New York on Tap 2008
Archive · modern edition Every bar New York on Tap knew, as it stood around 2008, with a 2026 check on each one. This page in the 2008 edition
PDT, photographed for New York on Tap
Photo from the 2008 site

A New York on Tap pick

PDT

Crif Dogs is full of surprises

113 St. Marks Pl · btwn 1st & A
East Village, Manhattan

In 2026

Still pouring

Checked October 15, 2026.

Show on the map Directions See the 2008 page

Overview

Short for Please Don't Tell, the bar is accessed by heading down the stairs into Crif Dogs then into a phone booth. Press the intercom button and cross your fingers that they let you in because for all the nonsense it's actually a pretty decent bar.
There are few better streets for bars than St. Marks between First and A (and oddly few worse than St Marks between First and Second). Now thanks to PDT it has its first honest to goodness speakeasy. It's hard to get much more hidden than an entrance in a telephone booth in a hot dog shop. Thankfully the speakeasy gimic is backed up with a truly great bar. Expertly crafted cocktails and a cool comfortable space ensure PDT is as much substance as style.

Why you should go

  • Cocktails at PDT are served with the same painstaking care and attention as Pegu Club, Milk and Honey, Death and Company, or Angel's Share.
  • No matter how jaded the New Yorker. You've still got to admit that entering a speakeasy through a telephone booth in a hot dog shop is pretty damn cool.

    • What you should know

  • Head down the stairs in Crif Dogs. Walk into the telephone booth. Press the button, and cross your fingers they let you in
  • Don't be startled when the bouncer asks "Can I help you?" it's all part of the Schtick.
  • Crif Dogs serves the best hot dogs in the city, or at least you'll swear they are after a night of drinking. And if you're in the E. Village and in a suitable frame of mind the stoner special hot dog assortment is available for delivery late into the night.
  • Reservations are day of only and after 2pm. You'll probably want to make them.

    • History

    Everyone told, and the phone booth still works

    Please Don't Tell is still where we left it: behind the phone booth inside Crif Dogs, at 113 St Marks Place1. Our old listing said to press the intercom and cross your fingers; in July 2026 a reservations page still listed it1.

    Sources

    1. itsadate.nyc

    Researched October 2026.

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