sift. Simply let your finger rest on the ingredient and choose whether you want alcohol or not. The mixology movement of the 2010s has come and gone, but this feels like something far more useful—and rewarding. This is a drink that will hit you, regardless of your mood. Drinking Alcohol You can choose to do so or not. —Megan Spurrell
