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Ten buzzy bars, restaurants and clubs to visit during NYCxDesign
With New York City's annual design festival in full swing, we've rounded up 10 recently opened eateries, watering holes, dance spots and a sober club to enjoy in between exhibitions and events.
Almost straight off the plane from Milan design week, NYCxDesign 2026 officially takes place 14-20 May, though many showcases and parties are already underway. See Dezeen's editorial picks of this year's essential exhibitions.
Since the festival's last edition, a new wave of design-forward bars, restaurants and clubs has opened across the city – from cosy vinyl listening rooms to subterranean dance floors.
After long days spent crisscrossing the boroughs to attend as many events as possible, we recommend these 10 spots, all with striking interiors, for grabbing cocktails, enjoying dinner with friends or continuing the party into the early hours.
At this bar in Alphabet City, retro elements and space-age memorabilia serve as scene-setting for the cocktail menu and also influence the interiors.
It "blends retro-futurism, 1970s cosmic nostalgia, and late-night diner Americana", according to the team, which leaned heavily on materials like burl wood and MDF blocks, as well as Memphis design influences.
Stars by Studio Valle de Valle
Studio Valle de Valle took a "jewel box" approach to the design of this East Village wine bar, which measures just 450 square feet (42 square metres) and offers 12 seats.
The single room comprises a zinc-covered bar, cedar wall panelling and custom furniture, while the exterior facade of the early-20th-century tenement building features preexisting tiles and a four-panel metal doorway with semi-opaque glass.
The Maze by Opa Architecture and Laube Studio
For the sober and sober-curious, members club The Maze in Chelsea contains a restaurant, a sports lounge and a speakeasy that are all entirely alcohol free.
Designing a club that caters to this growing, underrepresented audience was a challenge met by Opa Architecture founder Aria Jahanshahi and Laube Studio founder Adrienne Laube, who prioritised "flexibility in function" through the various spaces.
Find out more about The Maze ›
A cohesive blend of natural timbers, including Douglas fir, cherry and ash wood, defines the interiors of Cove, which chef Flynn McGarry designed himself.
The Hudson Square restaurant – McGarry's second – is named after a Malibu beach near his childhood home, and both the cuisine and the decor are intended to reflect the spirit of California.
Safwat by Safwat converted a Lower East Side bar that was built out for "more of a mainstream audience" into a hip space combining a jazz lounge, bar and restaurant, using elements like columns with pops of colour and glass bricks.
The studio kept the sunken lounge and booths that line the restaurant space at the back, while adding C-seating adjacent to the bar at the entrance, and a stage that sits between the two.
Find out more about Funny Bar ›
La Tête d'Or by Rockwell Group
New York's love affair with Art Deco is celebrated at this steakhouse inside a newly renovated office building on Park Avenue, which features sumptuous red walls and strong geometry.
Rockwell Group designed interiors that would bridge France and New York, similar to Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud's cuisine, using a palette of rich blues, mirrored surfaces, dark marble, and wood and leather panelling.
Find out more about La Tête d'Or ›
This Williamsburg nightclub designed by Studio MBM features two distinct areas: a 1970s-influenced lounge and a futuristic dance floor.
Located in the basement of The William Vale hotel, Unveiled offers different experiences for those who want to relax on custom green-velvet seats within a burl wood-wrapped space, or party in an open area with niches featuring tube-like leather seating and a semi-circular VIP area behind the DJ booth.
Find out more about Unveiled ›
Papa San by INC Architecture & Design
Peruvian-Japanese restaurant Papa San sits at the base of BIG's The Spiral in Hudson Yards, and INC Architecture & Design aimed for a mash-up of the two cultures when crafting the interiors to reflect the fusion cuisine.
The street-level space benefits from nine-metre-tall (30-foot-tall) ceilings and nearly 30 metres (100 feet) of glass walls, while notable additions include a neon "night market" sign, a pink spiral staircase and drum-shaped planters hung from the ceiling.
Find out more about Papa San ›
Lower East Side boutique Colbo recently expanded into the space next door, creating a wine and vinyl bar for its customers and the local community to gather and relax.
In contrast to the off-white palette in the original store, the new space is made moody and cosy by stained wood panelling around the lower walls and stainless steel above.
At Williamsburg farm-to-table restaurant Field Guide, chef Tim Meyers asked designers Mammoth to incorporate elements that "capture the bucolic essence" of his origins in Upstate New York.
So the team looked to "19th-century restaurants before globalisation" and the art of Dutch and American painters – particularly Andrew Wyeth and his muted colour palettes and use of light – as references for the moody interiors.
Find out more about Field Guide ›
NYCxDesign takes place from 14 to 20 May. For more events in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.
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