Neighborhood: West Village, Manhattan
Go for: an aperitif or two accompanied by ample aperitivo snacks
The fate of the third child tends to be dubious. After the heir and the spare comes… what? Dante Aperitivo, junior sibling to Dante (famously “est. 1915”) and Dante West Village (the pandemic child, born June 2020), came along in October 2025. (Well, technically it’s the fourth: Dante Beverly Hills opened in 2023 atop The Maybourne hotel, but Los Angeles, in my book, does not count.) 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 aperitivi-focused bites here continue to lean on seafood: lime ginger granita on the crudo of tuna, scallops, and striped jack; shrimp with a perfectly tangy horseradish cocktail sauce; caviar tarts topped with oyster cream and Champagne pearls; bucatini with lobster from Maine. Vegetarians need not fret—the salads and the agnolotti with fall squash and brown butter are decadent. Meat lovers should get the steak tartare, the bolognese pasta, and the fried chicken. 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, Brooklyn
Go for: an NA equivalent for every single cocktail
The team behind spots like Brooklyn’s beloved wine bar Places des Fêtes and all-day Café Mado has opened a bar, and it’s not like all the other bars. 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. And the NA versions don’t just hit delete on the spirits, but are rebalanced cocktails that stand entirely on its own; one version of the Purple Shiso comes in a coupe, with a Sweet Annie distillate and notes of citrus, while the other is bubbly, boasting hints of bread and lemon verbena, in a short glass with rocks. The menu doesn’t ask you to sift through any of this. Just let your finger land on an ingredient, then choose alc or none. The mixology movement of the 2010s has come and gone, but this feels like something far more useful—and rewarding. A drink that hits, whether you’re drinking or not. —Megan Spurrell
