The Observatory Rooftop Bar & Lounge

Frosted glass globes hang from macramé slings over the indoor lounge, threaded between ferns and trailing vines in black planters. Past it, the patio runs open-air: rattan bistro chairs, marble-topped tables, string lights strung under cone shades. The Observatory sits six floors up in The Restoration Hotel at 68 Patton Avenue, reached through the lobby rather than off the street. This spring the bar added a new mural outside and reworked the lounge inside it. The list runs to ten cocktails, from a ten-dollar Berry Citrus Cooler to the eighteen-dollar Restoration Old Fashioned. The Hokey Toki pairs Toki Japanese whisky with pomegranate and Topo Chico; the Orange Cartier sets Ketel Peach & Orange Blossom against orange-pecan-spiced demerara and Grand Marnier; the Pebbles & Bam Bam lists Fruity Pebbles cereal alongside vodka, sloe gin and Italicus. The Strawberry Fields Forever cuts jalapeño-infused tequila with charred strawberry, curaçao and Tajín, and the Restoration Old Fashioned itself is built on a private-barrel high-proof bourbon, sharing its name with the hotel it sits atop. The cheese board that rotates through the food menu pairs cured meats and cheeses with Lusty Monk mustard and Imladris Farms strawberry jam, alongside preserved vegetables and house rosemary crackers. Valet parking out front is free. Bartenders work the marble bar in tropical-print aprons that would look ridiculous at street level; six floors up, they don’t.