11's: NYC Audio Encounters
Are we on air?
I ventured to a sports bar last weekend to watch the Lions lose in the NFC divisional round. Whiskey on Grand was a solid spot for the occasion — plenty of TVs, surprisingly attentive bartenders, and Kona Big Wave on draft. But man, their music was a crime against humanity.
During gameplay, the live commentary was played over the speakers, which is common practice for “big games” and a welcome touch. Whiskey on Grand took their gameday experience one step further, switching audio inputs to their in-house playlist during commercial breaks — and jacking the volume to decibels beyond what you’d experience at a proper music venue like Brooklyn Steel down the street.
With the Lions down 16 and the fourth (!!) Pitbull song of the night blasting at an ear-splitting intensity, I surveyed the room and irritatedly wondered, "Is there anyone in here genuinely happy right now?” A Commanders fan who had stripped off his jersey and was dancing bare-chested appeared to be doing more than alright.
Music can deliver an intangible, lasting emotional response. It can take you on a journey. It can serve as a gateway to someone’s world. It can shift pace, behavior, and energy. Great music can enhance an experience — and shitty music can certainly ruin one. Subconsciously, the music you hear and feel during a meal or while you’re having a drink will greatly influence the way you remember the place. When I think about Grandpa Larry’s Salvatore Scallopini, I hear Dean Martin’s booming voice filling the room more vividly than I recall the tasting notes of the stuffed shells (and those shells were pretty special!). When I think about Whiskey on Grand… I hear Katy Perry (at a deafening volume).
My friend Sam wrote a great piece about bad restaurant playlists and generally unfavorable ambiance that got me thinking: What are the places that get it right? Which restaurants can we count on to set the right mood with their playlists? Which bars get you swaying, but also allow you to hold a conversation?
The term “audio encounter” comes from Arman Naféei, an esteemed presence in the realm of ambiance who knows a thing or two about the emotional response music can have and the associations it can create. Arman’s podcast Are We On Air? is an interview series exploring the life's soundtrack of his guests. An audio encounter is an experience where sound design, music selection, and volume are influential aspects — ranging from subtle and subconscious, to prominent and direct. There are positive encounters — like the 11 we’re about to dive into. And there are negative ones; think corporate gyms, department stores, and, unfortunately, a lot of restaurants and bars.
Arman Naféei likens good sound design to a shadow: it should never lead, only follow. Music should complement a concept, accentuating the best parts of a space, and reinforcing the cultural vision. This is true across all of my top audio encounters — the music isn’t the focal point of the experience, it’s a very welcome enhancement.
It’s a really hard thing to get right. So hard, that it’s less about getting it right, and more about not fucking it up. Yemen Cafe — a casual eatery that I love dearly — plays no music at all. All you’ll hear is the chatter of patrons, and the sound of lamb fasah sizzling in a clay pot. To me, this compliments the experience perfectly. Delta Airlines — what many consider the premier option for domestic air travel — has inexplicably torturous boarding music ("Hurt Somebody" by Julia Michaels and Noah Kahan is so bad it’ll push you to invest in noise-canceling headphones). They should take notes from Yemen Cafe and just nix the tunes.
Rest assured, the 11 spots below simply don’t miss. Morning, noon, or night — they get the vibe right.
11's: NYC Audio Encounters
11] Cellar 36 Two Bridges, New York
In an era where maximalist, showy cocktail bars seem to be flourishing, Cellar 36 keeps its wine bar operation understated and unpretentious. Everything at Cellar 36 takes the backseat to easy-to-drink natural wine — but music plays a crucial supporting role. Cellar 36 doesn’t have a state-of-the-art sound system, but it’s a well-utilized one. Whether it’s the bartenders queuing tracks or a DJ friend passing by and hopping on the decks, the music selection is always on point. The BPMs tend to pick up as the night progresses, moving from happy hour Diana Ross to primetime Soulwax to late-night Patrick Cowley. The house party energy at Cellar 36 often spills onto the sidewalk, where you’ll hear the muddled backbeat of the music, periodically interrupted by trains roaring across the Manhattan Bridge.
In The Queue:
10] Cafe Kestrel Red Hook, Brooklyn
Cafe Kestrel sweeps you off Van Brunt Street and into a whimsical, anomalous world. It’s a perfectly ratioed, carefully stirred cocktail of dark magic, old-world chic charm, and a few dashes of thespian energy. The music — subtle and pulsing with an occasional synth breakdown — reinforces that bizarre but comforting feeling. It’s a soundtrack you’d expect at a modern-day murder mystery party. The volume level is kept quite low, encouraging intimate chatter that’ll inevitably overflow between tables. When conversation reaches a lull, you’ll find yourself caught in a hypnotic, psybient beat, snapping you back into the trip that is dinner at Cafe Kestrel.
In The Queue:
09] Place des Fêtes Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
All signs point toward PdF being an intimate, upscale experience: every dish features at least one obscure ingredient, the room is candle-lit and full of well-dressed Clinton Hillers, and the price point certainly leans expensive. And then you walk through the door to “Lupita” by Nico Gomez And His Afro Percussion Inc. and you’re like “Ohhh it’s like this.” PdF is throwing down culinarily in a way that should be pretentious, but it's balanced with decidedly loose energy — and that’s largely thanks to the playlist. As poppy French L'Impératrice fades to The Doors’ “Back Door Man,” a server approaches with a groove in their step and sardine toast with smoked butter in hand.
In The Queue:
08] Rodeo Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn
Rodeo and its Berlin-like feel make it a place you can confidently roll into expecting a killer vibe from open to close. Rodeo looks good and sounds great. The brick-walled room lets sound bounce and surround, and the airy front windows let just enough volume escape to take the edge off. Even still, it’s a fairly loud, high-energy room. The seats are tight together in a way that forces an intimate lean-in to converse, which sometimes is exactly the environment you need to build chemistry. With golden hour lighting pouring in, expect Latin house and a bit of 90s funk. The volume and pace ramp to become a dance catalyst in the late-night hours, with DJs taking over the back room and anything from disco to acid house on the speakers. The sidewalk patio offers space for a breather without losing the beat entirely.
In The Queue:
07] Bar Bête Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
Bar Bête has ascended to celebrated neighborhood bistro territory, but their food is only part of the reason why. Bar Bête makes you feel excellent — and it does so with its stylish design, luxurious finishes, warm service, and a great fucking playlist. Obscure indie rock, Zeppelin B-sides, flashes of post-punk — Bar Bête covers serious musical ground. The sound floods the room, riding the curved wood ceiling and creating a barrier between marble-topped tables. The White Stripes might not seem like an intuitive pair for tuna toast with fermented chili, but I promise you, you’ll be swaying in your seat.
In The Queue:
06] Ingas Bar Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
There’s a vibration that’ll hit you before you even sit down at Ingas. Hovering by the host stand — the room dim, the buzz prominent — the thump of tasteful basslines quickly takes control. The front dining room is a touch milder than the rowdier back barroom, but both rooms have an infectious hum. Once settled in, the lyrics of songs start to register beyond the beats. English rock is heavy in the rotation — The Kinks, The Smiths, The Cure. Deep-cut James Brown finds a way to mix in seamlessly. The music at Ingas is eccentric and lively — perfectly tailored to the charming, clean-cut, sophisticatedly cool room.
In The Queue:
05] Café Lyria Noho, New York
Yanni and Theo are architects of a masterful vibe, and they’ve assembled all the elements of a perfect scene in their Noho cafe space. The music, volume, temperature, lighting, and people at Lyria collectively create an aura that takes over Crosby St. Lyria is a tangible extension of the brothers’ carefully crafted brand that carries a defined, artistic aesthetic. Music is a big part of their identity. At the cafe, the selection moves intuitively with the day. In the morning, it's guitar-driven global funk that gently wakes things up. As the second coffee of the day crew rolls through around mid-afternoon, sonically beautiful early 2000s pop songs, ones like “Pocketful of Sunshine,” get played slightly ironically — but the result is that it makes you say, “Wait, this is actually a banger.” Every time I’m posted up at Lyria, I hear at least one person ask for the playlist. I’m guilty of it too. It’s all over the place, but feels so cohesive.
In The Queue:
04] Public Records Gowanus, Brooklyn
PR almost feels like an unfair inclusion given its often ticketed nature, but when it comes to good-sounding rooms, the Atrium can’t be beat. High ceilings allow for booming sound, but in a way that hovers just above you, keeping the dance floor conducive to light conversation. It’s a space where the early evening can turn into sunrise without even realizing it — a function of great house and techno selections that keep you perpetually in motion.
In The Queue:
03] Gold Star Beer Counter Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Gold Star is one of the best-designed rooms in Brooklyn. A curved blond wood ceiling meets rugged, exposed brick toward the floor. The stone-topped, wood-flanked bar extends from the entry to the back of the space. This thoughtful design also applies to the sound system — wood-framed speaker boxes hanging in each corner of the room blanketing the space with a comforting hum. No matter how buzzing the room gets, you’ll always hear the music, but it’ll never disrupt conversation. Gold Star isn’t a “record bar,” per se, but they do all records all the time — and the selection is damn good. If you find yourself wielding a drip coffee and a crisp pils at say, 1:00 pm, you’ll hear some softer, ambient tracks. As day turns to night, a mix of niche indie, surf rock, and Thai funk — like Bill Callahan, Dick Dale, and Yin Yin — often finds its way on the turntable. It’s an airy, easy-going bar, and the music supports and enhances that identity.
In The Queue:
02] Four Horsemen Williamsburg, Brooklyn
It should come as no surprise that Four Horsemen is musically proficient given the pedigree of its owners. But in practice, 4H was, and still is, ahead of its time when it comes to delivering a sensory dinner experience. Clear out the tables and you have a room that’s built like a Scandinavian recording studio — cedar slats, artisanal burlap, and clean lines in every direction. The space is acoustically tuned in a way that delivers intimacy within tables, a sonic wraparound if you will. Four Horsemen often will play albums top to bottom, which can be flow-state-inducing. The music selection, much like their food and wine, is hard to pin to a certain genre but draws from different corners of excellence. Expect technically proficient sounds that suit the space beautifully.
In The Queue:
01] Abraço East Village, New York
The sounds of Abraço ring in my head day in and out. It’s an unshakable, inescapable groove. Iggy Pop hangs on the wall above the record player — a guiding star, of sorts. Abraço’s selection is an indescribable mix of nostalgia-inducing tracks and a heavy dose of Brazilian pop-funk — eclectic, rhythmic stuff. You might get hit with some Charles Mingus on a Tuesday morning, Curtis Mayfield on a Saturday night, with Gilberto Gil filling the space between. Always played at a spirit-lifting volume that’ll have you excitedly talking with your hands (this could also be a function of cold brew). There’s a whole damn world of music to be discovered at Abraço — I feel lucky to have scratched the surface. Aquele Abraço!!
In The Queue:
Need a great playlist for your restaurant, bar, or cafe? Drop me a line, let’s work together.
no because music completely changes the vibe of a meal. playlist at cafe mado on friday night was pretty close to perfect btw
Bad music makes good food taste bad! I said it!