Best of 2015 New York

Tom Wolfe said, “One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years.”

He was right. New York is our mistress as much as our mother.

So we danced with both this year. Now let’s do it agin.

From under-the-table eats to a trophy case of sneakers, from partying in a distillery to a BK outpost where you can sip tallboys and play backgammon with the boys, this is the best of InsideHook 2015 in NYC.

Best wishes in the New Year, gents.

Here’s to you — our readers.

EATING AND DRINKING

BYOB NYC
Have to be honest: didn’t mind doing the research on this one. We culled together 10 of the finest wine-and-diners out there that allow you to bring your own swill, from Chinatown landmark Wo Hop to the Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park.

Put that Menu Away!
Ordering off-menu: pro move. New app Off the Menu provides all the off-the-menu tips a fella can snag in this fair city. We compiled the 10 — some via app, some via vaguely nefarious guys we know — that you gotta check off your list.

The Drinker’s Guide to Indoor Sports
What goes best with ping-pong, bocce, bowling and old-school arcading? Booze, of course. It’s getting chilly out there. That’s why we scouted out the best bars for holing up and getting recreational.

Shh! It’s a Secret Supper Club.
Dinner Lab is where you want to be eating. The rub: you gotta know someone to get in. Scrach that: you used to have to know someone to get in. NYC’s best roving backroom five-course feast just opened up admission to every Dick and Betty, and they’re hosting plenty of events across the five boroughs int he coming months.

LARGE LIVIN

Coffee Table Connoisseurs
Publishing powerhouse Rizzoli, responsible for churching up living rooms for more than 50 years, recently opened a handsome leather-clad brick-and-mortar hucking photo tomes for every man, from every fuel-injected four wheeler you’ve ever lusted after to Betty Page wearing nothing at all.

Your Next Private Party Is in a Museum
Soirée hosting just got a little sweeter. Newbie service Splacer let’s you rent out some of NYC’s most rarefied spaces for your next professional or personal affair, from whiskey distillery takeovers to motorcycle shop shebangs.

DRESS THE PART

Sneaker Attack
Stepping up Soho streetwear game: newly opened Stadium Goods, a handsomely apopinted shop housing a museum-quality curation of dead-stock sneakers you won’t find anywhere else. They even have a trophy case.

The Gentleman’s Clubhouse
One of men’s lifestyle’s most esteemed glossies has assumed its final form: Man of the World just opened an outpost across the bridge where you can pick up a vintage Norwegian hunting knife from 1963 or get in a game of backgammon with the boys.

INSIDE THE ‘HOOK

Passing the Torch
Leap Day 2012 marked a glorious day for the made man: InsideHook released its first post into the brave new world courtesy of Mr. Danny Agnew. This year, he graciously handed the reigns to your present correspondent. He didn’t go far: he’s now IH’s Creative Director and literally standing right behind me. But before he bid adieu to this most precious of cargo — the flagship NYC edition — he took us on a journey of the greatest hits, from his favorite brisket club to a glimpse of Kate Upton’s boobs in space.

Watch Out
Keeping up with Mr. Agnew is tougher than ever these days. Lucky for him, TAG Heuer Connected — a shiny new smartwatch for the man on the move — is here to assist. From running late to pick up his girlfriend (via helicopter, of course) to slow-dancing with acrobats at an underground masquerade ball, Danny recently showed us the most bananas day a New Yorker can have in a little feature we called Twenty-Four Seven.