Four Perfect Nights

Think back to the last time you had a completely unforgettable night in a faraway place — the kind of night Hollywood makes movies about, the kind that made you want to boast to your coworkers when you returned to the office the following week. (Wisely, you didn’t.) Do you remember where you were? Of course you do. You were in the VIP lounge of that hot new club you didn’t think you’d get into; tucked into a corner booth at a secret downtown drinking spot, your third perfectly mixed cocktail in hand; or forgetting that you don’t know how to dance as you twirled your partner in front of a jazz band tearing the roof off. Those moments stick with you. And you remember what city you were in. Because the truth is, some places are just better at nightlife than others. Here are four of them.

MIAMI

“Here for the weekend?” asks the bar chef. “What screamed ‘tourist?’” I reply. “The cardigan,” he answers, eyeing my impeccable layering job. “This may be December, but it’s still Miami.” Okay, I can appreciate the irony. After all, I’m weekending in Miami for the proverbial heat, drawn like a moth by the sheer wattage of nightclubs packed with celebs and socialites. Sure, the beach and opulent Art Deco landmarks are renowned daytime backdrops, but the sandbar shines even brighter at night. I’m condensing a frigid season’s worth of posh decadence into one neon-soaked Saturday.

BY TONY WARE

8:30PM: I love the Miami Beach synergy of vintage and renovated glamour, and I devour it at my scintillating kickoff spot: The Forge Restaurant | Wine Bar, a historic restaurant that reopened in March 2010 after a $10 million facelift. The walls offer a self-service wine-bythe-glass system under whimsical “melting” chandeliers, and I half-sheepishly caress the thin glass encasing 80 covetous bottles. Chef Dewey LoSasso’s unfussy lobster PB&J in one hand, a higher-end $34 glass of pinot noir in the other, I coo contentedly, swank consumption off to an amazing start.

9:30PM: From the ground floor to the glistening Roof Top Bar 18 stories above the beach, the modernist Gansevoort Miami Beach is a haven of sultry, flirty vibes (and where I happen to be staying). I stop into lobby-level STK Miami, which is like an industrial chic catwalk feeding a runway-worthy crowd juicy steaks, effervescent cocktails and pulsing Top 40 remixes, rock ‘n’ roll and ’80s hits.

11:00PM: I head to the Soho Beach House, a members-only property except for Cecconi’s, a romantic Italian courtyard restaurant, which gains me access to the club’s playful cocktail list. An off-menu, salty-sweet, sriracha-spiked margarita is an arousing endorphin rush.

11:50PM: Pleasingly flushed and refreshed, I reach LIV, the superclub in the Fontainebleau hotel, at peak hour. The lobby is 10-deep as I nudge toward a velvet rope ringmaster. Bronzed pleasure-seekers drop passwords and names until they strike a winning combination. Inside sprawls a massive theater-like space, with an animated canopy of DJ-synced LED lights and six private skyboxes for the VIPs. I submit to the house music, confetti and strobe lights.

1:45AM: Saturated in luxe audio and sweat, I attempt decompression downstairs at the Fontainebleau’s Arkadia, an intimate, alcove-filled lounge brimming with an impeccably dressed clientele moving to infectious electro rhythms.

2:30AM: Back in the Gansevoort lobby, there’s more disco decadence at Coco de Ville, an exclusive, gold-accented nook where the guests are doing anything but reclining. Even the paparazzi, if they could fit, might blush watching would-be celebutantes move to house and hip-hop.

3:30AM: The hours wind on but the parties aren’t winding down, and I snake through the W South Beach’s outdoor grove area to get to the mirrored club Wall, in which the style-conscious luxuriate in bottle service and canoodle under a diamond-sharp sound system while I savor a glass of aged rum.

4:30AM: Back at my glitzy room at the Gansevoort, I collapse, sweater cast off and satisfied. Miami, you make this moth feel like a butterfly.

Partiers at the Fontainebleau’s LIV © EMILIANO GRANADO

THE FORGE RESTAURANT | WINE BAR
432 W 41st St; 305-538-8533
www.theforge.com

STK MIAMI & COCO DE VILLE AT THE GANSEVOORT
2377 Collins Ave; 305-604-6988; 305-604-6545
www.gansevoortmiamibeach.com

CECCONI’S AT THE SOHO BEACH HOUSE
4385 Collins Ave; 786-507-7902
www.cecconismiamibeach.com

LIV & ARKADIA AT THE FONTAINEBLEAU
4441 Collins Ave; 305-674-4680
www.fontainebleau.com

WALL AT THE W SOUTH BEACH
2201 Collins Ave; 305-938-3131
www.wallmiami.com

NEW YORK

It’s a fine feeling to be in a taxi, bouncing down Fifth Avenue on a crystal-clear night. We’re two guys in sleek gray suits, and lit by the fluorescent yellow glow of office windows, we just might pass for Mad Men-types, dashing ad execs on the prowl for some late-night trouble in New York.

BY EDWARD LEWINE

Strip House © MOYA MCALLISTER

9:00PM: Maybe we aren’t living it up in 1963, but we’re sitting in The Plaza Hotel’s elegant, ornately wood-paneled Oak Bar, which opened that year. We begin our evening here, sipping precisely made vodka Gibsons — martinis garnished with pearl onions — in a crush of grownups discussing European skiing and something called “liquidity events.” “That’s when you earn a lot of money at once,” explains the guy in the blue blazer when I ask him.

The Oak Bar at The Plaza Hotel © MOYA MCALLISTER

10:00PM: Our taxi pulls up on Broad Street, past the empty Stock Exchange. The Setai Club & Spa is a decadent little safe house for Masters of the Universe. Creamy marble. Glass tile. Bamboo. Don Draper would have loved it. We slip into the steam room, sigh deeply and stretch out our limbs with a solitary bond trader who’s nursing some private thoughts.

SHO at the Setai © MOYA MCALLISTER

11:15PM: At SHO, the restaurant downstairs from the spa, we’re welcomed with strains of Billie Holiday and glasses of champagne. Carl, the bar manager, mixes us Cran-Hattans (brandy, cranberry syrup, vermouth and bitters). “I could get used to this,” says my wingman as we slurp down every drop. “What’s next?”

12:00AM: Steak. Strip House, just off Union Square, is an ode to the world before people cared about cholesterol. We sip wine and admire the scarlet wallpaper and photos of burlesque dancers, while our uniformed waiter cuts into a mastodon-sized bone-in rib eye. It’s way past bedtime for most workaday squares, but we’re just getting started.

1:10AM: Stopping in at Hudson Bar and Books, a West Village cigar bar, we have a drink, stare at the hand-rolled Dominicans and sneak glances at the portly bald guy entertaining his “niece” at a corner table.

Hudson Bar and Books © MOYA MCALLISTER

1:30AM: We try to get past the red-velvet rope at the Top of the Standard (aka the Boom Boom Room), the super-chic lounge atop The Standard hotel in the fashionable, single-centric Meatpacking District. Amazingly, they let us in. Two blondes dance to a James Brown funk groove in front of floor-to-ceiling, 18thstory views of Manhattan. Some distinguished British blokes play pool. The bar design resembles the horn of a phonograph.

2:30AM: Out on bustling Gansevoort Street, we pick up Kim, a stunning woman on her way to some club. She toys with us for a while, before swanning off past yet another velvet rope. “Let’s get a nightcap,” my pal says.

3:00AM: I’m game, and by great fortune we end up at Employees Only, back on Hudson Street. You should go there after hours, when chefs, waiters and other restaurant workers file in after their shifts for some of the best and freshest mixed drinks in this cocktailloving town.

At around 3:30, they bring out teacups of chicken soup. “We call that our ‘Thank You soup,’” says Robert, our trusty mixologist. It’s good medicine, but we probably don’t need it. A night like this can do wonders. Thank you, Robert. Thank you, New York.

THE OAK BAR AT THE PLAZA HOTEL
Fifth Ave at Central Park S 212-758-7777
www.theplaza.com

THE SETAI CLUB & SPA
40 Broad St 212-792-6193
www.setaiclubnewyork.com

SHO AT THE SETAI
40 Broad St 212-809-3993
www.shoshaunhergatt.com

STRIP HOUSE
13 E 12th St 212-328-0000
www.striphouse.com

HUDSON BAR AND BOOKS
636 Hudson St 212-229-2642
www.barandbooks.cz

TOP OF THE STANDARD
848 Washington St 212-645-4646
www.standardhotels.com

EMPLOYEES ONLY
510 Hudson St 212-242-3021
www.employeesonlynyc.com

NEW ORLEANS

I’m skeptical of painstakingly manufactured historic districts and the superficial feelings of romance they beget. But the ones in New Orleans are different. And to know that I can lose myself in the beautiful, tragic and, ultimately, romantic story that is the Big Easy — whether it’s in an exquisite clarinet solo at a time-honored jazz club or a flirty glance from behind an old-fashioned cocktail at a vintage bar — gives me the warm and fuzzies in a way that no other city can.

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY SAM POLCER

8:00PM: I duck into a show at the elegant Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, a new spot on Bourbon Street tucked off the lobby of the Royal Sonesta Hotel that, I’m told, is rebelling against the strip’s cover bands, plastic beads and sticky-sweet rum concoctions with first-rate jazz acts. The quartet, led by Leon “Kid Chocolate” Brown, is tight, and the atmosphere sophisticated, but after a few songs I decide I’m ready for something less tame. First, though, I need a real drink.

8:30PM: Around the corner at French 75 — attached to Arnaud’s Restaurant (est. 1918) and home to a custom-built bar from the late 1800s — Chris Hannah’s version of the bar’s namesake cocktail replaces gin with cognac, giving it a richer flavor that complements its champagneand-lemon tingle. Soon, walking down Bourbon, I feel as bright as the neon flooding the street.

9:10PM: The crowd at Fritzel’s European Jazz Pub — the city’s oldest operating jazz club — is packed into wooden bleachers facing a quartet that’s burning its way through a Dixieland set. A guy shows me a photo of Ella Fitzgerald he bought down the street. “Look at that? Ain’t she gorgeous?” he says, nodding along to the music.

10:30PM: When I arrive at One Eyed Jacks to catch the Old New Orleans Lil’ Big Vaudeville Variety Show, local fave Meschiya Lake and her crew are driving a dancefloor brimming with well-dressed swing dancers into a frenzy with their slick-yet-ramshackle style. After comedy, trapeze and burlesque acts, the show culminates in a grand Busby Berkeley-style choreographed rendition of “On a Coconut Island” that is as sweet as it is sexy; I can’t help but be completely charmed by a scene that seems to have checked any trace of cynicism at the door.

Swingin’ the night away at One Eyed Jacks © SAM POLCER

12:15AM: It’s easy to take the streets of New Orleans for granted when you’re strolling around in a Sazerac-induced haze. Don’t. Getting from one spot to the next is part of the fun. When I arrive at Frenchmen Street, the city’s growing nightlife center, a brass band blares from a corner, and people smoke and chat on the sidewalks. I duck into The Spotted Cat for a swingin’ set by the Jazz Vipers and find a seat at the end of the bar. The drinks and conversation flow, the dancers step furiously, and the night feels young.

A brass band on Frenchmen Street © SAM POLCER

2:00AM: I hit some other clubs — Three Muses, d.b.a., Snug Harbor — but the impression is the same. I am aware of moments only: a smile, a laugh, a whisper, a dance. It’s easy to believe in romance when you’re in a place that’s so easy to fall in love with.

IRVIN MAYFIELD’S JAZZ PLAYHOUSE AT ROYAL SENESTA HOTEL
300 Bourbon St 504-586-0300
www.sonesta.com

FRENCH 75
813 Bienville St 504-523-5433
www.arnaudsrestaurant.com

FRITZEL’S EUROPEAN JAZZ PUB
733 Bourbon St 504-586-4800
www.fritzelsjazz.net

ONE EYED JACKS
615 Toulouse St 504-569-8361
www.oneeyedjacks.net

THE SPOTTED CAT MUSIC CLUB
623 Frenchmen St 206-337-3273
www.spottedcatmusicclub.com

LAS VEGAS

The bright lights have just come up in the Entertainment Capital of the World, and shows, nightclubs and lounge acts fill my dance card. Prowling the city from dusk ‘til dawn, my plan is to take it in with the gusto of a hungry man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

BY MICHAEL KAPLAN

8:00PM: I begin the night with a laugh. Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, recently opened at the revamped Tropicana, is a throwback to the classic laugh-shack: low ceilings, cocktail tables half-circling the stage and a rotating roster of funny people. Remember to check out the vintage photo of a young Garrett posing alongside Sammy Davis Jr. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the Everybody Loves Raymond co-star making one of his monthly appearances.

9:30PM: No night in Vegas is complete without taking in a big production, so I head to the Monte Carlo, where America’s Best Dance Crew winners Jabbawockeez puts on a terrific display in their self-named show (subtitled A Figment of Your Imagination). I get there a few minutes early and watch the whitemasked hoofers executing pre-show goofs on audience members.

11:15PM: After a quick stroll down the Strip, I hit Book & Stage — a sports bar by day and intimate live music lounge showcasing cut-above touring acts by night — inside the brand-new and über-cool Cosmopolitan hotel and casino. I’m just in time to catch Best Coast, a much-heralded indie rock band from LA. The set unfolds before a packed audience of Pabst-sipping hipsters who groove as games of blackjack and video roulette are played in the casino behind them.

A view of the Strip © JARED MCMILLAN

Enjoying a cocktail at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas © JARED MCMILLAN

12:15AM: I head north to the Bellagio, where inside it’s a loungeact extravaganza. I hit the classy Petrossian Lounge, sip a refreshing peach bellini and listen to tuxedoed pianist David Osborne’s rendition of “What a Wonderful World.” Next door, a jazz combo works it out at Baccarat Bar. Across the way at Fontana Bar, singer Patty Janura and her six-piece band play Top 40 favorites of yore. The crowd on the small dancefloor is having a gas.

Live music at the Bellagio © JARED MCMILLAN

1:00AM: Things get considerably grittier as I head off-Strip to Double Down Saloon, Vegas’ venerable punk club. Like all great venues of this ilk, the place is dark, proudly dumpy and plastered with stickers for acts with names like Gasoline Addicts, SwingShift SideShow and The Vermin. The house cocktail’s name is unprintable but, according to the bartender, “Its main ingredient is ‘everything.’” The music is a beautiful racket, and the lead singer of The Schoenberg Knife Fight Ensemble compliments his spastic dancing with an Iggy Pop-style foghorn of a voice. A song or two in, he resorts to shouting lyrics through a megaphone and the crowd goes wild.

2:00AM: Ears ringing, I head to Raku. Innocuously situated in a Chinatown strip mall, this Japanese aburiya (grill) is the late-dining spot of choice for Vegas foodies. I order mind-blowingly good baconwrapped asparagus and Kobe beef with wasabi.

Raku, an off-Strip foodie hotspot © JARED MCMILLAN

3:30AM: Fortified, I snag a designer cocktail at Savile Row, the newly opened posh boîte at the Luxor. It’s an intimate spot with an elite crowd that runs the gamut from visiting rock royalty to high rollers to whoever the famously picky “gatekeeper” Mike Diamond (formerly of Manhattan’s notoriously happening Bungalow 8) decides to let in.

5:00AM: A final blast of dancing and people-watching awaits at Drai’s Afterhours, which doesn’t even open until 1am. The walls are red, the lighting flatters, and the beats are heavy.

6:30AM: I retire to my 50th-floor room in the east tower of the Cosmopolitan and take in a stunning sunrise. A cup of mint tea and a turned-down bed augment the breaking of a new day and cap an unforgettable night.

The Jabbawockeez performing at the Monte Carlo © JARED MCMILLAN

BRAD GARRETT’S COMEDY CLUB AT THE TROPICANA
3801 Las Vegas Blvd S 702-739-2222
www.troplv.com

MONTE CARLO
3770 Las Vegas Blvd S 702-730-7160
www.montecarlo.com

BOOK & STAGE AT THE COSMOPOLITAN OF LAS VEGAS 3708
Las Vegas Blvd S 702-698-7000
www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com

BELLAGIO
3600 Las Vegas Blvd S 702-693-7111
www.bellagio.com

DOUBLE DOWN SALOON
4640 Paradise Rd 702-791-5775
www.doubledownsaloon.com

RAKU
5030 W Spring Mountain Rd, #2 702-367-3511
www.raku-grill.com

SAVILE ROW AT THE LUXOR
3900 Las Vegas Blvd S 702-222-1500
www.luxor.com

DRAI’S AFTERHOURS
3595 Las Vegas Blvd S 702-737-0555
www.drais.net