Guys dinner is the meal that doesn’t need a reason, but there always is one – a brother flying in, a deal closing, a 38th birthday, a bachelor party with a flight from Atlanta and a hotel in Tribeca. New York was built for this genre, with a tradition of tenements dating back to the 1880s. a Greek seafood line on Ditmars Boulevard and a Pan American parked oyster bar on an island in the harbor. Captains and bartenders in this city have seen every version of the eight men on Saturday, and most have a signature move — a wine they push straight, a side they triple, a way to materialize a four-pointer when it suddenly doesn’t work.
A few rules a room must follow to qualify: It needs a proper bar—not three stools next to the waitstaff, but a strip where you can stand, order the first round, and let the table fix itself. She needs ambient noise – the boys’ dinner dies in a closed room and lives in a room that returns laughter. She needs something to share – a steak for the table, a baked pasta, a multi-course feast that arrives in waves. The menu should bend for the friend who wants everything from raw grass to the friend who doesn’t, and the music should be cranked up after 10pm without anyone asking.
The World Cup lands at MetLife on July 19 with the city in full eating and drinking mode, and the next two months will be thick with visiting fans, band reunions and last-minute table requests. Whether you’re here for the tour or to gather the boys, there are 21 rooms for whatever the night calls for—formal to casual, brand new to century-old, each ready for whatever brings you through the door.
