Rare Bar & Grill (Lexington)

Murray Hill, New York –

A Murray Hill mainstay since 2003, Rare Bar & Grill combines upscale diner fare and sweeping rooftop views, allowing its dapper patrons to enjoy their steakhouse burgers with a side of the Chrysler Building.

The south side, to be exact.

Attached to the boutique Affinia Shelburne hotel, Rare’s street-level restaurant performs a lot of in-house catering for executive luncheons, with plenty of visiting businessmen in Brooks Brothers suits stopping in to sip twelve-year-old Macallan at two in the afternoon.

The chic but casual dining area goes for a sleek tavern look, with lots of hardwood tables where local lawyers and bankers can savor artisan burgers and tequila-flambéd T-bones as they check the scores on the TV, and where forever twenty-somethings can sip pinot and eye the passersby from a window booth.

Warm evenings promise a line at the elevator heading for the seasonal rooftop, where stylish couples grab a daybed and catch the last rays of sun, while sophisticated fashionistas and finance types settle onto cozy indoor/outdoor furniture to flirt over fruity cocktails.

DJs turn things up a notch by 7:30pm on the rooftop, prompting trendy locals to head up and get sufficiently tipsy before venturing to a nearby club.

A fun atmosphere that makes for a nice lunch or a great start to the night, Rare Bar & Grill is still going strong after all these years – a rare thing in New York’s ever-competitive nightlife industry.