Bar Centrale is on West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen, up a brownstone stoop with no sign marking what's inside. The room holds thirteen tables and an eight-seat bar. Black-and-white celebrity photographs cover the walls, most of them signed, most of them from the theater world. The space is designed to feel like a private apartment rather than a public bar, and it mostly succeeds at that.

It has been a post-show destination for Broadway performers and theater-goers for years, which gives the crowd a particular character. You're likely to be sitting near someone who was on a stage a few hours ago. The cocktails are meticulously made and there has historically been no printed cocktail list, which keeps the ordering conversational.

Reservations are important around show times. Thirteen tables fills up quickly when the curtain comes down on 46th Street.