Cordato's Deli Bar

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This venue is closed.

LES hipsters have their unmarked bars, as do daytraders, union stiffs, and do-ragged gangstas in the form of this tiny drinking den in the back of a Financial District deli—a throwback to the days when illicit grogshops hid in the back of grocery stores. A neon beer sign and the thud of jukebox hip hop cue the adventurous to open a nondescript door onto a scene so seedy that an off-duty cop once accidentally shot a fellow drinker here for spilling his beer. Before midnight during weekdays and until later on weekends, jeans-wearing barmaids sweet-talk fat cats at the splintered bar into buying them glasses of Alizé or aguardiente; that is, when these women aren't grinding for tips wherever the often packed space allows: be that on one of the stools lining the far wall or beside the video poker machine. — Daniel Maurer

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Best of New York Awards

• Best Dive Bar (2006)