International Bar

International Bar is, for many, the last stop on any night out in the East Village. It can be the game corrective to a sideways evening, a place to wallow, or the site of a victory lap—it all feels right. Stroll in late at night, and you’ll find the staff from other bars and restaurants in the neighborhood mixing it up with regulars. That tells you a lot—not only about who tends bar here but the place’s overall bearing and ethos. There is no one type or profile of the I-Bar drinker; all are welcome, and none are special, but that’s a dive for you: a place where, if you expect nothing, you’re liable to find anything. The semicircular bar lends the room that community feeling, but the place is, in a sense, as much about what you’ll find here (inexpensive drinks, seasoned bartenders, weirdo regulars) as what you won’t: any indication that it has anything to prove to anyone. The jukebox is awesome, the backyard is cute, and the lighting is suitably low.