Like “Best Pizza” and “Most Delicious Bagel” lists, New York City also has its own unofficial hot dog competition outside of Nathan’s annual gorging-on-the-beach. Amongst the contenders, I side with Crif Dogs in the East Village, hands down. While you can always grab a bun filled with a wondermeat dog on any NYC corner, Crif packs each hot dog with enough love and artery clogging goodness to keep you stuffed for possibly days – add in a few beers and you’re good until next weekend. We ventured east to try two of their top-selling dogs and to get a more intimate feel for the place. As we finished our pleasure-filled franks and beers we decided to have a peek into the not-so-secret speakeasy next door. Well, technically, it’s next door.
Called Please Don’t Tell, this reservations-only bar accepts phone calls starting exactly at 3 p.m. for that evening and once filled, you can only hope to get a seat at the bar. But one can only hope, considering there will be a line for those limited seats as well. Rocking a totally different decor (Midwest-hip? Can we even write that?) than its neighboring scruffy hot dog hangout next door, this bar needs to checked out. Now, if you’re a New Yorker reading this you’re probably thinking, “A line? Reservations? No way.” Well, sure. We understand where you’re coming from – lines may be for bridge and tunnel types, right? However, when we tell you the unique drinks they mix at Please Don’t Tell are truly some of the best drinks we’ve ever had you’re either going to have to take our word on it or try them yourselves.