10 Little West 12th Street

For all the locals who live in the Meatpacking District and are tired of the velvet ropes and the slicked-up weekend yahoos, there is finally a friendly neighborhood bar right in the club zone's cobbled epicenter. Its casual industrial interior of exposed brick, cement floor, and 18-ft high steel mesh and glass doors that comprise the entirety of the back wall, is uncalculated and genuinely loft-like. Beyond the doors is a large garden loomed over by a soaring vine-laced wall, with a plentitude of heaters to accommodate year-round smoking comfort. There's a charcoal grill out there as well, which wafts odors of cooking skewered meat inside, like chicken with wasabi oil and ahi tuna with poppy seed oil, which are a great accompaniment to the savory drink specials. Try the bloody-mary spiked Tecate or island-style rum punch with fresh grated nutmeg for a drink that's a far cry from the typical Kool-Aid concoctions. As always though, it's the people that make a place, and conversation flows easily among the largely local clientele, described by the bartender as people who'd ask, "Remember when the Meatpacking District was cool?" Apparently they do.