The dusk til dawn guide to New York
18.00
While everyone naps before dinner, you’d be wise to chalk up some crowd-magnets: on a Saturday, the Guggenheim is open until 7.45pm (guggenheim.org ); while on a Saturday, the MOMA closes at 8pm (moma.org). Or begin queuing now to ascend the Empire State Building– this is about as short as the line gets; alternatively, the last lift is at 1.15am (esbnyc.com).
18.30
Liberty Helicopter’s 20-minute New York New York tour swoops past the United Nations and Chrysler Buildings, the Yankee Stadium and Times Square; the last flight leaves at 6.30pm (libertyhelicopter.com; £150), as the sky adjusts itself to dusk. Of course, there are views to electrify which don’t cost your dinner money; advance to Manhattan by foot on the stately Brooklyn Bridge by taking the subway to Jay Street or High Street in Dumbo.
20.00
The porterhouse at Peter Luger Steak House will set you up for the night, but if you eat it with German fried potatoes and creamed spinach, there’s a chance you’ll be asleep before the Late Show with David Letterman (peterluger.com; mains from £21). If you’d rather not give proper dinner the time of day, grab a burger at the legendary joint tucked behind a velvet curtain in the atrium lobby of Le Parker Meridien - you’ll spot the queue before you spot the curtain (parkermeridien.com/eat4; burgers £4.50).
21.00
The Bowery Poetry Club hosts raucous literary evenings in the style of the legendary Bowery of old, a street which was historically all flophouses and whiskey joints. Behind the sound booth, the Art Wall hosts changing exhibitions; at the bar, cocktail ingredients are written out in poem format. Check the schedule for poetry slams, film screenings and bingo nights (bowerypoetry.com; 308 Bowery).
23.00
Whether you want a hot dog or not, your next stop is Crif Dogs on Saint Mark’s Place (crifdogs.com). Once within, look left and step inside the phone booth, through which you might be gruffly admitted to PDT, an annexe-like bar. If you really want, you can order deep-fried dogs from next door to nibble with your Brooklyn beers and cocktails (001 212 614 0386, pdtnyc.com, 113 St Marks Place).
00:00
For big fun and frolics around bedtime, NYC’s newest bowling lanes have it all. Brooklyn Bowl is set in a renovated Williamsburg iron foundry, with 16 lanes, live music and Brooklyn Brewery ales. Await your turn on brown Chesterfields in the bowler’s lounge with fried chicken platters and Bourbon-Nutella milkshakes. In coming weeks, look out for hip hop karaoke nights, a Snoop Dogg gig, and the Lebowski Fest. Open until 2am (4am on Saturdays). brooklynbowl.com, £33 per lane per hour.
02.00
Take it down a notch on what is set to be Midtown’s hottest rooftop; Upstairs at the Kimberly,is due to open any time soon. It has beauty (bundles of foliage, bronze panelling, dark leather furniture and strings of incandescent lighting), plus brains (retractable glass ceilings and heated floors). kimberlyhotel.com, 145 East 50th Street
03:00
Midnight feasting can be a tricky business, but if you’re in Soho, trust in Bruce & Eric Bromberg’s Blue Ribbon brasserie, which was originally aimed at working chefs. The menu is as dashing a late night catalogue as you’re likely to encounter, with lobster and sweetbreads set among burgers and a duck club sandwich (blueribbonrestaurants.com; mains from £13). More conventional, stodgy bites can be found at the very yellow, macaroni-shaped Macbar, which serves mac’n’cheese flecked with all-sorts, including duck confit, lobster or mushroom (macbar.net; from £3.90).
04.00
Located on the famous street of the same name, The Bowery Hotel offers low lighting for slinking in unnoticed, a glamorous lounge for winding down, and the restaurant’s soul-reviving baked eggs (theboweryhotel.com; doubles from £210, room only). In SoHo, the new Crosby Street Hotel is the home you wish Kit Kemp would design for you, complete with ravishing drawing room, snug screening rooms and afternoon tea for tomorrow. When the sun threatens to rise, get to bed; the bedroom windows show off the magnificent, pinky SoHo sky (firmdale.com; doubles from £325, room only).
Laura Goodman is the editor of the Thrifty Gobbler food blog