Hidden Lane Bar is at 129 East 15th Street, a short walk from Gramercy Park and Union Square, and it operates as a bi-level bar with enough distinct spaces that different groups of people can have very different evenings in the same building. The main floor has barn-wood paneling, exposed brick, and an ornate brass ceiling. Upstairs is a lounge with a fireplace and a separate bar. Outside is a garden underneath lit trees that looks like, as the owners put it, old New York charm.

The cocktail menu has a Peanut Butter Espresso Martini that has attracted its own following and a Spicy Margarita that's been cited alongside it. Both are crowd pleasers executed well rather than apologetically. The bar is open from five on weekdays and closes at midnight during the week, later on weekends.

Hidden Lane functions as a genuine neighborhood bar for a part of Manhattan that isn't oversaturated with them, and the multiple-room layout means the space absorbs different sizes of groups without becoming either too crowded or too empty.