Don’t tell anyone, but we (almost) like great bars more than we like great restaurants. The best ones are never pretentious nor unfriendly—no matter if the bartenders are mixing $17 martinis or slinging double shots of Wild Turkey. All we’re looking for is a warm welcome and a comfy bar stool. And if they happen to have some tasty bar food that we can snack on between sips of that cocktail, chances are we won’t be making it to a “restaurant” any time soon.
Bar of the Year: Bar Goto
New York City
When we grow up, we want to be like Kenta Goto. He’s the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet, he’s one of the country’s best bartenders, and he just opened our favorite bar of the year. If you’ve never been to Tokyo and wondered what all the fuss is about when it comes to the bars, Bar Goto is a perfect introduction. The hospitality is honest, the lighting makes everyone look good, and the drinks (we always order the yuzu-calpico fizz) are simple and made with exacting technique. If that wasn’t enough, the bar food—the must-order fresh celery with sesame oil and five types of okonomiyaki—is transporting as well. When we have people we really, really like visiting us in New York, this is where we take them. Let’s keep it on the DL.
The Runners Up:
Dino’s Tomato Pie
Seattle
If this bar served nothing but Midorgaritas (Midori-spiked margaritas, a recent special) it would still be one of our favorite new places to hang out, merely for the hammed-up old-man-bar aesthetic and trippy red glow of the lights. Fortunately, this homage to corner taverns of yore also serves way-better-than-bar-average pizzas.
Pub Royale
Chicago
Once you get a taste of the insanely ambitious (and delicious) menu of Anglo-Indian food here, you’ll start thinking of Pub Royale less as yet another Wicker Park bar and more as a restaurant that happens to serve many types of beer to its food-obsessed clientele.
El Cortez
Brooklyn
Hard-shell tacos, frozen cocktails, and tiki-ish decor have us coming back to this Bushwick spot night after night.
Ticonderoga Club
Atlanta
When three of Atlanta’s best bartenders open a place together, you can bet we’ll quickly become regulars, bellying up to the bar for cocktails like the aged rum–based Yachtsman with Madeira. And since we’re drinking, we’ll eventually be digging into a stellar Ipswich clam roll.
