Best Dancing
SESSION 73 1359 First Ave.
212-517-4445
Session 73 is a lively, casual music venue that hosts live music seven nights a week and showcases bands ranging in style from blues and jazz to funk and salsa. There’s also delicious cocktails and casual dining, so it’s great for a date or a get-together with friends. There are weekday specials, plus salsa lessons and an open mic night on Mondays. Great staff, and a good beer selection.
IGUANA NEW YORK 240 West 54th St.
212-765-5454
This raucous three-story Tex-Mex eatery has two action-packed dance floors: A DJ on the lower level for the hip-hop crowd and a dance club for Latin dance lovers on the second floor to salsa and merengue the night away. They offer a dazzling 28 flavors of margaritas or mojitos to get the dance juices flowing, and spicy menu choices like rock shrimp chalupitas and red snapper Veracruz. The lower level features a “Ladies Night” on Fridays, followed by “Sexy Saturdays” every week. Friendly staff, reasonable prices and quality drinks.
MEHANATA BULGARIAN BAR 113 Ludlow St.
212-625-0981
Mehanata, aka “House of Gypsy,” is both a dive bar and a disco. It touts itself as “one of the loudest, the most outrageous and crazy night clubs in New York.” The bar’s music ranges from break-beat to bachata. Over the years, the club spawned the new gypsy punk wave and launched the breakthrough act Gogol Bordello. Gwen Stefani and Scarlett Johansson have been spotted doing shots of rakia at the bar. Regulars boast about the cheap, good music, décor, and bras hanging from the ceiling. It has an authentic feel, and many of the bartenders and waitresses are from Eastern Bloc countries.